1 \input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
3 @settitle General Documentation
6 @center @titlefont{General Documentation}
11 @chapter external libraries
13 FFmpeg can be hooked up with a number of external libraries to add support
14 for more formats. None of them are used by default, their use has to be
15 explicitly requested by passing the appropriate flags to @file{./configure}.
19 AMR comes in two different flavors, wideband and narrowband. FFmpeg can make
20 use of the AMR wideband (floating-point mode) and the AMR narrowband
21 (floating-point mode) reference decoders and encoders.
23 Go to @url{http://www.penguin.cz/~utx/amr} and follow the instructions for
24 installing the libraries. Then pass @code{--enable-libamr-nb} and/or
25 @code{--enable-libamr-wb} to configure to enable the libraries.
27 Note that libamr is copyrighted without any sort of license grant. This means
28 that you can use it if you legally obtained it but you are not allowed to
29 redistribute it in any way. @strong{Any FFmpeg binaries with libamr support
30 you create are non-free and unredistributable!}
33 @chapter Supported File Formats and Codecs
35 You can use the @code{-formats} option to have an exhaustive list.
39 FFmpeg supports the following file formats through the @code{libavformat}
42 @multitable @columnfractions .4 .1 .1 .4
43 @item Name @tab Encoding @tab Decoding @tab Comments
45 @tab 4X Technologies format, used in some games.
46 @item ADTS AAC audio @tab X @tab X
47 @item American Laser Games MM @tab @tab X
48 @tab Multimedia format used in games like Mad Dog McCree.
49 @item ASF @tab X @tab X
50 @item AVI @tab X @tab X
51 @item AVM2 (Flash 9) @tab X @tab X
52 @tab Only embedded audio is decoded.
54 @tab Multimedia format used by the Creature Shock game.
55 @item Bethsoft VID @tab @tab X
56 @tab Used in some games from Bethesda Softworks.
58 @tab Brute Force & Ignorance, used in Flash Traffic: City of Angels.
60 @tab Used in the game Cyberia from Interplay.
62 @tab Multimedia format used by Delphine Software games.
63 @item Creative VOC @tab X @tab X
64 @tab Created for the Sound Blaster Pro.
65 @item CRYO APC @tab @tab X
66 @tab Audio format used in some games by CRYO Interactive Entertainment.
67 @item DV @tab X @tab X
69 @tab This format is used in the non-Windows version of the Feeble Files
70 game and different game cutscenes repacked for use with ScummVM.
71 @item Electronic Arts Multimedia @tab @tab X
72 @tab Used in various EA games; files have extensions like WVE and UV2.
73 @item FLIC @tab @tab X
75 @item FLV @tab X @tab X
76 @tab Macromedia Flash video files
77 @item FunCom ISS @tab @tab X
78 @tab Audio format used in various games from FunCom like The Longest Journey.
79 @item GXF @tab X @tab X
80 @tab General eXchange Format SMPTE 360M, used by Thomson Grass Valley
82 @item id Cinematic @tab @tab X
83 @tab Used in Quake II.
84 @item id RoQ @tab X @tab X
85 @tab Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.
87 @tab Interchange File Format
88 @item Interplay MVE @tab @tab X
89 @tab Format used in various Interplay computer games.
90 @item LMLM4 @tab @tab X
91 @tab Used by Linux Media Labs MPEG-4 PCI boards
92 @item Matroska @tab X @tab X
93 @item MAXIS EA XA @tab @tab X
94 @tab Used in Sim City 3000; file extension .xa.
95 @item Monkey's Audio @tab @tab X
96 @item Motion Pixels MVI @tab @tab X
97 @item MOV/QuickTime @tab X @tab X
98 @item MPEG audio @tab X @tab X
99 @item MPEG-1 systems @tab X @tab X
100 @tab muxed audio and video
101 @item MPEG-2 PS @tab X @tab X
102 @tab also known as @code{VOB} file
103 @item MPEG-2 TS @tab @tab X
104 @tab also known as DVB Transport Stream
105 @item MPEG-4 @tab X @tab X
106 @tab MPEG-4 is a variant of QuickTime.
107 @item MSN TCP webcam @tab @tab X
108 @tab Used by MSN Messenger webcam streams.
109 @item MXF @tab X @tab X
110 @tab Material eXchange Format SMPTE 377M, used by D-Cinema, broadcast industry.
111 @item Nullsoft Video @tab @tab X
112 @item NUT @tab X @tab X
113 @tab NUT Open Container Format
114 @item OMA @tab @tab X
115 @tab Audio format used in Sony Sonic Stage and Sony Vegas.
116 @item PlayStation STR @tab @tab X
117 @item PVA @tab @tab X
118 @tab Used by TechnoTrend DVB PCI boards.
119 @item raw AC-3 @tab X @tab X
120 @item raw CRI ADX audio @tab X @tab X
121 @item raw MJPEG @tab X @tab X
122 @item raw MPEG video @tab X @tab X
123 @item raw MPEG-4 video @tab X @tab X
124 @item raw PCM 8/16/32 bits, 32/64-bit floating point, mu-law/A-law @tab X @tab X
125 @item raw Shorten audio @tab @tab X
126 @item R3D REDCODE @tab @tab X
127 @tab File format used by RED Digital cameras, contains JPEG 2000 frames and PCM audio.
128 @item RealMedia @tab X @tab X
129 @item RL2 @tab @tab X
130 @tab Audio and video format used in some games by Entertainment Software Partners.
131 @item Sega FILM/CPK @tab @tab X
132 @tab Used in many Sega Saturn console games.
133 @item SEQ @tab @tab X
134 @tab Tiertex .seq files used in the DOS CD-ROM version of the game Flashback.
135 @item Sierra Online @tab @tab X
136 @tab .sol files used in Sierra Online games.
137 @item Sierra VMD @tab @tab X
138 @tab Used in Sierra CD-ROM games.
139 @item SIFF @tab @tab X
140 @tab Audio and video format used in some games by Beam Software.
141 @item Smacker @tab @tab X
142 @tab Multimedia format used by many games.
143 @item SUN AU format @tab X @tab X
144 @item THP @tab @tab X
145 @tab Used on the Nintendo GameCube.
146 @item WAV @tab X @tab X
147 @item WC3 Movie @tab @tab X
148 @tab Multimedia format used in Origin's Wing Commander III computer game.
149 @item Westwood Studios VQA/AUD @tab @tab X
150 @tab Multimedia formats used in Westwood Studios games.
153 @code{X} means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.
155 @section Image Formats
157 FFmpeg can read and write images for each frame of a video sequence. The
158 following image formats are supported:
160 @multitable @columnfractions .4 .1 .1 .4
161 @item Name @tab Encoding @tab Decoding @tab Comments
162 @item .Y.U.V @tab X @tab X @tab one raw file per component
163 @item animated GIF @tab X @tab X @tab Only uncompressed GIFs are generated.
164 @item JPEG @tab X @tab X @tab Progressive JPEG is not supported.
165 @item JPEG 2000 @tab @tab E @tab decoding supported through external library libopenjpeg
166 @item PAM @tab X @tab X @tab PAM is a PNM extension with alpha support.
167 @item PCX @tab @tab X @tab PC Paintbrush
168 @item PGM, PPM @tab X @tab X
169 @item PGMYUV @tab X @tab X @tab PGM with U and V components in YUV 4:2:0
170 @item PNG @tab X @tab X @tab 2/4 bpp not supported yet
171 @item PTX @tab @tab X @tab V.Flash PTX format
172 @item RAS @tab @tab X @tab Sun Rasterfile
173 @item SGI @tab X @tab X @tab SGI RGB image format
174 @item Targa @tab @tab X @tab Targa (.TGA) image format
175 @item TIFF @tab X @tab X @tab YUV, JPEG and some extension is not supported yet.
178 @code{X} means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.
180 @code{E} means that support is provided through an external library.
182 @section Video Codecs
184 @multitable @columnfractions .4 .1 .1 .4
185 @item Name @tab Encoding @tab Decoding @tab Comments
186 @item 4X Video @tab @tab X
187 @tab Used in certain computer games.
188 @item American Laser Games Video @tab @tab X
189 @tab Used in games like Mad Dog McCree.
190 @item AMV @tab @tab X
191 @tab Used in Chinese MP3 players.
192 @item Apple Animation @tab X @tab X
194 @item Apple Graphics @tab @tab X
196 @item Apple MJPEG-B @tab @tab X
197 @item Apple QuickDraw @tab @tab X
199 @item Apple Video @tab @tab X
201 @item Asus v1 @tab X @tab X
203 @item Asus v2 @tab X @tab X
205 @item ATI VCR1 @tab @tab X
207 @item ATI VCR2 @tab @tab X
209 @item Autodesk RLE @tab @tab X
211 @item AVID DNxHD @tab X @tab X
213 @item AVS video @tab @tab X
214 @tab Video encoding used by the Creature Shock game.
215 @item Bethsoft VID @tab @tab X
216 @tab Used in some games from Bethesda Softworks.
217 @item C93 video @tab @tab X
218 @tab Codec used in Cyberia game.
219 @item CamStudio @tab @tab X
221 @item Cin video @tab @tab X
222 @tab Codec used in Delphine Software games.
223 @item Cinepak @tab @tab X
224 @item Cirrus Logic AccuPak @tab @tab X
226 @item Creative YUV @tab @tab X
228 @item Dirac @tab E @tab E
229 @tab supported through external libdirac/libschroedinger libraries
230 @item Duck TrueMotion v1 @tab @tab X
232 @item Duck TrueMotion v2 @tab @tab X
234 @item DV @tab X @tab X
235 @item DXA Video @tab @tab X
236 @tab Codec originally used in Feeble Files game.
237 @item Electronic Arts CMV @tab @tab X
238 @tab Used in NHL 95 game.
239 @item Electronic Arts TGV @tab @tab X
240 @item Electronic Arts TGQ @tab @tab X
241 @item Electronic Arts TQI @tab @tab X
242 @item FFmpeg Video 1 @tab X @tab X
243 @tab experimental lossless codec (fourcc: FFV1)
244 @item Flash Screen Video @tab X @tab X
246 @item FLIC video @tab @tab X
247 @item FLV @tab X @tab X
248 @tab Sorenson H.263 used in Flash
249 @item Fraps FPS1 @tab @tab X
250 @item H.261 @tab X @tab X
251 @item H.263(+) @tab X @tab X
252 @tab also known as RealVideo 1.0
253 @item H.264 @tab E @tab X
254 @tab encoding supported through external library libx264
255 @item HuffYUV @tab X @tab X
256 @item IBM Ultimotion @tab @tab X
258 @item id Cinematic video @tab @tab X
259 @tab Used in Quake II.
260 @item id RoQ @tab X @tab X
261 @tab Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.
262 @item Intel Indeo 3 @tab @tab X
263 @item Interplay Video @tab @tab X
264 @tab Used in Interplay .MVE files.
265 @item JPEG-LS @tab X @tab X
266 @tab fourcc: MJLS, lossless and near-lossless is supported.
267 @item KMVC @tab @tab X
268 @tab Codec used in Worms games.
269 @item LOCO @tab @tab X
270 @item lossless MJPEG @tab X @tab X
271 @item Microsoft RLE @tab @tab X
272 @item Microsoft Video-1 @tab @tab X
273 @item Mimic @tab @tab X
274 @tab Used in MSN Messenger Webcam streams.
275 @item Miro VideoXL @tab @tab X
277 @item MJPEG @tab X @tab X
278 @item Motion Pixels Video @tab @tab X
279 @item MPEG-1 @tab X @tab X
280 @item MPEG-2 @tab X @tab X
281 @item MPEG-4 @tab X @tab X
282 @item MSMPEG4 V1 @tab X @tab X
283 @item MSMPEG4 V2 @tab X @tab X
284 @item MSMPEG4 V3 @tab X @tab X
285 @item MSZH @tab @tab X
287 @item On2 VP3 @tab @tab X
288 @tab still experimental
289 @item On2 VP5 @tab @tab X
291 @item On2 VP6 @tab @tab X
292 @tab fourcc: VP60,VP61,VP62
293 @item planar RGB @tab @tab X
295 @item QPEG @tab @tab X
296 @tab fourccs: QPEG, Q1.0, Q1.1
297 @item RealVideo 1.0 @tab X @tab X
298 @item RealVideo 2.0 @tab X @tab X
299 @item RealVideo 3.0 @tab @tab X
300 @tab still far from ideal
301 @item RealVideo 4.0 @tab @tab X
302 @item Renderware TXD @tab @tab X
303 @tab Texture dictionaries used by the Renderware Engine.
304 @item RTjpeg @tab @tab X
305 @tab Video encoding used in NuppelVideo files.
306 @item Smacker video @tab @tab X
307 @tab Video encoding used in Smacker.
308 @item Snow @tab X @tab X
309 @tab experimental wavelet codec (fourcc: SNOW)
310 @item Sony PlayStation MDEC @tab @tab X
311 @item Sorenson Video 1 @tab X @tab X
313 @item Sorenson Video 3 @tab @tab X
315 @item Sunplus MJPEG @tab @tab X
317 @item TechSmith Camtasia @tab @tab X
319 @item Theora @tab E @tab X
320 @tab encoding supported through external library libtheora
321 @item THP @tab @tab X
322 @tab Used on the Nintendo GameCube.
323 @item Tiertex Seq video @tab @tab X
324 @tab Codec used in DOS CD-ROM FlashBack game.
325 @item VC-1 @tab @tab X
326 @item VMD Video @tab @tab X
327 @tab Used in Sierra VMD files.
328 @item VMware Video @tab @tab X
329 @tab Codec used in videos captured by VMware.
330 @item Westwood VQA @tab @tab X
331 @item Winnov WNV1 @tab @tab X
332 @item WMV7 @tab X @tab X
333 @item WMV8 @tab X @tab X
334 @item WMV9 @tab @tab X
335 @tab not completely working
336 @item Xan/WC3 @tab @tab X
337 @tab Used in Wing Commander III .MVE files.
338 @item ZLIB @tab X @tab X
339 @tab part of LCL, encoder experimental
340 @item ZMBV @tab X @tab X
341 @tab Encoder works only in PAL8.
344 @code{X} means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.
346 @code{E} means that support is provided through an external library.
348 @section Audio Codecs
350 @multitable @columnfractions .4 .1 .1 .4
351 @item Name @tab Encoding @tab Decoding @tab Comments
352 @item 4X IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
353 @item 8SVX audio @tab @tab X
354 @item AAC @tab E @tab X
355 @tab encoding supported through external library libfaac
356 @item AC-3 @tab IX @tab IX
357 @item AMR-NB @tab E @tab E
358 @tab supported through external library libamrnb
359 @item AMR-WB @tab E @tab E
360 @tab supported through external library libamrwb
361 @item AMV IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
362 @tab Used in AMV files
363 @item Apple lossless audio @tab X @tab X
364 @tab QuickTime fourcc 'alac'
365 @item Apple MACE 3 @tab @tab X
366 @item Apple MACE 6 @tab @tab X
367 @item ATRAC 3 @tab @tab X
368 @item CD-ROM XA ADPCM @tab @tab X
369 @item Cin audio @tab @tab X
370 @tab Codec used in Delphine Software International games.
371 @item Creative ADPCM @tab @tab X
372 @tab 16 -> 4, 8 -> 4, 8 -> 3, 8 -> 2
373 @item CRI ADX ADPCM @tab X @tab X
374 @tab Used in Sega Dreamcast games.
375 @item DSP Group TrueSpeech @tab @tab X
376 @item DTS Coherent Audio @tab @tab X
377 @item Duck DK3 IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
378 @tab Used in some Sega Saturn console games.
379 @item Duck DK4 IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
380 @tab Used in some Sega Saturn console games.
381 @item DV audio @tab @tab X
382 @item Electronic Arts ADPCM @tab @tab X
383 @tab Used in various EA titles.
384 @item Enhanced AC-3 @tab @tab X
385 @item FLAC lossless audio @tab IX @tab X
386 @item G.726 ADPCM @tab X @tab X
387 @item GSM @tab E @tab E
388 @tab supported through external library libgsm
389 @item GSM_MS @tab E @tab E
390 @tab supported through external library libgsm
391 @item id RoQ DPCM @tab X @tab X
392 @tab Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.
393 @item Intel Music Coder @tab @tab X
394 @item Interplay MVE DPCM @tab @tab X
395 @tab Used in various Interplay computer games.
396 @item ISS IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
397 @tab Used in FunCom games.
398 @item MAXIS EA ADPCM @tab @tab X
399 @tab Used in Sim City 3000.
400 @item Microsoft ADPCM @tab X @tab X
401 @item MLP/TrueHD @tab @tab X
402 @tab Used in DVD-Audio and Blu-Ray discs.
403 @item Monkey's Audio @tab @tab X
404 @tab Only versions 3.97-3.99 are supported.
405 @item MPEG audio layer 3 @tab E @tab IX
406 @tab encoding supported through external library LAME
407 @item MPEG audio layer 2 @tab IX @tab IX
408 @item MS IMA ADPCM @tab X @tab X
409 @item Musepack @tab @tab X
410 @tab SV7 and SV8 are supported.
411 @item Nellymoser ASAO @tab X @tab X
412 @item QCELP / PureVoice @tab @tab X
413 @item Qdesign QDM2 @tab @tab X
414 @tab There are still some distortions.
415 @item QT IMA ADPCM @tab X @tab X
416 @item RA144 @tab @tab X
417 @tab Real 14400 bit/s codec
418 @item RA288 @tab @tab X
419 @tab Real 28800 bit/s codec
420 @item RADnet @tab IX @tab IX
421 @tab Real low bitrate AC-3 codec
422 @item Real COOK @tab @tab X
423 @tab All versions except 5.1 are supported.
424 @item Shorten @tab @tab X
425 @item Sierra Online DPCM @tab @tab X
426 @tab Used in Sierra Online game audio files.
427 @item Smacker audio @tab @tab X
428 @item SMJPEG IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
429 @tab Used in certain Loki game ports.
430 @item Sonic @tab X @tab X
431 @tab experimental codec
432 @item Sonic lossless @tab X @tab X
433 @tab experimental codec
434 @item Speex @tab @tab E
435 @tab supported through external library libspeex
436 @item THP ADPCM @tab @tab X
437 @tab Used on the Nintendo GameCube.
438 @item True Audio (TTA) @tab @tab X
439 @item Vorbis @tab X @tab X
440 @item WavPack @tab @tab X
441 @item Westwood Studios IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
442 @tab Used in Westwood Studios games like Command and Conquer.
443 @item WMA v1/v2 @tab X @tab X
444 @item Xan DPCM @tab @tab X
445 @tab Used in Origin's Wing Commander IV AVI files.
448 @code{X} means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.
450 @code{E} means that support is provided through an external library.
452 @code{I} means that an integer-only version is available, too (ensures high
453 performance on systems without hardware floating point support).
455 @section Subtitle Formats
457 @multitable @columnfractions .4 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1
458 @item Name @tab Muxing @tab Demuxing @tab Encoding @tab Decoding @tab Rendering
459 @item ASS/SSA @tab X @tab X
460 @item DVB @tab X @tab X @tab X @tab X @tab X
461 @item DVD @tab X @tab X @tab X @tab X @tab X
462 @item XSUB @tab @tab @tab @tab X @tab
465 @code{X} means that the feature is supported.
467 @chapter Platform Specific information
471 BSD make will not build FFmpeg, you need to install and use GNU Make
476 To get help and instructions for building FFmpeg under Windows, check out
477 the FFmpeg Windows Help Forum at
478 @url{http://ffmpeg.arrozcru.org/}.
480 @subsection Native Windows compilation
482 FFmpeg can be built to run natively on Windows using the MinGW tools. Install
483 the latest versions of MSYS and MinGW from @url{http://www.mingw.org/}.
484 You can find detailed installation
485 instructions in the download section and the FAQ.
487 FFmpeg does not build out-of-the-box with the packages the automated MinGW
488 installer provides. It also requires coreutils to be installed and many other
489 packages updated to the latest version. The minimum version for some packages
494 @item msys-make 3.81-2 (note: not mingw32-make)
496 @item mingw-runtime 3.15
499 You will also need to pass @code{-fno-common} to the compiler to work around
500 a GCC bug (see @url{http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=37216}).
502 Within the MSYS shell, configure and make with:
505 ./configure --enable-memalign-hack --extra-cflags=-fno-common
510 This will install @file{ffmpeg.exe} along with many other development files
511 to @file{/usr/local}. You may specify another install path using the
512 @code{--prefix} option in @file{configure}.
518 @item In order to compile vhooks, you must have a POSIX-compliant libdl in
519 your MinGW system. Get dlfcn-win32 from
520 @url{http://code.google.com/p/dlfcn-win32}.
522 @item In order to compile FFplay, you must have the MinGW development library
523 of SDL. Get it from @url{http://www.libsdl.org}.
524 Edit the @file{bin/sdl-config} script so that it points to the correct prefix
525 where SDL was installed. Verify that @file{sdl-config} can be launched from
526 the MSYS command line.
528 @item By using @code{./configure --enable-shared} when configuring FFmpeg,
529 you can build libavutil, libavcodec and libavformat as DLLs.
533 @subsection Microsoft Visual C++ compatibility
535 As stated in the FAQ, FFmpeg will not compile under MSVC++. However, if you
536 want to use the libav* libraries in your own applications, you can still
537 compile those applications using MSVC++. But the libav* libraries you link
538 to @emph{must} be built with MinGW. However, you will not be able to debug
539 inside the libav* libraries, since MSVC++ does not recognize the debug
540 symbols generated by GCC.
541 We strongly recommend you to move over from MSVC++ to MinGW tools.
543 This description of how to use the FFmpeg libraries with MSVC++ is based on
544 Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition. If you have a different version,
545 you might have to modify the procedures slightly.
547 @subsubsection Using static libraries
549 Assuming you have just built and installed FFmpeg in @file{/usr/local}.
553 @item Create a new console application ("File / New / Project") and then
554 select "Win32 Console Application". On the appropriate page of the
555 Application Wizard, uncheck the "Precompiled headers" option.
557 @item Write the source code for your application, or, for testing, just
558 copy the code from an existing sample application into the source file
559 that MSVC++ has already created for you. For example, you can copy
560 @file{output_example.c} from the FFmpeg distribution.
562 @item Open the "Project / Properties" dialog box. In the "Configuration"
563 combo box, select "All Configurations" so that the changes you make will
564 affect both debug and release builds. In the tree view on the left hand
565 side, select "C/C++ / General", then edit the "Additional Include
566 Directories" setting to contain the path where the FFmpeg includes were
567 installed (i.e. @file{c:\msys\1.0\local\include}).
568 Do not add MinGW's include directory here, or the include files will
569 conflict with MSVC's.
571 @item Still in the "Project / Properties" dialog box, select
572 "Linker / General" from the tree view and edit the
573 "Additional Library Directories" setting to contain the @file{lib}
574 directory where FFmpeg was installed (i.e. @file{c:\msys\1.0\local\lib}),
575 the directory where MinGW libs are installed (i.e. @file{c:\mingw\lib}),
576 and the directory where MinGW's GCC libs are installed
577 (i.e. @file{C:\mingw\lib\gcc\mingw32\4.2.1-sjlj}). Then select
578 "Linker / Input" from the tree view, and add the files @file{libavformat.a},
579 @file{libavcodec.a}, @file{libavutil.a}, @file{libmingwex.a},
580 @file{libgcc.a}, and any other libraries you used (i.e. @file{libz.a})
581 to the end of "Additional Dependencies".
583 @item Now, select "C/C++ / Code Generation" from the tree view. Select
584 "Debug" in the "Configuration" combo box. Make sure that "Runtime
585 Library" is set to "Multi-threaded Debug DLL". Then, select "Release" in
586 the "Configuration" combo box and make sure that "Runtime Library" is
587 set to "Multi-threaded DLL".
589 @item Click "OK" to close the "Project / Properties" dialog box.
591 @item MSVC++ lacks some C99 header files that are fundamental for FFmpeg.
592 Get msinttypes from @url{http://code.google.com/p/msinttypes/downloads/list}
593 and install it in MSVC++'s include directory
594 (i.e. @file{C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\include}).
596 @item MSVC++ also does not understand the @code{inline} keyword used by
597 FFmpeg, so you must add this line before @code{#include}ing libav*:
599 #define inline _inline
602 @item Build your application, everything should work.
606 @subsubsection Using shared libraries
608 This is how to create DLL and LIB files that are compatible with MSVC++:
612 @item Add a call to @file{vcvars32.bat} (which sets up the environment
613 variables for the Visual C++ tools) as the first line of @file{msys.bat}.
614 The standard location for @file{vcvars32.bat} is
615 @file{C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat},
616 and the standard location for @file{msys.bat} is @file{C:\msys\1.0\msys.bat}.
617 If this corresponds to your setup, add the following line as the first line
621 call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat"
624 Alternatively, you may start the @file{Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt},
625 and run @file{c:\msys\1.0\msys.bat} from there.
627 @item Within the MSYS shell, run @code{lib.exe}. If you get a help message
628 from @file{Microsoft (R) Library Manager}, this means your environment
629 variables are set up correctly, the @file{Microsoft (R) Library Manager}
630 is on the path and will be used by FFmpeg to create
631 MSVC++-compatible import libraries.
633 @item Build FFmpeg with
636 ./configure --enable-shared --enable-memalign-hack
641 Your install path (@file{/usr/local/} by default) should now have the
642 necessary DLL and LIB files under the @file{bin} directory.
646 To use those files with MSVC++, do the same as you would do with
647 the static libraries, as described above. But in Step 4,
648 you should only need to add the directory where the LIB files are installed
649 (i.e. @file{c:\msys\usr\local\bin}). This is not a typo, the LIB files are
650 installed in the @file{bin} directory. And instead of adding @file{libxx.a}
651 files, you should add @file{avcodec.lib}, @file{avformat.lib}, and
652 @file{avutil.lib}. There should be no need for @file{libmingwex.a},
653 @file{libgcc.a}, and @file{wsock32.lib}, nor any other external library
654 statically linked into the DLLs. The @file{bin} directory contains a bunch
655 of DLL files, but the ones that are actually used to run your application
656 are the ones with a major version number in their filenames
657 (i.e. @file{avcodec-51.dll}).
659 @subsection Cross compilation for Windows with Linux
661 You must use the MinGW cross compilation tools available at
662 @url{http://www.mingw.org/}.
664 Then configure FFmpeg with the following options:
666 ./configure --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i386-mingw32msvc-
668 (you can change the cross-prefix according to the prefix chosen for the
671 Then you can easily test FFmpeg with Wine
672 (@url{http://www.winehq.com/}).
674 @subsection Compilation under Cygwin
676 The main issue with the 1.5.x Cygwin versions is that newlib, its C library,
677 does not contain llrint(). You need to upgrade to the unstable 1.7.x versions,
678 or leverage the implementation in MinGW (as explained below).
680 Just install your Cygwin with all the "Base" packages, plus the
681 following "Devel" ones:
683 binutils, gcc-core, make, subversion, mingw-runtime, diffutils
686 The experimental gcc4 package is still buggy, hence please
687 use the official gcc 3.4.4 or a 4.2.x compiled from source by yourself.
689 Install the current binutils-20080624-2 as they work fine (the old
690 binutils-20060709-1 proved buggy on shared builds).
692 Then create a small library that just contains llrint():
695 ar x /usr/lib/mingw/libmingwex.a llrint.o
696 ar cq /usr/local/lib/libllrint.a llrint.o
702 ./configure --enable-static --disable-shared --extra-ldflags='-L /usr/local/lib' --extra-libs='-l llrint'
705 to make a static build or
708 ./configure --enable-shared --disable-static --extra-ldflags='-L /usr/local/lib' --extra-libs='-l llrint'
711 to build shared libraries.
713 If you want to build FFmpeg with additional libraries, download Cygwin
714 "Devel" packages for Ogg and Vorbis from any Cygwin packages repository:
716 libogg-devel, libvorbis-devel
719 These library packages are only available from Cygwin Ports
720 (@url{http://sourceware.org/cygwinports/}) :
723 yasm, libSDL-devel, libdirac-devel, libfaac-devel, libfaad-devel, libgsm-devel,
724 libmp3lame-devel, libschroedinger1.0-devel, speex-devel, libtheora-devel,
728 The recommendation for libnut and x264 is to build them from source by
729 yourself, as they evolve too quickly for Cygwin Ports to be up to date.
731 Cygwin 1.7.x has IPv6 support. You can add IPv6 to Cygwin 1.5.x by means
732 of the @code{libgetaddrinfo-devel} package, available at Cygwin Ports.
734 @subsection Crosscompilation for Windows under Cygwin
736 With Cygwin you can create Windows binaries that do not need the cygwin1.dll.
738 Just install your Cygwin as explained before, plus these additional
741 gcc-mingw-core, mingw-runtime, mingw-zlib
744 and add some special flags to your configure invocation.
746 For a static build run
748 ./configure --target-os=mingw32 --enable-memalign-hack --enable-static --disable-shared --extra-cflags=-mno-cygwin --extra-libs=-mno-cygwin
751 and for a build with shared libraries
753 ./configure --target-os=mingw32 --enable-memalign-hack --enable-shared --disable-static --extra-cflags=-mno-cygwin --extra-libs=-mno-cygwin
758 BeOS support is broken in mysterious ways.
762 For information about compiling FFmpeg on OS/2 see
763 @url{http://www.edm2.com/index.php/FFmpeg}.
765 @chapter Developers Guide
769 @item libavcodec is the library containing the codecs (both encoding and
770 decoding). Look at @file{libavcodec/apiexample.c} to see how to use it.
772 @item libavformat is the library containing the file format handling (mux and
773 demux code for several formats). Look at @file{ffplay.c} to use it in a
774 player. See @file{output_example.c} to use it to generate audio or video
779 @section Integrating libavcodec or libavformat in your program
781 You can integrate all the source code of the libraries to link them
782 statically to avoid any version problem. All you need is to provide a
783 'config.mak' and a 'config.h' in the parent directory. See the defines
784 generated by ./configure to understand what is needed.
786 You can use libavcodec or libavformat in your commercial program, but
787 @emph{any patch you make must be published}. The best way to proceed is
788 to send your patches to the FFmpeg mailing list.
791 @section Coding Rules
793 FFmpeg is programmed in the ISO C90 language with a few additional
794 features from ISO C99, namely:
797 the @samp{inline} keyword;
801 designated struct initializers (@samp{struct s x = @{ .i = 17 @};})
803 compound literals (@samp{x = (struct s) @{ 17, 23 @};})
806 These features are supported by all compilers we care about, so we will not
807 accept patches to remove their use unless they absolutely do not impair
808 clarity and performance.
810 All code must compile with GCC 2.95 and GCC 3.3. Currently, FFmpeg also
811 compiles with several other compilers, such as the Compaq ccc compiler
812 or Sun Studio 9, and we would like to keep it that way unless it would
813 be exceedingly involved. To ensure compatibility, please do not use any
814 additional C99 features or GCC extensions. Especially watch out for:
817 mixing statements and declarations;
819 @samp{long long} (use @samp{int64_t} instead);
821 @samp{__attribute__} not protected by @samp{#ifdef __GNUC__} or similar;
823 GCC statement expressions (@samp{(x = (@{ int y = 4; y; @})}).
827 The presentation is the one specified by 'indent -i4 -kr -nut'.
828 The TAB character is forbidden outside of Makefiles as is any
829 form of trailing whitespace. Commits containing either will be
830 rejected by the Subversion repository.
832 The main priority in FFmpeg is simplicity and small code size in order to
833 minimize the bug count.
835 Comments: Use the JavaDoc/Doxygen
836 format (see examples below) so that code documentation
837 can be generated automatically. All nontrivial functions should have a comment
838 above them explaining what the function does, even if it is just one sentence.
839 All structures and their member variables should be documented, too.
852 typedef struct Foobar@{
853 int var1; /**< var1 description */
854 int var2; ///< var2 description
855 /** var3 description */
863 * @@param my_parameter description of my_parameter
864 * @@return return value description
866 int myfunc(int my_parameter)
870 fprintf and printf are forbidden in libavformat and libavcodec,
871 please use av_log() instead.
873 Casts should be used only when necessary. Unneeded parentheses
874 should also be avoided if they don't make the code easier to understand.
876 @section Development Policy
880 Contributions should be licensed under the LGPL 2.1, including an
881 "or any later version" clause, or the MIT license. GPL 2 including
882 an "or any later version" clause is also acceptable, but LGPL is
885 You must not commit code which breaks FFmpeg! (Meaning unfinished but
886 enabled code which breaks compilation or compiles but does not work or
887 breaks the regression tests)
888 You can commit unfinished stuff (for testing etc), but it must be disabled
889 (#ifdef etc) by default so it does not interfere with other developers'
892 You do not have to over-test things. If it works for you, and you think it
893 should work for others, then commit. If your code has problems
894 (portability, triggers compiler bugs, unusual environment etc) they will be
895 reported and eventually fixed.
897 Do not commit unrelated changes together, split them into self-contained
898 pieces. Also do not forget that if part B depends on part A, but A does not
899 depend on B, then A can and should be committed first and separate from B.
900 Keeping changes well split into self-contained parts makes reviewing and
901 understanding them on the commit log mailing list easier. This also helps
902 in case of debugging later on.
903 Also if you have doubts about splitting or not splitting, do not hesitate to
904 ask/discuss it on the developer mailing list.
906 Do not change behavior of the program (renaming options etc) without
907 first discussing it on the ffmpeg-devel mailing list. Do not remove
908 functionality from the code. Just improve!
910 Note: Redundant code can be removed.
912 Do not commit changes to the build system (Makefiles, configure script)
913 which change behavior, defaults etc, without asking first. The same
914 applies to compiler warning fixes, trivial looking fixes and to code
915 maintained by other developers. We usually have a reason for doing things
916 the way we do. Send your changes as patches to the ffmpeg-devel mailing
917 list, and if the code maintainers say OK, you may commit. This does not
918 apply to files you wrote and/or maintain.
920 We refuse source indentation and other cosmetic changes if they are mixed
921 with functional changes, such commits will be rejected and removed. Every
922 developer has his own indentation style, you should not change it. Of course
923 if you (re)write something, you can use your own style, even though we would
924 prefer if the indentation throughout FFmpeg was consistent (Many projects
925 force a given indentation style - we do not.). If you really need to make
926 indentation changes (try to avoid this), separate them strictly from real
929 NOTE: If you had to put if()@{ .. @} over a large (> 5 lines) chunk of code,
930 then either do NOT change the indentation of the inner part within (do not
931 move it to the right)! or do so in a separate commit
933 Always fill out the commit log message. Describe in a few lines what you
934 changed and why. You can refer to mailing list postings if you fix a
935 particular bug. Comments such as "fixed!" or "Changed it." are unacceptable.
937 If you apply a patch by someone else, include the name and email address in
938 the log message. Since the ffmpeg-cvslog mailing list is publicly
939 archived you should add some SPAM protection to the email address. Send an
940 answer to ffmpeg-devel (or wherever you got the patch from) saying that
941 you applied the patch.
943 When applying patches that have been discussed (at length) on the mailing
944 list, reference the thread in the log message.
946 Do NOT commit to code actively maintained by others without permission.
947 Send a patch to ffmpeg-devel instead. If no one answers within a reasonable
948 timeframe (12h for build failures and security fixes, 3 days small changes,
949 1 week for big patches) then commit your patch if you think it is OK.
950 Also note, the maintainer can simply ask for more time to review!
952 Subscribe to the ffmpeg-cvslog mailing list. The diffs of all commits
953 are sent there and reviewed by all the other developers. Bugs and possible
954 improvements or general questions regarding commits are discussed there. We
955 expect you to react if problems with your code are uncovered.
957 Update the documentation if you change behavior or add features. If you are
958 unsure how best to do this, send a patch to ffmpeg-devel, the documentation
959 maintainer(s) will review and commit your stuff.
961 Try to keep important discussions and requests (also) on the public
962 developer mailing list, so that all developers can benefit from them.
964 Never write to unallocated memory, never write over the end of arrays,
965 always check values read from some untrusted source before using them
966 as array index or other risky things.
968 Remember to check if you need to bump versions for the specific libav
969 parts (libavutil, libavcodec, libavformat) you are changing. You need
970 to change the version integer.
971 Incrementing the first component means no backward compatibility to
972 previous versions (e.g. removal of a function from the public API).
973 Incrementing the second component means backward compatible change
974 (e.g. addition of a function to the public API or extension of an
975 existing data structure).
976 Incrementing the third component means a noteworthy binary compatible
977 change (e.g. encoder bug fix that matters for the decoder).
979 Compiler warnings indicate potential bugs or code with bad style. If a type of
980 warning always points to correct and clean code, that warning should
981 be disabled, not the code changed.
982 Thus the remaining warnings can either be bugs or correct code.
983 If it is a bug, the bug has to be fixed. If it is not, the code should
984 be changed to not generate a warning unless that causes a slowdown
985 or obfuscates the code.
987 If you add a new file, give it a proper license header. Do not copy and
988 paste it from a random place, use an existing file as template.
991 We think our rules are not too hard. If you have comments, contact us.
993 Note, these rules are mostly borrowed from the MPlayer project.
995 @section Submitting patches
997 First, (@pxref{Coding Rules}) above if you did not yet.
999 When you submit your patch, try to send a unified diff (diff '-up'
1000 option). We cannot read other diffs :-)
1002 Also please do not submit a patch which contains several unrelated changes.
1003 Split it into separate, self-contained pieces. This does not mean splitting
1004 file by file. Instead, make the patch as small as possible while still
1005 keeping it as a logical unit that contains an individual change, even
1006 if it spans multiple files. This makes reviewing your patches much easier
1007 for us and greatly increases your chances of getting your patch applied.
1009 Run the regression tests before submitting a patch so that you can
1010 verify that there are no big problems.
1012 Patches should be posted as base64 encoded attachments (or any other
1013 encoding which ensures that the patch will not be trashed during
1014 transmission) to the ffmpeg-devel mailing list, see
1015 @url{http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/mailman/listinfo/ffmpeg-devel}
1017 It also helps quite a bit if you tell us what the patch does (for example
1018 'replaces lrint by lrintf'), and why (for example '*BSD isn't C99 compliant
1019 and has no lrint()')
1021 Also please if you send several patches, send each patch as a separate mail,
1022 do not attach several unrelated patches to the same mail.
1024 @section New codecs or formats checklist
1028 Did you use av_cold for codec initialization and close functions?
1030 Did you add a long_name under NULL_IF_CONFIG_SMALL to the AVCodec or
1031 AVInputFormat/AVOutputFormat struct?
1033 Did you bump the minor version number in @file{avcodec.h} or
1036 Did you register it in @file{allcodecs.c} or @file{allformats.c}?
1038 Did you add the CodecID to @file{avcodec.h}?
1040 If it has a fourcc, did you add it to @file{libavformat/riff.c},
1041 even if it is only a decoder?
1043 Did you add a rule to compile the appropriate files in the Makefile?
1044 Remember to do this even if you're just adding a format to a file that is
1045 already being compiled by some other rule, like a raw demuxer.
1047 Did you add an entry to the table of supported formats or codecs in the
1050 Did you add an entry in the Changelog?
1052 If it depends on a parser or a library, did you add that dependency in
1055 Did you "svn add" the appropriate files before commiting?
1058 @section patch submission checklist
1062 Do the regression tests pass with the patch applied?
1064 Does @code{make checkheaders} pass with the patch applied?
1066 Is the patch a unified diff?
1068 Is the patch against latest FFmpeg SVN?
1070 Are you subscribed to ffmpeg-dev?
1071 (the list is subscribers only due to spam)
1073 Have you checked that the changes are minimal, so that the same cannot be
1074 achieved with a smaller patch and/or simpler final code?
1076 If the change is to speed critical code, did you benchmark it?
1078 If you did any benchmarks, did you provide them in the mail?
1080 Have you checked that the patch does not introduce buffer overflows or
1081 other security issues?
1083 Did you test your decoder or demuxer against damaged data? If no, see
1084 tools/trasher and the noise bitstream filter. Your decoder or demuxer
1085 should not crash or end in a (near) infinite loop when fed damaged data.
1087 Is the patch created from the root of the source tree, so it can be
1088 applied with @code{patch -p0}?
1090 Does the patch not mix functional and cosmetic changes?
1092 Did you add tabs or trailing whitespace to the code? Both are forbidden.
1094 Is the patch attached to the email you send?
1096 Is the mime type of the patch correct? It should be text/x-diff or
1097 text/x-patch or at least text/plain and not application/octet-stream.
1099 If the patch fixes a bug, did you provide a verbose analysis of the bug?
1101 If the patch fixes a bug, did you provide enough information, including
1102 a sample, so the bug can be reproduced and the fix can be verified?
1103 Note please do not attach samples >100k to mails but rather provide a
1104 URL, you can upload to ftp://upload.ffmpeg.org
1106 Did you provide a verbose summary about what the patch does change?
1108 Did you provide a verbose explanation why it changes things like it does?
1110 Did you provide a verbose summary of the user visible advantages and
1111 disadvantages if the patch is applied?
1113 Did you provide an example so we can verify the new feature added by the
1116 If you added a new file, did you insert a license header? It should be
1117 taken from FFmpeg, not randomly copied and pasted from somewhere else.
1119 You should maintain alphabetical order in alphabetically ordered lists as
1120 long as doing so does not break API/ABI compatibility.
1122 Lines with similar content should be aligned vertically when doing so
1123 improves readability.
1125 Did you provide a suggestion for a clear commit log message?
1128 @section Patch review process
1130 All patches posted to ffmpeg-devel will be reviewed, unless they contain a
1131 clear note that the patch is not for SVN.
1132 Reviews and comments will be posted as replies to the patch on the
1133 mailing list. The patch submitter then has to take care of every comment,
1134 that can be by resubmitting a changed patch or by discussion. Resubmitted
1135 patches will themselves be reviewed like any other patch. If at some point
1136 a patch passes review with no comments then it is approved, that can for
1137 simple and small patches happen immediately while large patches will generally
1138 have to be changed and reviewed many times before they are approved.
1139 After a patch is approved it will be committed to the repository.
1141 We will review all submitted patches, but sometimes we are quite busy so
1142 especially for large patches this can take several weeks.
1144 When resubmitting patches, please do not make any significant changes
1145 not related to the comments received during review. Such patches will
1146 be rejected. Instead, submit significant changes or new features as
1149 @section Regression tests
1151 Before submitting a patch (or committing to the repository), you should at least
1152 test that you did not break anything.
1154 The regression tests build a synthetic video stream and a synthetic
1155 audio stream. These are then encoded and decoded with all codecs or
1156 formats. The CRC (or MD5) of each generated file is recorded in a
1157 result file. A 'diff' is launched to compare the reference results and
1160 The regression tests then go on to test the FFserver code with a
1161 limited set of streams. It is important that this step runs correctly
1164 Run 'make test' to test all the codecs and formats.
1166 Run 'make fulltest' to test all the codecs, formats and FFserver.
1168 [Of course, some patches may change the results of the regression tests. In
1169 this case, the reference results of the regression tests shall be modified