@chapter Muxers @c man begin MUXERS Muxers are configured elements in Libav which allow writing multimedia streams to a particular type of file. When you configure your Libav build, all the supported muxers are enabled by default. You can list all available muxers using the configure option @code{--list-muxers}. You can disable all the muxers with the configure option @code{--disable-muxers} and selectively enable / disable single muxers with the options @code{--enable-muxer=@var{MUXER}} / @code{--disable-muxer=@var{MUXER}}. The option @code{-formats} of the av* tools will display the list of enabled muxers. A description of some of the currently available muxers follows. @anchor{crc} @section crc CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) testing format. This muxer computes and prints the Adler-32 CRC of all the input audio and video frames. By default audio frames are converted to signed 16-bit raw audio and video frames to raw video before computing the CRC. The output of the muxer consists of a single line of the form: CRC=0x@var{CRC}, where @var{CRC} is a hexadecimal number 0-padded to 8 digits containing the CRC for all the decoded input frames. For example to compute the CRC of the input, and store it in the file @file{out.crc}: @example avconv -i INPUT -f crc out.crc @end example You can print the CRC to stdout with the command: @example avconv -i INPUT -f crc - @end example You can select the output format of each frame with @command{avconv} by specifying the audio and video codec and format. For example to compute the CRC of the input audio converted to PCM unsigned 8-bit and the input video converted to MPEG-2 video, use the command: @example avconv -i INPUT -c:a pcm_u8 -c:v mpeg2video -f crc - @end example See also the @ref{framecrc} muxer. @anchor{dash} @section dash Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) muxer that creates segments and manifest files according to the MPEG-DASH standard ISO/IEC 23009-1:2014. For more information see: @itemize @bullet @item ISO DASH Specification: @url{http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/c065274_ISO_IEC_23009-1_2014.zip} @item WebM DASH Specification: @url{https://sites.google.com/a/webmproject.org/wiki/adaptive-streaming/webm-dash-specification} @end itemize It creates a MPD manifest file and segment files for each stream. The segment filename might contain pre-defined identifiers used with SegmentTemplate as defined in section 5.3.9.4.4 of the standard. Available identifiers are "$RepresentationID$", "$Number$", "$Bandwidth$" and "$Time$". @example avconv -re -i -map 0 -map 0 -c:a libfdk_aac -c:v libx264 -b:v:0 800k -b:v:1 300k -s:v:1 320x170 -profile:v:1 baseline -profile:v:0 main -bf 1 -keyint_min 120 -g 120 -sc_threshold 0 -b_strategy 0 -ar:a:1 22050 -use_timeline 1 -use_template 1 -window_size 5 -adaptation_sets "id=0,streams=v id=1,streams=a" -f dash /path/to/out.mpd @end example @table @option @item -min_seg_duration @var{microseconds} Set the segment length in microseconds. @item -window_size @var{size} Set the maximum number of segments kept in the manifest. @item -extra_window_size @var{size} Set the maximum number of segments kept outside of the manifest before removing from disk. @item -remove_at_exit @var{remove} Enable (1) or disable (0) removal of all segments when finished. @item -use_template @var{template} Enable (1) or disable (0) use of SegmentTemplate instead of SegmentList. @item -use_timeline @var{timeline} Enable (1) or disable (0) use of SegmentTimeline in SegmentTemplate. @item -single_file @var{single_file} Enable (1) or disable (0) storing all segments in one file, accessed using byte ranges. @item -single_file_name @var{file_name} DASH-templated name to be used for baseURL. Implies @var{single_file} set to "1". @item -init_seg_name @var{init_name} DASH-templated name to used for the initialization segment. Default is "init-stream$RepresentationID$.m4s" @item -media_seg_name @var{segment_name} DASH-templated name to used for the media segments. Default is "chunk-stream$RepresentationID$-$Number%05d$.m4s" @item -utc_timing_url @var{utc_url} URL of the page that will return the UTC timestamp in ISO format. Example: "https://time.akamai.com/?iso" @item -adaptation_sets @var{adaptation_sets} Assign streams to AdaptationSets. Syntax is "id=x,streams=a,b,c id=y,streams=d,e" with x and y being the IDs of the adaptation sets and a,b,c,d and e are the indices of the mapped streams. To map all video (or audio) streams to an AdaptationSet, "v" (or "a") can be used as stream identifier instead of IDs. When no assignment is defined, this defaults to an AdaptationSet for each stream. @end table @anchor{framecrc} @section framecrc Per-frame CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) testing format. This muxer computes and prints the Adler-32 CRC for each decoded audio and video frame. By default audio frames are converted to signed 16-bit raw audio and video frames to raw video before computing the CRC. The output of the muxer consists of a line for each audio and video frame of the form: @var{stream_index}, @var{frame_dts}, @var{frame_size}, 0x@var{CRC}, where @var{CRC} is a hexadecimal number 0-padded to 8 digits containing the CRC of the decoded frame. For example to compute the CRC of each decoded frame in the input, and store it in the file @file{out.crc}: @example avconv -i INPUT -f framecrc out.crc @end example You can print the CRC of each decoded frame to stdout with the command: @example avconv -i INPUT -f framecrc - @end example You can select the output format of each frame with @command{avconv} by specifying the audio and video codec and format. For example, to compute the CRC of each decoded input audio frame converted to PCM unsigned 8-bit and of each decoded input video frame converted to MPEG-2 video, use the command: @example avconv -i INPUT -c:a pcm_u8 -c:v mpeg2video -f framecrc - @end example See also the @ref{crc} muxer. @anchor{hls} @section hls Apple HTTP Live Streaming muxer that segments MPEG-TS according to the HTTP Live Streaming specification. It creates a playlist file and numbered segment files. The output filename specifies the playlist filename; the segment filenames receive the same basename as the playlist, a sequential number and a .ts extension. @example avconv -i in.nut out.m3u8 @end example @table @option @item -hls_time @var{seconds} Set the segment length in seconds. @item -hls_list_size @var{size} Set the maximum number of playlist entries. @item -hls_wrap @var{wrap} Set the number after which index wraps. @item -start_number @var{number} Start the sequence from @var{number}. @item -hls_base_url @var{baseurl} Append @var{baseurl} to every entry in the playlist. Useful to generate playlists with absolute paths. @item -hls_allow_cache @var{allowcache} Explicitly set whether the client MAY (1) or MUST NOT (0) cache media segments @item -hls_version @var{version} Set the protocol version. Enables or disables version-specific features such as the integer (version 2) or decimal EXTINF values (version 3). @item -hls_enc @var{enc} Enable (1) or disable (0) the AES128 encryption. When enabled every segment generated is encrypted and the encryption key is saved as @var{playlist name}.key. @item -hls_enc_key @var{key} Use the specified hex-coded 16byte key to encrypt the segments, by default it is randomly generated. @item -hls_enc_key_url @var{keyurl} If set, @var{keyurl} is prepended instead of @var{baseurl} to the key filename in the playlist. @item -hls_enc_iv @var{iv} Use a specified hex-coded 16byte initialization vector for every segment instead of the autogenerated ones. @end table @anchor{image2} @section image2 Image file muxer. The image file muxer writes video frames to image files. The output filenames are specified by a pattern, which can be used to produce sequentially numbered series of files. The pattern may contain the string "%d" or "%0@var{N}d", this string specifies the position of the characters representing a numbering in the filenames. If the form "%0@var{N}d" is used, the string representing the number in each filename is 0-padded to @var{N} digits. The literal character '%' can be specified in the pattern with the string "%%". If the pattern contains "%d" or "%0@var{N}d", the first filename of the file list specified will contain the number 1, all the following numbers will be sequential. The pattern may contain a suffix which is used to automatically determine the format of the image files to write. For example the pattern "img-%03d.bmp" will specify a sequence of filenames of the form @file{img-001.bmp}, @file{img-002.bmp}, ..., @file{img-010.bmp}, etc. The pattern "img%%-%d.jpg" will specify a sequence of filenames of the form @file{img%-1.jpg}, @file{img%-2.jpg}, ..., @file{img%-10.jpg}, etc. The following example shows how to use @command{avconv} for creating a sequence of files @file{img-001.jpeg}, @file{img-002.jpeg}, ..., taking one image every second from the input video: @example avconv -i in.avi -vsync 1 -r 1 -f image2 'img-%03d.jpeg' @end example Note that with @command{avconv}, if the format is not specified with the @code{-f} option and the output filename specifies an image file format, the image2 muxer is automatically selected, so the previous command can be written as: @example avconv -i in.avi -vsync 1 -r 1 'img-%03d.jpeg' @end example Note also that the pattern must not necessarily contain "%d" or "%0@var{N}d", for example to create a single image file @file{img.jpeg} from the input video you can employ the command: @example avconv -i in.avi -f image2 -frames:v 1 img.jpeg @end example @table @option @item -start_number @var{number} Start the sequence from @var{number}. @item -update @var{number} If @var{number} is nonzero, the filename will always be interpreted as just a filename, not a pattern, and this file will be continuously overwritten with new images. @end table @section matroska Matroska container muxer. This muxer implements the matroska and webm container specs. The recognized metadata settings in this muxer are: @table @option @item title=@var{title name} Name provided to a single track @end table @table @option @item language=@var{language name} Specifies the language of the track in the Matroska languages form @end table @table @option @item STEREO_MODE=@var{mode} Stereo 3D video layout of two views in a single video track @table @option @item mono video is not stereo @item left_right Both views are arranged side by side, Left-eye view is on the left @item bottom_top Both views are arranged in top-bottom orientation, Left-eye view is at bottom @item top_bottom Both views are arranged in top-bottom orientation, Left-eye view is on top @item checkerboard_rl Each view is arranged in a checkerboard interleaved pattern, Left-eye view being first @item checkerboard_lr Each view is arranged in a checkerboard interleaved pattern, Right-eye view being first @item row_interleaved_rl Each view is constituted by a row based interleaving, Right-eye view is first row @item row_interleaved_lr Each view is constituted by a row based interleaving, Left-eye view is first row @item col_interleaved_rl Both views are arranged in a column based interleaving manner, Right-eye view is first column @item col_interleaved_lr Both views are arranged in a column based interleaving manner, Left-eye view is first column @item anaglyph_cyan_red All frames are in anaglyph format viewable through red-cyan filters @item right_left Both views are arranged side by side, Right-eye view is on the left @item anaglyph_green_magenta All frames are in anaglyph format viewable through green-magenta filters @item block_lr Both eyes laced in one Block, Left-eye view is first @item block_rl Both eyes laced in one Block, Right-eye view is first @end table @end table For example a 3D WebM clip can be created using the following command line: @example avconv -i sample_left_right_clip.mpg -an -c:v libvpx -metadata STEREO_MODE=left_right -y stereo_clip.webm @end example This muxer supports the following options: @table @option @item reserve_index_space By default, this muxer writes the index for seeking (called cues in Matroska terms) at the end of the file, because it cannot know in advance how much space to leave for the index at the beginning of the file. However for some use cases -- e.g. streaming where seeking is possible but slow -- it is useful to put the index at the beginning of the file. If this option is set to a non-zero value, the muxer will reserve a given amount of space in the file header and then try to write the cues there when the muxing finishes. If the available space does not suffice, muxing will fail. A safe size for most use cases should be about 50kB per hour of video. Note that cues are only written if the output is seekable and this option will have no effect if it is not. @end table @section mov, mp4, ismv The mov/mp4/ismv muxer supports fragmentation. Normally, a MOV/MP4 file has all the metadata about all packets stored in one location (written at the end of the file, it can be moved to the start for better playback using the @command{qt-faststart} tool). A fragmented file consists of a number of fragments, where packets and metadata about these packets are stored together. Writing a fragmented file has the advantage that the file is decodable even if the writing is interrupted (while a normal MOV/MP4 is undecodable if it is not properly finished), and it requires less memory when writing very long files (since writing normal MOV/MP4 files stores info about every single packet in memory until the file is closed). The downside is that it is less compatible with other applications. Fragmentation is enabled by setting one of the AVOptions that define how to cut the file into fragments: @table @option @item -movflags frag_keyframe Start a new fragment at each video keyframe. @item -frag_duration @var{duration} Create fragments that are @var{duration} microseconds long. @item -frag_size @var{size} Create fragments that contain up to @var{size} bytes of payload data. @item -movflags frag_custom Allow the caller to manually choose when to cut fragments, by calling @code{av_write_frame(ctx, NULL)} to write a fragment with the packets written so far. (This is only useful with other applications integrating libavformat, not from @command{avconv}.) @item -min_frag_duration @var{duration} Don't create fragments that are shorter than @var{duration} microseconds long. @end table If more than one condition is specified, fragments are cut when one of the specified conditions is fulfilled. The exception to this is @code{-min_frag_duration}, which has to be fulfilled for any of the other conditions to apply. Additionally, the way the output file is written can be adjusted through a few other options: @table @option @item -movflags empty_moov Write an initial moov atom directly at the start of the file, without describing any samples in it. Generally, an mdat/moov pair is written at the start of the file, as a normal MOV/MP4 file, containing only a short portion of the file. With this option set, there is no initial mdat atom, and the moov atom only describes the tracks but has a zero duration. This option is implicitly set when writing ismv (Smooth Streaming) files. @item -movflags separate_moof Write a separate moof (movie fragment) atom for each track. Normally, packets for all tracks are written in a moof atom (which is slightly more efficient), but with this option set, the muxer writes one moof/mdat pair for each track, making it easier to separate tracks. This option is implicitly set when writing ismv (Smooth Streaming) files. @item -movflags faststart Run a second pass moving the index (moov atom) to the beginning of the file. This operation can take a while, and will not work in various situations such as fragmented output, thus it is not enabled by default. @item -movflags disable_chpl Disable Nero chapter markers (chpl atom). Normally, both Nero chapters and a QuickTime chapter track are written to the file. With this option set, only the QuickTime chapter track will be written. Nero chapters can cause failures when the file is reprocessed with certain tagging programs. @item -movflags omit_tfhd_offset Do not write any absolute base_data_offset in tfhd atoms. This avoids tying fragments to absolute byte positions in the file/streams. @item -movflags default_base_moof Similarly to the omit_tfhd_offset, this flag avoids writing the absolute base_data_offset field in tfhd atoms, but does so by using the new default-base-is-moof flag instead. This flag is new from 14496-12:2012. This may make the fragments easier to parse in certain circumstances (avoiding basing track fragment location calculations on the implicit end of the previous track fragment). @end table Smooth Streaming content can be pushed in real time to a publishing point on IIS with this muxer. Example: @example avconv -re @var{} -movflags isml+frag_keyframe -f ismv http://server/publishingpoint.isml/Streams(Encoder1) @end example @section mp3 The MP3 muxer writes a raw MP3 stream with the following optional features: @itemize @bullet @item An ID3v2 metadata header at the beginning (enabled by default). Versions 2.3 and 2.4 are supported, the @code{id3v2_version} private option controls which one is used (3 or 4). Setting @code{id3v2_version} to 0 disables the ID3v2 header completely. The muxer supports writing attached pictures (APIC frames) to the ID3v2 header. The pictures are supplied to the muxer in form of a video stream with a single packet. There can be any number of those streams, each will correspond to a single APIC frame. The stream metadata tags @var{title} and @var{comment} map to APIC @var{description} and @var{picture type} respectively. See @url{http://id3.org/id3v2.4.0-frames} for allowed picture types. Note that the APIC frames must be written at the beginning, so the muxer will buffer the audio frames until it gets all the pictures. It is therefore advised to provide the pictures as soon as possible to avoid excessive buffering. @item A Xing/LAME frame right after the ID3v2 header (if present). It is enabled by default, but will be written only if the output is seekable. The @code{write_xing} private option can be used to disable it. The frame contains various information that may be useful to the decoder, like the audio duration or encoder delay. @item A legacy ID3v1 tag at the end of the file (disabled by default). It may be enabled with the @code{write_id3v1} private option, but as its capabilities are very limited, its usage is not recommended. @end itemize Examples: Write an mp3 with an ID3v2.3 header and an ID3v1 footer: @example avconv -i INPUT -id3v2_version 3 -write_id3v1 1 out.mp3 @end example Attach a picture to an mp3: @example avconv -i input.mp3 -i cover.png -c copy -metadata:s:v title="Album cover" -metadata:s:v comment="Cover (Front)" out.mp3 @end example Write a "clean" MP3 without any extra features: @example avconv -i input.wav -write_xing 0 -id3v2_version 0 out.mp3 @end example @section mpegts MPEG transport stream muxer. This muxer implements ISO 13818-1 and part of ETSI EN 300 468. The muxer options are: @table @option @item -mpegts_original_network_id @var{number} Set the original_network_id (default 0x0001). This is unique identifier of a network in DVB. Its main use is in the unique identification of a service through the path Original_Network_ID, Transport_Stream_ID. @item -mpegts_transport_stream_id @var{number} Set the transport_stream_id (default 0x0001). This identifies a transponder in DVB. @item -mpegts_service_id @var{number} Set the service_id (default 0x0001) also known as program in DVB. @item -mpegts_pmt_start_pid @var{number} Set the first PID for PMT (default 0x1000, max 0x1f00). @item -mpegts_start_pid @var{number} Set the first PID for data packets (default 0x0100, max 0x0f00). @item -muxrate @var{number} Set a constant muxrate (default VBR). @item -pcr_period @var{numer} Override the default PCR retransmission time (default 20ms), ignored if variable muxrate is selected. @end table The recognized metadata settings in mpegts muxer are @code{service_provider} and @code{service_name}. If they are not set the default for @code{service_provider} is "Libav" and the default for @code{service_name} is "Service01". @example avconv -i file.mpg -c copy \ -mpegts_original_network_id 0x1122 \ -mpegts_transport_stream_id 0x3344 \ -mpegts_service_id 0x5566 \ -mpegts_pmt_start_pid 0x1500 \ -mpegts_start_pid 0x150 \ -metadata service_provider="Some provider" \ -metadata service_name="Some Channel" \ -y out.ts @end example @section null Null muxer. This muxer does not generate any output file, it is mainly useful for testing or benchmarking purposes. For example to benchmark decoding with @command{avconv} you can use the command: @example avconv -benchmark -i INPUT -f null out.null @end example Note that the above command does not read or write the @file{out.null} file, but specifying the output file is required by the @command{avconv} syntax. Alternatively you can write the command as: @example avconv -benchmark -i INPUT -f null - @end example @section nut @table @option @item -syncpoints @var{flags} Change the syncpoint usage in nut: @table @option @item @var{default} use the normal low-overhead seeking aids. @item @var{none} do not use the syncpoints at all, reducing the overhead but making the stream non-seekable; @item @var{timestamped} extend the syncpoint with a wallclock field. @end table The @var{none} and @var{timestamped} flags are experimental. @end table @example avconv -i INPUT -f_strict experimental -syncpoints none - | processor @end example @section ogg Ogg container muxer. @table @option @item -page_duration @var{duration} Preferred page duration, in microseconds. The muxer will attempt to create pages that are approximately @var{duration} microseconds long. This allows the user to compromise between seek granularity and container overhead. The default is 1 second. A value of 0 will fill all segments, making pages as large as possible. A value of 1 will effectively use 1 packet-per-page in most situations, giving a small seek granularity at the cost of additional container overhead. @item -serial_offset @var{value} Serial value from which to set the streams serial number. Setting it to different and sufficiently large values ensures that the produced ogg files can be safely chained. @end table @section segment Basic stream segmenter. The segmenter muxer outputs streams to a number of separate files of nearly fixed duration. Output filename pattern can be set in a fashion similar to @ref{image2}. Every segment starts with a video keyframe, if a video stream is present. The segment muxer works best with a single constant frame rate video. Optionally it can generate a flat list of the created segments, one segment per line. @table @option @item segment_format @var{format} Override the inner container format, by default it is guessed by the filename extension. @item segment_time @var{t} Set segment duration to @var{t} seconds. @item segment_list @var{name} Generate also a listfile named @var{name}. @item segment_list_type @var{type} Select the listing format. @table @option @item @var{flat} use a simple flat list of entries. @item @var{hls} use a m3u8-like structure. @end table @item segment_list_size @var{size} Overwrite the listfile once it reaches @var{size} entries. @item segment_list_entry_prefix @var{prefix} Prepend @var{prefix} to each entry. Useful to generate absolute paths. @item segment_wrap @var{limit} Wrap around segment index once it reaches @var{limit}. @end table @example avconv -i in.mkv -c copy -map 0 -f segment -list out.list out%03d.nut @end example @c man end MUXERS