MTP is a key part of WMDRM10-PD,[1] a digital rights management (DRM) service for the Windows Media platform.
This lets the MTP device take part in the high level operations (such as updating its metadata indexes) while keeping the integrity of its file system in its own hands.
According to its specification, the main purpose of MTP is to facilitate communication between media devices with transient connection.
In particular, MTP Initiators may have to provide passwords and other information to unlock files, or otherwise enable digital rights management.
MTPZ, the Zune Extension to MTP, specifically denies access to files until authentication has been processed, which is only possible using Windows Media Player 10 or higher.
(-) Windows does not assign drive letters or UNC paths to MTP devices because it does not natively expose them as virtual file systems.
Without drive letters or UNC paths, MTP-unaware software cannot access directories or files on these devices.
[13] Libmtp includes vast listings of vendor and product ID numbers of devices that it supports, along with workarounds for bugs.
Auto Sync is customizable so that the player will transfer only content that meets certain criteria (songs rated four stars or higher, for instance).
[19] In the implementation of MTP used by Windows Explorer, files from a selection moved out of a mobile device's storage, perhaps with the goal of freeing up space, are not deleted individually from the source after each file, but instead the entire selection becomes deleted at once from the source only after the transfer has finished.
As a result, file moves aborted untimely, whether manually or unexpectedly, will not have freed up any space on the source device.
[22] This library incorporates product and device IDs from many sources,[14] and is commonly used in other software for MTP support.
[26] The KDE Project develops the MTP KIO Slave with a similar level of integration as GVfs.
[34][35] Companies, including Creative Technology, Intel, iriver, and Samsung Electronics, that manufacture devices based on Microsoft's "Portable Media Center specification", have widely adopted MTP.