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<P><B><A NAME=2.2>2.2.  Supported codecs</A></B></P>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1>2.2.1. Video codecs</A></B></P>

<P>See <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/codecs-status.html">http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/codecs-status.html</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>DivX ;-), OpenDivX (DivX4), DivX 5.01, 3ivX, M$ MPEG4 v2 and other MPEG4 variants</LI>
<LI>Windows Media Video 7 (WMV1) and 8 (WMV2) used in .wmv files</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 from ffmpeg, and RealVideo 2.0, 3.0 using RealPlayer
  libraries</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="#2.2.3">codec importing HOWTO</A> and help us add support
for it!</P>

<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1.1>2.2.1.1. DivX4/DivX5</A></B></P>

<P>This section contains information about the DivX4 codec 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/is included in <B>MPlayer</B>, and built by
default. Earlier, we used its postprocessing code to optionally enhance visual
quality of MPEG1/2 movies. Now we use our own.</P>

<P>The new generation of this codec is called DivX4Linux 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>Note: Do NOT forget adding <CODE>/usr/local/lib</CODE> to your
<CODE>/etc/ld.so.conf</CODE> and running <CODE>ldconfig</CODE>!</P>

<P><B>MPlayer</B> 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 conflicts with the old OpenDivX because their APIs are similar but
incompatible. Therefore you can only have one of them compiled into <B>MPlayer</B>
at a time.</P>

<P>DivX4Linux offers an OpenDivX compatibility mode such that you may choose from
the following options when using this codec:</P>

<TABLE BORDER=0>
<TR><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD VALIGN=top><CODE>-vc&nbsp;odivx</CODE></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
<TD>Uses the codec in OpenDivX fashion. In this case it
produces YV12 images in its own buffer, and <B>MPlayer</B> does colorspace
conversion via libvo. (<B>RECOMMENDED!</B>)</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><CODE>-vc&nbsp;divx4</CODE></TD><TD></TD>
<TD>Uses the colorspace conversion of the codec.
In this mode you can use YUY2/UYVY, too.</FONT></TD></TR>
</TABLE>

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

<P>Note: <B>OLD</B> OpenDivX supports postprocessing via the
  <CODE>-oldpp</CODE> option, but the range of values is strange:</P>

<TABLE BORDER=0>
<TR><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>0</FONT></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD>
<TD>no postprocessing</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD></TD><TD>10 .. 20</FONT></TD>
<TD></TD><TD>normal postprocessing (like level 2 with divxds)</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD></TD><TD>30 .. 60</FONT></TD>
<TD></TD><TD>hard postprocessing, CPU intensive (like level 4 with divxds)</FONT></TD></TR>
</TABLE>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1.2>2.2.1.2. FFmpeg DivX/libavcodec</A></B></P>

<P>Beginning with version 0.4.2,
<A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">FFmpeg</A> contains an
<B>open source</B> DivX codec, which is compatible with the traditional DivX.
<B>MPlayer</B> supports this codec, making it possible to <B>watch
DivX/DivX4/DivX5/MP41/MP42 movies on non-x86 platforms</B>. Furthermore it offers higher
decoding speed than the Win32 codecs or the original
DivX4 library!</P>

<P>It also contains a lot of nice codecs, such as RealVideo 1.0, MJPEG, h263,
h263+, etc.</P>

<P>If you use an <B>MPlayer</B> release you have libavcodec right in the package,
just build  as usual. If you use <B>MPlayer</B> from CVS you have to extract
libavcodec from the FFmpeg CVS tree as FFmpeg 0.4.5 does <B>not</B> work with
<B>MPlayer</B>. 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 <B>MPlayer</B> 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/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 NOT contain the source for libavcodec!
You must follow the steps above to obtain the source for this library.</P>

<P>The codec also <B>supports postprocessing!</B></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>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1.3>2.2.1.3.  XAnim codecs</A></B></P>

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

<UL>
  <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>

</UL>

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


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1.4>2.2.1.4.  VIVO video</A></B></P>

<P><B>MPlayer</B> 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) (requires up-to-date libavcodec). For 2.0 files, use
the <CODE>ivvideo.dll</CODE> Win32 DLL file (from <A
HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/samples/drivers32/ivvideo.dll">here</A>),
and install it under <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE> or wherever you store the
Win32 codecs. This latter codec does not support YV12 nor YUY2 only BGR modes,
restricting it to the X11 and OpenGL outputs. Hopefully ffh263 will support
VIVO 2.0 files in the future.</P>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1.5>2.2.1.5.  MPEG 1/2 video</A></B></P>

<P>MPEG1 and MPEG2 are decoded by the multiplatform native <B>libmpeg2</B> library,
whose source code is included in <B>MPlayer</B>.
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>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1.6>2.2.1.6.  MS Video1</A></B></P>

<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>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1.7>2.2.1.7.  Cinepak CVID</A></B></P>

<P><B>MPlayer</B> 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>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1.8>2.2.1.8.  RealVideo</A></B></P>

<P><B>MPlayer</B> 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 (fourcc RV20) - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
    <LI>RealVideo 3.0 (fourcc RV30) - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
  </UL>
</P>

<P>On how to install RealPlayer libraries, see the
  <A HREF="formats.html#2.1.1.7">RealMedia file format</A> section.</P>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1.9>2.2.1.9.  XViD</A></B></P>

<P><B>XViD</B> is another development from the OpenDivX group (their first
development was DivX4).</P>

<P><B>Advantages:</B></P>
  <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>

<P><B>Disadvantages:</B></P>
  <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><B>Installation:</B> It 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 <CODE>Makefile.linux</CODE> to fit your needs.</LI>
    <LI><CODE>make -f Makefile.linux</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 <B>MPlayer</B> with <CODE>--with-xvidcore=/path/to/libcore.a</CODE>.</LI>
  </OL>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.2>2.2.2.  Audio codecs</A></B></P>

<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>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)</LI>
</UL>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.2.1>2.2.2.1.  Software AC3 decoding</A></B></P>

<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>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.2.2>2.2.2.2.  Hardware AC3 decoding</A></B></P>

<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 and Soundblaster
Live! + ALSA (but not OSS) drivers.</P>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.2.3>2.2.2.3.  libmad support</A></B></P>

<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>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.2.4>2.2.2.4.  VIVO audio</A></B></P>

<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 g.723/Siren
Win32 DLL from
<A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/samples/drivers32/vivog723.acm">here</A>,
then copy it into the <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE> directory.</P>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.2.5>2.2.2.5.  RealAudio</A></B></P>

<P><B>MPlayer</B> supports decoding all versions of RealAudio:
  <UL>
    <LI>RealAudio DNET - decoding supported by <B>libavcodec</B></LI>
    <LI>RealAudio Cook - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
    <LI>RealAudio Sipro - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
  </UL>
</P>

<P>On how to install RealPlayer libraries, see the
  <A HREF="formats.html#2.1.1.7">RealMedia file format</A> section.</P>


<P><B><A NAME=2.2.3>2.2.3. Win32 codec importing HOWTO</A></B></P>

<P><B><A NAME=2.2.3.1>2.2.3.1. VFW codecs</A></B></P>

<P>VFW (Video for Windows) is the old Video API for Windows. Its codecs have
the .DLL or (rarely) .DRV extension.
If <B>MPlayer</B> 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><A NAME=2.2.3.2>2.2.3.2. DirectShow codecs</A></B></P>

<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>we need the GUID of the codec.
</UL>

<P>Take a deep breath and start searching the registry...</P>
<UL>
<LI>Start <CODE>regedit</CODE>.
<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>You should see a field which contains the path and the filename
(e.g. <CODE>C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TM20DEC.AX</CODE>).
<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>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.
</UL>

<P>NOTE: 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	gabucino
date	Wed, 12 Jun 2002 09:31:33 +0000
parents	4e5c236ade69
children	d0b1f3d75900