Mercurial > mplayer.hg
annotate DOCS/formats.html @ 4513:2e3800da1ceb
Switched from libmp1e to libavcodec, at least for me it runs helluva lot faster than libmp1e
(high quality divx movies that before ran very poor now plays perfectly). Also includes some
minor fixes to the osd support. Since libmp1e has issues with non-mmx system I think this move
is a smart one...
| author | mswitch |
|---|---|
| date | Sun, 03 Feb 2002 14:55:27 +0000 |
| parents | 0ae360217690 |
| children | f6a0e7c2fd0f |
| rev | line source |
|---|---|
| 2745 | 1 <HTML> |
| 2 <BODY BGCOLOR=WHITE> | |
| 3 | |
| 4 <FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 <P><B><A NAME=2.1>2.1. Supported formats</A></B></P> | |
| 8 | |
| 9 <P><B>MPlayer</B> can read/play from the following devices/formats:<BR> | |
| 10 <UL> | |
| 11 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.1">VCD</A> (Video CD) directly from CD-ROM or from CDRwin's .bin image file | |
| 12 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.1">DVD</A>, directly from your DVD disk, using libdvdread for decryption | |
| 13 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.1">MPEG 1/2</A> System Stream (PS/PES/VOB) and Elementary Stream (ES) file | |
| 14 formats | |
| 15 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.2">RIFF AVI</A> file format | |
| 16 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.3">ASF/WMV</A> 1.0 file format | |
| 17 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.4">QT/MOV</A> file format with (un)compressed headers | |
| 18 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.5">VIVO</A> format (.viv files) | |
| 3806 | 19 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.6">FLI</A> format |
| 20 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.7">RealMedia</A> format (.rm files) | |
| 3816 | 21 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.8">NuppelVideo</A> format (.nuv files) |
| 3818 | 22 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.9">yuv4mpeg</A> format |
| 4339 | 23 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.10">FILM</A> format |
| 4503 | 24 <LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.11">RoQ</A> format |
| 2761 | 25 <LI> supports <A HREF="documentation.html#3.3">reading from stdin</A>, or network via HTTP |
| 2745 | 26 </UL></P> |
| 27 | |
| 28 <P>It's important to clarify a popular mistake. When people see a file with | |
| 29 <B>.AVI</B> extension, they instantly declare that isn't an MPEG file. | |
| 30 That's not true. At least not entirely. If you tell them that such a file | |
| 31 can contain MPEG1 video, they laugh at you. Feel free to kick their dumbass | |
| 32 faces, then tell them to RTFM.</P> | |
| 33 | |
| 34 <P>You see, a <B>codec</B> isn't equal to a <B>file format</B>.<BR> | |
| 35 Video <B>codecs</B> are: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX, Indeo5, 3ivx.<BR> | |
| 2865 | 36 Video <B>formats</B> are: MPG, AVI, ASF.<BR> |
| 2745 | 37 </P> |
| 38 | |
| 39 <P>In theory, you can happily put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio | |
| 40 into a <B>.MPG</B> format file. Though most players won't play it, since | |
| 41 they expect MPEG1 video and MP2 audio (<B>.MPG</B> doesn't have the | |
| 42 necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams, like <B>.AVI</B> | |
| 4177 | 43 does). Or put MPEG1 video to an .AVI. For example <A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">ffmpeg</A> |
| 44 and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A> can create these files.</P> | |
| 2745 | 45 |
| 46 <P>Audio <B>codecs</B> and <B>formats</B> are basically the same terms.</P> | |
| 47 | |
| 48 | |
| 49 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1>2.1.1. Video formats</A></B></P> | |
| 50 | |
| 51 | |
| 2865 | 52 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.1>2.1.1.1. MPEG files</A></B></P> |
| 2745 | 53 |
| 54 <P> | |
| 55 <LI>MPG : this is the most <B>basic</B> form of MPEG file formats. Contains | |
| 2865 | 56 MPEG1 video, and MP2 (MPEG-1 layer 2) audio, or rarely MP1.</LI> |
| 57 <LI>DAT : this is the very same format as MPG, just different extension. Used | |
| 58 on <B>Video CD</B>s. Due to the nature VCDs are created and Linux is designed, | |
| 2745 | 59 the DAT files can't be played nor copied from VCDs. You have to use the |
| 60 <CODE>-vcd</CODE> option to play the VideoCD.</LI> | |
| 2865 | 61 <LI>VOB : this is the MPEG file format on <B>DVD</B>s. The same as MPG, plus |
| 62 capability to contain subtitles, or non-MPEG (AC3) audio. Contains encoded MPEG2 | |
| 63 video, and usually AC3 audio, but MP2 is allowed too.<BR> | |
| 64 <B>Read the <A HREF="cd-dvd.html#4.2">DVD section</A> !</B></LI> | |
| 2745 | 65 </P> |
| 66 | |
| 2865 | 67 <P>In MPEG files, series of frames are grouped together, and are independent |
| 68 from the other groups. What this means is you can cut/join an MPEG file with | |
| 69 standard file-tools (like dd, cut), and it remains completely functional.</P> | |
| 70 | |
| 2761 | 71 <P>One important feature for MPGs is that they have a field to describe |
| 72 the aspect ratio of the video stream within. For example SVCDs have | |
| 73 480x480 resolution video, and in the header that field is set to 4:3, so | |
| 74 it's played at 640x480. AVI files don't have this field, so one has to | |
| 2865 | 75 rescale it during encoding.</P> |
| 2761 | 76 |
| 2745 | 77 |
| 78 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.2>2.1.1.2. AVI files</A></B></P> | |
| 79 | |
| 80 <P>Designed by Micro$oft, the <B>AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</B> is a | |
| 81 widespread multipurpose format, currently used mostly for DivX and DivX4 | |
| 82 videos. Has many known drawbacks, and inabilities (for example in streaming). | |
| 83 Has support for one video stream, and 99 audio streams. Can be as big as | |
| 84 2Gb. There exists an extension for it to be bigger, called <B>OpenDMS</B>. | |
| 2761 | 85 M$ currently strongly discourages its use and propagates ASF/WMV. Not if |
| 2745 | 86 anybody cares.<BR> |
| 87 <B>NOTE</B> : DV cameras can create two types of AVI format, one is the usual and | |
| 88 playable, the other is neither.</P> | |
| 89 | |
| 2865 | 90 <P>There are two kinds of AVI files: |
| 91 <UL> | |
| 92 <LI><B>Interleaved</B> : audio and video content is interleaved. This is the | |
| 93 standard usage. Recommended and mostly used. Some tools create interleaved | |
| 94 AVIs with bad sync. <B>MPlayer</B> detects these as interleaved, and this | |
| 95 climaxes in loss of A/V sync, probably at seeking. These files should be | |
| 96 played as non-interleaved (with the <CODE>-ni</CODE> option).</LI> | |
| 97 <LI><B>Non-interleaved</B> : bad. First come the whole video stream, then the whole | |
| 98 audio stream, thus needs a lot of seeking. It's very bad when playing from | |
| 99 network or CDROM.</LI> | |
| 100 </UL> | |
| 101 </P> | |
| 102 | |
| 103 <P>MPlayer supports 2 kind of timing for AVI files: | |
| 104 <UL> | |
| 105 <LI><B>bps-based</B> : it is based on bitrate/samplerate of video/audio stream. This | |
| 106 method is used by most players, including avifile and windows media player. | |
| 107 Files with broken headers, and files created with VBR audio but not | |
| 108 VBR-compliant encoder will result in A/V desync with this method (mostly at | |
| 109 seeking).</LI> | |
| 110 <LI><B>interleaving-based</B> : it doesn't use bitrate value of the header, instead | |
| 111 it uses the relative position of interleaved audio and video chunks. Makes | |
| 112 some badly encoded file with VBR audio playable.</LI> | |
| 113 </UL> | |
| 114 </P> | |
| 115 | |
| 116 <P>Any audio and video codec is allowed, but note that VBR audio isn't well | |
| 117 supported by most of the players. The file format makes it possible to use VBR | |
| 118 audio, but most players expect CBR audio, thus they fail with VBR. VBR is | |
| 119 unusual, and Microsoft's AVI specs only describe CBR audio. I also note, that | |
| 3027 | 120 most AVI encoders/multiplexers create bad files if using VBR audio. Only 2 |
| 2865 | 121 exception (known by me): NaNDub and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A>.</P> |
| 122 | |
| 2745 | 123 |
| 124 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.3>2.1.1.3. ASF/WMV files</A></B></P> | |
| 125 | |
| 2865 | 126 <P>ASF (active streaming format) comes from Microsoft. They developed two |
| 127 variants of ASF, v1.0 and v2.0. v1.0 is used by their media tools (windows | |
| 128 media player and windows media encoder) and is very secret. v2.0 is published | |
| 129 and patented :). Of course they differ, there is no compatibility at all (it's | |
| 130 just another legal game). <B>MPlayer</B> supports only v1.0, as nobody has ever seen | |
| 131 v2.0 files :) . Note, that .ASF files nowdays come with the extension .WMA or | |
| 132 .WMV.</P> | |
| 2745 | 133 |
| 134 | |
| 2865 | 135 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.4>2.1.1.4. QuickTime/MOV files</A></B></P> |
| 136 | |
| 137 <P>These are from Macintosh. Usually have extensions of .QT or .MOV . Note | |
| 138 that since the MPEG4 Group chose QuickTime as the recommended file format | |
| 3027 | 139 for MPEG4, their .MOV files come with .MPG or .MP4 extension (interesting |
| 140 that in these files the video stream is a real .MPG file. With the | |
| 141 <CODE>-dumpvideo</CODE> option you can even extract it.).</P> | |
| 2745 | 142 |
| 2865 | 143 <P><B>Codecs</B>: any codecs allowed, both CBR and VBR. Note: most new mov files use |
| 144 <B>Sorenson</B> video and QDesign Music audio. These formats are completely | |
| 145 secret, and only Apple's quicktime player is able to play these files (on | |
| 146 win/mac only).</P> | |
| 147 | |
| 2745 | 148 |
| 149 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.5>2.1.1.5. VIV files</A></B></P> | |
| 150 | |
| 2865 | 151 <P><B>MPlayer</B> happily demuxes VIVO file formats. The format's big |
| 152 disadvantage is that it has no index block, nor fixed packetsize or sync bytes, | |
| 153 and most files lack even keyframes, so forget seeking!</P> | |
| 154 | |
| 155 <P>VIVO/1.0 files' video codec is standard <B>h.263</B> . The VIVO/2.0 files' | |
| 156 video codec is a modified, nonstandard <B>h.263</B> . Audio is the same, | |
| 157 it may be <B>g.723</B> (standard), or <B>Vivo Siren</B> .</P> | |
| 158 | |
| 159 <P>See the <A HREF=codecs.html#2.2.1.4>VIVO video codec</A> | |
|
3239
ef38487113b1
"Software AC3 decoding" section. Patch by Stephen Davies <steve@daviesfam.org>
gabucino
parents:
3027
diff
changeset
|
160 and <A HREF=codecs.html#2.2.2.4>VIVO audio codec</A> sections for installation |
| 2855 | 161 instructions.</P> |
| 2745 | 162 |
| 163 | |
| 3806 | 164 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.6>2.1.1.6. FLI files</A></B></P> |
| 165 | |
| 166 <P><B>FLI</B> is a very old fileformat used by Autodesk Animator, but it's | |
| 167 a common fileformat for short animations on the Net. <B>MPlayer</B> demuxes | |
| 168 and decodes FLI movies and is even able to seek within them (useful when | |
| 169 looping with the -loop option). FLI files don't have keyframes, so picture | |
| 170 will be messy for a short time after seeking.</P> | |
| 171 | |
| 172 | |
| 173 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.7>2.1.1.7. RealMedia (RM) files</A></B></P> | |
| 174 | |
| 175 <P>Yes, <B>MPlayer</B> can read (demux) RealMedia (.rm) files. Seeking | |
| 176 is under implementation, and RM has keyframes so it will be flawless. | |
| 177 Here are the lists of the supported <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.1.8">RealVideo</A> | |
| 178 and <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.2.5">RealAudio</A> codecs. | |
| 179 | |
| 180 | |
| 3816 | 181 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.8>2.1.1.8. NuppelVideo files</A></B></P> |
| 182 | |
| 183 <P><A HREF="http://mars.tuwien.ac.at/~roman/nuppelvideo">NuppelVideo</A> | |
| 184 is a TV grabber tool (AFAIK:). <B>MPlayer</B> can read its <CODE>.nuv</CODE> | |
| 185 files (only NuppelVideo 5.0). Those files can contain uncompressed YV12, | |
| 186 YV12+RTJpeg compressed, YV12 RTJpeg+lzo compressed, and YV12+lzo compressed | |
| 187 frames, <B>MPlayer</B> decodes (and also <B>encodes</B> them with MEncoder to | |
| 188 DivX/etc!) them all. Seeking is under implementation.</P> | |
| 189 | |
| 190 | |
| 3818 | 191 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.9>2.1.1.9. yuv4mpeg files</A></B></P> |
| 192 | |
| 193 <P><A HREF="http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net">yuv4mpeg / yuv4mpeg2</A> is | |
| 194 also a fileformat for TV grabbing, or so :) I know only one thing about it: | |
| 195 we support it.</P> | |
| 196 | |
| 197 | |
| 4339 | 198 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.10>2.1.1.10. FILM files</A></B></P> |
| 199 | |
| 200 <P>This format is used on old Sega Saturn CD-ROM games.</P> | |
| 201 | |
| 202 | |
| 4503 | 203 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.11>2.1.1.11. RoQ files</A></B></P> |
| 204 | |
| 205 <P>Dunno what is this :) Melanson adds a new demuxer every 10 minutes :)</P> | |
| 206 | |
| 207 | |
| 2745 | 208 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2>2.1.2. Audio formats</A></B></P> |
| 209 | |
| 210 <P>Currently <B>MPlayer</B> is still a <B>Movie</B> and not a <B>Media</B> | |
| 211 player, thus the pure audio formats (for example MP3, WAV, audio ASF) are | |
| 212 unplayable. Use <A HREF="http://www.xmms.org">xmms</A>, <A HREF="http://www.mpg123.de">mpg123</A> | |
| 213 or whatever.</P> | |
| 214 | |
| 215 </BODY> | |
| 216 </HTML> |