A production aperture for a studio digital device defines an active picture area produced by signal sources such as cameras, telecines, digital video tape recorders, and computer-generated pictures.

It is recommended that all of this video information be carefully produced, stored, and properly processed by subsequent digital equipment. In particular, digital blanking in all studio equipment should rigorously conform to this specified production aperture (SMPTE 260M). The width of the analogue active horizontal line is measured at the 50% points of the analogue video signal. However, the analogue blanking may differ from equipment to equipment, and the digital blanking may not always coincide with the analogue blanking.