ISO/IEC 14496-27:2009 specifies how tests can be designed to verify whether compressed data (i.e. bitstreams) and decoders meet the requirements for the synthetic 3D graphics tools specified in ISO/IEC 14496‑11:2005, ISO/IEC 14496‑16:2006, ISO/IEC 14496‑21:2006, and ISO/IEC 14496‑25:2009.

ISO/IEC 14496-27:2009 does not specifically address encoders. As far as synthetic 3D graphics are concerned, an encoder can be said to be an ISO/IEC 14496 encoder if it generates compressed data compliant with the syntactic and semantic bitstream payload requirements specified in ISO/IEC 14496‑11, ISO/IEC 14496‑16, ISO/IEC 14496‑21, and ISO/IEC 14496‑25.

Characteristics of coded bitstreams and decoders are defined for ISO/IEC 14496‑11, ISO/IEC 14496‑16, ISO/IEC 14496‑21, and ISO/IEC 14496‑25. The characteristics of a bitstream define the subset of the standard that is exploited in the bitstream. Examples are the applied values or range of the bitrate. Decoder characteristics define the properties and capabilities of the applied decoding process. An example of a property is the applied arithmetic accuracy. The capabilities of a decoder specify which coded bitstreams the decoder can decode and reconstruct, by defining the subset of the standard that may be exploited in decodable bitstreams. A bitstream can be decoded by a decoder if the characteristics of the coded bitstream are within the subset of the normative references.

ISO/IEC 14496-27:2009 describes procedures for testing conformance of compressed data and decoders to the requirements defined in ISO/IEC 14496‑11, ISO/IEC 14496‑16, ISO/IEC 14496‑21, and ISO/IEC 14496‑25; given the set of characteristics claimed, the requirements that shall be met are fully determined by these parts.

ISO/IEC 14496-27:2009 summarizes the requirements, cross references them to characteristics, and defines how conformance with them can be tested. Guidelines are given on constructing tests to verify decoder conformance.