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1@chapter Demuxers
2@c man begin DEMUXERS
3
4Demuxers are configured elements in FFmpeg that can read the
5multimedia streams from a particular type of file.
6
7When you configure your FFmpeg build, all the supported demuxers
8are enabled by default. You can list all available ones using the
9configure option @code{--list-demuxers}.
10
11You can disable all the demuxers using the configure option
12@code{--disable-demuxers}, and selectively enable a single demuxer with
13the option @code{--enable-demuxer=@var{DEMUXER}}, or disable it
14with the option @code{--disable-demuxer=@var{DEMUXER}}.
15
16The option @code{-formats} of the ff* tools will display the list of
17enabled demuxers.
18
19The description of some of the currently available demuxers follows.
20
21@section applehttp
22
23Apple HTTP Live Streaming demuxer.
24
25This demuxer presents all AVStreams from all variant streams.
26The id field is set to the bitrate variant index number. By setting
27the discard flags on AVStreams (by pressing 'a' or 'v' in ffplay),
28the caller can decide which variant streams to actually receive.
29The total bitrate of the variant that the stream belongs to is
30available in a metadata key named "variant_bitrate".
31
32@section asf
33
34Advanced Systems Format demuxer.
35
36This demuxer is used to demux ASF files and MMS network streams.
37
38@table @option
39@item -no_resync_search @var{bool}
40Do not try to resynchronize by looking for a certain optional start code.
41@end table
42
43@anchor{concat}
44@section concat
45
46Virtual concatenation script demuxer.
47
48This demuxer reads a list of files and other directives from a text file and
49demuxes them one after the other, as if all their packet had been muxed
50together.
51
52The timestamps in the files are adjusted so that the first file starts at 0
53and each next file starts where the previous one finishes. Note that it is
54done globally and may cause gaps if all streams do not have exactly the same
55length.
56
57All files must have the same streams (same codecs, same time base, etc.).
58
59The duration of each file is used to adjust the timestamps of the next file:
60if the duration is incorrect (because it was computed using the bit-rate or
61because the file is truncated, for example), it can cause artifacts. The
62@code{duration} directive can be used to override the duration stored in
63each file.
64
65@subsection Syntax
66
67The script is a text file in extended-ASCII, with one directive per line.
68Empty lines, leading spaces and lines starting with '#' are ignored. The
69following directive is recognized:
70
71@table @option
72
73@item @code{file @var{path}}
74Path to a file to read; special characters and spaces must be escaped with
75backslash or single quotes.
76
77All subsequent file-related directives apply to that file.
78
79@item @code{ffconcat version 1.0}
80Identify the script type and version. It also sets the @option{safe} option
81to 1 if it was to its default -1.
82
83To make FFmpeg recognize the format automatically, this directive must
84appears exactly as is (no extra space or byte-order-mark) on the very first
85line of the script.
86
87@item @code{duration @var{dur}}
88Duration of the file. This information can be specified from the file;
89specifying it here may be more efficient or help if the information from the
90file is not available or accurate.
91
92If the duration is set for all files, then it is possible to seek in the
93whole concatenated video.
94
95@item @code{stream}
96Introduce a stream in the virtual file.
97All subsequent stream-related directives apply to the last introduced
98stream.
99Some streams properties must be set in order to allow identifying the
100matching streams in the subfiles.
101If no streams are defined in the script, the streams from the first file are
102copied.
103
104@item @code{exact_stream_id @var{id}}
105Set the id of the stream.
106If this directive is given, the string with the corresponding id in the
107subfiles will be used.
108This is especially useful for MPEG-PS (VOB) files, where the order of the
109streams is not reliable.
110
111@end table
112
113@subsection Options
114
115This demuxer accepts the following option:
116
117@table @option
118
119@item safe
120If set to 1, reject unsafe file paths. A file path is considered safe if it
121does not contain a protocol specification and is relative and all components
122only contain characters from the portable character set (letters, digits,
123period, underscore and hyphen) and have no period at the beginning of a
124component.
125
126If set to 0, any file name is accepted.
127
128The default is -1, it is equivalent to 1 if the format was automatically
129probed and 0 otherwise.
130
131@item auto_convert
132If set to 1, try to perform automatic conversions on packet data to make the
133streams concatenable.
134
135Currently, the only conversion is adding the h264_mp4toannexb bitstream
136filter to H.264 streams in MP4 format. This is necessary in particular if
137there are resolution changes.
138
139@end table
140
141@section flv
142
143Adobe Flash Video Format demuxer.
144
145This demuxer is used to demux FLV files and RTMP network streams.
146
147@table @option
148@item -flv_metadata @var{bool}
149Allocate the streams according to the onMetaData array content.
150@end table
151
152@section libgme
153
154The Game Music Emu library is a collection of video game music file emulators.
155
156See @url{http://code.google.com/p/game-music-emu/} for more information.
157
158Some files have multiple tracks. The demuxer will pick the first track by
159default. The @option{track_index} option can be used to select a different
160track. Track indexes start at 0. The demuxer exports the number of tracks as
161@var{tracks} meta data entry.
162
163For very large files, the @option{max_size} option may have to be adjusted.
164
165@section libquvi
166
167Play media from Internet services using the quvi project.
168
169The demuxer accepts a @option{format} option to request a specific quality. It
170is by default set to @var{best}.
171
172See @url{http://quvi.sourceforge.net/} for more information.
173
174FFmpeg needs to be built with @code{--enable-libquvi} for this demuxer to be
175enabled.
176
177@section gif
178
179Animated GIF demuxer.
180
181It accepts the following options:
182
183@table @option
184@item min_delay
185Set the minimum valid delay between frames in hundredths of seconds.
186Range is 0 to 6000. Default value is 2.
187
188@item default_delay
189Set the default delay between frames in hundredths of seconds.
190Range is 0 to 6000. Default value is 10.
191
192@item ignore_loop
193GIF files can contain information to loop a certain number of times (or
194infinitely). If @option{ignore_loop} is set to 1, then the loop setting
195from the input will be ignored and looping will not occur. If set to 0,
196then looping will occur and will cycle the number of times according to
197the GIF. Default value is 1.
198@end table
199
200For example, with the overlay filter, place an infinitely looping GIF
201over another video:
202@example
203ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ignore_loop 0 -i input.gif -filter_complex overlay=shortest=1 out.mkv
204@end example
205
206Note that in the above example the shortest option for overlay filter is
207used to end the output video at the length of the shortest input file,
208which in this case is @file{input.mp4} as the GIF in this example loops
209infinitely.
210
211@section image2
212
213Image file demuxer.
214
215This demuxer reads from a list of image files specified by a pattern.
216The syntax and meaning of the pattern is specified by the
217option @var{pattern_type}.
218
219The pattern may contain a suffix which is used to automatically
220determine the format of the images contained in the files.
221
222The size, the pixel format, and the format of each image must be the
223same for all the files in the sequence.
224
225This demuxer accepts the following options:
226@table @option
227@item framerate
228Set the frame rate for the video stream. It defaults to 25.
229@item loop
230If set to 1, loop over the input. Default value is 0.
231@item pattern_type
232Select the pattern type used to interpret the provided filename.
233
234@var{pattern_type} accepts one of the following values.
235@table @option
236@item sequence
237Select a sequence pattern type, used to specify a sequence of files
238indexed by sequential numbers.
239
240A sequence pattern may contain the string "%d" or "%0@var{N}d", which
241specifies the position of the characters representing a sequential
242number in each filename matched by the pattern. If the form
243"%d0@var{N}d" is used, the string representing the number in each
244filename is 0-padded and @var{N} is the total number of 0-padded
245digits representing the number. The literal character '%' can be
246specified in the pattern with the string "%%".
247
248If the sequence pattern contains "%d" or "%0@var{N}d", the first filename of
249the file list specified by the pattern must contain a number
250inclusively contained between @var{start_number} and
251@var{start_number}+@var{start_number_range}-1, and all the following
252numbers must be sequential.
253
254For example the pattern "img-%03d.bmp" will match a sequence of
255filenames of the form @file{img-001.bmp}, @file{img-002.bmp}, ...,
256@file{img-010.bmp}, etc.; the pattern "i%%m%%g-%d.jpg" will match a
257sequence of filenames of the form @file{i%m%g-1.jpg},
258@file{i%m%g-2.jpg}, ..., @file{i%m%g-10.jpg}, etc.
259
260Note that the pattern must not necessarily contain "%d" or
261"%0@var{N}d", for example to convert a single image file
262@file{img.jpeg} you can employ the command:
263@example
264ffmpeg -i img.jpeg img.png
265@end example
266
267@item glob
268Select a glob wildcard pattern type.
269
270The pattern is interpreted like a @code{glob()} pattern. This is only
271selectable if libavformat was compiled with globbing support.
272
273@item glob_sequence @emph{(deprecated, will be removed)}
274Select a mixed glob wildcard/sequence pattern.
275
276If your version of libavformat was compiled with globbing support, and
277the provided pattern contains at least one glob meta character among
278@code{%*?[]@{@}} that is preceded by an unescaped "%", the pattern is
279interpreted like a @code{glob()} pattern, otherwise it is interpreted
280like a sequence pattern.
281
282All glob special characters @code{%*?[]@{@}} must be prefixed
283with "%". To escape a literal "%" you shall use "%%".
284
285For example the pattern @code{foo-%*.jpeg} will match all the
286filenames prefixed by "foo-" and terminating with ".jpeg", and
287@code{foo-%?%?%?.jpeg} will match all the filenames prefixed with
288"foo-", followed by a sequence of three characters, and terminating
289with ".jpeg".
290
291This pattern type is deprecated in favor of @var{glob} and
292@var{sequence}.
293@end table
294
295Default value is @var{glob_sequence}.
296@item pixel_format
297Set the pixel format of the images to read. If not specified the pixel
298format is guessed from the first image file in the sequence.
299@item start_number
300Set the index of the file matched by the image file pattern to start
301to read from. Default value is 0.
302@item start_number_range
303Set the index interval range to check when looking for the first image
304file in the sequence, starting from @var{start_number}. Default value
305is 5.
306@item ts_from_file
307If set to 1, will set frame timestamp to modification time of image file. Note
308that monotonity of timestamps is not provided: images go in the same order as
309without this option. Default value is 0.
310If set to 2, will set frame timestamp to the modification time of the image file in
311nanosecond precision.
312@item video_size
313Set the video size of the images to read. If not specified the video
314size is guessed from the first image file in the sequence.
315@end table
316
317@subsection Examples
318
319@itemize
320@item
321Use @command{ffmpeg} for creating a video from the images in the file
322sequence @file{img-001.jpeg}, @file{img-002.jpeg}, ..., assuming an
323input frame rate of 10 frames per second:
324@example
325ffmpeg -framerate 10 -i 'img-%03d.jpeg' out.mkv
326@end example
327
328@item
329As above, but start by reading from a file with index 100 in the sequence:
330@example
331ffmpeg -framerate 10 -start_number 100 -i 'img-%03d.jpeg' out.mkv
332@end example
333
334@item
335Read images matching the "*.png" glob pattern , that is all the files
336terminating with the ".png" suffix:
337@example
338ffmpeg -framerate 10 -pattern_type glob -i "*.png" out.mkv
339@end example
340@end itemize
341
342@section mpegts
343
344MPEG-2 transport stream demuxer.
345
346@table @option
347
348@item fix_teletext_pts
349Overrides teletext packet PTS and DTS values with the timestamps calculated
350from the PCR of the first program which the teletext stream is part of and is
351not discarded. Default value is 1, set this option to 0 if you want your
352teletext packet PTS and DTS values untouched.
353@end table
354
355@section rawvideo
356
357Raw video demuxer.
358
359This demuxer allows one to read raw video data. Since there is no header
360specifying the assumed video parameters, the user must specify them
361in order to be able to decode the data correctly.
362
363This demuxer accepts the following options:
364@table @option
365
366@item framerate
367Set input video frame rate. Default value is 25.
368
369@item pixel_format
370Set the input video pixel format. Default value is @code{yuv420p}.
371
372@item video_size
373Set the input video size. This value must be specified explicitly.
374@end table
375
376For example to read a rawvideo file @file{input.raw} with
377@command{ffplay}, assuming a pixel format of @code{rgb24}, a video
378size of @code{320x240}, and a frame rate of 10 images per second, use
379the command:
380@example
381ffplay -f rawvideo -pixel_format rgb24 -video_size 320x240 -framerate 10 input.raw
382@end example
383
384@section sbg
385
386SBaGen script demuxer.
387
388This demuxer reads the script language used by SBaGen
389@url{http://uazu.net/sbagen/} to generate binaural beats sessions. A SBG
390script looks like that:
391@example
392-SE
393a: 300-2.5/3 440+4.5/0
394b: 300-2.5/0 440+4.5/3
395off: -
396NOW == a
397+0:07:00 == b
398+0:14:00 == a
399+0:21:00 == b
400+0:30:00 off
401@end example
402
403A SBG script can mix absolute and relative timestamps. If the script uses
404either only absolute timestamps (including the script start time) or only
405relative ones, then its layout is fixed, and the conversion is
406straightforward. On the other hand, if the script mixes both kind of
407timestamps, then the @var{NOW} reference for relative timestamps will be
408taken from the current time of day at the time the script is read, and the
409script layout will be frozen according to that reference. That means that if
410the script is directly played, the actual times will match the absolute
411timestamps up to the sound controller's clock accuracy, but if the user
412somehow pauses the playback or seeks, all times will be shifted accordingly.
413
414@section tedcaptions
415
416JSON captions used for @url{http://www.ted.com/, TED Talks}.
417
418TED does not provide links to the captions, but they can be guessed from the
419page. The file @file{tools/bookmarklets.html} from the FFmpeg source tree
420contains a bookmarklet to expose them.
421
422This demuxer accepts the following option:
423@table @option
424@item start_time
425Set the start time of the TED talk, in milliseconds. The default is 15000
426(15s). It is used to sync the captions with the downloadable videos, because
427they include a 15s intro.
428@end table
429
430Example: convert the captions to a format most players understand:
431@example
432ffmpeg -i http://www.ted.com/talks/subtitles/id/1/lang/en talk1-en.srt
433@end example
434
435@c man end DEMUXERS