Media Transfer Protocol

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The Media Transfer Protocol ( MTP ) is a network protocol for transferring files between mobile devices (such as smartphones ) and PCs . It is a further development of the Picture Transfer Protocol .

introduction

MTP was presented in autumn 2004 by Microsoft and Canon . It is intended to expand the possibilities of the Picture Transfer Protocol in such a way that communication with other devices - in addition to the digital cameras previously supported - is expanded. A special UMS software enables audio data to be loaded onto MTP-capable MP3 players without additional device drivers . MTP is now also used by many smartphones .

transmission

MTP-capable software is required for data transfer with an MTP device. Some MP3 players can be operated as a UMS device ( USB mass storage device ) with the aid of a firmware update ; UMS devices are supported by all common operating systems without special drivers.

advantages

  • The device can be removed from the system without first logging out ("ejecting")
  • The manufacturer can use any file system on the device
  • The PC can be used to create playlists for the player
  • The functionality of the device is hardly disturbed because the device can access the same memory at the same time as the computer.

disadvantage

  • Direct access to the file system is not possible
  • The protocol is not supported by older operating systems.
  • The MTP software usually does not support all functions and formats offered by the device or has problems converting.
  • The transmission via MTP is usually much slower than with USB mass storage access.

Applications

  • Under Linux ( POSIX ), MTP compatibility is achieved with:
    • gvfs (Gnome Virtual File System), virtual file system of the GIMP toolkit. Contained in Ubuntu from version 13.04, also available as a backport for 12.10 and 12.04.
    • libgphoto2, a library that supports Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) with some MTP extensions. Originally only camera support was planned. The following programs use libgphoto2:
    • libmtp a library specially developed for MTP. It also contains command line programs. The following programs use libmtp:
  • AmigaOS / MorphOS has MTP support via the PTP class driver in the Poseidon USB Stack V4.0.
  • Mac OS X receives MTP support e.g. B. through the open source program XNJB (XNJB uses, inter alia, libmtp) or the proprietary Android File Transfer from Google.
  • Microsoft Windows supports MTP natively from Vista (except N versions). XP and Windows Server 2003 only support MTP if Windows Media Player 10 is installed; however, support (at least for some portable devices) is limited to image and audio files. Only with the last Windows Media Player 11 available for Windows XP is complete support for video files achieved. Older Windows versions have no MTP support.
  • Symbian OS v9.5 has native MTP support for music, video and pictures.
  • Xbox 360 has native support.
  • Since Android 3.1 "Honeycomb" the smartphone operating system offers native support for MTP.

swell

  1. ↑ Press release on the introduction of the MTP standard
  2. ↑ http://www.webupd8.org/2013/01/upgrade-to-gvfs-with-mtp-support-in.html
  3. ↑ gphoto.org
  4. ↑ libmtp.sourceforge.net , on SourceForge
  5. ↑ gnomad2.sourceforge.net , on SourceForge
  6. ↑ jmtpsynchronizer
  7. ↑ adebenham.com/mtpfs
  8. ↑ adebenham.com/mtpsync
  9. ↑ XNJB on wentnet.com
  10. ↑ Android File Transfer, android.com
  11. ↑ symbian.com ( Memento from December 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

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