mirror of https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv
207 lines
8.7 KiB
HTML
207 lines
8.7 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
|
|
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
<STYLE>
|
|
.text
|
|
{font-family : Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
|
|
font-size : 14px;}
|
|
</STYLE>
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
|
|
<BODY BGCOLOR=WHITE>
|
|
|
|
<FONT CLASS="text">
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1>2.1. Supported formats</A></B></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, 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>
|
|
and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</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. MPEG files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<LI>MPG : this is the most <B>basic</B> form of MPEG file formats. Contains
|
|
MPEG1 video, and MP2 (MPEG-1 layer 2) audio, or rarely MP1.</LI>
|
|
<LI>DAT : this is the very same format as MPG, just different extension. Used
|
|
on <B>Video CD</B>s. 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>
|
|
<LI>VOB : this is the MPEG file format on <B>DVD</B>s. The same as MPG, plus
|
|
capability to contain subtitles, or non-MPEG (AC3) audio. Contains encoded MPEG2
|
|
video, and usually AC3 audio, but MP2 is allowed too.<BR>
|
|
<B>Read the <A HREF="cd-dvd.html#4.2">DVD section</A> !</B></LI>
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>In MPEG files, series of frames are grouped together, and are independent
|
|
from the other groups. What this means is you can cut/join an MPEG file with
|
|
standard file-tools (like dd, cut), and it remains completely functional.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>One important feature for 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
|
|
it's played at 640x480. AVI files don't have this field, so one has to
|
|
rescale it during encoding.</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.2>2.1.1.2. AVI files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>Designed by Micro$oft, the <B>AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</B> is a
|
|
widespread multipurpose format, currently used mostly for DivX and DivX4
|
|
videos. Has many known drawbacks, and inabilities (for example in streaming).
|
|
Has support for one video stream, and 99 audio streams. Can be as big as
|
|
2Gb. There exists an extension for it to be bigger, called <B>OpenDMS</B>.
|
|
M$ 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>There are two kinds of AVI files:
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><B>Interleaved</B> : audio and video content is interleaved. This is the
|
|
standard usage. Recommended and mostly used. Some tools create interleaved
|
|
AVIs with bad sync. <B>MPlayer</B> 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 <CODE>-ni</CODE> option).</LI>
|
|
<LI><B>Non-interleaved</B> : bad. First come the whole video stream, then the whole
|
|
audio stream, thus needs a lot of seeking. It's very bad when playing from
|
|
network or CDROM.</LI>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>MPlayer supports 2 kind of timing for AVI files:
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><B>bps-based</B> : it is based on bitrate/samplerate of 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).</LI>
|
|
<LI><B>interleaving-based</B> : it doesn't use bitrate value of the header, instead
|
|
it uses the relative position of interleaved audio and video chunks. Makes
|
|
some badly encoded file with VBR audio playable.</LI>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>Any audio and video codec is allowed, but note that VBR audio isn't well
|
|
supported by most of the players. The file format makes it possible to use VBR
|
|
audio, but most players expect CBR audio, thus they fail with VBR. VBR is
|
|
unusual, and Microsoft's AVI specs only describe CBR audio. I also note, that
|
|
most AVI encoders/multiplexers create bad files if using VBR audio. Only 2
|
|
exception (known by me): NaNDub and <A HREF="encoding.html">MEncoder</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.3>2.1.1.3. ASF/WMV files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>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's
|
|
just another legal game). <B>MPlayer</B> supports only v1.0, as nobody has ever seen
|
|
v2.0 files :) . Note, that .ASF files nowdays come with the extension .WMA or
|
|
.WMV.</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.4>2.1.1.4. QuickTime/MOV files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>These are from Macintosh. Usually have extensions of .QT or .MOV . Note
|
|
that since the MPEG4 Group chose QuickTime as the recommended file format
|
|
for MPEG4, their .MOV files come with .MPG or .MP4 extension (interesting
|
|
that in these files the video stream is a real .MPG file. With the
|
|
<CODE>-dumpvideo</CODE> option you can even extract it.).</P>
|
|
|
|
<P><B>Codecs</B>: any codecs allowed, both CBR and VBR. Note: most new mov files use
|
|
<B>Sorenson</B> video and QDesign Music audio. These formats are completely
|
|
secret, and only Apple's quicktime player is able to play these files (on
|
|
win/mac only).</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.5>2.1.1.5. VIV files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P><B>MPlayer</B> happily demuxes VIVO file formats. The format's big
|
|
disadvantage is that it has no index block, nor fixed packetsize or sync bytes,
|
|
and most files lack even keyframes, so forget seeking!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>VIVO/1.0 files' video codec is standard <B>h.263</B> . The VIVO/2.0 files'
|
|
video codec is a modified, nonstandard <B>h.263</B> . Audio is the same,
|
|
it may be <B>g.723</B> (standard), or <B>Vivo Siren</B> .</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>See the <A HREF=codecs.html#2.2.1.4>VIVO video codec</A>
|
|
and <A HREF=codecs.html#2.2.2.4>VIVO audio codec</A> sections for installation
|
|
instructions.</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.6>2.1.1.6. FLI files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P><B>FLI</B> is a very old fileformat used by Autodesk Animator, but it's
|
|
a common fileformat for short animations on the Net. <B>MPlayer</B> demuxes
|
|
and decodes FLI movies and is even able to seek within them (useful when
|
|
looping with the -loop option). FLI files don't have keyframes, so picture
|
|
will be messy for a short time after seeking.</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.7>2.1.1.7. RealMedia (RM) files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>Yes, <B>MPlayer</B> can read (demux) RealMedia (.rm) files. Seeking
|
|
is under implementation, and RM has keyframes so it will be flawless.
|
|
Here are the lists of the supported <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.1.8">RealVideo</A>
|
|
and <A HREF="codecs.html#2.2.2.5">RealAudio</A> codecs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.8>2.1.1.8. NuppelVideo files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P><A HREF="http://mars.tuwien.ac.at/~roman/nuppelvideo">NuppelVideo</A>
|
|
is a TV grabber tool (AFAIK:). <B>MPlayer</B> can read its <CODE>.nuv</CODE>
|
|
files (only NuppelVideo 5.0). Those files can contain uncompressed YV12,
|
|
YV12+RTJpeg compressed, YV12 RTJpeg+lzo compressed, and YV12+lzo compressed
|
|
frames, <B>MPlayer</B> decodes (and also <B>encodes</B> them with MEncoder to
|
|
DivX/etc!) them all. Seeking is under implementation.</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.9>2.1.1.9. yuv4mpeg files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P><A HREF="http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net">yuv4mpeg / yuv4mpeg2</A> is
|
|
also a fileformat for TV grabbing, or so :) I know only one thing about it:
|
|
we support it.</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.10>2.1.1.10. FILM files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>This format is used on old Sega Saturn CD-ROM games.</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><A NAME=2.1.1.11>2.1.1.11. RoQ files</A></B></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>RoQ files are multimedia files used in some ID games such as Quake III and
|
|
Return to Castle Wolfenstein.</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>
|