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<H2><A NAME="codecs">2.2 Supported codecs</A></H2>


<H3><A NAME="video_codecs">2.2.1 Video codecs</A></H3>

<P>See the <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/codecs-status.html">codec status table</A>
  for the complete, daily generated list.</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 (WMV1), and Win32 DLL decoder for
    Windows Media Video 8 (WMV2), both used in .wmv files</LI>
  <LI><B>native Sorenson (SVQ1) decoder</B></LI>
  <LI>3ivx 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
  read the <A HREF="#importing">codec importing HOWTO</A> and help us add support
  for it.</P>


<H4><A NAME="divx">2.2.1.1 DivX4/DivX5</A></H4>

<P>This section contains information about the DivX4 and DivX5 codecs of
  <A HREF="http://www.projectmayo.com">Project Mayo</A>. Their first available
  alpha version was OpenDivX 4.0 alpha 47 and 48. Support for this was included
  in MPlayer in the past, and built by default. We also used its
  postprocessing code to optionally enhance visual quality of MPEG1/2 movies.
  Now we use our own, for all file types.</P>

<P>The new generation of this codec is called DivX4 and can even decode
  movies made with the infamous DivX codec! In addition it is much faster than
  the native Win32 DivX DLLs but slower than libavcodec.  Hence its usage as a
  decoder is <B>DISCOURAGED</B>. However, it is useful for encoding. One
  disadvantage of this codec is that it is currently closed source.</P>

<P>The codec can be downloaded from one of the following URLs:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="http://avifile.sourceforge.net">http://avifile.sourceforge.net</A><BR>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<A HREF="http://divx.com">http://divx.com</A></P>

<P>Unpack it, and run <CODE>./install.sh</CODE> as root.</P>

<P><B>Note:</B> Do <B>not</B> forget adding <CODE>/usr/local/lib</CODE> to your
  <CODE>/etc/ld.so.conf</CODE> and running <CODE>ldconfig</CODE>!</P>

<P>MPlayer autodetects DivX4/DivX5 if it is properly installed, just
  compile as usual. If it does not detect it, you did not install or configure
  it correctly.</P>

<P>DivX4Linux works in two modes:</P>

<DL>
  <DT><CODE>-vc odivx</CODE></DT>
  <DD>Uses the codec in OpenDivX fashion. In this case it
    produces YV12 images in its own buffer, and MPlayer does colorspace
    conversion via libvo. (<B>Fast, recommended!</B>)</DD>

  <DT><CODE>-vc divx4</CODE></DT>
  <DD>Uses the colorspace conversion of the codec.
    In this mode you can use YUY2/UYVY, too. (<B>SLOW</B>)</DD>
</DL>

<P>The <CODE>-vc odivx</CODE> method is usually faster, due to the fact that it
  transfers image data in YV12 (planar YUV 4:2:0) format, thus requiring much
  less bandwidth on the bus. For packed YUV modes (YUY2, UYVY) use the
  <CODE>-vc divx4</CODE> method. For RGB modes the speed is the same, differing
  at best according to your current color depth.</P>

<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>


<H4><A NAME="libavcodec">2.2.1.2 FFmpeg DivX/libavcodec</A></H4>

<P><A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">FFmpeg</A> contains an
  <B>open source</B> codec package, which is capable of decoding streams
  encoded with
  H263/MJPEG/RV10/DivX3/DivX4/DivX5/MP41/MP42/WMV1
  video, or WMA (Windows Media Audio) audio codecs. Not only some of
  them can be encoded with, but it also offers higher speed than the Win32
  codecs or the DivX.com DivX4/5 library!</P>

<P>It contains a lot of nice codecs, especially important are the MPEG4
  variants:
  DivX 3, DivX 4, DivX 5, Windows Media Video 7 (WMV1). Also a very
  interesting one is the WMA decoder.</P>

<P>If you use an MPlayer release you have libavcodec right in the
  package, just build as usual. If you use MPlayer from CVS you have to
  extract libavcodec from the FFmpeg CVS tree as FFmpeg releases <B>don't</B>
  work with MPlayer. In order to achieve this do:</P>

<OL>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg login</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Move the <CODE>libavcodec</CODE> directory from the FFmpeg sources to the
    root of the MPlayer CVS tree. It should look like this:
    <P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>main/libavcodec</CODE></P>
    Symlinking is <B>not</B> enough, you have to copy or move it!</LI>
  <LI>Compile. Configure should detect problems before compilation.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> MPlayer from CVS does contain a libavcodec
  subdirectory, but it does <B>not</B> contain the source for libavcodec!
  You must follow the steps above to obtain the source for this library.</P>

<P>With FFmpeg and my Matrox G400, I can view even the highest resolution DivX
  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>
  <LI>Rename/symlink the files, cutting out the architecture stuff, so they will
    have filenames like these: <CODE>vid_cvid.xa, vid_h263.xa, vid_iv50.xa</CODE>.</LI>
</OL>

<P>XAnim is video codec family number 10, so you may want to use the <CODE>-vfm 10</CODE>
  option to tell MPlayer to use them if possible.</P>

<P>Tested codecs include: <B>Indeo 3.2</B>, <B>4.1</B>, <B>5.0</B>, <B>CVID</B>,
  <B>3ivX</B>, <B>h263</B>.</P>


<H4><A NAME="vivo_video">2.2.1.4 VIVO video</A></H4>

<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
  decoded with the <CODE>msvidc32.dll</CODE> Win32 codec, now we have our own
  open source implementation (by <A HREF="mailto:melanson@pcisys.net">Mike
  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:

<UL>
  <LI>RealVideo 1.0 (fourcc RV10) - en/decoding supported by <B>libavcodec</B></LI>
  <LI>RealVideo 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 (fourcc RV20, RV30, RV40) - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
</UL>

<P>It is recommended to download and install RealPlayer8 or RealONE, because
  MPlayer can use their libraries to decode files with RealVideo 2.0 -
  4.0 video. The MPlayer configure script should detect the
  RealPlayer libraries in the standard locations of a full installation. If it
  does not, tell configure where to look with the
  <CODE>--with-reallibdir</CODE> switch.</P>

<P><B>Note:</B> RealPlayer libraries currently <B>only work with Linux, FreeBSD,
  NetBSD and Cygwin on the x86 platform.</B></P>

<P><B>Note2:</B> We cannot distribute the RealPlayer libraries, the license does
  not allow this. You have to get them yourself.</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, 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>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.xvid.org:/xvid login</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.xvid.org:/xvid co xvidcore</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>cd xvidcore/build/generic</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Edit the Makefile for your architecture (probably
    <CODE>Makefile.linuxx86</CODE>) to fit your needs.</LI>
  <LI><CODE>make -f Makefile.linuxx86</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Copy the <CODE>divx4.h</CODE> and <CODE>xvid.h</CODE> header files from
    <CODE>xvidcore/src/</CODE> to <CODE>/usr/local/include/</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>Get <CODE>encore2.h</CODE> and <CODE>decore.h</CODE> from the DivX4Linux
    package, and copy them to <CODE>/usr/local/include/</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>Recompile MPlayer with <CODE>--with-xvidcore=/path/to/libxvidcore.a</CODE>.</LI>
</OL>


<H4><A NAME="sorenson">2.2.1.10 Sorenson</A></H4>

<P><B>Sorenson</B> is a video codec developed by Apple. We are currently
  able to decode the first version (SVQ1) with a native decoder.</P>

<H4>Advantages:</H4>

<UL>
  <LI>Fast, even old Macintosh machines were able to decode it.</LI>
</UL>

<H4>Disadvantages:</H4>

<UL>
  <LI>SVQ3 is still not reverse engineered.</LI>
</UL>

<P>The Sorenson decoder is compiled and usable per default.</P>


<H3><A NAME="audio_codecs">2.2.2 Audio codecs</A></H3>

<P>The most important audio codecs above all:<BR></P>

<UL>
  <LI>MPEG layer 2, and layer 3 (MP3) audio (<B>native</B> code, with
    MMX/SSE/3DNow! optimization)</LI>
  <LI>MPEG layer 1 audio (<B>native</B> code, with libavcodec)</LI>
  <LI>AC3 Dolby audio (<B>native</B> code, with MMX/SSE/3DNow!
    optimization)</LI>
  <LI>AC3 passing through soundcard hardware</LI>
  <LI>Ogg Vorbis audio codec (<B>native</B> library)</LI>
  <LI>Voxware audio (using DirectShow DLL)</LI>
  <LI>alaw, msgsm, pcm and other simple old audio formats</LI>
  <LI>VIVO audio (g723, Vivo Siren)</LI>
  <LI>RealAudio: DNET (low bitrate AC3), Cook, Sipro</LI>
</UL>


<H4><A NAME="software_ac3">2.2.2.1 Software AC3 decoding</A></H4>

<P>This is the default decoder used for files with AC3 audio.</P>

<P>The AC3 decoder can create audio output mixes for 2, 4, or 6 speakers. When
  configured for 6 speakers, this decoder provides separate output of all the
  AC3 channels to the sound driver, allowing for full "surround sound"
  experience without the external AC3 decoder required to use the hwac3
  codec.</P>

<P>Use the <CODE>-channels</CODE> option to select the number of output
  channels. Use <CODE>-channels 2</CODE> for a stereo downmix. For a 4
  channel downmix (Left Front, Right Front, Left Surround and Right Surround
  outputs), use <CODE>-channels 4</CODE>. In this case, any center channel will
  be mixed equally to the front channels. <CODE>-channels 6</CODE> will output
  all the AC3 channels as they are encoded - in the order Left, Right, Left
  Surround, Right Surround, Center and LFE.</P>

<P>The default number of output channels is 2.</P>

<P>To use more than 2 output channels, you will need to use OSS, and have a
  sound card that supports the appropriate number of output channels via the
  SNDCTL_DSP_CHANNELS ioctl. An example of a suitable driver is emu10k1 (used
  by Soundblaster Live! cards) from August 2001 or newer (ALSA CVS is also
  supposed to work).</P>


<H4><A NAME="hardware_ac3">2.2.2.2 Hardware AC3 decoding</A></H4>

<P>You need an AC3 capable sound card, with digital out (SP/DIF). The card's
  driver must properly support the AFMT_AC3 format (C-Media does). Connect
  your AC3 decoder to the SP/DIF output, and use the <CODE>-ac hwac3</CODE>
  option. It is experimental but known to work with C-Media cards,
  Soundblaster Live! using ALSA (but not OSS) drivers and DXR3/Hollywood+ MPEG
  decoder cards.</P>


<H4><A NAME="libmad">2.2.2.3 libmad support</A></H4>

<P><A HREF="http://mad.sourceforge.net">libmad</A> is a multiplatform MPEG
  audio decoding library. It does not handle broken files well, and it
  sometimes has problems with seeking.</P>

<P>To enable support, compile with the <CODE>--enable-mad</CODE> configure
  option.</P>


<H4><A NAME="vivo_audio">2.2.2.4 VIVO audio</A></H4>

<P>The audio codec used in VIVO files depends on whether it is a VIVO/1.0 or
  VIVO/2.0 file. VIVO/1.0 files have <B>g.723</B> audio, and VIVO/2.0 files
  have <B>Vivo Siren</B> audio. Both are supported. You can grab the
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/samples/drivers32/vivog723.acm">g.723/Siren</A>
  Win32 DLL from the MPlayer site,
  then copy it into the <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE> directory.</P>


<H4><A NAME="realaudio">2.2.2.5 RealAudio</A></H4>

MPlayer supports decoding nearly all versions of RealAudio:

<UL>
  <LI>RealAudio DNET - decoding supported by <B>liba52</B></LI>
  <LI>RealAudio Cook/Sipro - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
  <LI>RealAudio atrc - decoding not yet supported</LI>
</UL>

<P>On how to install RealPlayer libraries, see the
  <A HREF="formats.html#real">RealMedia file format</A> section.</P>


<H3><A NAME="importing">2.2.3 Win32 codec importing HOWTO</A></H3>


<H4><A NAME="importing_vfw">2.2.3.1 VFW codecs</A></H4>

<P>VFW (Video for Windows) is the old Video API for Windows. Its codecs have
  the .DLL or (rarely) .DRV extension.
  If MPlayer fails at playing your AVI with this kind of message:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>UNKNOWN video codec: HFYU (0x55594648)</CODE></P>

<P>It means your AVI is encoded with a codec which has the HFYU fourcc (HFYU =
  HuffYUV codec, DIV3 = DivX Low Motion, etc...). Now that you know this, you
  have to find out which DLL Windows loads in order to play this file. In our
  case, the <CODE>system.ini</CODE> contains this information in a line that
  reads:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>VIDC.HFYU=huffyuv.dll</CODE></P>

<P>So you need the <CODE>huffyuv.dll</CODE> file. Note that the audio codecs are
  specified by the MSACM prefix:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>msacm.l3acm=L3codeca.acm</CODE></P>


<P>This is the MP3 codec. Now that you have all the necessary information
  (fourcc, codec file, sample AVI), submit your codec support request by mail,
  and upload these files to the FTP site:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/incoming/[codecname]/</CODE></P>

<P><B>Note:</B> On Windows NT/2000/XP search for this info in the registry, e.g. search for
  "VIDC.HFYU". To find out how to do this, look at the old DirectShow method below.</P>

<H4><A NAME="importing_directshow">2.2.3.2 DirectShow codecs</A></H4>

<P>DirectShow is the newer Video API, which is even worse than its predecessor.
  Things are harder with DirectShow, since</P>

<UL>
  <LI><CODE>system.ini</CODE> does not contain the needed information, instead it
    is stored in the registry and</LI>
  <LI>we need the GUID of the codec.</LI>
</UL>

<P><B>New Method:</B> Using Microsoft GraphEdit (fast)</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Get GraphEdit from either DirectX SDK or
    <A HREF="http://doom9.org">Doom9</A>.</LI>
  <LI>Start <CODE>graphedit.exe</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>From the menu select Graph -&gt; Insert Filters.</LI>
  <LI>Expand item <CODE>DirectShow Filters</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>Select the right codec name and expand item.</LI>
  <LI>In the entry <CODE>DisplayName</CODE> look at the text in winged brackets
    after the backslash and write it down (five dash-delimited blocks, the
    GUID).</LI>
  <LI>The codec binary is the file specified in the <CODE>Filename</CODE>
    entry.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> If there is no <CODE>Filename</CODE> entry and <CODE>DisplayName</CODE>
  contains something like <CODE>device:dmo</CODE>, then it is a DMO-Codec, which are
  currently not supported by MPlayer.</P>

<P><B>Old Method:</B> Take a deep breath and start searching the registry...</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Start <CODE>regedit</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>Press <CODE>Ctrl-f</CODE>, disable the first two checkboxes, and enable
    the third. Type in the fourcc of the codec (e.g. TM20).</LI>
  <LI>You should see a field which contains the path and the filename
    (e.g. <CODE>C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TM20DEC.AX</CODE>).</LI>
  <LI>Now that you have the file, we need the GUID. Try searching again, but
    now search for the codec's name, not the fourcc. Its name can be acquired
    when Media Player is playing the file, by checking File -&gt; Properties
    -&gt; Advanced.
    If not, you are out of luck. Try guessing (e.g. search for TrueMotion).</LI>
  <LI>If the GUID is found you should see a FriendlyName and a CLSID
    field. Write down the 16 byte CLSID, this is the GUID we need.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> If searching fails, try enabling all the checkboxes. You may have
  false hits, but you may get lucky...</P>

<P>Now that you have all the necessary information (fourcc, GUID, codec file,
  sample AVI), submit your codec support request by mail, and upload these files
  to the FTP site:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/incoming/[codecname]/</CODE></P>

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author	arpi
date	Wed, 06 Nov 2002 23:51:17 +0000
parents	cd3dcc4f1b7c
children	cd5a4de959b8