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1 <HTML>
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2 <BODY BGCOLOR=WHITE>
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4 <FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>
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5
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6
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7 <P><B><A NAME=2.1>2.1. Supported formats</A></B></P>
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8
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9 <P><B>MPlayer</B> can read/play from the following devices/formats:<BR>
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10 <UL>
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11 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.1">VCD</A> (Video CD) directly from CD-ROM or from CDRwin's .bin image file
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12 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.1">DVD</A>, directly from your DVD disk, using libdvdread for decryption
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13 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.1">MPEG 1/2</A> System Stream (PS/PES/VOB) and Elementary Stream (ES) file
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14 formats
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15 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.2">RIFF AVI</A> file format
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16 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.3">ASF/WMV</A> 1.0 file format
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17 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.4">QT/MOV</A> file format with (un)compressed headers
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18 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.5">VIVO</A> format (.viv files)
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19 <LI> supports <A HREF="documentation.html#3.3">reading from stdin</A>, or network via HTTP
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20 </UL></P>
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21
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22 <P>Note: about realmedia (.ra/.rm) support read the FAQ!</P>
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23
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24 <P>It's important to clarify a popular mistake. When people see a file with
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25 <B>.AVI</B> extension, they instantly declare that isn't an MPEG file.
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26 That's not true. At least not entirely. If you tell them that such a file
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27 can contain MPEG1 video, they laugh at you. Feel free to kick their dumbass
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28 faces, then tell them to RTFM.</P>
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29
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30 <P>You see, a <B>codec</B> isn't equal to a <B>file format</B>.<BR>
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31 Video <B>codecs</B> are: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX, Indeo5, 3ivx.<BR>
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32 Video <B>formats</B> are: MPG, VOB, AVI, ASF.<BR>
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33 </P>
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34
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35 <P>In theory, you can happily put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio
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36 into a <B>.MPG</B> format file. Though most players won't play it, since
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37 they expect MPEG1 video and MP2 audio (<B>.MPG</B> doesn't have the
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38 necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams, like <B>.AVI</B>
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39 does). Or put MPEG1 video to an .AVI. For example <A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">ffmpeg</A> can
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40 create these files.</P>
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41
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42 <P>Audio <B>codecs</B> and <B>formats</B> are basically the same terms.</P>
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43
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44
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45 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1>2.1.1. Video formats</A></B></P>
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46
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47
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48 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.1>2.1.1.1. MPG, VOB, DAT files</A></B></P>
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49
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50 <P>
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51 <LI>MPG : this is the most <B>basic</B> form of MPEG file formats. Contains
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52 MPEG1 video, and MP2 audio.</LI>
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53 <LI>VOB : this is the MPEG file format on <B>DVD</B>s. Contains optionally
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54 encoded MPEG2 video, and usually AC3 audio.<BR>
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55 <B>Read the <A HREF="cd-dvd.html#4.2">DVD section</A> !</B></LI>
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56 <LI>DAT : this is the MPEG file format on <B>Video CD</B>s. It's the same
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57 as the MPG, but due to the nature VCDs are created and Linux is designed,
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58 the DAT files can't be played nor copied from VCDs. You have to use the
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59 <CODE>-vcd</CODE> option to play the VideoCD.</LI>
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60 </P>
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61
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62 <P>One important feature for MPGs is that they have a field to describe
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63 the aspect ratio of the video stream within. For example SVCDs have
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64 480x480 resolution video, and in the header that field is set to 4:3, so
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65 it's played at 640x480. AVI files don't have this field, so one has to
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66 scale it during encoding.</P>
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67
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68
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69 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.2>2.1.1.2. AVI files</A></B></P>
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70
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71 <P>Designed by Micro$oft, the <B>AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</B> is a
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72 widespread multipurpose format, currently used mostly for DivX and DivX4
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73 videos. Has many known drawbacks, and inabilities (for example in streaming).
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74 Has support for one video stream, and 99 audio streams. Can be as big as
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75 2Gb. There exists an extension for it to be bigger, called <B>OpenDMS</B>.
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76 M$ currently strongly discourages its use and propagates ASF/WMV. Not if
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77 anybody cares.<BR>
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78 <B>NOTE</B> : DV cameras can create two types of AVI format, one is the usual and
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79 playable, the other is neither.</P>
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80
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81
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82 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.3>2.1.1.3. ASF/WMV files</A></B></P>
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83
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84 <P>ASF is a new very undocumented fileformat from M$, and WMV is its
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85 successor. They are very commercial, and anyone who writes an opensource
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86 parser for them, soon meets certain doom. While creating the parser, it
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87 was obvious to see how bulky, shit, and unusable they are. Not if anybody
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88 would expect something else from M$.
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89
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90
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91 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.4>2.1.1.4. QT/MOV files</A></B></P>
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92
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93 <P>They are Apple's formats. Not much to say, basically well designed,
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94 multipurpose, streamable, many features etc. Kinda hard to find documentation,
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95 but we think the parser is perfect.
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96
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97 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.5>2.1.1.5. VIV files</A></B></P>
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98
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99 <P>Hey this is new code in <B>MPlayer</B>, be gentle! Seeking is
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100 currently nonexistent, audio too. TODO : complete this section.</P>
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101
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102
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103 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2>2.1.2. Audio formats</A></B></P>
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104
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105 <P>Currently <B>MPlayer</B> is still a <B>Movie</B> and not a <B>Media</B>
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106 player, thus the pure audio formats (for example MP3, WAV, audio ASF) are
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107 unplayable. Use <A HREF="http://www.xmms.org">xmms</A>, <A HREF="http://www.mpg123.de">mpg123</A>
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108 or whatever.</P>
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109
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110 </BODY>
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111 </HTML>
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