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oh my god what have i done... format.html, codecs, video, sound.html renumbered, etc
author gabucino
date Tue, 06 Nov 2001 17:04:56 +0000
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children 24797a1d36d6
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2744:205deb33f8ee 2745:62bcea66003e
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)
19 <LI> supports <A HREF="documentation.html#3.3">reading from file</A>, stdin, or network via HTTP
20 </UL></P>
21
22 <P>Note: about realmedia (.ra/.rm) support read the FAQ!</P>
23
24 <P>It's important to clarify a popular mistake. When people see a file with
25 <B>.AVI</B> extension, they instantly declare that isn't an MPEG file.
26 That's not true. At least not entirely. If you tell them that such a file
27 can contain MPEG1 video, they laugh at you. Feel free to kick their dumbass
28 faces, then tell them to RTFM.</P>
29
30 <P>You see, a <B>codec</B> isn't equal to a <B>file format</B>.<BR>
31 Video <B>codecs</B> are: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX, Indeo5, 3ivx.<BR>
32 Video <B>formats</B> are: MPG, VOB, AVI, ASF.<BR>
33 </P>
34
35 <P>In theory, you can happily put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio
36 into a <B>.MPG</B> format file. Though most players won't play it, since
37 they expect MPEG1 video and MP2 audio (<B>.MPG</B> doesn't have the
38 necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams, like <B>.AVI</B>
39 does). Or put MPEG1 video to an .AVI. For example <A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">ffmpeg</A> can
40 create these files.</P>
41
42 <P>Audio <B>codecs</B> and <B>formats</B> are basically the same terms.</P>
43
44
45 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1>2.1.1. Video formats</A></B></P>
46
47
48 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.1>2.1.1.1. MPG, VOB, DAT files</A></B></P>
49
50 <P>
51 <LI>MPG : this is the most <B>basic</B> form of MPEG file formats. Contains
52 MPEG1 video, and MP2 audio.</LI>
53 <LI>VOB : this is the MPEG file format on <B>DVD</B>s. Contains optionally
54 encoded MPEG2 video, and usually AC3 audio.<BR>
55 <B>Read the <A HREF="cd-dvd.html#4.2">DVD section</A> !</B></LI>
56 <LI>DAT : this is the MPEG file format on <B>Video CD</B>s. It's the same
57 as the MPG, but due to the nature VCDs are created and Linux is designed,
58 the DAT files can't be played nor copied from VCDs. You have to use the
59 <CODE>-vcd</CODE> option to play the VideoCD.</LI>
60 </P>
61
62
63 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.2>2.1.1.2. AVI files</A></B></P>
64
65 <P>Designed by Micro$oft, the <B>AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</B> is a
66 widespread multipurpose format, currently used mostly for DivX and DivX4
67 videos. Has many known drawbacks, and inabilities (for example in streaming).
68 Has support for one video stream, and 99 audio streams. Can be as big as
69 2Gb. There exists an extension for it to be bigger, called <B>OpenDMS</B>.
70 M$ is currently strongly discourages its use and propagates ASF/WMV. Not if
71 anybody cares.<BR>
72 <B>NOTE</B> : DV cameras can create two types of AVI format, one is the usual and
73 playable, the other is neither.</P>
74
75
76 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.3>2.1.1.3. ASF/WMV files</A></B></P>
77
78 <P>ASF is a new very undocumented fileformat from M$, and WMV is its
79 successor. They are very commercial, and anyone who writes an opensource
80 parser for them, soon meets certain doom. While creating the parser, it
81 was obvious to see how bulky, shit, and unusable they are. Not if anybody
82 would expect something else from M$.
83
84
85 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.4>2.1.1.4. QT/MOV files</A></B></P>
86
87 <P>They are Apple's formats. Not much to say, basically well designed,
88 multipurpose, streamable, many features etc. Kinda hard to find documentation,
89 but we think the parser is perfect.
90
91 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.5>2.1.1.5. VIV files</A></B></P>
92
93 <P>Hey this is new code in <B>MPlayer</B>, be gentle! Seeking is
94 currently nonexistent, audio too. TODO : complete this section.</P>
95
96
97 <P><B><A NAME=2.1.2>2.1.2. Audio formats</A></B></P>
98
99 <P>Currently <B>MPlayer</B> is still a <B>Movie</B> and not a <B>Media</B>
100 player, thus the pure audio formats (for example MP3, WAV, audio ASF) are
101 unplayable. Use <A HREF="http://www.xmms.org">xmms</A>, <A HREF="http://www.mpg123.de">mpg123</A>
102 or whatever.</P>
103
104 </BODY>
105 </HTML>