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1 <HTML>
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2 <BODY BGCOLOR=WHITE>
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3
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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, 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. MPEG 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 (MPEG-1 layer 2) audio, or rarely MP1.</LI>
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53 <LI>DAT : this is the very same format as MPG, just different extension. Used
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54 on <B>Video CD</B>s. Due to the nature VCDs are created and Linux is designed,
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55 the DAT files can't be played nor copied from VCDs. You have to use the
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56 <CODE>-vcd</CODE> option to play the VideoCD.</LI>
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57 <LI>VOB : this is the MPEG file format on <B>DVD</B>s. The same as MPG, plus
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58 capability to contain subtitles, or non-MPEG (AC3) audio. Contains encoded MPEG2
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59 video, and usually AC3 audio, but MP2 is allowed too.<BR>
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60 <B>Read the <A HREF="cd-dvd.html#4.2">DVD section</A> !</B></LI>
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61 </P>
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62
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63 <P>In MPEG files, series of frames are grouped together, and are independent
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64 from the other groups. What this means is you can cut/join an MPEG file with
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65 standard file-tools (like dd, cut), and it remains completely functional.</P>
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66
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67 <P>One important feature for MPGs is that they have a field to describe
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68 the aspect ratio of the video stream within. For example SVCDs have
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69 480x480 resolution video, and in the header that field is set to 4:3, so
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70 it's played at 640x480. AVI files don't have this field, so one has to
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71 rescale it during encoding.</P>
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72
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73
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74 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.2>2.1.1.2. AVI files</A></B></P>
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75
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76 <P>Designed by Micro$oft, the <B>AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</B> is a
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77 widespread multipurpose format, currently used mostly for DivX and DivX4
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78 videos. Has many known drawbacks, and inabilities (for example in streaming).
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79 Has support for one video stream, and 99 audio streams. Can be as big as
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80 2Gb. There exists an extension for it to be bigger, called <B>OpenDMS</B>.
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81 M$ currently strongly discourages its use and propagates ASF/WMV. Not if
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82 anybody cares.<BR>
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83 <B>NOTE</B> : DV cameras can create two types of AVI format, one is the usual and
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84 playable, the other is neither.</P>
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85
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86 <P>There are two kinds of AVI files:
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87 <UL>
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88 <LI><B>Interleaved</B> : audio and video content is interleaved. This is the
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89 standard usage. Recommended and mostly used. Some tools create interleaved
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90 AVIs with bad sync. <B>MPlayer</B> detects these as interleaved, and this
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91 climaxes in loss of A/V sync, probably at seeking. These files should be
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92 played as non-interleaved (with the <CODE>-ni</CODE> option).</LI>
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93 <LI><B>Non-interleaved</B> : bad. First come the whole video stream, then the whole
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94 audio stream, thus needs a lot of seeking. It's very bad when playing from
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95 network or CDROM.</LI>
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96 </UL>
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97 </P>
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98
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99 <P>MPlayer supports 2 kind of timing for AVI files:
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100 <UL>
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101 <LI><B>bps-based</B> : it is based on bitrate/samplerate of video/audio stream. This
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102 method is used by most players, including avifile and windows media player.
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103 Files with broken headers, and files created with VBR audio but not
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104 VBR-compliant encoder will result in A/V desync with this method (mostly at
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105 seeking).</LI>
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106 <LI><B>interleaving-based</B> : it doesn't use bitrate value of the header, instead
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107 it uses the relative position of interleaved audio and video chunks. Makes
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108 some badly encoded file with VBR audio playable.</LI>
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109 </UL>
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110 </P>
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111
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112 <P>Any audio and video codec is allowed, but note that VBR audio isn't well
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113 supported by most of the players. The file format makes it possible to use VBR
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114 audio, but most players expect CBR audio, thus they fail with VBR. VBR is
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115 unusual, and Microsoft's AVI specs only describe CBR audio. I also note, that
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116 most AVI encoders/multiplexers create bad files if using VBR audio. Only 2
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117 exception (known by me): NaNDub and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A>.</P>
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118
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119
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120 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.3>2.1.1.3. ASF/WMV files</A></B></P>
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121
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122 <P>ASF (active streaming format) comes from Microsoft. They developed two
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123 variants of ASF, v1.0 and v2.0. v1.0 is used by their media tools (windows
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124 media player and windows media encoder) and is very secret. v2.0 is published
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125 and patented :). Of course they differ, there is no compatibility at all (it's
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126 just another legal game). <B>MPlayer</B> supports only v1.0, as nobody has ever seen
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127 v2.0 files :) . Note, that .ASF files nowdays come with the extension .WMA or
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128 .WMV.</P>
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129
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130
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131 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.4>2.1.1.4. QuickTime/MOV files</A></B></P>
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132
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133 <P>These are from Macintosh. Usually have extensions of .QT or .MOV . Note
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134 that since the MPEG4 Group chose QuickTime as the recommended file format
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135 for MPEG4, their .MOV files come with .MPG or .MP4 extension (interesting
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136 that in these files the video stream is a real .MPG file. With the
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137 <CODE>-dumpvideo</CODE> option you can even extract it.).</P>
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138
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139 <P><B>Codecs</B>: any codecs allowed, both CBR and VBR. Note: most new mov files use
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140 <B>Sorenson</B> video and QDesign Music audio. These formats are completely
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141 secret, and only Apple's quicktime player is able to play these files (on
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142 win/mac only).</P>
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143
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144
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145 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.5>2.1.1.5. VIV files</A></B></P>
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146
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147 <P><B>MPlayer</B> happily demuxes VIVO file formats. The format's big
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148 disadvantage is that it has no index block, nor fixed packetsize or sync bytes,
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149 and most files lack even keyframes, so forget seeking!</P>
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150
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151 <P>VIVO/1.0 files' video codec is standard <B>h.263</B> . The VIVO/2.0 files'
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152 video codec is a modified, nonstandard <B>h.263</B> . Audio is the same,
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153 it may be <B>g.723</B> (standard), or <B>Vivo Siren</B> .</P>
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154
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155 <P>See the <A HREF=codecs.html#2.2.1.4>VIVO video codec</A>
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156 and <A HREF=codecs.html#2.2.2.3>VIVO audio codec</A> sections for installation
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157 instructions.</P>
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158
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159
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160 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2>2.1.2. Audio formats</A></B></P>
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161
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162 <P>Currently <B>MPlayer</B> is still a <B>Movie</B> and not a <B>Media</B>
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163 player, thus the pure audio formats (for example MP3, WAV, audio ASF) are
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164 unplayable. Use <A HREF="http://www.xmms.org">xmms</A>, <A HREF="http://www.mpg123.de">mpg123</A>
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165 or whatever.</P>
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166
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167 </BODY>
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168 </HTML>
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