The Media eXchange Layer (MXL) project has reached an important milestone with the release of the MXL v1.0.0 Release Candidate: the API and feature set of the MXL SDK are now frozen, giving developers and vendors a stable base to prepare for wider implementation ahead of the final release.
This step caps off a fast-paced year for the project. MXL was first introduced as a concept at IBC 2024. It became an open-source project under The Linux Foundation in June 2025 and quickly gained momentum through collaboration across the industry. Several multi-vendor demonstrations at IBC 2025 showed that MXL can support interoperability across different systems and technology stacks.
Freezing the API is a key moment for any software platform. It allows vendors, system integrators, and developers to invest with confidence, knowing that the core interfaces will not change. This stability reduces integration risk and supports long-term planning, which is essential for turning open-source technology into deployable products.
With the Release Candidate now available, the project remains on track for the first MXL-supported products to reach the market in 2026. These early implementations are expected to show how MXL can simplify media exchange across workflows, vendors, and environments, addressing long-standing interoperability challenges in professional media production.
The progress achieved so far reflects the strength of the collaborative model behind MXL. The Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) and Media eXchange Layer community has brought together broadcasters, vendors, and technologists around a shared goal: building an open, practical foundation for media interoperability. Their collective contributions, ranging from architecture and code to testing and demonstrations, have been instrumental in bringing the project to this stage.
Next steps
The next major item on the MXL roadmap is interhost communication. This work will extend MXL beyond single-host use cases and enable reliable media exchange across distributed systems. Interhost support is key for modern, network-based production architectures and will broaden the range of practical use cases for MXL.
There will also be opportunities to see MXL in action later this year. At the Network Technology Seminar (NTS) in June 2026, several demonstrations will show workflows built with MXL, as concrete examples of how the technology works in real production scenarios.
More information about the Release Candidate is available on GitHub at: https://github.com/dmf-mxl/mxl/releases/