VAST macros / Identity and privacy
[IFATYPE] VAST macro
Short answer: The type of advertising identifier carried in [IFA] (e.g. idfa, aaid, rida). Introduced in VAST 4.1.
What it means
Names the source of the [IFA] value so the receiver knows how to interpret it: for example idfa, aaid, rida (Roku), tifa (Samsung), or sessionid for session-scoped IDs.
Example value
After the player substitutes the macro, [IFATYPE] becomes something like:
idfaWhere it is valid
Paired with [IFA] in impression, tracking, and click URLs.
Macros are case-sensitive and substituted only inside URL fields. A macro written in the wrong case, or placed where it has no defined value, is sent to the server as literal text instead of a value.
Using it in a tag
<Impression><![CDATA[https://t.example.com/i?val=[IFATYPE]&cb=[CACHEBUSTING]]]></Impression>VAST XML fragment only. This excerpt belongs inside a complete VAST document, so standalone validation will fail until it is wrapped in a full <VAST>response.
Related vastlint rules
- VAST-2.0-macro-unknown: URL contains a [MACRO] that is not a recognised IAB VAST macro
- VAST-2.0-macro-lowercase: Recognised macro is not uppercase — players match macro names case-sensitively
Related macros
- [IFA]: The device advertising identifier (IDFA, AAID, or CTV ad ID) for the request.
- [LIMITADTRACKING]: Whether the user has enabled limit ad tracking (1) or not (0).
Validate your macros
vastlint flags unknown, mis-cased, deprecated, out-of-context, and unencoded macros in any tracking, click, error, impression, or media URL:
# CLI: exits non-zero on errors, ideal for pipelines
vastlint check creative.xmlUse the right tool for this failure
If you already have the resolved XML, run a pure spec check. If you only have a live tag URL, test that endpoint first. If the failure happens in the wrapper chain, inspect each hop.