Containers

# HG changeset patch # User diego # Date 1157672764 0 # Node ID 05710b19651fdc4bbb7ae2f14d9e44c5f81e74c4 # Parent 9bd613f6ea56fbef63bd55210922c71e7b787e2a formats.xml --> containers.xml, the chapter was renamed long ago. diff -r 9bd613f6ea56 -r 05710b19651f DOCS/xml/en/containers.xml --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/DOCS/xml/en/containers.xml Thu Sep 07 23:46:04 2006 +0000 @@ -0,0 +1,480 @@ + + + +Containers + + +It is important to clarify a common mistake. When people see a file with a +.AVI extension, they immediately conclude that it is +not an MPEG file. That is not true. At least not entirely. Contrary to +popular belief such a file can contain MPEG-1 video. + + + +You see, a codec is not the same as a +container format. +Examples of video codecs are: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, +MPEG-4 (DivX), Indeo5, 3ivx. +Examples of container formats are: MPG, AVI, ASF. + + + +In theory, you can put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio +into an MPG container. However, most +players will not play it, since they expect MPEG-1 video and MP2 audio (unlike +AVI, MPG +does not have the necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams). +Or you might put MPEG-1 video into an AVI file. +FFmpeg and +MEncoder can create these files. + + + + +Video formats + + +MPEG files + + +MPEG files come in different guises: + + + + + MPG: This is the most basic form of the + MPEG file formats. It contains MPEG-1 video, and MP2 (MPEG-1 layer 2) or + rarely MP1 audio. + + + DAT: This is the very same format as MPG with a different extension. It + is used on Video CDs. Due to the way VCDs + are created and Linux is designed, the DAT files cannot be played nor copied + from VCDs as regular files. You have to use + to play a Video CD. + + + VOB: This is the MPEG file format on DVDs. + It is the same as MPG, plus the capability to contain subtitles or non-MPEG + (AC3) audio. It contains encoded MPEG-2 video and usually AC3 audio, but DTS, + MP2 and uncompressed LPCM are allowed, too. Read the + DVD section! + + + TY: This is a TiVo MPEG stream. It contains MPEG PES data for audio and + video streams, as well as extra information like closed captions. The + container is not an MPEG program stream, but a closed format created by + TiVo. For more information on TiVo stream format, please refer to + + the TyStudio page. + + + + +Series of frames form independent groups in MPEG files. This means that you +can cut/join an MPEG file with standard file tools (like +dd, cut), and it remains completely +functional. + + + +One important feature of MPGs is that they have a field to describe the +aspect ratio of the video stream within. For example SVCDs have 480x480 +resolution video, and in the header that field is set to 4:3, so that it is +played at 640x480. AVI files often lack this field, so they have to be +rescaled during encoding or played with the +option. + + + + + +AVI files + + +Designed by Microsoft, AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) +is a widespread multipurpose format currently used mostly for MPEG-4 (DivX and DivX4) +video. It has many known drawbacks and shortcomings (for example in streaming). It +supports one video stream and 0 to 99 audio streams and can be as big as +2GB, but there exists an extension allowing bigger files called +OpenDML. Microsoft currently strongly +discourages its use and encourages ASF/WMV. Not that anybody cares. + + + +There is a hack that allows AVI files to contain an Ogg Vorbis audio +stream, but makes them incompatible with standard AVI. +MPlayer supports playing these files. Seeking is +also implemented but severely hampered by badly encoded files with +confusing headers. Unfortunately the only encoder currently capable of +creating these files, NanDub, has this problem. + + + + +DV cameras create raw DV streams that DV grabbing utilities convert to two +different types of AVI files. The AVI will then contain either separate +audio and video streams that MPlayer can play or +the raw DV stream for which support is under development. + + + + +There are two kinds of AVI files: + + + Interleaved: Audio and video content is + interleaved. This is the standard usage. Recommended and mostly used. Some tools + create interleaved AVIs with bad sync. MPlayer + detects these as interleaved, and this climaxes in loss of A/V sync, + probably at seeking. These files should be played as non-interleaved + (with the option). + + + Non-interleaved: First comes the whole + video stream, then the whole audio stream. It thus needs a lot of seeking, + making playing from network or CD-ROM difficult. + + + + + +MPlayer supports two kinds of timings for AVI +files: + + + bps-based: It is based on the + bitrate/samplerate of the video/audio stream. This method is used by + most players, including avifile + and Windows Media Player. Files with broken + headers, and files created with VBR audio but not VBR-compliant encoder + will result in A/V desync with this method (mostly at seeking). + + + interleaving-based: It does not use the bitrate + value of the header, instead it uses the relative position of interleaved + audio and video chunks, making badly encoded files with VBR audio playable. + + + + + +Any audio and video codec is allowed, but note that VBR audio is not well +supported by most players. The file format makes it possible to use VBR +audio, but most players expect CBR audio, thus they fail with VBR. VBR is +uncommon and Microsoft's AVI specs only describe CBR audio. I also noticed +that most AVI encoders/multiplexers create bad files when using VBR audio. +There are only two known exceptions: NanDub and +MEncoder. + + + + + +ASF/WMV files + +ASF (Active Streaming Format) comes from Microsoft. They developed two +variants of ASF, v1.0 and v2.0. v1.0 is used by their media tools (Windows +Media Player and Windows Media Encoder) +and is very secret. v2.0 is published and patented :). Of course they differ, +there is no compatibility at all (it is just another legal game). +MPlayer supports only v1.0, as nobody has ever seen +v2.0 files :). Note that ASF files nowadays come with the extension +.WMA or .WMV. + + + + + +QuickTime/MOV files + + +These formats were designed by Apple and can contain any codec, CBR or VBR. +They usually have a .QT or .MOV +extension. Note that since the MPEG-4 group chose QuickTime as the recommended +file format for MPEG-4, their MOV files come with a .MPG or +.MP4 extension (Interestingly the video and audio +streams in these files are real MPG and AAC files. You can even extract them with the + and options.). + + + + +Most new QuickTime files use Sorenson video and +QDesign Music audio. See our Sorenson codec section. + + + + + + +VIVO files + + +MPlayer happily demuxes VIVO file formats. The +biggest disadvantage of the format is that it has no index block, nor a +fixed packet size or sync bytes and most files lack even keyframes, so +forget seeking! + + + +The video codec of VIVO/1.0 files is standard h.263. +The video codec of VIVO/2.0 files is a modified, nonstandard +h.263v2. The audio is the same, it may be +g.723 (standard), or +Vivo Siren. + + + +See the +VIVO video codec and +VIVO audio codec +sections for installation instructions. + + + + + +FLI files + +FLI is a very old file format used by +Autodesk Animator, but it is a common file format for short animations on the net. +MPlayer demuxes and decodes FLI movies and is +even able to seek within them (useful when looping with the + option). FLI files do not have keyframes, so the +picture will be messy for a short time after seeking. + + + + + +RealMedia (RM) files + + +Yes, MPlayer can read (demux) RealMedia +(.rm) files. +Here are the lists of the supported RealVideo and RealAudio codecs. + + + + + +NuppelVideo files + +NuppelVideo +is a TV grabber tool (AFAIK:). MPlayer can read +its .NUV files (only NuppelVideo 5.0). Those files can +contain uncompressed YV12, YV12+RTJpeg compressed, YV12 RTJpeg+lzo +compressed, and YV12+lzo compressed frames. +MPlayer decodes (and also encodes +them with MEncoder to MPEG-4 (DivX)/etc!) them all. +Seeking works. + + + + + +yuv4mpeg files + +yuv4mpeg / yuv4mpeg2 +is a file format used by the +mjpegtools programs. +You can grab, produce, filter or encode video in this format using these tools. +The file format is really a sequence of uncompressed YUV 4:2:0 images. + + + + + +FILM files + +This format is used on old Sega Saturn CD-ROM games. + + + + + +RoQ files + +RoQ files are multimedia files used in some ID games such as Quake III and +Return to Castle Wolfenstein. + + + + + +OGG/OGM files + +This is a new fileformat from Xiphophorus. +It can contain any video or audio codec, CBR or VBR. You'll need +libogg and +libvorbis installed before +compiling MPlayer to be able to play it. + + + + + +SDP files + +SDP is an +IETF standard format for describing video and/or audio RTP streams. +(The "LIVE555 Streaming Media" +are required.) + + + + + +PVA files + +PVA is an MPEG-like format used by DVB TV boards' software (e.g.: +MultiDec, WinTV under Windows). + + + + + +NSV files + +NSV (NullSoft Video) is the file format used by the +Winamp player to stream audio and video. +Video is VP3, VP5 or VP6, audio is MP3, AAC or VLB. +The audio only version of NSV has the .nsa extension. +MPlayer can play both NSV streams and files. +Please note that most files from the +Winamp site use VLB audio, that +can't be decoded yet. Moreover streams from that site need an extra +depacketization layer that still has to be implemented (those files are +unplayable anyway because they use VLB audio). + + + + + +Matroska files + +Matroska is an open container format. +Read more on the official site. + + + + + +NUT files + +NUT is the container format developed by MPlayer and +FFmpeg folks. Both projects support it. +Read more on the official site. + + + + + +GIF files + +The GIF format is a common format for web +graphics. There are two versions of the GIF spec, GIF87a and GIF89a. The +main difference is that GIF89a allows for animation. MPlayer +supports both formats through use of libungif or +another libgif-compatible library. Non-animated GIFs will be displayed as +single frame videos. (Use the and +options to display these longer.) + + + +MPlayer currently does not support seeking in GIF +files. GIF files do not necessarily have a fixed frame size, nor a fixed +framerate. Rather, each frame is of independent size and is supposed to be +positioned in a certain place on a field of fixed-size. The framerate is +controlled by an optional block before each frame that specifies the next +frame's delay in centiseconds. + + + +Standard GIF files contain 24-bit RGB frames with at most an 8-bit indexed +palette. These frames are usually LZW-compressed, although some GIF encoders +produce uncompressed frames to avoid patent issues with LZW compression. + + + +If your distribution does not come with libungif, +download a copy from the +libungif +homepage. For detailed technical information, have a look at the +GIF89a specification. + + + + + + + +Audio formats + + +MPlayer is a movie +and not a media player, although it can play +some audio file formats (they are listed in the sections below). This is not +a recommended usage of MPlayer, you better use XMMS. + + + +MP3 files + +You may have problems playing certain MP3 files that +MPlayer will misdetect as MPEGs and play +incorrectly or not at all. This cannot be fixed without dropping support +for certain broken MPEG files and thus will remain like this for the +foreseeable future. The flag described in the +man page may help you in these cases. + + + + +OGG/OGM files (Vorbis) + +Requires properly installed +libogg and +libvorbis. + + + + +CD audio + +MPlayer can use cdparanoia +to play CDDA (Audio CD). The scope of this section does not contain enumerating +cdparanoia's features. + + + +See the man page's option which can be used to pass +options to cdparanoia. + + + + +XMMS + +MPlayer can use XMMS input +plugins to play many file formats. There are plugins for SNES game tunes, SID +tunes (from Commodore 64), many Amiga formats, .xm, .it, VQF, musepack, Bonk, +shorten and many others. You can find them at the +XMMS input plugin page. + + + +For this feature you need to have XMMS and compile +MPlayer with ./configure --enable-xmms. +If that does not work, you might need to set the XMMS +plugin and library path explicitly by way of the +and options. + + + + + diff -r 9bd613f6ea56 -r 05710b19651f DOCS/xml/en/documentation.xml --- a/DOCS/xml/en/documentation.xml Thu Sep 07 23:42:12 2006 +0000 +++ b/DOCS/xml/en/documentation.xml Thu Sep 07 23:46:04 2006 +0000 @@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ &cd-dvd.xml; &faq.xml; -&formats.xml; +&containers.xml; &codecs.xml; &video.xml; &audio.xml; diff -r 9bd613f6ea56 -r 05710b19651f DOCS/xml/en/formats.xml --- a/DOCS/xml/en/formats.xml Thu Sep 07 23:42:12 2006 +0000 +++ /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 @@ -1,480 +0,0 @@ - - - -Containers - - -It is important to clarify a common mistake. When people see a file with a -.AVI extension, they immediately conclude that it is -not an MPEG file. That is not true. At least not entirely. Contrary to -popular belief such a file can contain MPEG-1 video. - - - -You see, a codec is not the same as a -container format. -Examples of video codecs are: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, -MPEG-4 (DivX), Indeo5, 3ivx. -Examples of container formats are: MPG, AVI, ASF. - - - -In theory, you can put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio -into an MPG container. However, most -players will not play it, since they expect MPEG-1 video and MP2 audio (unlike -AVI, MPG -does not have the necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams). -Or you might put MPEG-1 video into an AVI file. -FFmpeg and -MEncoder can create these files. - - - - -Video formats - - -MPEG files - - -MPEG files come in different guises: - - - - - MPG: This is the most basic form of the - MPEG file formats. It contains MPEG-1 video, and MP2 (MPEG-1 layer 2) or - rarely MP1 audio. - - - DAT: This is the very same format as MPG with a different extension. It - is used on Video CDs. Due to the way VCDs - are created and Linux is designed, the DAT files cannot be played nor copied - from VCDs as regular files. You have to use - to play a Video CD. - - - VOB: This is the MPEG file format on DVDs. - It is the same as MPG, plus the capability to contain subtitles or non-MPEG - (AC3) audio. It contains encoded MPEG-2 video and usually AC3 audio, but DTS, - MP2 and uncompressed LPCM are allowed, too. Read the - DVD section! - - - TY: This is a TiVo MPEG stream. It contains MPEG PES data for audio and - video streams, as well as extra information like closed captions. The - container is not an MPEG program stream, but a closed format created by - TiVo. For more information on TiVo stream format, please refer to - - the TyStudio page. - - - - -Series of frames form independent groups in MPEG files. This means that you -can cut/join an MPEG file with standard file tools (like -dd, cut), and it remains completely -functional. - - - -One important feature of MPGs is that they have a field to describe the -aspect ratio of the video stream within. For example SVCDs have 480x480 -resolution video, and in the header that field is set to 4:3, so that it is -played at 640x480. AVI files often lack this field, so they have to be -rescaled during encoding or played with the -option. - - - - - -AVI files - - -Designed by Microsoft, AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) -is a widespread multipurpose format currently used mostly for MPEG-4 (DivX and DivX4) -video. It has many known drawbacks and shortcomings (for example in streaming). It -supports one video stream and 0 to 99 audio streams and can be as big as -2GB, but there exists an extension allowing bigger files called -OpenDML. Microsoft currently strongly -discourages its use and encourages ASF/WMV. Not that anybody cares. - - - -There is a hack that allows AVI files to contain an Ogg Vorbis audio -stream, but makes them incompatible with standard AVI. -MPlayer supports playing these files. Seeking is -also implemented but severely hampered by badly encoded files with -confusing headers. Unfortunately the only encoder currently capable of -creating these files, NanDub, has this problem. - - - - -DV cameras create raw DV streams that DV grabbing utilities convert to two -different types of AVI files. The AVI will then contain either separate -audio and video streams that MPlayer can play or -the raw DV stream for which support is under development. - - - - -There are two kinds of AVI files: - - - Interleaved: Audio and video content is - interleaved. This is the standard usage. Recommended and mostly used. Some tools - create interleaved AVIs with bad sync. MPlayer - detects these as interleaved, and this climaxes in loss of A/V sync, - probably at seeking. These files should be played as non-interleaved - (with the option). - - - Non-interleaved: First comes the whole - video stream, then the whole audio stream. It thus needs a lot of seeking, - making playing from network or CD-ROM difficult. - - - - - -MPlayer supports two kinds of timings for AVI -files: - - - bps-based: It is based on the - bitrate/samplerate of the video/audio stream. This method is used by - most players, including avifile - and Windows Media Player. Files with broken - headers, and files created with VBR audio but not VBR-compliant encoder - will result in A/V desync with this method (mostly at seeking). - - - interleaving-based: It does not use the bitrate - value of the header, instead it uses the relative position of interleaved - audio and video chunks, making badly encoded files with VBR audio playable. - - - - - -Any audio and video codec is allowed, but note that VBR audio is not well -supported by most players. The file format makes it possible to use VBR -audio, but most players expect CBR audio, thus they fail with VBR. VBR is -uncommon and Microsoft's AVI specs only describe CBR audio. I also noticed -that most AVI encoders/multiplexers create bad files when using VBR audio. -There are only two known exceptions: NanDub and -MEncoder. - - - - - -ASF/WMV files - -ASF (Active Streaming Format) comes from Microsoft. They developed two -variants of ASF, v1.0 and v2.0. v1.0 is used by their media tools (Windows -Media Player and Windows Media Encoder) -and is very secret. v2.0 is published and patented :). Of course they differ, -there is no compatibility at all (it is just another legal game). -MPlayer supports only v1.0, as nobody has ever seen -v2.0 files :). Note that ASF files nowadays come with the extension -.WMA or .WMV. - - - - - -QuickTime/MOV files - - -These formats were designed by Apple and can contain any codec, CBR or VBR. -They usually have a .QT or .MOV -extension. Note that since the MPEG-4 group chose QuickTime as the recommended -file format for MPEG-4, their MOV files come with a .MPG or -.MP4 extension (Interestingly the video and audio -streams in these files are real MPG and AAC files. You can even extract them with the - and options.). - - - - -Most new QuickTime files use Sorenson video and -QDesign Music audio. See our Sorenson codec section. - - - - - - -VIVO files - - -MPlayer happily demuxes VIVO file formats. The -biggest disadvantage of the format is that it has no index block, nor a -fixed packet size or sync bytes and most files lack even keyframes, so -forget seeking! - - - -The video codec of VIVO/1.0 files is standard h.263. -The video codec of VIVO/2.0 files is a modified, nonstandard -h.263v2. The audio is the same, it may be -g.723 (standard), or -Vivo Siren. - - - -See the -VIVO video codec and -VIVO audio codec -sections for installation instructions. - - - - - -FLI files - -FLI is a very old file format used by -Autodesk Animator, but it is a common file format for short animations on the net. -MPlayer demuxes and decodes FLI movies and is -even able to seek within them (useful when looping with the - option). FLI files do not have keyframes, so the -picture will be messy for a short time after seeking. - - - - - -RealMedia (RM) files - - -Yes, MPlayer can read (demux) RealMedia -(.rm) files. -Here are the lists of the supported RealVideo and RealAudio codecs. - - - - - -NuppelVideo files - -NuppelVideo -is a TV grabber tool (AFAIK:). MPlayer can read -its .NUV files (only NuppelVideo 5.0). Those files can -contain uncompressed YV12, YV12+RTJpeg compressed, YV12 RTJpeg+lzo -compressed, and YV12+lzo compressed frames. -MPlayer decodes (and also encodes -them with MEncoder to MPEG-4 (DivX)/etc!) them all. -Seeking works. - - - - - -yuv4mpeg files - -yuv4mpeg / yuv4mpeg2 -is a file format used by the -mjpegtools programs. -You can grab, produce, filter or encode video in this format using these tools. -The file format is really a sequence of uncompressed YUV 4:2:0 images. - - - - - -FILM files - -This format is used on old Sega Saturn CD-ROM games. - - - - - -RoQ files - -RoQ files are multimedia files used in some ID games such as Quake III and -Return to Castle Wolfenstein. - - - - - -OGG/OGM files - -This is a new fileformat from Xiphophorus. -It can contain any video or audio codec, CBR or VBR. You'll need -libogg and -libvorbis installed before -compiling MPlayer to be able to play it. - - - - - -SDP files - -SDP is an -IETF standard format for describing video and/or audio RTP streams. -(The "LIVE555 Streaming Media" -are required.) - - - - - -PVA files - -PVA is an MPEG-like format used by DVB TV boards' software (e.g.: -MultiDec, WinTV under Windows). - - - - - -NSV files - -NSV (NullSoft Video) is the file format used by the -Winamp player to stream audio and video. -Video is VP3, VP5 or VP6, audio is MP3, AAC or VLB. -The audio only version of NSV has the .nsa extension. -MPlayer can play both NSV streams and files. -Please note that most files from the -Winamp site use VLB audio, that -can't be decoded yet. Moreover streams from that site need an extra -depacketization layer that still has to be implemented (those files are -unplayable anyway because they use VLB audio). - - - - - -Matroska files - -Matroska is an open container format. -Read more on the official site. - - - - - -NUT files - -NUT is the container format developed by MPlayer and -FFmpeg folks. Both projects support it. -Read more on the official site. - - - - - -GIF files - -The GIF format is a common format for web -graphics. There are two versions of the GIF spec, GIF87a and GIF89a. The -main difference is that GIF89a allows for animation. MPlayer -supports both formats through use of libungif or -another libgif-compatible library. Non-animated GIFs will be displayed as -single frame videos. (Use the and -options to display these longer.) - - - -MPlayer currently does not support seeking in GIF -files. GIF files do not necessarily have a fixed frame size, nor a fixed -framerate. Rather, each frame is of independent size and is supposed to be -positioned in a certain place on a field of fixed-size. The framerate is -controlled by an optional block before each frame that specifies the next -frame's delay in centiseconds. - - - -Standard GIF files contain 24-bit RGB frames with at most an 8-bit indexed -palette. These frames are usually LZW-compressed, although some GIF encoders -produce uncompressed frames to avoid patent issues with LZW compression. - - - -If your distribution does not come with libungif, -download a copy from the -libungif -homepage. For detailed technical information, have a look at the -GIF89a specification. - - - - - - - -Audio formats - - -MPlayer is a movie -and not a media player, although it can play -some audio file formats (they are listed in the sections below). This is not -a recommended usage of MPlayer, you better use XMMS. - - - -MP3 files - -You may have problems playing certain MP3 files that -MPlayer will misdetect as MPEGs and play -incorrectly or not at all. This cannot be fixed without dropping support -for certain broken MPEG files and thus will remain like this for the -foreseeable future. The flag described in the -man page may help you in these cases. - - - - -OGG/OGM files (Vorbis) - -Requires properly installed -libogg and -libvorbis. - - - - -CD audio - -MPlayer can use cdparanoia -to play CDDA (Audio CD). The scope of this section does not contain enumerating -cdparanoia's features. - - - -See the man page's option which can be used to pass -options to cdparanoia. - - - - -XMMS - -MPlayer can use XMMS input -plugins to play many file formats. There are plugins for SNES game tunes, SID -tunes (from Commodore 64), many Amiga formats, .xm, .it, VQF, musepack, Bonk, -shorten and many others. You can find them at the -XMMS input plugin page. - - - -For this feature you need to have XMMS and compile -MPlayer with ./configure --enable-xmms. -If that does not work, you might need to set the XMMS -plugin and library path explicitly by way of the -and options. - - - - -