ONVIF device server - What is ONVIF

ONVIF is an open industry forum that provides and promotes standardized interfaces for effective interoperability of IP-based physical security products. It uses the profile concept; a profile is a set of features that a compliant device or client must support. So if a client claims to be Profile S compliant, it will work with any device that's also Profile S compliant.

As of today, ONVIF defines the following profiles:

Profile A: Profile A is for products used in an electronic access control system. A Profile A conformant device can retrieve information, status and events, and configure entities such as access rules, credentials and schedules.

Profile C: Profile C is for products used in an electronic access control system. Profile C conformant devices and clients support site information, door access control, and event and alarm management.

Profile G: Profile G is designed for IP-based video systems. A Profile G device (e.g., an IP network camera or video encoder) is one that can record video data over an IP network or on the device itself.

Profile Q: Profile Q is for IP-based video systems and its aim is to provide quick discovery and basic configuration of Profile Q conformant products (e.g., network camera, network switch, network monitor) on a network.

Profile S: Profile S is designed for IP-based video systems. A Profile S device (e.g., an IP network camera or video encoder) is one that can send video data over an IP network to a Profile S client.

Profile T: Profile T is designed for IP-based video systems. Profile T supports video streaming features such as the use of H.264 and H.265 encoding formats, imaging settings, and alarm events such as motion and tampering detection. Mandatory features for devices also include onscreen display and metadata streaming.

The following picture exemplifies a typical interconnection of Profile S devices and clients: