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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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+<HTML>
+<BODY BGCOLOR=WHITE>
+
+<FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>
+
+
+<P><B><A NAME=2.1>2.1. Supported formats</A></B></P>
+
+<P><B>MPlayer</B> can read/play from the following devices/formats:<BR>
+<UL>
+<LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.1">VCD</A> (Video CD) directly from CD-ROM or from CDRwin's .bin image file     
+<LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.1">DVD</A>, directly from your DVD disk, using libdvdread for decryption
+<LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.1">MPEG 1/2</A> System Stream (PS/PES/VOB) and Elementary Stream (ES) file
+     formats
+<LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.2">RIFF AVI</A> file format
+<LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.3">ASF/WMV</A> 1.0 file format
+<LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.4">QT/MOV</A> file format with (un)compressed headers
+<LI> <A HREF="#2.1.1.5">VIVO</A> format (.viv files)
+<LI> supports <A HREF="documentation.html#3.3">reading from file</A>, stdin, or network via HTTP
+</UL></P>
+
+<P>Note: about realmedia (.ra/.rm) support read the FAQ!</P>
+
+<P>It's important to clarify a popular mistake. When people see a file with
+<B>.AVI</B> extension, they instantly declare that isn't an MPEG file.
+That's not true. At least not entirely. If you tell them that such a file
+can contain MPEG1 video, they laugh at you. Feel free to kick their dumbass
+faces, then tell them to RTFM.</P>
+
+<P>You see, a <B>codec</B> isn't equal to a <B>file format</B>.<BR>
+Video <B>codecs</B> are: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX, Indeo5, 3ivx.<BR>
+Video <B>formats</B> are: MPG, VOB, AVI, ASF.<BR>
+</P>
+
+<P>In theory, you can happily put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio
+into a <B>.MPG</B> format file. Though most players won't play it, since
+they expect MPEG1 video and MP2 audio (<B>.MPG</B> doesn't have the
+necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams, like <B>.AVI</B>
+does). Or put MPEG1 video to an .AVI. For example <A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">ffmpeg</A> can
+create these files.</P>
+
+<P>Audio <B>codecs</B> and <B>formats</B> are basically the same terms.</P>
+
+
+<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1>2.1.1. Video formats</A></B></P>
+
+
+<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.1>2.1.1.1. MPG, VOB, DAT files</A></B></P>
+
+<P>
+<LI>MPG : this is the most <B>basic</B> form of MPEG file formats. Contains
+MPEG1 video, and MP2 audio.</LI>
+<LI>VOB : this is the MPEG file format on <B>DVD</B>s. Contains optionally
+encoded MPEG2 video, and usually AC3 audio.<BR>
+<B>Read the <A HREF="cd-dvd.html#4.2">DVD section</A> !</B></LI>
+<LI>DAT : this is the MPEG file format on <B>Video CD</B>s. It's the same
+as the MPG, but due to the nature VCDs are created and Linux is designed,
+the DAT files can't be played nor copied from VCDs. You have to use the
+<CODE>-vcd</CODE> option to play the VideoCD.</LI>
+</P>
+
+
+<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.2>2.1.1.2. AVI files</A></B></P>
+
+<P>Designed by Micro$oft, the <B>AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</B> is a
+widespread multipurpose format, currently used mostly for DivX and DivX4
+videos. Has many known drawbacks, and inabilities (for example in streaming).
+Has support for one video stream, and 99 audio streams. Can be as big as
+2Gb. There exists an extension for it to be bigger, called <B>OpenDMS</B>.
+M$ is currently strongly discourages its use and propagates ASF/WMV. Not if
+anybody cares.<BR>
+<B>NOTE</B> : DV cameras can create two types of AVI format, one is the usual and
+playable, the other is neither.</P>
+
+
+<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.3>2.1.1.3. ASF/WMV files</A></B></P>
+
+<P>ASF is a new very undocumented fileformat from M$, and WMV is its
+successor. They are very commercial, and anyone who writes an opensource
+parser for them, soon meets certain doom. While creating the parser, it
+was obvious to see how bulky, shit, and unusable they are. Not if anybody
+would expect something else from M$.
+
+
+<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.4>2.1.1.4. QT/MOV files</A></B></P>
+
+<P>They are Apple's formats. Not much to say, basically well designed,
+multipurpose, streamable, many features etc. Kinda hard to find documentation,
+but we think the parser is perfect.
+
+<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.5>2.1.1.5. VIV files</A></B></P>
+
+<P>Hey this is new code in <B>MPlayer</B>, be gentle! Seeking is
+currently nonexistent, audio too. TODO : complete this section.</P>
+
+
+<P><B><A NAME=2.1.2>2.1.2. Audio formats</A></B></P>
+
+<P>Currently <B>MPlayer</B> is still a <B>Movie</B> and not a <B>Media</B>
+player, thus the pure audio formats (for example MP3, WAV, audio ASF) are
+unplayable. Use <A HREF="http://www.xmms.org">xmms</A>, <A HREF="http://www.mpg123.de">mpg123</A>
+or whatever.</P>
+
+</BODY>
+</HTML>