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diff --git a/DOCS/xml/en/containers.xml b/DOCS/xml/en/containers.xml deleted file mode 100644 index f3d4c6d124..0000000000 --- a/DOCS/xml/en/containers.xml +++ /dev/null @@ -1,520 +0,0 @@ -<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> -<!-- $Revision$ --> -<chapter id="containers"> -<title>Containers</title> - -<para> -It is important to clarify a common mistake. When people see a file with a -<filename>.AVI</filename> 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 <emphasis>can</emphasis> contain MPEG-1 video. -</para> - -<para> -You see, a <emphasis role="bold">codec</emphasis> is not the same as a -<emphasis role="bold">container format</emphasis>. -Examples of video <emphasis role="bold">codecs</emphasis> are: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, -MPEG-4 (DivX), Indeo5, 3ivx. -Examples of container <emphasis role="bold">formats</emphasis> are: -MPG, AVI, ASF. -</para> - -<para> -In theory, you can put an OpenDivX video and MP3 audio -into an <emphasis role="bold">MPG container</emphasis>. However, most -players will not play it, since they expect MPEG-1 video and MP2 audio (unlike -<emphasis role="bold">AVI</emphasis>, <emphasis role="bold">MPG</emphasis> -does not have the necessary fields to describe its video and audio streams). -Or you might put MPEG-1 video into an AVI file. -<ulink url="http://ffmpeg.org/">FFmpeg</ulink> and -<link linkend="mencoder"><application>MEncoder</application></link> -can create these files. -</para> - - -<!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --> - - -<sect1 id="video-formats"> -<title>Video formats</title> - -<sect2 id="mpg-vob-dat"> -<title>MPEG files</title> - -<para> -MPEG files come in different guises: -</para> - -<itemizedlist> -<listitem><para> - MPG: This is the most <emphasis role="bold">basic</emphasis> form of the - MPEG file formats. It contains MPEG-1 video, and MP2 (MPEG-1 layer 2) or - rarely MP1 audio. -</para></listitem> -<listitem><para> - DAT: This is the very same format as MPG with a different extension. It - is used on <emphasis role="bold">Video CDs</emphasis>. 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 <option>vcd://</option> - to play a Video CD. -</para></listitem> -<listitem><para> - VOB: This is the MPEG file format on <emphasis role="bold">DVDs</emphasis>. - It is the same as MPG, plus the capability to contain subtitles or non-MPEG - (AC-3) audio. It contains encoded MPEG-2 video and usually AC-3 audio, but DTS, - MP2 and uncompressed LPCM are allowed, too. <emphasis role="bold">Read the - <link linkend="dvd">DVD</link> section</emphasis>! -</para></listitem> -<listitem><para> - 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 - <ulink url="http://dvd-create.sourceforge.net/tystudio/tystream.shtml"> - the TyStudio page</ulink>. -</para></listitem> -</itemizedlist> - -<para> -Series of frames form independent groups in MPEG files. This means that you -can cut/join an MPEG file with standard file tools (like -<command>dd</command>, <command>cut</command>), and it remains completely -functional. -</para> - -<para> -One important feature of MPEG files 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>-aspect</option> -option. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="avi"> -<title>AVI files</title> - -<para> -Designed by Microsoft, -<emphasis role="bold">AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)</emphasis> -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 -<emphasis role="bold">OpenDML</emphasis>. Microsoft currently strongly -discourages its use and encourages ASF/WMV. Not that anybody cares. -</para> - -<para> -There is a hack that allows AVI files to contain an Ogg Vorbis audio -stream, but makes them incompatible with standard AVI. -<application>MPlayer</application> 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, <application>NanDub</application>, has this problem. -</para> - -<note><para> -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 <application>MPlayer</application> can play or -the raw DV stream for which support is under development. -</para></note> - -<para> -There are two kinds of AVI files: -<itemizedlist> -<listitem><para> - <emphasis role="bold">Interleaved:</emphasis> Audio and video content is - interleaved. This is the standard usage. Recommended and mostly used. Some - tools create interleaved AVIs with bad sync. - <application>MPlayer</application> 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>-ni</option> option). -</para></listitem> -<listitem><para> - <emphasis role="bold">Non-interleaved:</emphasis> 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. -</para></listitem> -</itemizedlist> -</para> - -<para> -<application>MPlayer</application> supports two kinds of timings for AVI -files: -<itemizedlist> -<listitem><para> - <emphasis role="bold">bps-based:</emphasis> It is based on the - bitrate/samplerate of the video/audio stream. This method is used by - most players, including <ulink url="http://avifile.sf.net">avifile</ulink> - and <application>Windows Media Player</application>. 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). -</para></listitem> -<listitem><para> - <emphasis role="bold">interleaving-based:</emphasis> 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. -</para></listitem> -</itemizedlist> -</para> - -<para> -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: <application>NanDub</application> and -<link linkend="mencoder"><application>MEncoder</application></link>. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="asf-wmv"> -<title>ASF/WMV files</title> - -<para> -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 -(<application>Windows Media Player</application> and -<application>Windows Media Encoder</application>) -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). -<application>MPlayer</application> supports only v1.0, as nobody has ever seen -v2.0 files :). Note that ASF files nowadays come with the extension -<filename>.WMA</filename> or <filename>.WMV</filename>. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="mov"> -<title>QuickTime/MOV files</title> - -<para> -These formats were designed by Apple and can contain any codec, CBR or VBR. -They usually have a <filename>.QT</filename> or <filename>.MOV</filename> -extension. Note that since the MPEG-4 group chose QuickTime as the recommended -file format for MPEG-4, their MOV files come with a <filename>.MPG</filename> or -<filename>.MP4</filename> extension (Interestingly the video and audio -streams in these files are real MPG and AAC files. You can even extract them -with the <option>-dumpvideo</option> and <option>-dumpaudio</option> options.). -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="vivo"> -<title>VIVO files</title> - -<para> -<application>MPlayer</application> 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! -</para> - -<para> -The video codec of VIVO/1.0 files is standard -<emphasis role="bold">h.263</emphasis>. -The video codec of VIVO/2.0 files is a modified, nonstandard -<emphasis role="bold">h.263v2</emphasis>. The audio is the same, it may be -<emphasis role="bold">g.723 (standard)</emphasis>, or -<emphasis role="bold">Vivo Siren</emphasis>. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="fli"> -<title>FLI files</title> - -<para> -<emphasis role="bold">FLI</emphasis> is a very old file format used by -Autodesk Animator, but it is a common file format for short animations on the -net. -<application>MPlayer</application> demuxes and decodes FLI movies and is -even able to seek within them (useful when looping with the -<option>-loop</option> option). FLI files do not have keyframes, so the -picture will be messy for a short time after seeking. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="realmedia"> -<title>RealMedia (RM) files</title> - -<para> -Yes, <application>MPlayer</application> can read (demux) RealMedia -(<filename>.rm</filename>) files. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="nuppelvideo"> -<title>NuppelVideo files</title> - -<para> -NuppelVideo -is a TV grabber tool (AFAIK:). <application>MPlayer</application> can read -its <filename>.NUV</filename> files (only NuppelVideo 5.0). Those files can -contain uncompressed YV12, YV12+RTJpeg compressed, YV12 RTJpeg+lzo -compressed, and YV12+lzo compressed frames. -<application>MPlayer</application> decodes (and also -<emphasis role="bold">encodes</emphasis> -them with <application>MEncoder</application> to MPEG-4 (DivX)/etc!) them all. -Seeking works. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="yuv4mpeg"> -<title>yuv4mpeg files</title> - -<para> -<ulink url="http://mjpeg.sf.net">yuv4mpeg / yuv4mpeg2</ulink> -is a file format used by the -<ulink url="http://mjpeg.sf.net">mjpegtools programs</ulink>. -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. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="film"> -<title>FILM files</title> - -<para> -This format is used on old Sega Saturn CD-ROM games. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="roq"> -<title>RoQ files</title> - -<para> -RoQ files are multimedia files used in some ID games such as Quake III and -Return to Castle Wolfenstein. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="ogg"> -<title>OGG/OGM files</title> - -<para> -This is a new file format from the -<ulink url="http://www.xiph.org">Xiph.Org Foundation</ulink>. -It can contain any video or audio codec, CBR or VBR. You'll need -<systemitem class="library">libogg</systemitem> and -<systemitem class="library">libvorbis</systemitem> installed before -compiling <application>MPlayer</application> to be able to play it. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="sdp"> -<title>SDP files</title> - -<para> -<ulink url="ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2327.txt">SDP</ulink> is an -IETF standard format for describing video and/or audio RTP streams. -(The "<ulink url="http://www.live555.com/mplayer/">LIVE555 Streaming Media</ulink>" -are required.) -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="pva"> -<title>PVA files</title> - -<para> -PVA is an MPEG-like format used by DVB TV boards' software (e.g.: -<application>MultiDec</application>, -<application>WinTV</application> under Windows). -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="nsv"> -<title>NSV files</title> - -<para> -NSV (NullSoft Video) is the file format used by the -<application>Winamp</application> 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 <filename>.nsa</filename> extension. -<application>MPlayer</application> can play both NSV streams and files. -Please note that most files from the -<ulink url="http://www.winamp.com">Winamp site</ulink> 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). -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="matroska"> -<title>Matroska files</title> - -<para> -Matroska is an open container format. -Read more on the <ulink url="http://www.matroska.org/">official site</ulink>. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="nut"> -<title>NUT files</title> - -<para> -NUT is the container format developed by <application>MPlayer</application> and -<application>FFmpeg</application> folks. Both projects support it. -Read more on the <ulink url="http://www.nut-container.org/">official -site</ulink>. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="gif"> -<title>GIF files</title> - -<para> -The <emphasis role="bold">GIF</emphasis> 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. -<application>MPlayer</application> supports both formats through use of -<systemitem class="library">libungif</systemitem> or -another libgif-compatible library. Non-animated GIFs will be displayed as -single frame videos. (Use the <option>-loop</option> and -<option>-fixed-vo</option> options to display these longer.) -</para> - -<para> -<application>MPlayer</application> 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. -</para> - -<para> -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. -</para> - -<para> -If your distribution does not come with -<systemitem class="library">libungif</systemitem>, download a copy from the -<ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/libungif">libungif -homepage</ulink>. For detailed technical information, have a look at the -<ulink url="http://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif89a.txt">GIF89a specification</ulink>. -</para> -</sect2> -</sect1> - - -<!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --> - - -<sect1 id="audio-formats"> -<title>Audio formats</title> - -<para> -<application>MPlayer</application> is a <emphasis role="bold">movie</emphasis> -and not a <emphasis role="bold">media</emphasis> player, although it can play -some audio file formats (they are listed in the sections below). This is not -a recommended usage of <application>MPlayer</application>, you better use <ulink -url="http://www.xmms.org">XMMS</ulink>. -</para> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="mp3"> -<title>MP3 files</title> - -<para> -You may have problems playing certain MP3 files that -<application>MPlayer</application> 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 <option>-demuxer</option> flag described in the -man page may help you in these cases. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="ogg-vorbis"> -<title>OGG/OGM files (Vorbis)</title> - -<para> -Requires properly installed -<systemitem class="library">libogg</systemitem> and -<systemitem class="library">libvorbis</systemitem>. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="cdda"> -<title>CD audio</title> - -<para> -<application>MPlayer</application> can use <application>cdparanoia</application> -to play CDDA (Audio CD). The scope of this section does not contain enumerating -<application>cdparanoia</application>'s features. -</para> - -<para> -See the man page's <option>-cdda</option> option which can be used to pass -options to <application>cdparanoia</application>. -</para> -</sect2> - -<!-- ********** --> - -<sect2 id="xmms"> -<title>XMMS</title> - -<para> -<application>MPlayer</application> can use <application>XMMS</application> 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 -<ulink url="http://www.xmms.org/plugins.php?category=input">XMMS input plugin page</ulink>. -</para> - -<para> -For this feature you need to have <application>XMMS</application> and compile -<application>MPlayer</application> with -<filename>./configure --enable-xmms</filename>. -</para> -</sect2> -</sect1> - -</chapter> |