4 Demuxers are configured elements in FFmpeg that can read the
5 multimedia streams from a particular type of file.
7 When you configure your FFmpeg build, all the supported demuxers
8 are enabled by default. You can list all available ones using the
9 configure option @code{--list-demuxers}.
11 You can disable all the demuxers using the configure option
12 @code{--disable-demuxers}, and selectively enable a single demuxer with
13 the option @code{--enable-demuxer=@var{DEMUXER}}, or disable it
14 with the option @code{--disable-demuxer=@var{DEMUXER}}.
16 The option @code{-demuxers} of the ff* tools will display the list of
17 enabled demuxers. Use @code{-formats} to view a combined list of
18 enabled demuxers and muxers.
20 The description of some of the currently available demuxers follows.
24 Audible Format 2, 3, and 4 demuxer.
26 This demuxer is used to demux Audible Format 2, 3, and 4 (.aa) files.
30 Animated Portable Network Graphics demuxer.
32 This demuxer is used to demux APNG files.
33 All headers, but the PNG signature, up to (but not including) the first
34 fcTL chunk are transmitted as extradata.
35 Frames are then split as being all the chunks between two fcTL ones, or
36 between the last fcTL and IEND chunks.
39 @item -ignore_loop @var{bool}
40 Ignore the loop variable in the file if set.
41 @item -max_fps @var{int}
42 Maximum framerate in frames per second (0 for no limit).
43 @item -default_fps @var{int}
44 Default framerate in frames per second when none is specified in the file
45 (0 meaning as fast as possible).
50 Advanced Systems Format demuxer.
52 This demuxer is used to demux ASF files and MMS network streams.
55 @item -no_resync_search @var{bool}
56 Do not try to resynchronize by looking for a certain optional start code.
62 Virtual concatenation script demuxer.
64 This demuxer reads a list of files and other directives from a text file and
65 demuxes them one after the other, as if all their packets had been muxed
68 The timestamps in the files are adjusted so that the first file starts at 0
69 and each next file starts where the previous one finishes. Note that it is
70 done globally and may cause gaps if all streams do not have exactly the same
73 All files must have the same streams (same codecs, same time base, etc.).
75 The duration of each file is used to adjust the timestamps of the next file:
76 if the duration is incorrect (because it was computed using the bit-rate or
77 because the file is truncated, for example), it can cause artifacts. The
78 @code{duration} directive can be used to override the duration stored in
83 The script is a text file in extended-ASCII, with one directive per line.
84 Empty lines, leading spaces and lines starting with '#' are ignored. The
85 following directive is recognized:
89 @item @code{file @var{path}}
90 Path to a file to read; special characters and spaces must be escaped with
91 backslash or single quotes.
93 All subsequent file-related directives apply to that file.
95 @item @code{ffconcat version 1.0}
96 Identify the script type and version. It also sets the @option{safe} option
99 To make FFmpeg recognize the format automatically, this directive must
100 appear exactly as is (no extra space or byte-order-mark) on the very first
103 @item @code{duration @var{dur}}
104 Duration of the file. This information can be specified from the file;
105 specifying it here may be more efficient or help if the information from the
106 file is not available or accurate.
108 If the duration is set for all files, then it is possible to seek in the
109 whole concatenated video.
111 @item @code{inpoint @var{timestamp}}
112 In point of the file. When the demuxer opens the file it instantly seeks to the
113 specified timestamp. Seeking is done so that all streams can be presented
114 successfully at In point.
116 This directive works best with intra frame codecs, because for non-intra frame
117 ones you will usually get extra packets before the actual In point and the
118 decoded content will most likely contain frames before In point too.
120 For each file, packets before the file In point will have timestamps less than
121 the calculated start timestamp of the file (negative in case of the first
122 file), and the duration of the files (if not specified by the @code{duration}
123 directive) will be reduced based on their specified In point.
125 Because of potential packets before the specified In point, packet timestamps
126 may overlap between two concatenated files.
128 @item @code{outpoint @var{timestamp}}
129 Out point of the file. When the demuxer reaches the specified decoding
130 timestamp in any of the streams, it handles it as an end of file condition and
131 skips the current and all the remaining packets from all streams.
133 Out point is exclusive, which means that the demuxer will not output packets
134 with a decoding timestamp greater or equal to Out point.
136 This directive works best with intra frame codecs and formats where all streams
137 are tightly interleaved. For non-intra frame codecs you will usually get
138 additional packets with presentation timestamp after Out point therefore the
139 decoded content will most likely contain frames after Out point too. If your
140 streams are not tightly interleaved you may not get all the packets from all
141 streams before Out point and you may only will be able to decode the earliest
142 stream until Out point.
144 The duration of the files (if not specified by the @code{duration}
145 directive) will be reduced based on their specified Out point.
147 @item @code{file_packet_metadata @var{key=value}}
148 Metadata of the packets of the file. The specified metadata will be set for
149 each file packet. You can specify this directive multiple times to add multiple
153 Introduce a stream in the virtual file.
154 All subsequent stream-related directives apply to the last introduced
156 Some streams properties must be set in order to allow identifying the
157 matching streams in the subfiles.
158 If no streams are defined in the script, the streams from the first file are
161 @item @code{exact_stream_id @var{id}}
162 Set the id of the stream.
163 If this directive is given, the string with the corresponding id in the
164 subfiles will be used.
165 This is especially useful for MPEG-PS (VOB) files, where the order of the
166 streams is not reliable.
172 This demuxer accepts the following option:
177 If set to 1, reject unsafe file paths. A file path is considered safe if it
178 does not contain a protocol specification and is relative and all components
179 only contain characters from the portable character set (letters, digits,
180 period, underscore and hyphen) and have no period at the beginning of a
183 If set to 0, any file name is accepted.
187 -1 is equivalent to 1 if the format was automatically
188 probed and 0 otherwise.
191 If set to 1, try to perform automatic conversions on packet data to make the
192 streams concatenable.
195 Currently, the only conversion is adding the h264_mp4toannexb bitstream
196 filter to H.264 streams in MP4 format. This is necessary in particular if
197 there are resolution changes.
199 @item segment_time_metadata
200 If set to 1, every packet will contain the @var{lavf.concat.start_time} and the
201 @var{lavf.concat.duration} packet metadata values which are the start_time and
202 the duration of the respective file segments in the concatenated output
203 expressed in microseconds. The duration metadata is only set if it is known
204 based on the concat file.
213 Use absolute filenames and include some comments:
216 file /mnt/share/file-1.wav
217 # my second filename including whitespace
218 file '/mnt/share/file 2.wav'
219 # my third filename including whitespace plus single quote
220 file '/mnt/share/file 3'\''.wav'
224 Allow for input format auto-probing, use safe filenames and set the duration of
232 file subdir/file-2.wav
238 Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP demuxer.
240 This demuxer presents all AVStreams found in the manifest.
241 By setting the discard flags on AVStreams the caller can decide
242 which streams to actually receive.
243 Each stream mirrors the @code{id} and @code{bandwidth} properties from the
244 @code{<Representation>} as metadata keys named "id" and "variant_bitrate" respectively.
246 @section flv, live_flv
248 Adobe Flash Video Format demuxer.
250 This demuxer is used to demux FLV files and RTMP network streams. In case of live network streams, if you force format, you may use live_flv option instead of flv to survive timestamp discontinuities.
253 ffmpeg -f flv -i myfile.flv ...
254 ffmpeg -f live_flv -i rtmp://<any.server>/anything/key ....
259 @item -flv_metadata @var{bool}
260 Allocate the streams according to the onMetaData array content.
262 @item -flv_ignore_prevtag @var{bool}
263 Ignore the size of previous tag value.
265 @item -flv_full_metadata @var{bool}
266 Output all context of the onMetadata.
271 Animated GIF demuxer.
273 It accepts the following options:
277 Set the minimum valid delay between frames in hundredths of seconds.
278 Range is 0 to 6000. Default value is 2.
281 Set the maximum valid delay between frames in hundredth of seconds.
282 Range is 0 to 65535. Default value is 65535 (nearly eleven minutes),
283 the maximum value allowed by the specification.
286 Set the default delay between frames in hundredths of seconds.
287 Range is 0 to 6000. Default value is 10.
290 GIF files can contain information to loop a certain number of times (or
291 infinitely). If @option{ignore_loop} is set to 1, then the loop setting
292 from the input will be ignored and looping will not occur. If set to 0,
293 then looping will occur and will cycle the number of times according to
294 the GIF. Default value is 1.
297 For example, with the overlay filter, place an infinitely looping GIF
300 ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ignore_loop 0 -i input.gif -filter_complex overlay=shortest=1 out.mkv
303 Note that in the above example the shortest option for overlay filter is
304 used to end the output video at the length of the shortest input file,
305 which in this case is @file{input.mp4} as the GIF in this example loops
312 Apple HTTP Live Streaming demuxer.
314 This demuxer presents all AVStreams from all variant streams.
315 The id field is set to the bitrate variant index number. By setting
316 the discard flags on AVStreams (by pressing 'a' or 'v' in ffplay),
317 the caller can decide which variant streams to actually receive.
318 The total bitrate of the variant that the stream belongs to is
319 available in a metadata key named "variant_bitrate".
321 It accepts the following options:
324 @item live_start_index
325 segment index to start live streams at (negative values are from the end).
327 @item allowed_extensions
328 ',' separated list of file extensions that hls is allowed to access.
331 Maximum number of times a insufficient list is attempted to be reloaded.
332 Default value is 1000.
334 @item m3u8_hold_counters
335 The maximum number of times to load m3u8 when it refreshes without new segments.
336 Default value is 1000.
338 @item http_persistent
339 Use persistent HTTP connections. Applicable only for HTTP streams.
343 Use multiple HTTP connections for downloading HTTP segments.
344 Enabled by default for HTTP/1.1 servers.
347 Use HTTP partial requests for downloading HTTP segments.
348 0 = disable, 1 = enable, -1 = auto, Default is auto.
355 This demuxer reads from a list of image files specified by a pattern.
356 The syntax and meaning of the pattern is specified by the
357 option @var{pattern_type}.
359 The pattern may contain a suffix which is used to automatically
360 determine the format of the images contained in the files.
362 The size, the pixel format, and the format of each image must be the
363 same for all the files in the sequence.
365 This demuxer accepts the following options:
368 Set the frame rate for the video stream. It defaults to 25.
370 If set to 1, loop over the input. Default value is 0.
372 Select the pattern type used to interpret the provided filename.
374 @var{pattern_type} accepts one of the following values.
377 Disable pattern matching, therefore the video will only contain the specified
378 image. You should use this option if you do not want to create sequences from
379 multiple images and your filenames may contain special pattern characters.
381 Select a sequence pattern type, used to specify a sequence of files
382 indexed by sequential numbers.
384 A sequence pattern may contain the string "%d" or "%0@var{N}d", which
385 specifies the position of the characters representing a sequential
386 number in each filename matched by the pattern. If the form
387 "%d0@var{N}d" is used, the string representing the number in each
388 filename is 0-padded and @var{N} is the total number of 0-padded
389 digits representing the number. The literal character '%' can be
390 specified in the pattern with the string "%%".
392 If the sequence pattern contains "%d" or "%0@var{N}d", the first filename of
393 the file list specified by the pattern must contain a number
394 inclusively contained between @var{start_number} and
395 @var{start_number}+@var{start_number_range}-1, and all the following
396 numbers must be sequential.
398 For example the pattern "img-%03d.bmp" will match a sequence of
399 filenames of the form @file{img-001.bmp}, @file{img-002.bmp}, ...,
400 @file{img-010.bmp}, etc.; the pattern "i%%m%%g-%d.jpg" will match a
401 sequence of filenames of the form @file{i%m%g-1.jpg},
402 @file{i%m%g-2.jpg}, ..., @file{i%m%g-10.jpg}, etc.
404 Note that the pattern must not necessarily contain "%d" or
405 "%0@var{N}d", for example to convert a single image file
406 @file{img.jpeg} you can employ the command:
408 ffmpeg -i img.jpeg img.png
412 Select a glob wildcard pattern type.
414 The pattern is interpreted like a @code{glob()} pattern. This is only
415 selectable if libavformat was compiled with globbing support.
417 @item glob_sequence @emph{(deprecated, will be removed)}
418 Select a mixed glob wildcard/sequence pattern.
420 If your version of libavformat was compiled with globbing support, and
421 the provided pattern contains at least one glob meta character among
422 @code{%*?[]@{@}} that is preceded by an unescaped "%", the pattern is
423 interpreted like a @code{glob()} pattern, otherwise it is interpreted
424 like a sequence pattern.
426 All glob special characters @code{%*?[]@{@}} must be prefixed
427 with "%". To escape a literal "%" you shall use "%%".
429 For example the pattern @code{foo-%*.jpeg} will match all the
430 filenames prefixed by "foo-" and terminating with ".jpeg", and
431 @code{foo-%?%?%?.jpeg} will match all the filenames prefixed with
432 "foo-", followed by a sequence of three characters, and terminating
435 This pattern type is deprecated in favor of @var{glob} and
439 Default value is @var{glob_sequence}.
441 Set the pixel format of the images to read. If not specified the pixel
442 format is guessed from the first image file in the sequence.
444 Set the index of the file matched by the image file pattern to start
445 to read from. Default value is 0.
446 @item start_number_range
447 Set the index interval range to check when looking for the first image
448 file in the sequence, starting from @var{start_number}. Default value
451 If set to 1, will set frame timestamp to modification time of image file. Note
452 that monotonity of timestamps is not provided: images go in the same order as
453 without this option. Default value is 0.
454 If set to 2, will set frame timestamp to the modification time of the image file in
455 nanosecond precision.
457 Set the video size of the images to read. If not specified the video
458 size is guessed from the first image file in the sequence.
459 @item export_path_metadata
460 If set to 1, will add two extra fields to the metadata found in input, making them
461 also available for other filters (see @var{drawtext} filter for examples). Default
462 value is 0. The extra fields are described below:
464 @item lavf.image2dec.source_path
465 Corresponds to the full path to the input file being read.
466 @item lavf.image2dec.source_basename
467 Corresponds to the name of the file being read.
476 Use @command{ffmpeg} for creating a video from the images in the file
477 sequence @file{img-001.jpeg}, @file{img-002.jpeg}, ..., assuming an
478 input frame rate of 10 frames per second:
480 ffmpeg -framerate 10 -i 'img-%03d.jpeg' out.mkv
484 As above, but start by reading from a file with index 100 in the sequence:
486 ffmpeg -framerate 10 -start_number 100 -i 'img-%03d.jpeg' out.mkv
490 Read images matching the "*.png" glob pattern , that is all the files
491 terminating with the ".png" suffix:
493 ffmpeg -framerate 10 -pattern_type glob -i "*.png" out.mkv
499 The Game Music Emu library is a collection of video game music file emulators.
501 See @url{https://bitbucket.org/mpyne/game-music-emu/overview} for more information.
503 It accepts the following options:
508 Set the index of which track to demux. The demuxer can only export one track.
509 Track indexes start at 0. Default is to pick the first track. Number of tracks
510 is exported as @var{tracks} metadata entry.
513 Set the sampling rate of the exported track. Range is 1000 to 999999. Default is 44100.
515 @item max_size @emph{(bytes)}
516 The demuxer buffers the entire file into memory. Adjust this value to set the maximum buffer size,
517 which in turn, acts as a ceiling for the size of files that can be read.
524 ModPlug based module demuxer
526 See @url{https://github.com/Konstanty/libmodplug}
528 It will export one 2-channel 16-bit 44.1 kHz audio stream.
529 Optionally, a @code{pal8} 16-color video stream can be exported with or without printed metadata.
531 It accepts the following options:
534 @item noise_reduction
535 Apply a simple low-pass filter. Can be 1 (on) or 0 (off). Default is 0.
538 Set amount of reverb. Range 0-100. Default is 0.
541 Set delay in ms, clamped to 40-250 ms. Default is 0.
544 Apply bass expansion a.k.a. XBass or megabass. Range is 0 (quiet) to 100 (loud). Default is 0.
547 Set cutoff i.e. upper-bound for bass frequencies. Range is 10-100 Hz. Default is 0.
550 Apply a Dolby Pro-Logic surround effect. Range is 0 (quiet) to 100 (heavy). Default is 0.
553 Set surround delay in ms, clamped to 5-40 ms. Default is 0.
556 The demuxer buffers the entire file into memory. Adjust this value to set the maximum buffer size,
557 which in turn, acts as a ceiling for the size of files that can be read. Range is 0 to 100 MiB.
558 0 removes buffer size limit (not recommended). Default is 5 MiB.
560 @item video_stream_expr
561 String which is evaluated using the eval API to assign colors to the generated video stream.
562 Variables which can be used are @code{x}, @code{y}, @code{w}, @code{h}, @code{t}, @code{speed},
563 @code{tempo}, @code{order}, @code{pattern} and @code{row}.
566 Generate video stream. Can be 1 (on) or 0 (off). Default is 0.
569 Set video frame width in 'chars' where one char indicates 8 pixels. Range is 20-512. Default is 30.
572 Set video frame height in 'chars' where one char indicates 8 pixels. Range is 20-512. Default is 30.
574 @item video_stream_ptxt
575 Print metadata on video stream. Includes @code{speed}, @code{tempo}, @code{order}, @code{pattern},
576 @code{row} and @code{ts} (time in ms). Can be 1 (on) or 0 (off). Default is 1.
582 libopenmpt based module demuxer
584 See @url{https://lib.openmpt.org/libopenmpt/} for more information.
586 Some files have multiple subsongs (tracks) this can be set with the @option{subsong}
589 It accepts the following options:
593 Set the subsong index. This can be either 'all', 'auto', or the index of the
594 subsong. Subsong indexes start at 0. The default is 'auto'.
596 The default value is to let libopenmpt choose.
599 Set the channel layout. Valid values are 1, 2, and 4 channel layouts.
600 The default value is STEREO.
603 Set the sample rate for libopenmpt to output.
604 Range is from 1000 to INT_MAX. The value default is 48000.
609 Demuxer for Quicktime File Format & ISO/IEC Base Media File Format (ISO/IEC 14496-12 or MPEG-4 Part 12, ISO/IEC 15444-12 or JPEG 2000 Part 12).
611 Registered extensions: mov, mp4, m4a, 3gp, 3g2, mj2, psp, m4b, ism, ismv, isma, f4v
615 This demuxer accepts the following options:
618 Enable loading of external tracks, disabled by default.
619 Enabling this can theoretically leak information in some use cases.
621 @item use_absolute_path
622 Allows loading of external tracks via absolute paths, disabled by default.
623 Enabling this poses a security risk. It should only be enabled if the source
624 is known to be non-malicious.
626 @item seek_streams_individually
627 When seeking, identify the closest point in each stream individually and demux packets in
628 that stream from identified point. This can lead to a different sequence of packets compared
629 to demuxing linearly from the beginning. Default is true.
631 @item ignore_editlist
632 Ignore any edit list atoms. The demuxer, by default, modifies the stream index to reflect the
633 timeline described by the edit list. Default is false.
635 @item advanced_editlist
636 Modify the stream index to reflect the timeline described by the edit list. @code{ignore_editlist}
637 must be set to false for this option to be effective.
638 If both @code{ignore_editlist} and this option are set to false, then only the
639 start of the stream index is modified to reflect initial dwell time or starting timestamp
640 described by the edit list. Default is true.
642 @item ignore_chapters
643 Don't parse chapters. This includes GoPro 'HiLight' tags/moments. Note that chapters are
644 only parsed when input is seekable. Default is false.
647 For seekable fragmented input, set fragment's starting timestamp from media fragment random access box, if present.
649 Following options are available:
652 Auto-detect whether to set mfra timestamps as PTS or DTS @emph{(default)}
655 Set mfra timestamps as DTS
658 Set mfra timestamps as PTS
661 Don't use mfra box to set timestamps
665 Export unrecognized boxes within the @var{udta} box as metadata entries. The first four
666 characters of the box type are set as the key. Default is false.
669 Export entire contents of @var{XMP_} box and @var{uuid} box as a string with key @code{xmp}. Note that
670 if @code{export_all} is set and this option isn't, the contents of @var{XMP_} box are still exported
671 but with key @code{XMP_}. Default is false.
673 @item activation_bytes
674 4-byte key required to decrypt Audible AAX and AAX+ files. See Audible AAX subsection below.
676 @item audible_fixed_key
677 Fixed key used for handling Audible AAX/AAX+ files. It has been pre-set so should not be necessary to
681 16-byte key, in hex, to decrypt files encrypted using ISO Common Encryption (CENC/AES-128 CTR; ISO/IEC 23001-7).
684 @subsection Audible AAX
686 Audible AAX files are encrypted M4B files, and they can be decrypted by specifying a 4 byte activation secret.
688 ffmpeg -activation_bytes 1CEB00DA -i test.aax -vn -c:a copy output.mp4
693 MPEG-2 transport stream demuxer.
695 This demuxer accepts the following options:
698 Set size limit for looking up a new synchronization. Default value is
701 @item skip_unknown_pmt
702 Skip PMTs for programs not defined in the PAT. Default value is 0.
704 @item fix_teletext_pts
705 Override teletext packet PTS and DTS values with the timestamps calculated
706 from the PCR of the first program which the teletext stream is part of and is
707 not discarded. Default value is 1, set this option to 0 if you want your
708 teletext packet PTS and DTS values untouched.
711 Output option carrying the raw packet size in bytes.
712 Show the detected raw packet size, cannot be set by the user.
715 Scan and combine all PMTs. The value is an integer with value from -1
716 to 1 (-1 means automatic setting, 1 means enabled, 0 means
717 disabled). Default value is -1.
719 @item merge_pmt_versions
720 Re-use existing streams when a PMT's version is updated and elementary
721 streams move to different PIDs. Default value is 0.
726 MJPEG encapsulated in multi-part MIME demuxer.
728 This demuxer allows reading of MJPEG, where each frame is represented as a part of
729 multipart/x-mixed-replace stream.
732 @item strict_mime_boundary
733 Default implementation applies a relaxed standard to multi-part MIME boundary detection,
734 to prevent regression with numerous existing endpoints not generating a proper MIME
735 MJPEG stream. Turning this option on by setting it to 1 will result in a stricter check
736 of the boundary value.
743 This demuxer allows one to read raw video data. Since there is no header
744 specifying the assumed video parameters, the user must specify them
745 in order to be able to decode the data correctly.
747 This demuxer accepts the following options:
751 Set input video frame rate. Default value is 25.
754 Set the input video pixel format. Default value is @code{yuv420p}.
757 Set the input video size. This value must be specified explicitly.
760 For example to read a rawvideo file @file{input.raw} with
761 @command{ffplay}, assuming a pixel format of @code{rgb24}, a video
762 size of @code{320x240}, and a frame rate of 10 images per second, use
765 ffplay -f rawvideo -pixel_format rgb24 -video_size 320x240 -framerate 10 input.raw
770 SBaGen script demuxer.
772 This demuxer reads the script language used by SBaGen
773 @url{http://uazu.net/sbagen/} to generate binaural beats sessions. A SBG
774 script looks like that:
777 a: 300-2.5/3 440+4.5/0
778 b: 300-2.5/0 440+4.5/3
787 A SBG script can mix absolute and relative timestamps. If the script uses
788 either only absolute timestamps (including the script start time) or only
789 relative ones, then its layout is fixed, and the conversion is
790 straightforward. On the other hand, if the script mixes both kind of
791 timestamps, then the @var{NOW} reference for relative timestamps will be
792 taken from the current time of day at the time the script is read, and the
793 script layout will be frozen according to that reference. That means that if
794 the script is directly played, the actual times will match the absolute
795 timestamps up to the sound controller's clock accuracy, but if the user
796 somehow pauses the playback or seeks, all times will be shifted accordingly.
800 JSON captions used for @url{http://www.ted.com/, TED Talks}.
802 TED does not provide links to the captions, but they can be guessed from the
803 page. The file @file{tools/bookmarklets.html} from the FFmpeg source tree
804 contains a bookmarklet to expose them.
806 This demuxer accepts the following option:
809 Set the start time of the TED talk, in milliseconds. The default is 15000
810 (15s). It is used to sync the captions with the downloadable videos, because
811 they include a 15s intro.
814 Example: convert the captions to a format most players understand:
816 ffmpeg -i http://www.ted.com/talks/subtitles/id/1/lang/en talk1-en.srt
823 Due to security concerns, Vapoursynth scripts will not
824 be autodetected so the input format has to be forced. For ff* CLI tools,
825 add @code{-f vapoursynth} before the input @code{-i yourscript.vpy}.
827 This demuxer accepts the following option:
829 @item max_script_size
830 The demuxer buffers the entire script into memory. Adjust this value to set the maximum buffer size,
831 which in turn, acts as a ceiling for the size of scripts that can be read.