annotate DOCS/xml/en/codecs.xml @ 15942:3eaceddfd30c

Last nit for this entry, by "The Wanderer"

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!-- $Revision$ -->
<sect1 id="codecs">
<title>Supported codecs</title>

<sect2 id="video-codecs">
<title>Video codecs</title>

<para>
See the <ulink url="../../codecs-status.html">codec status table</ulink>
for the complete, daily generated list. Quite a few codecs are available for
download from our homepage. Grab them from our
<ulink url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/">codecs page</ulink>.
</para>

<para>
The most important ones above all:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><simpara>
  <emphasis role="bold">MPEG-1</emphasis> (<emphasis role="bold">VCD</emphasis>) and
  <emphasis role="bold">MPEG-2</emphasis> (<emphasis role="bold">DVD</emphasis>) video
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  native decoders for <emphasis role="bold">DivX ;-), OpenDivX (DivX4),
  DivX 5 (Pro), 3ivX, M$ MPEG-4</emphasis> v1, v2 and other MPEG-4 variants
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  native decoder for <emphasis role="bold">Windows Media Video 7/8</emphasis>
  (<emphasis role="bold">WMV1/WMV2</emphasis>), and Win32 DLL decoder
  for <emphasis role="bold">Windows Media Video 9</emphasis>
  (<emphasis role="bold">WMV3</emphasis>), both used in <filename>.wmv</filename>
  files
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  native <emphasis role="bold">Sorenson 1 (SVQ1)</emphasis> decoder
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  native <emphasis role="bold">Sorenson 3 (SVQ3)</emphasis> decoder
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  <emphasis role="bold">3ivx</emphasis> v1, v2 decoder
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  Cinepak and <emphasis role="bold">Intel Indeo</emphasis> codecs (3.1,3.2,4.1,5.0)
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  <emphasis role="bold">MJPEG</emphasis>, AVID, VCR2, ASV2 and other hardware
  formats
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  VIVO 1.0, 2.0, I263 and other <emphasis role="bold">H.263(+)</emphasis> variants
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  FLI/FLC
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  <emphasis role="bold">RealVideo 1.0 &amp; 2.0</emphasis> from
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>, and
  <emphasis role="bold">RealVideo 3.0 &amp; 4.0</emphasis> codecs using RealPlayer
  libraries
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  native decoder for HuffYUV
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  Various old simple RLE-like formats
  </simpara></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
If you have a Win32 codec not listed here which is not supported yet,
please read the <link linkend="codec-importing">codec importing HOWTO</link>
and help us add support for it.
</para>


<sect3 id="divx4-5">
<title>DivX4/DivX5</title>

<para>
This section contains information about the DivX4 and DivX5 codecs of
<ulink url="http://www.projectmayo.com">Project Mayo</ulink>.
Their first available alpha version was OpenDivX 4.0 alpha 47 and 48.
Support for this was included in <application>MPlayer</application> in the
past, and built by default. We also used its postprocessing code to
optionally enhance visual quality of MPEG-1/2 movies. Now we use our own,
for all file types.
</para>

<para>
The new generation of this codec is called DivX4 and can even decode
movies made with the infamous DivX codec! In addition it is much faster
than the native Win32 DivX DLLs but slower than
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>.
Hence its usage as a decoder is
<emphasis role="bold">discouraged</emphasis>. However, it is useful for
encoding. One disadvantage of this codec is that it is not available under an
Open Source license.
</para>

<para>
DivX4 works in two modes:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term><option>-vc odivx</option></term>
<listitem><simpara>
  Uses the codec in OpenDivX fashion. In this case it produces YV12 images
  in its own buffer, and <application>MPlayer</application> does colorspace
  conversion via libvo. (<emphasis role="bold">Fast, recommended!</emphasis>)
  </simpara></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><option>-vc divx4</option></term>
<listitem><simpara>
  Uses the colorspace conversion of the codec.  In this mode you can use
  YUY2/UYVY, too. (<emphasis role="bold">SLOW</emphasis>)
  </simpara></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>

<para>
The <option>-vc odivx</option> method is usually faster, due to the fact
that it transfers image data in YV12 (planar YUV 4:2:0) format, thus
requiring much less bandwidth on the bus. For packed YUV modes (YUY2, UYVY)
use the <option>-vc divx4</option> method. For RGB modes the speed is the
same, differing at best according to your current color depth.
<note>
<para>
If your <option>-vo</option> driver supports direct rendering, then <option>-vc
divx4</option> may be faster, or even the fastest solution.
</para>

<para>
The DivX4/5 binary codec library can be downloaded from
<ulink url="http://avifile.sf.net">avifile</ulink> or
<ulink url="http://www.divx.com">divx.com</ulink>
Unpack it, run <filename>./install.sh</filename> as root and do not forget adding
<filename class="directory">/usr/local/lib</filename> to your
<filename>/etc/ld.so.conf</filename> and running <command>ldconfig</command>.
</para>

<para>
Get the CVS version of the OLD OpenDivX core library like this:
</para>

<procedure>
<step><para>
<screen>cvs -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/cvsroot login</screen>
</para></step>
<step><para>
<screen>cvs -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/cvsroot co divxcore</screen>
</para></step>
<step><para>
This core library is split into a decore and encore library that have to be
compiled separately. For the decore Library, simply type
<screen>
cd divxcore/decore/build/linux
make
cp libdivxdecore.so /usr/local/lib
ln -s libdivxdecore.so /usr/local/lib/libdivxdecore.so.0
cp ../../src/decore.h /usr/local/include
</screen>
</para></step>
<step><para>
Alas, for the encore library there is no Linux Makefile available, and the
MMX optimized code only works on Windows. You can still compile it, though,
by using this
<ulink url="ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/contrib/divx-mf/Makefile">Makefile</ulink>.
<screen>
cd ../../../encore/build
mkdir linux
cd linux
cp path/Makefile .
make
cp libdivxencore.so /usr/local/lib
ln -s libdivxencore.so /usr/local/lib/libdivxencore.so.0
cp ../../src/encore.h /usr/local/include
</screen>
</para></step>
</procedure>

<para>
<application>MPlayer</application> autodetects DivX4/DivX5 if it is
properly installed, just compile as usual. If it does not detect it, you
did not install or configure it correctly.
</para>

</note>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="ffmpeg" xreflabel="FFmpeg/libavcodec">
<title>FFmpeg/libavcodec</title>

<para>
<ulink url="http://ffmpeg.org">FFmpeg</ulink> contains an
<emphasis role="bold">open source</emphasis> codec package, which is capable
of decoding streams with various audio and video codecs. It also offers an
impressing encoding facility and higher speed than the Win32 codecs or the
DivX.com DivX4/5 libraries!
</para>

<para>
It contains a lot of nice codecs, especially important are the MPEG-4 variants:
DivX3, DivX4, DivX5, Windows Media Video 7/8 (WMV1/WMV2). Also a very interesting one
is the WMA decoder.
</para>

<para>
The most recent codec deserving credit is the <emphasis role="bold">Sorenson 3</emphasis>
(SVQ3) codec. This is the first, completely opensource implementation. It is even
faster than the original. Be sure to prefer this instead of the binary codec!
</para>

<para>
For a complete list of supported codecs please visit the FFmpeg homepage.
Supported <ulink url="http://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC19">video</ulink>
and <ulink url="http://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC20">audio</ulink> codecs.
</para>

<para>
If you use an <application>MPlayer</application> release you have
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>
right in the package, just build  as usual. If you use
<application>MPlayer</application> from CVS you have to extract
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> from
the FFmpeg CVS tree as FFmpeg releases are very rare. The CVS is mostly stable
and offers the most features. In order to achieve this do:
</para>

<procedure>
<step><para>
  <screen>cvs -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/cvsroot/ffmpeg login</screen>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  <screen>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co -P ffmpeg/libavcodec</screen>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Move the <filename>libavcodec</filename> directory from the FFmpeg
  sources to the root of the <application>MPlayer</application> CVS tree.
  It should look like this:
  <filename class="directory">main/libavcodec</filename>
  </para><para>
  Symlinking is <emphasis role="bold">not</emphasis> enough, you have to
  copy/move it!
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  If you prefer having <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>
  updated at the same time you update
  <application>MPlayer</application> CVS, put the following line into the
  <filename>main/CVS/Entries</filename> file:
  <screen>D/libavcodec////</screen>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Compile. <filename>configure</filename> should detect problems before
  compilation.
  </para></step>
</procedure>

<note>
<para>
<application>MPlayer</application> from CVS does contain a
<filename>libavcodec</filename> subdirectory, but it does
<emphasis role="bold">not</emphasis> contain the source for
<systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>!
You must follow the steps above to obtain the source for this library.
</para>
</note>

<para>
With FFmpeg and my Matrox G400, I can view even the highest resolution DivX
movies without dropped frames on my K6-2 500.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="xanim">
<title>XAnim codecs</title>

<note>
<para>
Be advised that the XAnim binary codecs are packaged with a piece of text
claiming to be a legally binding software license which, besides other
restrictions, forbids the user to use the codecs in conjunction with any
program other than <application>XAnim</application>. However, the XAnim
author has yet to bring legal action against anyone for codec-related issues.
</para>
</note>

<formalpara>
<title>INSTALLATION AND USAGE</title>
<para>
<application>MPlayer</application> is capable of employing the XAnim codecs
for decoding. Follow the instructions to enable them:
</para>
</formalpara>

<procedure>
<step><para>
  Download the codecs you wish to use from the
  <ulink url="http://xanim.va.pubnix.com">XAnim site</ulink>.
  The <emphasis role="bold">3ivx</emphasis> codec is not there, but at the
  <ulink url="http://www.3ivx.com">3ivx site</ulink>.
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  <emphasis role="bold">OR</emphasis> download the codecs pack from our
  <ulink url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/">codecs page</ulink>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Use the <option>--with-xanimlibdir</option> option to tell
  <filename>configure</filename> where
  to find the XAnim codecs. By default, it looks for them at
  <filename class="directory">/usr/local/lib/codecs</filename>,
  <filename class="directory">/usr/local/lib/xanim/mods</filename>,
  <filename class="directory">/usr/lib/xanim/mods</filename> and
  <filename class="directory">/usr/lib/xanim</filename>.
  Alternatively you can set the environment variable
  <envar>XANIM_MOD_DIR</envar> to the directory of the XAnim codecs.
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Rename/symlink the files, cutting out the architecture stuff, so they
  will have filenames like these: <filename>vid_cvid.xa</filename>,
  <filename>vid_h263.xa</filename>, <filename>vid_iv50.xa</filename>
  </para></step>
</procedure>

<para>
XAnim is video codec family <systemitem>xanim</systemitem>, so you may want
to use the <option>-vfm xanim</option> option to tell <application>MPlayer</application>
to use them if possible.
</para>

<para>
Tested codecs include: <emphasis role="bold">Indeo 3.2, 4.1, 5.0, CVID, 3ivX,
H.263.</emphasis>
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="vivo-video">
<title>VIVO video</title>
<para>
<application>MPlayer</application> can play Vivo (1.0 and 2.0) videos. The
most suitable codec for 1.0 files is FFmpeg's H.263 decoder, you can use it
with the <option>-vc ffh263</option> option. For 2.0 files, use the
Win32 DLL through the <option>-vc vivo</option> option. If you do not supply
command line options <application>MPlayer</application> selects the best codec
automatically.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="mpeg12">
<title>MPEG-1/2 video</title>
<para>
MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 are decoded by the multiplatform native <systemitem
class="library">libmpeg2</systemitem> library, whose source code is
included in <application>MPlayer</application>.  We handle buggy MPEG-1/2
video files by catching <systemitem>Signal 11</systemitem>
(<systemitem>segmentation fault</systemitem>), and quickly
reinitializing the codec, continuing exactly from where the failure
occurred.  This recovery technique has no measurable speed penalty.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="avicodecs">
<title>MS Video1, Cinepak CVID, and other older codecs</title>
<para>
<application>MPlayer</application> is able to play most of the older codecs
used in AVI and MOV files.
In the past they were decoded with binary Win32 codecs, but now we have
<emphasis role="bold">native codecs</emphasis> for most of them using
<link linkend="ffmpeg"><systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem></link>.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="realvideo">
<title>RealVideo</title>

<para>
<application>MPlayer</application> supports decoding all versions of
RealVideo:

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><simpara>
  RealVideo 1.0, 2.0 (fourcc RV10, RV20) - en/decoding supported by
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  RealVideo 3.0, 4.0 (fourcc RV30, RV40) - decoding supported by
  <emphasis role="bold">RealPlayer libraries</emphasis>
  </simpara></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
Download Real codecs from
<ulink url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/">http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/</ulink>
and extract them to the
<filename class="directory">/usr/local/lib/codecs</filename> directory.
If you want to store them in a different location, pass the
<option>--with-reallibdir</option> option to <command>configure</command>.
</para>

<note><para>
<application>RealPlayer</application> libraries currently
<emphasis role="bold">only work with Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD and Cygwin on the x86,
Alpha and PowerPC (Linux/Alpha and Linux/PowerPC have been tested) platforms and with Mac OS X</emphasis>.
</para></note>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="xvid">
<title>XviD</title>

<para>
<ulink url="http://www.xvid.org">XviD</ulink> is a free software MPEG-4 ASP
compliant video codec, which features two pass encoding and full MPEG-4 ASP
support, making it a lot more efficient than the well-known DivX codec.
It yields very good video quality and good performance due to CPU
optimizations for most modern processors.
</para>
<para>
It began as a forked development of the OpenDivX codec.
This happened when ProjectMayo changed OpenDivX to closed source
DivX4 (now DivX5), and the non-ProjectMayo people working on OpenDivX got angry,
then started XviD. So both projects have the same origin.
</para>

<procedure>
<title>Installing <systemitem class="library">XviD</systemitem></title>
<para>
  Like most open source software, it is available in two flavors:
  <ulink url="http://www.xvid.org/downloads.html">official releases</ulink>
  and the CVS version.
  The CVS version is usually stable enough to use, as most of the time it
  features fixes for bugs that exist in releases.
  Here is what to do to make <systemitem class="library">XviD</systemitem>
  CVS work with <application>MEncoder</application> (you need at least
  autoconf 2.50, automake and libtool):
</para>
<step><para>
  <screen>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/xvid login</screen>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  <screen>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:[e-mail]:/xvid co xvidcore</screen>
</para></step>
<step><para>
  <screen>cd xvidcore/build/generic</screen>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  <screen>./bootstrap.sh</screen>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  <screen>./configure</screen>
  You may have to add some options (examine the output of
  <command>./configure --help</command>).
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  <screen>make &amp;&amp; make install</screen>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  If you specified <option>--enable-divxcompat</option>,
  copy <filename>../../src/divx4.h</filename> to
  <filename class="directory">/usr/local/include/</filename>.
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Recompile <application>MPlayer</application> with
  <option>--with-xvidlibdir=<replaceable>/path/to/</replaceable>libxvidcore.a</option>
  <option>--with-xvidincdir=<replaceable>/path/to/</replaceable>xvid.h</option>
  </para></step>
</procedure>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="sorenson">
<title>Sorenson</title>

<para>
Sorenson is a video codec developed by Sorenson Media and licensed to Apple who
distribute it with their <application>QuickTime Player</application>. We are
currently able to decode all version of Sorenson video files with the following
decoders:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><simpara>
  Sorenson Video v1 (fourcc <emphasis>SVQ1</emphasis>) - decoding supported
  by <emphasis role="bold">native codec</emphasis>
  (<link linkend="ffmpeg"><systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem></link>)
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  Sorenson Video v3 (fourcc <emphasis>SVQ3</emphasis>) - decoding supported by
  <emphasis role="bold">native codec</emphasis>
  (<link linkend="ffmpeg"><systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem></link>)
  </simpara></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<procedure>
<title>COMPILING MPLAYER WITH QUICKTIME LIBRARIES SUPPORT</title>
<note><para>Currently only 32-bit Intel platforms are supported.</para></note>
<step><para>download <application>MPlayer</application> CVS</para></step>
<step><para>download QuickTime DLL pack from
<ulink url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/"/>
</para></step>
<step><para>extract QuickTime DLL pack to your Win32 codecs directory
(default: <filename class="directory">/usr/local/lib/codecs/</filename>)
</para></step>
<step><para>compile <application>MPlayer</application></para></step>
</procedure>

</sect3>

<sect3 id="codec-x264">
<title>x264</title>

<sect4 id="codec-x264-whatis">
<title>What is x264?</title>
<para>
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> is a library for
  creating H.264 video streams.
  It is not 100% complete, but currently it has at least some kind
  of support for most of the H.264 features which impact quality.
  There are also many advanced features in the H.264 specification
  which have nothing to do with video quality per se; many of these
  are not yet implemented in
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem>.
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<title>Encoder features</title>
  <listitem><para>CAVLC/CABAC</para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>Multi-references</para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>Intra: all macroblock types (16x16 and 4x4 with
    all predictions)</para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>Inter P: all partitions (from 16x16 down to
    4x4)</para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>Inter B: partitions from 16x16 down to 8x8
    (including SKIP/DIRECT)</para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>Ratecontrol: constant quantizer, constant bitrate,
    or multipass ABR</para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>Scene cut detection</para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>Adaptive B-frame placement</para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>B-frames as references / arbitrary frame
    order</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<itemizedlist>
<title>Encoder limitations</title>
  <listitem><para>No real RD</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>


</sect4>

<sect4 id="codec-h264-whatis">
<title>What is H.264?</title>
<para>
  H.264 is one name for a new digital video codec jointly developed
  by the ITU and MPEG.
  It can also be correctly referred to by the cumbersome names of
  "ISO/IEC 14496-10" or "MPEG-4 Part 10".
  More frequently, it is referred to as "MPEG-4 AVC" or just "AVC".
</para>
<para>
  Whatever you call it, H.264 may be worth trying because it can
  typically match the quality of MPEG-4 ASP with 5%-30% less
  bitrate.
  Actual results will depend on both the source material and the
  encoder.
  The gains from using H.264 do not come for free: Decoding H.264
  streams seems to have steep CPU and memory requirements.
  For instance, on a 1733 MHz Athlon, a DVD-resolution 1500kbps H.264
  video requires around 35% CPU to decode.
  By comparison, decoding a DVD-resolution 1500kbps MPEG-4 ASP stream
  requires around 10% CPU.
  This means that decoding high-definition streams is almost out of
  the question for most users.
  It also means that even a decent DVD rip may sometimes stutter on
  processors slower than 2.0 GHz or so.
</para>
<para>
  At least with <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem>,
  encoding requirements are not much worse than what you are used to
  with MPEG-4 ASP.
  For instance, on a 1733 MHz Athlon a typical DVD encode would run
  at 5-15fps.
</para>
<para>
  This document is not intended to explain the details of H.264,
  but if you are interested in a brief overview, you may want to read
  <ulink url="http://www.cdt.luth.se/~peppar/kurs/smd151/spie04-h264OverviewPaper.pdf">The H.264/AVC Advanced Video Coding Standard: Overview and Introduction to the Fidelity Range Extensions</ulink>.
</para>
</sect4>

<sect4 id="codec-x264-playback">
<title>How can I play H.264 videos with <application>MPlayer</application>?</title>
<para>
  <application>MPlayer</application> uses
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>'s H.264
  decoder.
  <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem> has had at
  least minimally usable H.264 decoding since around July 2004,
  however major changes and improvements have been implemented since
  that time, both in terms of more functionalities supported and in
  terms of improved CPU usage.
  Just to be certain, it is always a good idea to use a recent CVS
  checkout.
</para>
<para>
  If you want a quick and easy way to know whether there have been
  recent changes to <systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem>'s
  H.264 decoding, you might keep an eye on 
  <ulink url="http://mplayerhq.hu/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/ffmpeg/libavcodec/h264.c?cvsroot=FFMpeg">FFmpeg CVS repository's web interface</ulink>.
</para>
</sect4>

<sect4 id="codec-x264-encode">
<title>How can I encode videos using <application>MEncoder</application> and <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem>?</title>
<para>
  If you have the subversion client installed, the latest x264
  sources can be gotten with this command:
  <screen>
    svn co svn://svn.videolan.org/x264/trunk x264
  </screen>
  <application>MPlayer</application> sources are updated whenever
  an <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> API change
  occurs, so it is always suggested to use CVS
  <application>MPlayer</application> as well.
  Perhaps this situation will change when and if an
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> "release" occurs.
  Meanwhile, <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> should
  be considered very unstable, in the sense that its programming
  interface is subject to change.
</para>
<para>
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> is built and
  installed in the standard way:
  <screen>
    ./configure &amp;&amp; make &amp;&amp; sudo make install
  </screen>
  This installs libx264.a in /usr/local/lib and x264.h is placed in
  /usr/local/include.

  With the <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> library
  and header placed in the standard locations, building
  <application>MPlayer</application> with
  <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem> support is easy.
  Just run the standard:
  <screen>./configure &amp;&amp; make &amp;&amp; sudo make install</screen>
  The configure script will autodetect that you have satisfied the
  requirements for <systemitem class="library">x264</systemitem>.
</para>
</sect4>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="audio-codecs">
<title>Audio codecs</title>

<itemizedlist>
<title>The most important audio codecs above all:</title>
<listitem><simpara>
  MPEG layer 1/2/3 (MP1/2/3) audio (<emphasis role="bold">native</emphasis>
  code, with MMX/SSE/3DNow! optimization)
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  Windows Media Audio 7 and 8 (AKA WMAv1 and WMAv2) (<emphasis role="bold">native</emphasis> code, with
  <link linkend="ffmpeg"><systemitem class="library">libavcodec</systemitem></link>)
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  Windows Media Audio 9 (WMAv3) (using DMO DLL)
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  AC3 Dolby audio (<emphasis role="bold">native</emphasis> code, with
  MMX/SSE/3DNow! optimization)
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  AC3 passing through sound card hardware
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  AAC
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  Ogg Vorbis audio codec (<emphasis role="bold">native</emphasis> library)
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  RealAudio: DNET (low bitrate AC3), Cook, Sipro and ATRAC3
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  QuickTime: Qualcomm and QDesign audio codecs
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  VIVO audio (g723, Vivo Siren)
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  Voxware audio (using DirectShow DLL)
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  alaw and ulaw, various gsm, adpcm and pcm formats and other simple old
  audio codecs
  </simpara></listitem>
</itemizedlist>


<sect3 id="swac3">
<title>Software AC3 decoding</title>

<para>
This is the default decoder used for files with AC3 audio.
</para>

<para>
The AC3 decoder can create audio output mixes for 2, 4, or 6 speakers.
When configured for 6 speakers, this decoder provides separate output of
all the AC3 channels to the sound driver, allowing for full "surround
sound" experience without the external AC3 decoder required to use the
hwac3 codec.
</para>

<para>
Use the <option>-channels</option> option to select the number of output
channels.  Use <option>-channels 2</option> for a stereo downmix.  For a 4
channel downmix (Left Front, Right Front, Left Surround and Right Surround
outputs), use <option>-channels 4</option>.  In this case, any center
channel will be mixed equally to the front channels.  <option>-channels
6</option> will output all the AC3 channels as they are encoded - in the
order Left, Right, Left Surround, Right Surround, Center and LFE.
</para>

<para>
The default number of output channels is 2.
</para>

<para>
To use more than 2 output channels, you will need to use OSS, and have a
sound card that supports the appropriate number of output channels via the
SNDCTL_DSP_CHANNELS ioctl.  An example of a suitable driver is emu10k1
(used by Soundblaster Live! cards) from August 2001 or newer (ALSA CVS is
also supposed to work).
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="hwac3">
<title>Hardware AC3 decoding</title>
<para>
You need an AC3 capable sound card, with digital out (S/PDIF). The card's
driver must properly support the AFMT_AC3 format (C-Media does).  Connect
your AC3 decoder to the S/PDIF output, and use the <option>-ac
hwac3</option> option. It is experimental but known to work with C-Media
cards and Soundblaster Live! + ALSA (but not OSS) drivers and DXR3/Hollywood+
MPEG decoder cards.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="libmad">
<title>libmad support</title>

<para>
<ulink url="http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/">libmad</ulink> is a multiplatform,
integer (internally 24bit PCM) only
MPEG audio decoding library. It does not handle broken files well, and it
sometimes has problems with seeking, but it may perform better on FPU-less
(such as <link linkend="arm">ARM</link>) platform than mp3lib.
</para>

<para>
To enable support, compile with the <option>--enable-mad</option> configure
option.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="vivo-audio">
<title>VIVO audio</title>
<para>
The audio codec used in VIVO files depends on whether it is a VIVO/1.0 or
VIVO/2.0 file. VIVO/1.0 files have <emphasis role="bold">g.723</emphasis> audio,
and VIVO/2.0 files have <emphasis role="bold">Vivo Siren</emphasis> audio. Both are
supported.
</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="realaudio">
<title>RealAudio</title>

<para>
<application>MPlayer</application> supports decoding nearly all versions of
RealAudio:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><simpara>
  RealAudio DNET - decoding supported by
  <systemitem class="library">liba52</systemitem>
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  RealAudio Cook/Sipro/ATRAC3 - decoding supported by
  <emphasis role="bold">RealPlayer libraries</emphasis>
  </simpara></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
Instructions on how to install the RealPlayer libraries are in the
<link linkend="realvideo">RealVideo</link> section.
</para>
</sect3>

<sect3 id="qdesign">
<title>QDesign codecs</title>
<para>
QDesign audio streams (fourcc:<emphasis>QDMC, QDM2</emphasis>) are found
in MOV/QT files. Both versions of this codec can be decoded with QuickTime
libraries. For installation instructions please see the
<link linkend="sorenson">Sorenson video codec</link> section.
</para>
</sect3>

<sect3 id="qualcomm">
<title>Qualcomm codecs</title>
<para>
Qualcomm audio streams (fourcc:<emphasis>Qclp</emphasis>) is found
in MOV/QT files. It can be decoded with QuickTime
libraries. For installation instructions please see the
<link linkend="sorenson">Sorenson video codec</link> section.
</para>
</sect3>

<sect3 id="aac">
<title>AAC codec</title>
<para>
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is an audio codec sometimes found in MOV and MP4
files. An open source decoder called FAAD is available from
<ulink url="http://www.audiocoding.com"/>.
<application>MPlayer</application> includes a CVS snapshot of libfaad 2.1
beta, so you do not need to get it separately.
</para>

<para>
If you use gcc 3.2 which fails to compile our internal FAAD or want to use
the external library for some other reason, download the library from the
<ulink url="http://www.audiocoding.com/modules/mydownloads/">download page</ulink>
and pass <option>--enable-external-faad</option> to <filename>configure</filename>.
You do not need all of faad2 to decode AAC files, libfaad is enough. Build
it like this:
<screen>
cd faad2/
sh bootstrap
./configure
cd libfaad
make
make install
</screen>
Binaries are not available from audiocoding.com, but you can (apt-)get Debian
packages from <ulink url="http://hpisi.nerim.net">Christian Marillat's homepage</ulink>,
Mandrake/Mandriva RPMs from the <ulink url="http://plf.zarb.org">P.L.F</ulink> and RedHat RPMs
from <ulink url="http://greysector.rangers.eu.org/">Grey Sector</ulink>.
</para>
</sect3>

</sect2>

<!-- ********** -->

<sect2 id="codec-importing">
<title>Win32 codecs importing HOWTO</title>

<!-- TODO: a short paragraph of text would be nice here... -->

<sect3 id="vfw-codecs">
<title>VFW codecs</title>

<para>
VFW (Video for Windows) is the old Video API for Windows. Its codecs have
the <filename>.DLL</filename> or (rarely) <filename>.DRV</filename>
extension.  If <application>MPlayer</application> fails at playing your AVI
with this kind of message:
<screen>UNKNOWN video codec: HFYU (0x55594648)</screen>
</para>

<para>
It means your AVI is encoded with a codec which has the HFYU fourcc (HFYU =
HuffYUV codec, DIV3 = DivX Low Motion, etc.). Now that you know this, you
have to find out which DLL Windows loads in order to play this file. In our
case, the <filename>system.ini</filename> contains this information in a
line that reads:
<programlisting>VIDC.HFYU=huffyuv.dll</programlisting>
</para>

<para>
So you need the <filename>huffyuv.dll</filename> file. Note that the audio
codecs are specified by the MSACM prefix:
<programlisting>msacm.l3acm=L3codeca.acm</programlisting>
</para>

<para>
This is the MP3 codec.  Now that you have all the necessary information
(fourcc, codec file, sample AVI), submit your codec support request by
mail, and upload these files to the FTP site:
<systemitem role="url">
ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/incoming/[codecname]/
</systemitem>
</para>

<note><para>On Windows NT/2000/XP search for this info in the registry,
e.g. search for &quot;VIDC.HFYU&quot;. To find out how to do this, look at
the old DirectShow method below.
</para></note>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="dshow-codecs">
<title>DirectShow codecs</title>

<para>
DirectShow is the newer Video API, which is even worse than its predecessor.
Things are harder with DirectShow, since
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><simpara>
  <filename>system.ini</filename> does not contain the needed information,
  instead it is stored in the registry and
  </simpara></listitem>
<listitem><simpara>
  we need the GUID of the codec.
  </simpara></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<procedure>
<title>New Method:</title>
<para>
Using <application>Microsoft GraphEdit</application> (fast)
</para>
<step><para>
  Get <application>GraphEdit</application> from either DirectX SDK or
  <ulink url="http://doom9.net">doom9</ulink>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Start <command>graphedit.exe</command>.
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  From the menu select Graph -> Insert Filters.
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Expand item <systemitem>DirectShow Filters</systemitem>
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Select the right codec name and expand item.
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  In the entry <systemitem>DisplayName</systemitem> look at the text in
  winged brackets after the backslash and write it down (five dash-delimited
  blocks, the GUID).
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  The codec binary is the file specified in the <systemitem>Filename</systemitem>
  entry.
  </para></step>
</procedure>

<note>
<para>
If there is no <systemitem>Filename</systemitem> and
<systemitem>DisplayName</systemitem> contains something like
<systemitem>device:dmo</systemitem>, then it is a DMO-Codec.
</para>
</note>

<procedure>
<title>Old Method:</title>
<para>
Take a deep breath and start searching the registry...
</para>
<step><para>
  Start <command>regedit</command>.
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Press <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>+<keycap>F</keycap>, disable the first two
  checkboxes, and enable the third. Type in the fourcc of the codec (e.g.
  <userinput>TM20</userinput>).
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  You should see a field which contains the path and the filename (e.g.
  <filename>C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TM20DEC.AX</filename>).
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  Now that you have the file, we need the GUID. Try searching again, but
  now search for the codec's name, not the fourcc. Its name can be acquired
  when Media Player is playing the file, by checking
  <guimenu>File</guimenu> -&gt; <guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu> -&gt;
  <guimenuitem>Advanced</guimenuitem>.
  If not, you are out of luck. Try guessing (e.g. search for TrueMotion).
  </para></step>
<step><para>
  If the GUID is found you should see a <guilabel>FriendlyName</guilabel>
  and a <guilabel>CLSID</guilabel> field. Write down the 16 byte CLSID,
  this is the GUID we need.
  </para></step>
</procedure>

<note>
<para>
If searching fails, try enabling all the checkboxes. You may have
false hits, but you may get lucky...
</para>
</note>

<para>
Now that you have all the necessary information (fourcc, GUID, codec file,
sample AVI), submit your codec support request by mail, and upload these files
to the FTP site:
<systemitem
role="url">ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/incoming/[codecname]/
</systemitem>
</para>

<para>
If you want to add a codec yourself, read
<ulink url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/DOCS/tech/codecs.conf.txt">DOCS/tech/codecs.conf.txt</ulink>.
</para>

</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>