comparison DOCS/codecs.html @ 9270:aac86d4eba84

some typos, uniformizing like in the video.html and lot of additions/fixes

9269:e20e3c0cd9da

  download from our homepage. Grab them from our
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/">codecs page</A>.</P>

<P>The most important ones above all:</P>
<UL>
  <LI>MPEG1 (VCD) and MPEG2 (DVD) video</LI>
  <LI>native decoders for DivX ;-), OpenDivX, DivX4, DivX5,
    M$ MPEG4 v1, v2 and other MPEG4 variants</LI>
  <LI>native decoder for Windows Media Video 7/8 (WMV1/WMV2), and Win32 DLL decoder for
    Windows Media Video 9 (WMV3), both used in .wmv files</LI>
  <LI><B>native Sorenson 1 (SVQ1) decoder</B></LI>
  <LI><B>Win32/QT Sorenson 3 (SVQ3) decoder</B></LI>
  <LI>3ivx v1, v2 decoder</LI>
  <LI>Cinepak and Intel Indeo codecs (3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.0)</LI>
  <LI>MJPEG, AVID, VCR2, ASV2 and other hardware formats</LI>
  <LI>VIVO 1.0, 2.0, I263 and other h263(+) variants</LI>
  <LI>FLI/FLC</LI>
  <LI>RealVideo 1.0 codec from libavcodec, and RealVideo 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0
    codecs using RealPlayer libraries</LI>
  <LI>native decoder for HuffYUV</LI>
  <LI>various old simple RLE-like formats</LI>
</UL>

<P>If you have a Win32 codec not listed here which is not supported yet, please

<P><B>Note:</B> If your <CODE>-vo</CODE> driver supports direct rendering, then
  <CODE>-vc divx4</CODE> may be faster or even the fastest solution.</P>

<P>The Divx4/5 binary codec library can be downloaded from
  <A HREF="http://avifile.sourceforge.net">avifile</A> or
  <A HREF="http://www.divx.com>divx.com</A>.
  Unpack it, run <CODE>./install.sh</CODE> as root and do not forget adding
  <CODE>/usr/local/lib</CODE> to your <CODE>/etc/ld.so.conf</CODE> and running
  <CODE>ldconfig</CODE>.</P>

<P>Get the CVS version of the OLD OpenDivx core library like this:</P>

  movies without dropped frames on my K6/2 500.</P>


<H4><A NAME="xanim">2.2.1.3 XAnim codecs</A></H4>

<P>Foreword:<BR>
  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 XAnim. However, the XAnim author has yet to bring legal
  action against anyone for codec-related issues.
</P>

<P>MPlayer is capable of employing the XAnim codecs for decoding. Follow
  the instructions to enable them:</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Download the codecs you wish to use from the
    <A HREF="http://xanim.va.pubnix.com">XAnim site</A>. The <B>3ivx</B> codec
    is not there, but at the <A HREF="http://www.3ivx.com">3ivx site</A>.</LI>
  <LI>Use the <CODE>--with-xanimlibdir</CODE> option to tell configure where
    to find the XAnim codecs. By default, it looks for them at
    <CODE>/usr/local/lib/xanim/mods, /usr/lib/xanim/mods and /usr/lib/xanim</CODE>.
    Alternatively you can set the environment variable <I>XANIM_MOD_DIR</I> to
    the directory of the XAnim codecs.</LI>

<P>MPlayer can play Vivo (1.0 and 2.0) videos. The most suitable codec
  for 1.0 files is FFmpeg's H263 decoder, you can use it with the <CODE>-vc
  ffh263</CODE> option (default). For 2.0 files, use the
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/samples/drivers32/ivvideo.dll">ivvideo.dll</A>
  Win32 DLL file, and install it under <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE> or wherever you store the
  Win32 codecs.</P>


<H4><A NAME="mpeg">2.2.1.5 MPEG 1/2 video</A></H4>

<P>MPEG1 and MPEG2 are decoded by the multiplatform native <B>libmpeg2</B>
  library, whose source code is included in MPlayer. We handle buggy
  MPEG 1/2 video files by catching sig11 (segmentation fault), and quickly
  reinitializing the codec, continuing exactly from where the failure occurred. 
  This recovery technique has no measurable speed penalty.</P>


<H4><A NAME="ms_video1">2.2.1.6 MS Video1</A></H4>

<P>This is a very old and very bad codec from Microsoft. In the past it was

  Melanson</A>).</P>


<H4><A NAME="cinepak">2.2.1.7 Cinepak CVID</A></H4>

<P>MPlayer uses its own open source, multiplatform Cinepak decoder by
  default. It supports YUV outputs, so that hardware scaling is possible if the
  video output driver permits it.</P>


<H4><A NAME="realvideo">2.2.1.8 RealVideo</A></H4>

MPlayer supports decoding all versions of RealVideo:

  NetBSD and Cygwin on the x86 and Alpha platforms.</B></P>


<H4><A NAME="xvid">2.2.1.9 XViD</A></H4>

<P><B>XViD</B> is a forked development of the OpenDivX codec. It 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.</P>

<H4>Advantages:</H4>

<UL>
  <LI>open source</LI>
  <LI>its API is compatible with DivX4 so adding support for
    it is easy</LI>
  <LI>2-pass encoding support</LI>
  <LI>nice encoding quality, higher speed than DivX4 (you can optimize it for
    your box while compiling)</LI>
</UL>

<H4>Disadvantages:</H4>

<UL>
  <LI>currently it does not properly <B>decode</B> all DivX/DivX4 files (no problem as libavcodec can play them)</LI>
  <LI>you have to choose between DivX4 <B>or</B> XViD support at
    compiletime</LI>
  <LI>under development</LI>
</UL>

<P>XViD is currently available only from CVS. Here are the
  download and installation instructions:</P>

<OL>

    <A HREF="http://www.xinehq.de">xine</A> authors.</LI>
  <LI>Sorenson 3 (fourcc <I>SVQ3</I>) - decoding supported by <B>Win32
    QuickTime libraries</B></LI>
</UL>

<H4>Compiling MPlayer with QuickTime libraries support</H4>

<P><B>NOTE:</B> currently only 32bit Intel platforms are supported.</P>

<OL>
  <LI>download MPlayer CVS</LI>

9270:aac86d4eba84

  download from our homepage. Grab them from our
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/">codecs page</A>.</P>

<P>The most important ones above all:</P>
<UL>
  <LI><B>MPEG1</B> (<B>VCD</B>) and <B>MPEG2</B> (<B>DVD</B>) video</LI>
  <LI>native decoders for <B>DivX ;-)</B>, <B>OpenDivX</B>, <B>DivX4</B>, <B>
    DivX5</B>, <B>M$ MPEG4</B> v1, v2 and other MPEG4 variants</LI>
  <LI>native decoder for <B>Windows Media Video 7/8</B> (<B>WMV1/WMV2</B>), and
    Win32 DLL decoder for <B>Windows Media Video 9</B> (<B>WMV3</B>), both
    used in .wmv files</LI>
  <LI>native <B>Sorenson 1 (SVQ1)</B> decoder</LI>
  <LI>Win32/QT <B>Sorenson 3 (SVQ3)</B> decoder</LI>
  <LI><B>3ivx</B> v1, v2 decoder</LI>
  <LI>Cinepak and <B>Intel Indeo</B> codecs (3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.0)</LI>
  <LI><B>MJPEG</B>, AVID, VCR2, ASV2 and other hardware formats</LI>
  <LI>VIVO 1.0, 2.0, I263 and other <B>h263</B>(+) variants</LI>
  <LI>FLI/FLC</LI>
  <LI><B>RealVideo 1.0</B> codec from libavcodec, and <B>RealVideo 2.0</B>,
    <B>3.0</B> and <B>4.0</B> codecs using RealPlayer libraries</LI>
  <LI>native decoder for HuffYUV</LI>
  <LI>various old simple RLE-like formats</LI>
</UL>

<P>If you have a Win32 codec not listed here which is not supported yet, please

<P><B>Note:</B> If your <CODE>-vo</CODE> driver supports direct rendering, then
  <CODE>-vc divx4</CODE> may be faster or even the fastest solution.</P>

<P>The Divx4/5 binary codec library can be downloaded from
  <A HREF="http://avifile.sourceforge.net">avifile</A> or
  <A HREF="http://www.divx.com">divx.com</A>.
  Unpack it, run <CODE>./install.sh</CODE> as root and do not forget adding
  <CODE>/usr/local/lib</CODE> to your <CODE>/etc/ld.so.conf</CODE> and running
  <CODE>ldconfig</CODE>.</P>

<P>Get the CVS version of the OLD OpenDivx core library like this:</P>

  movies without dropped frames on my K6/2 500.</P>


<H4><A NAME="xanim">2.2.1.3 XAnim codecs</A></H4>

<H5>FOREWORD</H5>
<P>
  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 XAnim. However, the XAnim author has yet to bring legal
  action against anyone for codec-related issues.
</P>

<H5>INSTALLING AND USAGE</H5>
<P>MPlayer is capable of employing the XAnim codecs for decoding. Follow
  the instructions to enable them:</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Download the codecs you wish to use from the
    <A HREF="http://xanim.va.pubnix.com">XAnim site</A>. The <B>3ivx</B> codec
    is not there, but at the <A HREF="http://www.3ivx.com">3ivx site</A>.</LI>
  <LI><B>OR</B> download the codecs pack from our
    <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/">codecs page</A>.
    </LI>
  <LI>Use the <CODE>--with-xanimlibdir</CODE> option to tell configure where
    to find the XAnim codecs. By default, it looks for them at
    <CODE>/usr/local/lib/xanim/mods, /usr/lib/xanim/mods and /usr/lib/xanim</CODE>.
    Alternatively you can set the environment variable <I>XANIM_MOD_DIR</I> to
    the directory of the XAnim codecs.</LI>

<P>MPlayer can play Vivo (1.0 and 2.0) videos. The most suitable codec
  for 1.0 files is FFmpeg's H263 decoder, you can use it with the <CODE>-vc
  ffh263</CODE> option (default). For 2.0 files, use the
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/samples/drivers32/ivvideo.dll">ivvideo.dll</A>
  Win32 DLL file (included in the latest DLL packages), and install it under
  <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE> or wherever you store the Win32 codecs.</P>


<H4><A NAME="mpeg">2.2.1.5 MPEG 1/2 video</A></H4>

<P>MPEG1 and MPEG2 are decoded by the multiplatform native <B>libmpeg2</B>
  library, whose source code is included in MPlayer. We handle buggy
  MPEG 1/2 video files by catching <CODE>Signal 11 (Segmentation fault)</CODE>,
  and quickly reinitializing the codec, continuing exactly from where the
  failure occurred. This recovery technique has no measurable speed penalty.</P>


<H4><A NAME="ms_video1">2.2.1.6 MS Video1</A></H4>

<P>This is a very old and very bad codec from Microsoft. In the past it was

  Melanson</A>).</P>


<H4><A NAME="cinepak">2.2.1.7 Cinepak CVID</A></H4>

<P>MPlayer uses its own open source, multiplatform Cinepak decoder (by
  <A HREF="mailto:[e-mail]">Dr. Tim Ferguson</A>), by default.
  It supports YUV outputs, so that hardware scaling is possible if the video
  output driver permits it.</P>


<H4><A NAME="realvideo">2.2.1.8 RealVideo</A></H4>

MPlayer supports decoding all versions of RealVideo:

  NetBSD and Cygwin on the x86 and Alpha platforms.</B></P>


<H4><A NAME="xvid">2.2.1.9 XViD</A></H4>

<P><A HREF="http://www.xvid.org/"><B>XViD</B></A> is a forked development of
  the OpenDivX codec. It 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.</P>

<H5>ADVANTAGES</H5>

<UL>
  <LI>open source</LI>
  <LI>its API is compatible with DivX4 so adding support for it is easy</LI>
  <LI>2-pass encoding support</LI>
  <LI>nice encoding quality, higher speed than DivX4 (you can optimize it for
    your box while compiling)</LI>
</UL>

<H5>DISADVANTAGES</H5>

<UL>
  <LI>currently it does not properly <B>decode</B> all DivX/DivX4 files (no 
    problem as <A HREF="#libavcodec">libavcodec</A> can play them)</LI>
  <LI>you have to choose between DivX4 <B>or</B> XViD support at compiletime</LI>
  <LI>under development</LI>
</UL>

<H5>INSTALLING XVID CVS</H5>

<P>XViD is currently available only from CVS. Here are the
  download and installation instructions:</P>

<OL>

    <A HREF="http://www.xinehq.de">xine</A> authors.</LI>
  <LI>Sorenson 3 (fourcc <I>SVQ3</I>) - decoding supported by <B>Win32
    QuickTime libraries</B></LI>
</UL>

<H5>COMPILING MPLAYER WITH QUICKTIME LIBRARIES SUPPORT</H5>

<P><B>NOTE:</B> currently only 32bit Intel platforms are supported.</P>

<OL>
  <LI>download MPlayer CVS</LI>