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annotate DOCS/formats.html @ 5177:fc5f42c4d088
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5 .text |
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6 {font-family : Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; |
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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 | |
17 <P>It's important to clarify a popular mistake. When people see a file with | |
18 <B>.AVI</B> extension, they instantly declare that isn't an MPEG file. | |
19 That's not true. At least not entirely. If you tell them that such a file | |
20 can contain MPEG1 video, they laugh at you. Feel free to kick their dumbass | |
21 faces, then tell them to RTFM.</P> | |
22 | |
23 <P>You see, a <B>codec</B> isn't equal to a <B>file format</B>.<BR> | |
24 Video <B>codecs</B> are: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX, Indeo5, 3ivx.<BR> | |
2865 | 25 Video <B>formats</B> are: MPG, AVI, ASF.<BR> |
2745 | 26 </P> |
27 | |
28 <P>In theory, you can happily put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio | |
29 into a <B>.MPG</B> format file. Though most players won't play it, since | |
30 they expect MPEG1 video and MP2 audio (<B>.MPG</B> doesn't have the | |
31 necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams, like <B>.AVI</B> | |
4177 | 32 does). Or put MPEG1 video to an .AVI. For example <A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">ffmpeg</A> |
33 and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A> can create these files.</P> | |
2745 | 34 |
35 <P>Audio <B>codecs</B> and <B>formats</B> are basically the same terms.</P> | |
36 | |
37 | |
38 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1>2.1.1. Video formats</A></B></P> | |
39 | |
40 | |
2865 | 41 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.1>2.1.1.1. MPEG files</A></B></P> |
2745 | 42 |
43 <P> | |
44 <LI>MPG : this is the most <B>basic</B> form of MPEG file formats. Contains | |
2865 | 45 MPEG1 video, and MP2 (MPEG-1 layer 2) audio, or rarely MP1.</LI> |
46 <LI>DAT : this is the very same format as MPG, just different extension. Used | |
47 on <B>Video CD</B>s. Due to the nature VCDs are created and Linux is designed, | |
2745 | 48 the DAT files can't be played nor copied from VCDs. You have to use the |
49 <CODE>-vcd</CODE> option to play the VideoCD.</LI> | |
2865 | 50 <LI>VOB : this is the MPEG file format on <B>DVD</B>s. The same as MPG, plus |
51 capability to contain subtitles, or non-MPEG (AC3) audio. 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> |
2745 | 54 </P> |
55 | |
2865 | 56 <P>In MPEG files, series of frames are grouped together, and are independent |
57 from the other groups. What this means is you can cut/join an MPEG file with | |
58 standard file-tools (like dd, cut), and it remains completely functional.</P> | |
59 | |
2761 | 60 <P>One important feature for MPGs is that they have a field to describe |
61 the aspect ratio of the video stream within. For example SVCDs have | |
62 480x480 resolution video, and in the header that field is set to 4:3, so | |
63 it's played at 640x480. AVI files don't have this field, so one has to | |
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64 rescale it during encoding or use option -aspect at playback.</P> |
2761 | 65 |
2745 | 66 |
67 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.2>2.1.1.2. AVI files</A></B></P> | |
68 | |
69 <P>Designed by Micro$oft, the <B>AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</B> is a | |
70 widespread multipurpose format, currently used mostly for DivX and DivX4 | |
71 videos. Has many known drawbacks, and inabilities (for example in streaming). | |
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72 Has support for one video stream, and 0 to 99 audio streams. Can be as big as |
2745 | 73 2Gb. There exists an extension for it to be bigger, called <B>OpenDMS</B>. |
2761 | 74 M$ currently strongly discourages its use and propagates ASF/WMV. Not if |
2745 | 75 anybody cares.<BR> |
76 <B>NOTE</B> : DV cameras can create two types of AVI format, one is the usual and | |
77 playable, the other is neither.</P> | |
78 | |
2865 | 79 <P>There are two kinds of AVI files: |
80 <UL> | |
81 <LI><B>Interleaved</B> : audio and video content is interleaved. This is the | |
82 standard usage. Recommended and mostly used. Some tools create interleaved | |
83 AVIs with bad sync. <B>MPlayer</B> detects these as interleaved, and this | |
84 climaxes in loss of A/V sync, probably at seeking. These files should be | |
85 played as non-interleaved (with the <CODE>-ni</CODE> option).</LI> | |
86 <LI><B>Non-interleaved</B> : bad. First come the whole video stream, then the whole | |
87 audio stream, thus needs a lot of seeking. It's very bad when playing from | |
88 network or CDROM.</LI> | |
89 </UL> | |
90 </P> | |
91 | |
92 <P>MPlayer supports 2 kind of timing for AVI files: | |
93 <UL> | |
94 <LI><B>bps-based</B> : it is based on bitrate/samplerate of video/audio stream. This | |
95 method is used by most players, including avifile and windows media player. | |
96 Files with broken headers, and files created with VBR audio but not | |
97 VBR-compliant encoder will result in A/V desync with this method (mostly at | |
98 seeking).</LI> | |
99 <LI><B>interleaving-based</B> : it doesn't use bitrate value of the header, instead | |
100 it uses the relative position of interleaved audio and video chunks. Makes | |
101 some badly encoded file with VBR audio playable.</LI> | |
102 </UL> | |
103 </P> | |
104 | |
105 <P>Any audio and video codec is allowed, but note that VBR audio isn't well | |
106 supported by most of the players. The file format makes it possible to use VBR | |
107 audio, but most players expect CBR audio, thus they fail with VBR. VBR is | |
108 unusual, and Microsoft's AVI specs only describe CBR audio. I also note, that | |
3027 | 109 most AVI encoders/multiplexers create bad files if using VBR audio. Only 2 |
2865 | 110 exception (known by me): NaNDub and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A>.</P> |
111 | |
2745 | 112 |
113 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.3>2.1.1.3. ASF/WMV files</A></B></P> | |
114 | |
2865 | 115 <P>ASF (active streaming format) comes from Microsoft. They developed two |
116 variants of ASF, v1.0 and v2.0. v1.0 is used by their media tools (windows | |
117 media player and windows media encoder) and is very secret. v2.0 is published | |
118 and patented :). Of course they differ, there is no compatibility at all (it's | |
119 just another legal game). <B>MPlayer</B> supports only v1.0, as nobody has ever seen | |
120 v2.0 files :) . Note, that .ASF files nowdays come with the extension .WMA or | |
121 .WMV.</P> | |
2745 | 122 |
123 | |
2865 | 124 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.4>2.1.1.4. QuickTime/MOV files</A></B></P> |
125 | |
126 <P>These are from Macintosh. Usually have extensions of .QT or .MOV . Note | |
127 that since the MPEG4 Group chose QuickTime as the recommended file format | |
3027 | 128 for MPEG4, their .MOV files come with .MPG or .MP4 extension (interesting |
129 that in these files the video stream is a real .MPG file. With the | |
130 <CODE>-dumpvideo</CODE> option you can even extract it.).</P> | |
2745 | 131 |
2865 | 132 <P><B>Codecs</B>: any codecs allowed, both CBR and VBR. Note: most new mov files use |
133 <B>Sorenson</B> video and QDesign Music audio. These formats are completely | |
134 secret, and only Apple's quicktime player is able to play these files (on | |
135 win/mac only).</P> | |
136 | |
2745 | 137 |
138 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.5>2.1.1.5. VIV files</A></B></P> | |
139 | |
2865 | 140 <P><B>MPlayer</B> happily demuxes VIVO file formats. The format's big |
141 disadvantage is that it has no index block, nor fixed packetsize or sync bytes, | |
142 and most files lack even keyframes, so forget seeking!</P> | |
143 | |
144 <P>VIVO/1.0 files' video codec is standard <B>h.263</B> . The VIVO/2.0 files' | |
145 video codec is a modified, nonstandard <B>h.263</B> . Audio is the same, | |
146 it may be <B>g.723</B> (standard), or <B>Vivo Siren</B> .</P> | |
147 | |
148 <P>See the <A HREF=codecs.html#2.2.1.4>VIVO video codec</A> | |
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149 and <A HREF=codecs.html#2.2.2.4>VIVO audio codec</A> sections for installation |
2855 | 150 instructions.</P> |
2745 | 151 |
152 | |
3806 | 153 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.6>2.1.1.6. FLI files</A></B></P> |
154 | |
155 <P><B>FLI</B> is a very old fileformat used by Autodesk Animator, but it's | |
156 a common fileformat for short animations on the Net. <B>MPlayer</B> demuxes | |
157 and decodes FLI movies and is even able to seek within them (useful when | |
158 looping with the -loop option). FLI files don't have keyframes, so picture | |
159 will be messy for a short time after seeking.</P> | |
160 | |
161 | |
162 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.7>2.1.1.7. RealMedia (RM) files</A></B></P> | |
163 | |
5094 | 164 <P>Yes, <B>MPlayer</B> can read (demux) RealMedia (.rm) files. Seeking works |
165 (the format supports keyframes). Here are the lists of the supported | |
166 <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.1.8">RealVideo</A> | |
3806 | 167 and <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.2.5">RealAudio</A> codecs. |
168 | |
169 | |
3816 | 170 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.8>2.1.1.8. NuppelVideo files</A></B></P> |
171 | |
172 <P><A HREF="http://mars.tuwien.ac.at/~roman/nuppelvideo">NuppelVideo</A> | |
173 is a TV grabber tool (AFAIK:). <B>MPlayer</B> can read its <CODE>.nuv</CODE> | |
174 files (only NuppelVideo 5.0). Those files can contain uncompressed YV12, | |
175 YV12+RTJpeg compressed, YV12 RTJpeg+lzo compressed, and YV12+lzo compressed | |
176 frames, <B>MPlayer</B> decodes (and also <B>encodes</B> them with MEncoder to | |
177 DivX/etc!) them all. Seeking is under implementation.</P> | |
178 | |
179 | |
3818 | 180 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.9>2.1.1.9. yuv4mpeg files</A></B></P> |
181 | |
182 <P><A HREF="http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net">yuv4mpeg / yuv4mpeg2</A> is | |
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183 a fileformat used by <A HREF="http://mjpeg.sf.net">mjpegtools programs</A>. |
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184 You can grab, produce, filter or encode video in this format using these. |
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185 The file is really a sequence of uncompressed YUV 4:2:0 images. |
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186 </P> |
3818 | 187 |
188 | |
4339 | 189 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.10>2.1.1.10. FILM files</A></B></P> |
190 | |
191 <P>This format is used on old Sega Saturn CD-ROM games.</P> | |
192 | |
193 | |
4503 | 194 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.11>2.1.1.11. RoQ files</A></B></P> |
195 | |
4584 | 196 <P>RoQ files are multimedia files used in some ID games such as Quake III and |
197 Return to Castle Wolfenstein.</P> | |
4503 | 198 |
199 | |
2745 | 200 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2>2.1.2. Audio formats</A></B></P> |
201 | |
202 <P>Currently <B>MPlayer</B> is still a <B>Movie</B> and not a <B>Media</B> | |
203 player, thus the pure audio formats (for example MP3, WAV, audio ASF) are | |
204 unplayable. Use <A HREF="http://www.xmms.org">xmms</A>, <A HREF="http://www.mpg123.de">mpg123</A> | |
205 or whatever.</P> | |
206 | |
207 </BODY> | |
208 </HTML> |