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<FONT CLASS="text">
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2001-11-06 17:04:56 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1>2.1. Supported formats</A></B></P>
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2002-03-27 00:54:45 +00:00
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<P>It is important to clarify a common mistake. When people see a file with a
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2002-03-29 22:34:12 +00:00
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<B>.AVI</B> extension, they immediately conclude that it is not an MPEG file.
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That is not true. At least not entirely. Contrary to popular belief such a file
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<B>can</B> contain MPEG1 video.</P>
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2001-11-06 17:04:56 +00:00
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2002-03-27 00:54:45 +00:00
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<P>You see, a <B>codec</B> is not the same as a <B>file format</B>.<BR>
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Examples of video <B>codecs</B> are: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX, Indeo5, 3ivx.<BR>
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Examples of file <B>formats</B> are: MPG, AVI, ASF.<BR>
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</P>
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2002-03-29 22:34:12 +00:00
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<P>In theory, you can put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio
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into an <B>MPG</B> format file. However, most players will not play it, since
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they expect MPEG1 video and MP2 audio (unlike <B>AVI</B>, <B>MPG</B> does not have the
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necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams).
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Or you might put MPEG1 video into an AVI file. <A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">FFmpeg</A>
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and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A> can create these files.</P>
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2001-11-06 17:04:56 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1>2.1.1. Video formats</A></B></P>
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2001-11-13 13:17:46 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.1>2.1.1.1. MPEG files</A></B></P>
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<P>MPEG files come in different guises:</P>
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<UL>
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<LI>MPG: This is the most <B>basic</B> form of the MPEG file formats. It contains
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MPEG1 video, and MP2 (MPEG-1 layer 2) or rarely MP1 audio.</LI>
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<LI>DAT: This is the very same format as MPG with a different extension. It is used
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on <B>Video CD</B>s. Due to the way VCDs are created and Linux is designed,
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the DAT files cannot be played nor copied from VCDs as regular files. You have
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to use the <CODE>-vcd</CODE> option to play the Video CD.</LI>
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<LI>VOB: This is the MPEG file format on <B>DVD</B>s. It is the same as MPG, plus the
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capability to contain subtitles or non-MPEG (AC3) audio. It contains encoded MPEG2
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video and usually AC3 audio, but DTS, MP2 and uncompressed LPCM are allowed, too.<BR>
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<B>Read the <A HREF="cd-dvd.html#4.2">DVD section</A> !</B></LI>
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</UL>
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2002-03-27 00:54:45 +00:00
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<P>Series of frames form independent groups in MPEG files. This means that you
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can cut/join an MPEG file with standard file tools (like dd, cut), and it
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remains completely functional.</P>
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<P>One important feature of MPGs is that they have a field to describe
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the aspect ratio of the video stream within. For example SVCDs have
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480x480 resolution video, and in the header that field is set to 4:3, so that
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it is played at 640x480. AVI files do not have this field, so they have to be
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rescaled during encoding or played with the <CODE>-aspect</CODE> option.</P>
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2001-11-07 18:18:22 +00:00
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2001-11-06 17:04:56 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.2>2.1.1.2. AVI files</A></B></P>
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2002-03-27 00:54:45 +00:00
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<P>Designed by Micro$oft, <B>AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</B> is a
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widespread multipurpose format currently used mostly for DivX and DivX4
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video. It has many known drawbacks and shortcomings (for example in streaming).
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It supports one video stream and 0 to 99 audio streams and can be as big as
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2GB. There exists an extension allowing bigger files called <B>OpenDMS</B>.
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M$ currently strongly discourages its use and encourages ASF/WMV. Not that
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anybody cares.<BR>
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<B>NOTE:</B> DV cameras can create two types of AVI formats. One is common and
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playable, the other is neither.</P>
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<P>There are two kinds of AVI files:</P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Interleaved:</B> Audio and video content is interleaved. This is the
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standard usage. Recommended and mostly used. Some tools create interleaved
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AVIs with bad sync. <B>MPlayer</B> detects these as interleaved, and this
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climaxes in loss of A/V sync, probably at seeking. These files should be
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played as non-interleaved (with the <CODE>-ni</CODE> option).</LI>
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<LI><B>Non-interleaved:</B> First comes the whole video stream, then the whole
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audio stream. It thus needs a lot of seeking, making playing from network or
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CD-Rom difficult.</LI>
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</UL>
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<P><B>MPlayer</B> supports two kinds of timings for AVI files:</P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>bps-based</B>: It is based on the bitrate/samplerate of the video/audio stream. This
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method is used by most players, including <A HREF="http://avifile.sourceforge.net">avifile</A>
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and windows media player.
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Files with broken headers, and files created with VBR audio but not
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VBR-compliant encoder will result in A/V desync with this method (mostly at
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seeking).</LI>
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<LI><B>interleaving-based</B>: It does not use the bitrate value of the header, instead
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it uses the relative position of interleaved audio and video chunks, making
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badly encoded files with VBR audio playable.</LI>
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</UL>
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2002-03-27 00:54:45 +00:00
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<P>Any audio and video codec is allowed, but note that VBR audio is not well
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supported by most players. The file format makes it possible to use VBR
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audio, but most players expect CBR audio, thus they fail with VBR. VBR is
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uncommon and Microsoft's AVI specs only describe CBR audio. I also noticed that
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most AVI encoders/multiplexers create bad files when using VBR audio. There are only
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two exceptions (known to me): NaNDub and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A>.</P>
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2001-11-13 13:17:46 +00:00
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2001-11-06 17:04:56 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.3>2.1.1.3. ASF/WMV files</A></B></P>
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2001-11-13 13:17:46 +00:00
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<P>ASF (active streaming format) comes from Microsoft. They developed two
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variants of ASF, v1.0 and v2.0. v1.0 is used by their media tools (windows
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media player and windows media encoder) and is very secret. v2.0 is published
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and patented :). Of course they differ, there is no compatibility at all (it is
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just another legal game). <B>MPlayer</B> supports only v1.0, as nobody has ever seen
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v2.0 files :). Note that ASF files nowadays come with the extension .WMA or
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.WMV.</P>
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2001-11-06 17:04:56 +00:00
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2001-11-13 13:17:46 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.4>2.1.1.4. QuickTime/MOV files</A></B></P>
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<P>These formats were designed by Apple. They usually have a .QT or .MOV extension. Note
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that since the MPEG4 group chose QuickTime as the recommended file format
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for MPEG4, their MOV files come with a .MPG or .MP4 extension (Interestingly
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the video and audio streams in these files are real MPG and AAC files. With the
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<CODE>-dumpvideo</CODE> and <CODE>-dumpaudio</CODE> options you can even extract them!).</P>
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<P><B>Codecs</B>: Any codec is allowed, both CBR and VBR. Note: most new QuickTime files use
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<B>Sorensen</B> video and QDesign Music audio. These formats have not been
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disclosed and will probably remain so in the future, making Apple's QuickTime
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player the only player able to play these files (on Windows/Mac OS only).</P>
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2001-11-06 17:04:56 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.5>2.1.1.5. VIV files</A></B></P>
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<P><B>MPlayer</B> happily demuxes VIVO file formats. The biggest disadvantage of
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the format is that it has no index block, nor a fixed packet size or sync bytes
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and most files lack even keyframes, so forget seeking!</P>
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2002-03-27 00:54:45 +00:00
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<P>The video codec of VIVO/1.0 files is standard <B>h.263</B>. The video codec
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of VIVO/2.0 files is a modified, nonstandard <B>h.263v2</B>. The audio is the same,
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it may be <B>g.723</B> (standard), or <B>Vivo Siren</B>.</P>
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2002-03-29 22:34:12 +00:00
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<P>See the <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.1.4">VIVO video codec</A>
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and <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.2.4">VIVO audio codec</A> sections for installation
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instructions.</P>
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2001-12-27 22:12:35 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.6>2.1.1.6. FLI files</A></B></P>
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2002-03-27 00:54:45 +00:00
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<P><B>FLI</B> is a very old file format used by Autodesk Animator, but it is
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a common file format for short animations on the net. <B>MPlayer</B> demuxes
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and decodes FLI movies and is even able to seek within them (useful when
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looping with the <CODE>-loop</CODE> option). FLI files do not have keyframes, so the picture
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will be messy for a short time after seeking.</P>
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.7>2.1.1.7. RealMedia (RM) files</A></B></P>
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2002-03-15 16:38:36 +00:00
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<P>Yes, <B>MPlayer</B> can read (demux) RealMedia (.rm) files. Seeking works
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(the format supports keyframes). Here are the lists of the supported
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<A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.1.8">RealVideo</A>
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and <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.2.5">RealAudio</A> codecs.
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2001-12-27 23:55:34 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.8>2.1.1.8. NuppelVideo files</A></B></P>
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<P><A HREF="http://mars.tuwien.ac.at/~roman/nuppelvideo">NuppelVideo</A>
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is a TV grabber tool (AFAIK:). <B>MPlayer</B> can read its .NUV
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files (only NuppelVideo 5.0). Those files can contain uncompressed YV12,
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YV12+RTJpeg compressed, YV12 RTJpeg+lzo compressed, and YV12+lzo compressed
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frames. <B>MPlayer</B> decodes (and also <B>encodes</B> them with MEncoder to
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DivX/etc!) them all. Seeking is being implemented.</P>
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2001-12-28 00:33:26 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.9>2.1.1.9. yuv4mpeg files</A></B></P>
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<P><A HREF="http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net">yuv4mpeg / yuv4mpeg2</A> is
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a file format used by the <A HREF="http://mjpeg.sf.net">mjpegtools programs</A>.
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You can grab, produce, filter or encode video in this format using these.
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The file format is really a sequence of uncompressed YUV 4:2:0 images.
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2002-03-15 23:42:52 +00:00
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</P>
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2001-12-28 00:33:26 +00:00
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2002-01-24 17:14:09 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.10>2.1.1.10. FILM files</A></B></P>
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<P>This format is used on old Sega Saturn CD-Rom games.</P>
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2002-02-03 11:00:39 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.11>2.1.1.11. RoQ files</A></B></P>
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2002-02-08 13:56:36 +00:00
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<P>RoQ files are multimedia files used in some ID games such as Quake III and
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Return to Castle Wolfenstein.</P>
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2002-02-03 11:00:39 +00:00
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2001-11-06 17:04:56 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.2>2.1.2. Audio formats</A></B></P>
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2002-03-28 17:30:46 +00:00
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<P><B>MPlayer</B> is a <B>Movie</B> and not a <B>Media</B> player, although
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it can play some audio file formats (they are listed in the sections below).
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This is not a recommended usage of <B>MPlayer</B>, you better use
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<A HREF="http://www.xmms.org">xmms</A>.</P>
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.1>2.1.2.1. MP3 files</A></B></P>
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<P>You may have problems playing certain MP3 files that <B>MPlayer</B> will
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misdetect as MPEGs and play incorrectly or not at all. This cannot be fixed
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without dropping support for certain broken MPEG files and thus will remain
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like this for the foreseeable future. The <CODE>-demuxer</CODE> flag described
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in the manpage may help you in these cases.</P>
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2002-03-28 17:30:46 +00:00
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.2>2.1.2.2. WAV files</A></B></P>
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.3>2.1.2.3. OGG files (Vorbis)</A></B></P>
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<P>Requires properly installed <CODE>libvorbis</CODE>.</P>
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.4>2.1.2.4. WMA/ASF files</A></B></P>
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<P><B><A NAME=2.1.2.5>2.1.2.5. MP4 files</A></B></P>
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2001-11-06 17:04:56 +00:00
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