diff --git a/vrs/RecordFormat.cpp b/vrs/RecordFormat.cpp
index f9acc4fd..697b5816 100644
--- a/vrs/RecordFormat.cpp
+++ b/vrs/RecordFormat.cpp
@@ -336,6 +336,17 @@ void ImageContentBlockSpec::clear() {
   codecQuality_ = kQualityUndefined;
 }
 
+ImageContentBlockSpec ImageContentBlockSpec::core() const {
+  return {
+      imageFormat_,
+      pixelFormat_,
+      width_,
+      height_,
+      stride_ > 0 && stride_ != getDefaultStride() ? stride_ : 0,
+      stride2_ > 0 && stride2_ != getDefaultStride2() ? stride2_ : 0,
+      codecName_};
+}
+
 bool ImageContentBlockSpec::operator==(const ImageContentBlockSpec& rhs) const {
   auto tie = [](const ImageContentBlockSpec& v) {
     return std::tie(
diff --git a/vrs/RecordFormat.h b/vrs/RecordFormat.h
index ef98e721..a17d6e1c 100644
--- a/vrs/RecordFormat.h
+++ b/vrs/RecordFormat.h
@@ -192,7 +192,11 @@ class ImageContentBlockSpec {
   /// Clear/reset object to default values.
   void clear();
 
-  /// Convert to string, to store on disk & reconstruct later using factory constructor. @internal
+  /// Return base of format (no codec quality nor key frame info)
+  ImageContentBlockSpec core() const;
+
+  /// Convert to string, to store on disk & reconstruct later using factory constructor.
+  /// @internal
   string asString() const;
 
   /// Get the number of bytes for this content block, or ContentBlock::kSizeUnknown.