annotate DOCS/tech/formats.txt @ 18889:e60c8c7399d2

get_path as const, patch by Stefan Huehner, stefan AT huehner-org
author reynaldo
date Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:27:37 +0000
parents 7e22b762e1a8
children 42928a2e88fc
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1 1. Input layer, supported devices, methods:
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2 - plain file, with seeking
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3 - STDIN, without seeking backward
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4 - network streaming (currently plain wget-like HTTP and MMS (.asx))
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5 - VCD (Video CD) track, by direct CDROM device access (not requires mounting disc)
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6 - DVD titles using .IFO structure, by direct DVD device access (not requires mounting disc)
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7 - DVD titles using menu navigation (experimental/alpha, not yet finished!!!)
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8 - CDDA - raw audio from audio CD-ROM discs (using cdparanoia libs)
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9 - RTP streaming (mpeg-ps over multicast only)
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10 - Live.com streaming - support SDP/RTSP (using the live.com libs)
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11 - SMB - file access over samba (experimental)
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12
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13 2. Demuxer/parser layer, supported file/media formats:
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14
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15 - MPEG streams (ES,PES,PS. no TS support yet)
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16 note: mpeg demuxer silently ignore non-mpeg content, and find mpeg packets
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17 in arbitrary streams. it means you can play directly VCD images (for example
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18 CDRwin's .BIN files) without extracting mpeg files first (with tools like vcdgear)
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19 It accepts all PES variants, including files created by VDR.
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20 Note: VOB (video object) is simple mpeg stream, but it usually has 01BD
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21 packets which may contain subtitles and non-mpeg audio. Usually found on DVD discs.
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22
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23 Headers: mpeg streams has no global header. each frame sequence (also called GOP,
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24 group of pictures) contains an sequence header, it describes that block.
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25 In normal mpeg 1/2 content there are groups of 12-15 frames (24/30 fps).
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26 It means you can freely seek in mpeg streams, and even can cut it to
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27 small parts with standard file tools (dd, cut) without destroying it.
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28
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29 Codecs: video is always mpeg video (mpeg1, mpeg2 or mpeg4).
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30 audio is usually mpeg audio (any layer allowed, but it's layer 2 in most files)
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31 but 01BD packets may contain AC3, DTS or LPCM too.
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32
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33 FPS: mpeg2 content allows variable framerate, in form of delayed frames.
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34 It's mostly used for playback 24fps content at 29.97/30 fps (NTSC) rate.
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35 (so called Telecine or 3:2 pulldown effect)
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36 It means you see 30 frames per second, but there are only 24 different
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37 pictures and some of them are shown longer to fill 30 frame time.
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38 If you encode such files with mencoder, using -ofps 24 or -ofps 23.976
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39 is recommended.
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40
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41 - AVI streams.
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42 Two kind of RIFF AVI files exists:
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43 1. interleaved: audio and video content is interleaved. it's faster and
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44 requires only 1 reading thread, so it's recommended (and mostly used).
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45 2. non-interleaved: audio and video aren't interleaved, i mean first come
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46 whole video followed by whole audio. it requires 2 reading process or
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47 1 reading with lots of seeking. very bad for network or cdrom.
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48 3. badly interleaved streams: mplayer detects interleaving at startup and
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49 enables -ni option if it finds non-interleaved content. but sometimes
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50 the stream seems to be interleaved, but with bad sync so it should be
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51 played as non-interleaved otherwise you get a-v desync or buffer overflow.
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52
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53 MPlayer supports 2 kind of timing for AVI files:
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54 - bps-based: it is based on bitrate/samplerate of video/audio stream.
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55 this method is used by most players, including avifile and wmp.
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56 files with broken headers, and files created with VBR audio but not
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57 vbr-compliant encoder will result a-v desync with this method.
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58 (mostly at seeking).
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59 - interleaving-based: note: it can't be used togethwer with -ni
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60 it doesn't use bitrate stuff of header, it uses the relative position
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61 of interleaved audio and video chunks. makes some badly encoded file
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62 with vbr audio playable.
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63
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64 Headers: AVI files has a mandatory header at the begin of the file,
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65 describing video parameters (resolution, fps) and codecs. Optionally
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66 they have an INDEX block at the end of the file. It's optional, but
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67 most files has such block, because it's REQUIRED for seeking.
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68 Btw usually it can be rebuilt from file content, mplayer does it with
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69 the -idx switch. MPlayer can recreate broken index blocks using -forceidx.
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70 As AVI files needs index for random access, broken files with no index
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71 are usually unplayable.
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72 Of course, cutting/joining AVI files needs special programs.
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73
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74 Codecs: any audio and video codecs allowed, but I note that VBR audio is
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75 not well supported by most players. The file format makes it possible to
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76 use VBR audio, but most players expect CBR audio and fails with VBR,
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77 as VBR is unusual, and Microsoft's AVI specs only describe CBR audio.
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78 I also note, that most AVI encoders/multiplexers create bad files if
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79 using VBR audio. only 2 exception (known by me): NaNDub and MEncoder.
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80
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81 FPS: only constant framerate allowed, but it's possible to skip frames.
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82
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83 - ASF streams:
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84 ASF (active streaming format) comes from Microsoft. they developed two
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85 variant of ASF, v1.0 and v2.0. v1.0 is used by their media tools (wmp and
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86 wme) and v2.0 is published and patented :). of course, they differ,
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87 no compatibility at all. (it's just a legality game)
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88 MPlayer supports only v1.0, as nobody ever seen v2.0 files :)
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89 Note, that .ASF files are nowdays come with extension .WMA or .WMV.
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90 UPDATE: MS recently released the ASF v1.0 specs too, but it has some
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91 restrictions making it illegal to read by us :)
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92
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93 Headers: Stream headers (codecs parameters) can be everywhere (in theory),
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94 but all files i've seen had it at the beginning of the file.
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95 Asf uses fixed packet size, so it is seekable without any INDEX block,
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96 and broken files are playable well.
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97
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98 Codecs: video is mostly microsoft's mpeg4 variants: MP42, MP43 (aka DivX),
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99 WMV1 and WMV2. but any codecs allowed.
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100 audio is usually wma or voxware, sometimes mp3, but any codecs allowed.
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101
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102 FPS: no fixed fps, every video frame has an exact timestamp instead.
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103 I've got stream with up to 3 sec frame display times.
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104
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105 - QuickTime / MOV files:
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106 They come from Mac users, usually with .mov or .qt extension, but as
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107 MPEG Group chose quicktime as recommended file format for MPEG4,
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108 sometimes you meet quicktime files with .mpg or .mp4 extension.
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109
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110 At first look, it's a mixture of ASF and AVI.
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111 It requires INDEX block for random access and seeking, and even for
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112 playback, like AVI, but uses timestamps instead of constant framerate
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113 and has more flexible stream options (including network stuff) like ASF.
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114
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115 Headers: header can be placed at the beginning or at the end of file.
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116 About half of my files has it at the begining, others has it at the end.
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117 Broken files are only playable if they have header at the beginning!
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118
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119 Codecs: any codecs allowed, both CBR and VBR.
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120 Note: most new mov files use Sorenson video and QDesign Music audio,
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121 they are patented, closed, secret, (TM)-ed etc formats, only Apple's
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122 quicktime player is able to playback these files (on win/mac only).
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123
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124 - VIVO files:
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125 They are funny streams. They have a human-readable ascii header at
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126 the beginning, followed by interleaved audio and video chunks.
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127 It has no index block, has no fixed packetsize or sync bytes, and most
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128 files even has no keyframes, so forget seeking!
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129 Video is standard h.263 (in vivo/2.0 files it's modified, non-standard
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130 h.263), audio is either standard g.723 or Vivo Siren codec.
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131
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132 Note, that microsoft licensed vivo stuff, and included in their netshow
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133 v2.0 program, so there are VfW/ACM codecs for vivo video and audio.
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134
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135 - RealMedia files:
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136 A mixture of AVI and ASF features. It has mandatory headers at the
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137 beginning and an optional INDEX (missing in most files).
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138 The file is constructed of variable size chunks, with small header
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139 telling the stream ID, timestamp, flags (keyframe...) and size.
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140 But it has some features found in ASF files:
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141 The video is actually double-muxed, the video chunks are really
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142 appended fragments of the video frame. RV30+ supports B frames, so
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143 you have to parse some bits of the first fragment to get the real PTS.
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144 The audio frames are fixed size (CBR) but using the same scrambling
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145 (out-of-order interleaving) as in the ASF files.
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146
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147 Codecs: Audio is either COOK(er), SIPR(o), ATRAC3 or DNET.
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148 The DNET is actually a byte-swapped low-bitrate Dolby AC3 variant :)
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149 Video is RV10 (h263 variant), RV20 (rp G2), RV30 (rp v8) or RV40 (rp v9).
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150
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151 FPS: variable, just like in ASF.
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152
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153 Note, that similarity of real and asf has some background - they worked
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154 together on the (never finished/used) ASF v2 spec for some time.
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155
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156 - GIF files:
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157 The GIF format is a common format for web graphics that supports
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158 animation. These are read through libungif or compatible library.
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159 Variable frame delays are supported, but seeking is not supported.
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160 Seeking will be supported once an index of gif frames can be built.