| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Project | A single campaign — typically one film — owned by a studio. The top-level container for assets and files. |
| Asset | One piece of creative within a project, such as the US trailer or the key art. Belongs to exactly one project and has many files. |
| File | A real, downloadable resource — an encoded video, image, subtitle, or document. A specific localized or encoded version of an asset; always tied to a project, usually to an asset. |
| Asset type | The category of an asset (for example a trailer or a TV spot). Can apply to all projects or be scoped to one. |
| Media type | The broad kind of an asset: video, image, document, or audio. |
| Preview | A lightweight, web-playable rendition of an asset used for reviewing inside Pixwel — distinct from the full-resolution deliverable file. |
| OV | Original version — the source-language master (the original-language transcription and assets) that localized versions are derived from. |
| Translation | The transcribed and translated text for an asset (subtitles, dialogue, graphics captions), used by translation memories. |
| Script | The source-language (OV) text for an asset — continuity script, dialogue SRT, graphics SRT, and auto graphics — that translations and subtitling are built from. See Scripts. |
| Subtitler | Pixwel’s built-in editor for translating, timing, and positioning subtitles, with translation memories, machine translation, and line-by-line source colors. See Subtitler. |
| Provenance colors | The Subtitler’s color coding for where each line’s text came from — Custom (green), Memories (violet), Machine (orange), or the unchanged original. See Subtitler. |
| SRT | SubRip — the widely-supported subtitle format: timed lines of plain text, no styling. Imported and exported by the Subtitler. |
| ASS | Advanced SubStation Alpha — a subtitle format that carries fonts, styling, and on-screen positioning. The Subtitler’s styled-deliverable export format. See Subtitler. |
| DNG | Dialogue, narration, and graphics — the categories of content that may need localizing on a work request. |
| Usage | How a deliverable may be used — Broadcast, Online, or DCP. Files on the asset page are grouped by usage, and permissions can be scoped per usage. |
| Version | The revision state of an asset’s files, selected on the asset page alongside language (for example Final). Determines which set of files you preview and download. |
| Language | A localization language, identified by a three-letter code (for example ENG, FRA). Attached to files and previews. |
| Territory | A geographic distribution region, with its own assigned languages and countries. Groups and permissions can be scoped by territory. Managed on the Admin Dashboard. Note: in everyday use “territory” often means the Regional Contact team responsible for a region, not the region itself. |
| Regional Contact | The local team responsible for one territory on one project — commonly just called a territory (as in “the territory places an order”). A group type and user role. |
| Video standard | The broadcast standard for a territory — PAL or NTSC — set on the Admin Dashboard Territories tab. |
| Studio | The top-level organization that owns projects, assets, and files (for example a film studio). |
| Group | A set of users with a type (admin, studio department, regional contact, or vendor) and a set of permissions. Defines a user’s role — see User roles. |
| Permission | A grant of specific capabilities (download, sharing, ingest, and so on) to a group, scoped by studio, territory, language, and usage. |
| Member | A full user account that has completed registration and approval. |
| Guest | A limited account invited to specific shares, with access to projects and shares only. |
| Two-factor authentication (2FA) | An extra sign-in check — after your password, Pixwel emails a verification link to confirm it’s you. Can be enforced per studio. See Two-factor authentication. |
| Vendor | A localization partner who fulfills and manages work requests. |
| Work request | An order to produce localized versions of an asset (shown in the app as a Localization Order). Moves through phases until delivered and approved — see Work requests. |
| Timeline | The status history on a work request — each stage stamped with who acted and when, with deliverables, tags, and the reviewable offline shown inline. |
| Tag | A label attached to a work request, with optional special instructions, used to group and route the deliverables. |
| Cost Estimate | The running total shown while building a work request on the Place Order page, reflecting the localization, usages, and options selected so far. |
| Share | A set of assets made available to specific recipients, optionally including guests. |
| Embargo | A time restriction on a file or preview that controls when it can be accessed or released. |
| Ingest | The process of bringing source media into the platform — uploading a file and processing it into a platform file. See Ingests. |
| Encode | A transcoding job that produces deliverable files from a source. |
| Direct download (HTTPS) | The no-install fallback download — a standard browser transfer over HTTPS, used when no Aspera client is available. See Direct Download (HTTPS). |
| Analytics | A panel of charts on a report that visualizes the filtered data (for example orders over time, by day of week, and a day-and-hour heatmap). |
| AI Insights | An on-demand, AI-generated analysis of a report — a few ranked, actionable findings drawn only from the data on screen. See AI Insights. |
| Admin Dashboard | The administrator control center for managing studios, projects, languages, territories, asset types, users, groups, workflows, shares, permissions, and the catalog. See Admin Dashboard. |
| Coordinator | The point of contact named on a studio, responsible for that studio’s work. Set on the Admin Dashboard. |
| Preview watermark format | A per-studio setting for how previews are watermarked (for example Full Screen Diagonal). Configured on the Admin Dashboard. |
| Catalog | The Admin Dashboard tab for bulk embargo management — setting when files and previews become available and when they expire. |
| File prefix | The short code (for example ANEMONE, BUGONIA) that begins every file name generated for a project’s deliverables, tying files back to their project. Set on the Admin Dashboard. |
| Filename part | The token (for example B-ROLL, ADSLICK) an asset type contributes to generated file names, identifying the kind of asset within the name. Set per asset type on the Admin Dashboard. |
| Archived | A project hidden from active lists without being deleted — its assets and history are preserved. Toggle between active and archived projects on the Admin Dashboard. |
| Digital Cinema Package (DCP) | The packaging standard for theatrical cinema delivery. Each language carries a DCP code used in DCP file naming, set on the Admin Dashboard Languages tab. |
| Offline | A workprint or preview version of a deliverable sent for client approval — not the final file. The final files arrive when a work request reaches Complete. |
| Order Queue | The staging area where you collect assets and settings for a work request before submitting. See Placing & managing orders. |
| Order Wizard | The step-by-step form for building a work request — language, territory, DNG options, deadline, tags, and deliverables. |
| Dedicated / Localized | A fully localized deliverable: dialogue and narration dubbed, and graphics completely replaced with localized treatment — as opposed to subtitled or OV. See Placing & managing orders. |
| Automated Localization | On-demand, machine-assisted localization ordered on the Place Order page — subtitled (and graphics) or audio deliverables generated in minutes without a vendor. See Automated Localization. |
| Autosub | The self-service subtitling that powers Automated Localization — produces final subtitled files in minutes without a vendor; output is labeled AUTOSUB. See Subtitling & translation. |
| Machine translation | AI/ML auto-translation of every cell in the subtitler, used as a starting point for subtitled orders. See Subtitling & translation. |
| Translation memory | Stored translations from previous orders, automatically reused on exact-match lines (including shorter cuts of the same asset). |
| Translation approval | An option requiring a territory user to review and approve a translator’s work before production proceeds. See Subtitling & translation. |
| Contact list | A reusable, saved group of recipients for shares — labeled Custom Groups in the UI. Managed in Preferences. |
| API token | A personal access token that lets scripts and integrations call the Pixwel API with your account’s full permissions. Created and revoked in Preferences. |
| Mounted drive (WebDAV) | A beta way to mount Pixwel as a read-only network drive and browse studios, projects, assets, and files as folders — for syncing and automation. See Mounted Drive (WebDAV). |
| Download Manager | The panel listing your download history where you can pause, resume, cancel, and search transfers. See Downloading files. |
| AE Collect | Source material provided to Pixwel and passed straight to the localization vendor via shared Aspera accounts, in an AE COLLECT folder. See Localization vendors. |
| Translation fonts | The fonts (face and point size) used to render a language’s text — separate sets for subtitles and for localized graphics (GFX) — configured per language, optionally per studio, on the Admin Dashboard. |
Reference
Glossary
Definitions of the core Pixwel terms — projects, assets, files, and the localization and distribution concepts around them.
The terms used throughout Pixwel and these docs.