Mercurial > mplayer.hg
annotate DOCS/formats.html @ 6145:26cb8736927b
Gui and 64-bit issues patch from Gui and 64-bit issues
| author | pontscho |
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| date | Mon, 20 May 2002 13:39:23 +0000 |
| parents | 63967701d295 |
| children | 741712dcfa0d |
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| 2745 | 1 <HTML> |
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4 <STYLE> |
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5 .text |
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6 {font-family : Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; |
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8 </STYLE> |
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| 2745 | 11 <BODY BGCOLOR=WHITE> |
| 12 | |
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13 <FONT CLASS="text"> |
| 2745 | 14 |
| 15 <P><B><A NAME=2.1>2.1. Supported formats</A></B></P> | |
| 16 | |
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17 <P>It is important to clarify a common mistake. When people see a file with a |
| 5395 | 18 <B>.AVI</B> extension, they immediately conclude that it is not an MPEG file. |
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19 That is not true. At least not entirely. Contrary to popular belief such a file |
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20 <B>can</B> contain MPEG1 video.</P> |
| 2745 | 21 |
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22 <P>You see, a <B>codec</B> is not the same as a <B>file format</B>.<BR> |
| 5395 | 23 Examples of video <B>codecs</B> are: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX, Indeo5, 3ivx.<BR> |
| 24 Examples of file <B>formats</B> are: MPG, AVI, ASF.<BR> | |
| 2745 | 25 </P> |
| 26 | |
| 5395 | 27 <P>In theory, you can put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio |
| 28 into an <B>MPG</B> format file. However, most players will not play it, since | |
| 29 they expect MPEG1 video and MP2 audio (unlike <B>AVI</B>, <B>MPG</B> does not have the | |
| 30 necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams). | |
| 31 Or you might put MPEG1 video into an AVI file. <A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">FFmpeg</A> | |
| 4177 | 32 and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A> can create these files.</P> |
| 2745 | 33 |
| 34 | |
| 35 | |
| 36 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1>2.1.1. Video formats</A></B></P> | |
| 37 | |
| 38 | |
| 2865 | 39 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.1>2.1.1.1. MPEG files</A></B></P> |
| 2745 | 40 |
| 5395 | 41 <P>MPEG files come in different guises:</P> |
| 42 | |
| 43 <UL> | |
| 44 <LI>MPG: This is the most <B>basic</B> form of the MPEG file formats. It contains | |
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45 MPEG1 video, and MP2 (MPEG-1 layer 2) or rarely MP1 audio.</LI> |
| 5395 | 46 <LI>DAT: This is the very same format as MPG with a different extension. It is used |
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47 on <B>Video CD</B>s. Due to the way VCDs are created and Linux is designed, |
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48 the DAT files cannot be played nor copied from VCDs as regular files. You have |
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49 to use the <CODE>-vcd</CODE> option to play the Video CD.</LI> |
| 5395 | 50 <LI>VOB: This is the MPEG file format on <B>DVD</B>s. It is the same as MPG, plus the |
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51 capability to contain subtitles or non-MPEG (AC3) audio. It contains encoded MPEG2 |
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52 video and usually AC3 audio, but DTS, MP2 and uncompressed LPCM are allowed, too.<BR> |
| 2865 | 53 <B>Read the <A HREF="cd-dvd.html#4.2">DVD section</A> !</B></LI> |
| 5395 | 54 </UL> |
| 2745 | 55 |
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56 <P>Series of frames form independent groups in MPEG files. This means that you |
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57 can cut/join an MPEG file with standard file tools (like dd, cut), and it |
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58 remains completely functional.</P> |
| 2865 | 59 |
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60 <P>One important feature of MPGs is that they have a field to describe |
| 2761 | 61 the aspect ratio of the video stream within. For example SVCDs have |
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62 480x480 resolution video, and in the header that field is set to 4:3, so that |
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63 it is played at 640x480. AVI files do not have this field, so they have to be |
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64 rescaled during encoding or played with the <CODE>-aspect</CODE> option.</P> |
| 2761 | 65 |
| 2745 | 66 |
| 67 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.2>2.1.1.2. AVI files</A></B></P> | |
| 68 | |
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69 <P>Designed by Micro$oft, <B>AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</B> is a |
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70 widespread multipurpose format currently used mostly for DivX and DivX4 |
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71 video. It has many known drawbacks and shortcomings (for example in streaming). |
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72 It supports one video stream and 0 to 99 audio streams and can be as big as |
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73 2GB. There exists an extension allowing bigger files called <B>OpenDMS</B>. |
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74 M$ currently strongly discourages its use and encourages ASF/WMV. Not that |
| 2745 | 75 anybody cares.<BR> |
| 5444 | 76 |
| 77 <P>There is a hack for AVI files that enhances them to contain Ogg Vorbis audio | |
| 78 stream, but makes them incompatible with standard AVI. <B>MPlayer</B> | |
| 79 supports playing these files, though seeking is currently unimplemented.</P> | |
| 80 | |
| 5395 | 81 <B>NOTE:</B> DV cameras can create two types of AVI formats. One is common and |
| 2745 | 82 playable, the other is neither.</P> |
| 83 | |
| 5395 | 84 <P>There are two kinds of AVI files:</P> |
| 2865 | 85 <UL> |
| 5395 | 86 <LI><B>Interleaved:</B> Audio and video content is interleaved. This is the |
| 2865 | 87 standard usage. Recommended and mostly used. Some tools create interleaved |
| 88 AVIs with bad sync. <B>MPlayer</B> detects these as interleaved, and this | |
| 89 climaxes in loss of A/V sync, probably at seeking. These files should be | |
| 90 played as non-interleaved (with the <CODE>-ni</CODE> option).</LI> | |
| 5395 | 91 <LI><B>Non-interleaved:</B> First comes the whole video stream, then the whole |
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92 audio stream. It thus needs a lot of seeking, making playing from network or |
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93 CD-Rom difficult.</LI> |
| 2865 | 94 </UL> |
| 95 | |
| 5395 | 96 <P><B>MPlayer</B> supports two kinds of timings for AVI files:</P> |
| 2865 | 97 <UL> |
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98 <LI><B>bps-based</B>: It is based on the bitrate/samplerate of the video/audio stream. This |
| 5395 | 99 method is used by most players, including <A HREF="http://avifile.sourceforge.net">avifile</A> |
| 100 and windows media player. | |
| 2865 | 101 Files with broken headers, and files created with VBR audio but not |
| 102 VBR-compliant encoder will result in A/V desync with this method (mostly at | |
| 103 seeking).</LI> | |
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104 <LI><B>interleaving-based</B>: It does not use the bitrate value of the header, instead |
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105 it uses the relative position of interleaved audio and video chunks, making |
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106 badly encoded files with VBR audio playable.</LI> |
| 2865 | 107 </UL> |
| 108 | |
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109 <P>Any audio and video codec is allowed, but note that VBR audio is not well |
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110 supported by most players. The file format makes it possible to use VBR |
| 2865 | 111 audio, but most players expect CBR audio, thus they fail with VBR. VBR is |
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112 uncommon and Microsoft's AVI specs only describe CBR audio. I also noticed that |
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113 most AVI encoders/multiplexers create bad files when using VBR audio. There are only |
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114 two exceptions (known to me): NaNDub and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A>.</P> |
| 2865 | 115 |
| 2745 | 116 |
| 117 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.3>2.1.1.3. ASF/WMV files</A></B></P> | |
| 118 | |
| 2865 | 119 <P>ASF (active streaming format) comes from Microsoft. They developed two |
| 120 variants of ASF, v1.0 and v2.0. v1.0 is used by their media tools (windows | |
| 121 media player and windows media encoder) and is very secret. v2.0 is published | |
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122 and patented :). Of course they differ, there is no compatibility at all (it is |
| 2865 | 123 just another legal game). <B>MPlayer</B> supports only v1.0, as nobody has ever seen |
| 5395 | 124 v2.0 files :). Note that ASF files nowadays come with the extension .WMA or |
| 2865 | 125 .WMV.</P> |
| 2745 | 126 |
| 127 | |
| 2865 | 128 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.4>2.1.1.4. QuickTime/MOV files</A></B></P> |
| 129 | |
| 5395 | 130 <P>These formats were designed by Apple. They usually have a .QT or .MOV extension. Note |
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131 that since the MPEG4 group chose QuickTime as the recommended file format |
| 5395 | 132 for MPEG4, their MOV files come with a .MPG or .MP4 extension (Interestingly |
| 133 the video and audio streams in these files are real MPG and AAC files. With the | |
| 134 <CODE>-dumpvideo</CODE> and <CODE>-dumpaudio</CODE> options you can even extract them!).</P> | |
| 2745 | 135 |
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136 <P><B>Codecs</B>: Any codec is allowed, both CBR and VBR. Note: most new QuickTime files use |
| 5395 | 137 <B>Sorensen</B> video and QDesign Music audio. These formats have not been |
| 138 disclosed and will probably remain so in the future, making Apple's QuickTime | |
| 139 player the only player able to play these files (on Windows/Mac OS only).</P> | |
| 2865 | 140 |
| 2745 | 141 |
| 142 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.5>2.1.1.5. VIV files</A></B></P> | |
| 143 | |
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144 <P><B>MPlayer</B> happily demuxes VIVO file formats. The biggest disadvantage of |
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145 the format is that it has no index block, nor a fixed packet size or sync bytes |
| 2865 | 146 and most files lack even keyframes, so forget seeking!</P> |
| 147 | |
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148 <P>The video codec of VIVO/1.0 files is standard <B>h.263</B>. The video codec |
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149 of VIVO/2.0 files is a modified, nonstandard <B>h.263v2</B>. The audio is the same, |
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150 it may be <B>g.723</B> (standard), or <B>Vivo Siren</B>.</P> |
| 2865 | 151 |
| 5395 | 152 <P>See the <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.1.4">VIVO video codec</A> |
| 153 and <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.2.4">VIVO audio codec</A> sections for installation | |
| 2855 | 154 instructions.</P> |
| 2745 | 155 |
| 156 | |
| 3806 | 157 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.6>2.1.1.6. FLI files</A></B></P> |
| 158 | |
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159 <P><B>FLI</B> is a very old file format used by Autodesk Animator, but it is |
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160 a common file format for short animations on the net. <B>MPlayer</B> demuxes |
| 3806 | 161 and decodes FLI movies and is even able to seek within them (useful when |
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162 looping with the <CODE>-loop</CODE> option). FLI files do not have keyframes, so the picture |
| 3806 | 163 will be messy for a short time after seeking.</P> |
| 164 | |
| 165 | |
| 166 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.7>2.1.1.7. RealMedia (RM) files</A></B></P> | |
| 167 | |
| 5094 | 168 <P>Yes, <B>MPlayer</B> can read (demux) RealMedia (.rm) files. Seeking works |
| 169 (the format supports keyframes). Here are the lists of the supported | |
| 170 <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.1.8">RealVideo</A> | |
| 3806 | 171 and <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.2.5">RealAudio</A> codecs. |
| 172 | |
| 173 | |
| 3816 | 174 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.8>2.1.1.8. NuppelVideo files</A></B></P> |
| 175 | |
| 176 <P><A HREF="http://mars.tuwien.ac.at/~roman/nuppelvideo">NuppelVideo</A> | |
| 5395 | 177 is a TV grabber tool (AFAIK:). <B>MPlayer</B> can read its .NUV |
| 3816 | 178 files (only NuppelVideo 5.0). Those files can contain uncompressed YV12, |
| 179 YV12+RTJpeg compressed, YV12 RTJpeg+lzo compressed, and YV12+lzo compressed | |
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180 frames. <B>MPlayer</B> decodes (and also <B>encodes</B> them with MEncoder to |
| 5958 | 181 DivX/etc!) them all. Seeking works.</P> |
| 3816 | 182 |
| 183 | |
| 3818 | 184 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.9>2.1.1.9. yuv4mpeg files</A></B></P> |
| 185 | |
| 186 <P><A HREF="http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net">yuv4mpeg / yuv4mpeg2</A> is | |
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187 a file format used by the <A HREF="http://mjpeg.sf.net">mjpegtools programs</A>. |
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"sok ize, mutyur, bizbasz." --Gabucino, Feb 12 23:39:36 2002
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188 You can grab, produce, filter or encode video in this format using these. |
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189 The file format is really a sequence of uncompressed YUV 4:2:0 images. |
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190 </P> |
| 3818 | 191 |
| 192 | |
| 4339 | 193 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.10>2.1.1.10. FILM files</A></B></P> |
| 194 | |
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195 <P>This format is used on old Sega Saturn CD-Rom games.</P> |
| 4339 | 196 |
| 197 | |
| 4503 | 198 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.11>2.1.1.11. RoQ files</A></B></P> |
| 199 | |
| 4584 | 200 <P>RoQ files are multimedia files used in some ID games such as Quake III and |
| 201 Return to Castle Wolfenstein.</P> | |
| 4503 | 202 |
| 203 | |
| 5860 | 204 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.12>2.1.1.12. OGG files</A></B></P> |
| 205 | |
| 206 <P>This is a new fileformat from Xiphophorus, developed to contain Vorbis | |
| 207 audio. You'll need <CODE>libogg</CODE> and <CODE>libvorbis</CODE> installed | |
| 5959 | 208 before compiling <B>MPlayer</B> to be able to play it.</P> |
| 5860 | 209 |
| 210 | |
| 2745 | 211 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2>2.1.2. Audio formats</A></B></P> |
| 212 | |
| 5378 | 213 <P><B>MPlayer</B> is a <B>Movie</B> and not a <B>Media</B> player, although |
| 214 it can play some audio file formats (they are listed in the sections below). | |
| 215 This is not a recommended usage of <B>MPlayer</B>, you better use | |
| 216 <A HREF="http://www.xmms.org">xmms</A>.</P> | |
| 217 | |
| 218 | |
| 219 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.1>2.1.2.1. MP3 files</A></B></P> | |
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220 |
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221 <P>You may have problems playing certain MP3 files that <B>MPlayer</B> will |
| 5378 | 222 misdetect as MPEGs and play incorrectly or not at all. This cannot be fixed |
| 223 without dropping support for certain broken MPEG files and thus will remain | |
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224 like this for the foreseeable future. The <CODE>-demuxer</CODE> flag described |
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225 in the manpage may help you in these cases.</P> |
| 2745 | 226 |
| 5378 | 227 |
| 228 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.2>2.1.2.2. WAV files</A></B></P> | |
| 229 | |
| 230 | |
| 231 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.3>2.1.2.3. OGG files (Vorbis)</A></B></P> | |
| 232 | |
| 5860 | 233 <P>Requires properly installed <CODE>libogg</CODE> and |
| 234 <CODE>libvorbis</CODE>.</P> | |
| 5378 | 235 |
| 236 | |
| 237 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.4>2.1.2.4. WMA/ASF files</A></B></P> | |
| 238 | |
| 239 | |
| 240 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.5>2.1.2.5. MP4 files</A></B></P> | |
| 241 | |
| 2745 | 242 </BODY> |
| 243 </HTML> |