What Is ONVIF Profile S and Profile T?

ONVIF publishes one large set of interface specifications for security devices. Profiles group parts of that set into fixed feature lists, so buyers can compare products without reading the specifications. A device that claims a profile has passed ONVIF’s conformance test for it, and a client such as a recorder or video management system that claims the same profile can use those features. Our overview of what ONVIF is covers discovery, web services and RTSP streaming in general.

Each profile lists mandatory features, which every conformant product must support, and conditional features, which must work in the standard way if the product has them at all. PTZ is a good example: a fixed dome does not need it, but a PTZ camera claiming the profile must accept the ONVIF commands for its motors and presets.

Profile S was the first video profile, released in 2011, and is still the most widely supported. Most IP cameras sold in the last decade list it, and so do most recorders and video management systems. It covers what a recorder needs to bring a camera into a system: discovery and device settings, live video over RTSP, video encoder configuration, PTZ control as a conditional feature, audio, relay outputs and basic events.

Its video is defined around H.264 and MJPEG. H.265 is not part of Profile S, so a camera can only send H.265 to an S-only recorder through a maker’s own extension, which other makers’ recorders may not read. Multicast streaming is a conditional feature, so one camera stream can reach several viewers without extra load on the camera.

Profile T was released in 2018 and is built on ONVIF’s newer media service. It supports both H.264 and H.265, lets a recorder manage several stream configurations on one camera more flexibly, and adds the features modern cameras rely on:

Many current cameras and recorders conform to both, which is the safest pairing. Where one side has only Profile S and the other only Profile T, the two can rely only on what they share, which in practice means basic H.264 streaming.

Profiles S and T are the core of IP video, but they are not the whole set. ONVIF publishes each profile’s status, so check that a profile is current before relying on it.

ONVIF compatible on a datasheet is a weaker claim than ONVIF conformant. Search ONVIF’s conformant products database for the exact model and firmware, and note which profiles are listed. Then check the recorder or video management software against the same profiles. For a system that mixes cameras from several makers, Profile T on both sides is the best target, with Profile M where analytics events must pass between products. Test a sample camera with the chosen recorder before ordering in quantity.

Our industrial NVRs run open Linux or Windows, so their ONVIF support comes from the recording or management software you choose, and new profiles arrive with software updates rather than new hardware.