Our Mission

The mission of ONVIF is to provide and promote standardized interfaces for effective interoperability of IP-based physical security products.

The cornerstones of ONVIF are:

  • Standardization of communication between IP-based physical security products
  • Interoperability regardless of brand
  • Openness to all companies and organizations

Founded in 2008 by Axis Communications, Bosch Security Systems and Sony Corporation, ONVIF has a robust member base on six continents. ONVIF membership is open to manufacturers, software developers, consultants, system integrators, end users and other interest groups that wish to participate in ONVIF activities.

ONVIF Conformant Products and Profiles
ONVIF members today collectively offer more than 18,000 profile conformant products. It has led to millions of installed ONVIF conformant products in the market. Each conformant product must support at least one of the following ONVIF profiles:

ONVIF continues to work with its members to expand the number of IP interoperability solutions.


Work with Standards Groups
ONVIF also works with global standards groups such as IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and CENELEC to have them adopt ONVIF specifications. ONVIF specifications are web services-based, using open standards such as XML, SOAP and WSDL to define the communication between two electronic devices over an IP network.

ONVIF access control specifications have been adopted by the IEC 60839-11-1 system and components requirements standard for Alarm and Electronic Security Systems. The standard applies to electronic access control systems and components that are used in security applications for granting access and includes requirements for logging, identification and control of information.

ONVIF specifications for network video have also been included in the IEC 62676 standard for Video Surveillance Systems, the first international standard for video surveillance systems to be established. The ONVIF specifications for video is referenced in IEC 62676 Part 2-3, which defines video transmission protocols for communication between network video clients and video transmitter devices.

View the ONVIF overview presentation.