A manifest refers to a text file that describes other files that can be fetched as part of Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABR). A master manifest describes a list of rendition manifests along with the resolution, bitrate, and other details of each rendition. A rendition manifest describes a list of segments or fragments of video and audio data.
Common manifest formats in include HLS (.m3u8) and MPEG-DASH (.mpd).