A method and an apparatus for retrieving information for managing video data involving link information associating metadata with the video data. A metadata indicator is used to indicate that metadata exists in a stream with the linking information. Link information also associates the metadata with location information to identify where additional information on the video data, which is described by the metadata, may be found. Using the method or apparatus, a single metadata unit is able to be associated with a plurality of video data units, or a plurality of metadata units are able to be associated with a single video data unit, in order to provide more information on the video data.