Abstract: A method for requesting metadata which is contained in a data stream and an associated device for executing the method are designed to allow a particularly efficient and time-saving request of the data and, particularly in the case of a frequently or repeatedly required subset of the metadata contained in the data stream, to reduce or even minimize the required access time. This problem is improved upon or even solved in accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention by extracting at least a part of the metadata from the incoming data stream and copying it into a metadata storage during a preparation phase, and by storing the data stream in a data stream storage.