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 Apple HTTP Live Streaming demuxer.
32 This demuxer presents all AVStreams from all variant streams.
33 The id field is set to the bitrate variant index number. By setting
34 the discard flags on AVStreams (by pressing 'a' or 'v' in ffplay),
35 the caller can decide which variant streams to actually receive.
36 The total bitrate of the variant that the stream belongs to is
37 available in a metadata key named "variant_bitrate".
41 Animated Portable Network Graphics demuxer.
43 This demuxer is used to demux APNG files.
44 All headers, but the PNG signature, up to (but not including) the first
45 fcTL chunk are transmitted as extradata.
46 Frames are then split as being all the chunks between two fcTL ones, or
47 between the last fcTL and IEND chunks.
50 @item -ignore_loop @var{bool}
51 Ignore the loop variable in the file if set.
52 @item -max_fps @var{int}
53 Maximum framerate in frames per second (0 for no limit).
54 @item -default_fps @var{int}
55 Default framerate in frames per second when none is specified in the file
56 (0 meaning as fast as possible).
61 Advanced Systems Format demuxer.
63 This demuxer is used to demux ASF files and MMS network streams.
66 @item -no_resync_search @var{bool}
67 Do not try to resynchronize by looking for a certain optional start code.
73 Virtual concatenation script demuxer.
75 This demuxer reads a list of files and other directives from a text file and
76 demuxes them one after the other, as if all their packets had been muxed
79 The timestamps in the files are adjusted so that the first file starts at 0
80 and each next file starts where the previous one finishes. Note that it is
81 done globally and may cause gaps if all streams do not have exactly the same
84 All files must have the same streams (same codecs, same time base, etc.).
86 The duration of each file is used to adjust the timestamps of the next file:
87 if the duration is incorrect (because it was computed using the bit-rate or
88 because the file is truncated, for example), it can cause artifacts. The
89 @code{duration} directive can be used to override the duration stored in
94 The script is a text file in extended-ASCII, with one directive per line.
95 Empty lines, leading spaces and lines starting with '#' are ignored. The
96 following directive is recognized:
100 @item @code{file @var{path}}
101 Path to a file to read; special characters and spaces must be escaped with
102 backslash or single quotes.
104 All subsequent file-related directives apply to that file.
106 @item @code{ffconcat version 1.0}
107 Identify the script type and version. It also sets the @option{safe} option
110 To make FFmpeg recognize the format automatically, this directive must
111 appear exactly as is (no extra space or byte-order-mark) on the very first
114 @item @code{duration @var{dur}}
115 Duration of the file. This information can be specified from the file;
116 specifying it here may be more efficient or help if the information from the
117 file is not available or accurate.
119 If the duration is set for all files, then it is possible to seek in the
120 whole concatenated video.
122 @item @code{inpoint @var{timestamp}}
123 In point of the file. When the demuxer opens the file it instantly seeks to the
124 specified timestamp. Seeking is done so that all streams can be presented
125 successfully at In point.
127 This directive works best with intra frame codecs, because for non-intra frame
128 ones you will usually get extra packets before the actual In point and the
129 decoded content will most likely contain frames before In point too.
131 For each file, packets before the file In point will have timestamps less than
132 the calculated start timestamp of the file (negative in case of the first
133 file), and the duration of the files (if not specified by the @code{duration}
134 directive) will be reduced based on their specified In point.
136 Because of potential packets before the specified In point, packet timestamps
137 may overlap between two concatenated files.
139 @item @code{outpoint @var{timestamp}}
140 Out point of the file. When the demuxer reaches the specified decoding
141 timestamp in any of the streams, it handles it as an end of file condition and
142 skips the current and all the remaining packets from all streams.
144 Out point is exclusive, which means that the demuxer will not output packets
145 with a decoding timestamp greater or equal to Out point.
147 This directive works best with intra frame codecs and formats where all streams
148 are tightly interleaved. For non-intra frame codecs you will usually get
149 additional packets with presentation timestamp after Out point therefore the
150 decoded content will most likely contain frames after Out point too. If your
151 streams are not tightly interleaved you may not get all the packets from all
152 streams before Out point and you may only will be able to decode the earliest
153 stream until Out point.
155 The duration of the files (if not specified by the @code{duration}
156 directive) will be reduced based on their specified Out point.
158 @item @code{file_packet_metadata @var{key=value}}
159 Metadata of the packets of the file. The specified metadata will be set for
160 each file packet. You can specify this directive multiple times to add multiple
164 Introduce a stream in the virtual file.
165 All subsequent stream-related directives apply to the last introduced
167 Some streams properties must be set in order to allow identifying the
168 matching streams in the subfiles.
169 If no streams are defined in the script, the streams from the first file are
172 @item @code{exact_stream_id @var{id}}
173 Set the id of the stream.
174 If this directive is given, the string with the corresponding id in the
175 subfiles will be used.
176 This is especially useful for MPEG-PS (VOB) files, where the order of the
177 streams is not reliable.
183 This demuxer accepts the following option:
188 If set to 1, reject unsafe file paths. A file path is considered safe if it
189 does not contain a protocol specification and is relative and all components
190 only contain characters from the portable character set (letters, digits,
191 period, underscore and hyphen) and have no period at the beginning of a
194 If set to 0, any file name is accepted.
198 -1 is equivalent to 1 if the format was automatically
199 probed and 0 otherwise.
202 If set to 1, try to perform automatic conversions on packet data to make the
203 streams concatenable.
206 Currently, the only conversion is adding the h264_mp4toannexb bitstream
207 filter to H.264 streams in MP4 format. This is necessary in particular if
208 there are resolution changes.
210 @item segment_time_metadata
211 If set to 1, every packet will contain the @var{lavf.concat.start_time} and the
212 @var{lavf.concat.duration} packet metadata values which are the start_time and
213 the duration of the respective file segments in the concatenated output
214 expressed in microseconds. The duration metadata is only set if it is known
215 based on the concat file.
224 Use absolute filenames and include some comments:
227 file /mnt/share/file-1.wav
228 # my second filename including whitespace
229 file '/mnt/share/file 2.wav'
230 # my third filename including whitespace plus single quote
231 file '/mnt/share/file 3'\''.wav'
235 Allow for input format auto-probing, use safe filenames and set the duration of
243 file subdir/file-2.wav
249 Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP demuxer.
251 This demuxer presents all AVStreams found in the manifest.
252 By setting the discard flags on AVStreams the caller can decide
253 which streams to actually receive.
254 Each stream mirrors the @code{id} and @code{bandwidth} properties from the
255 @code{<Representation>} as metadata keys named "id" and "variant_bitrate" respectively.
257 @section flv, live_flv
259 Adobe Flash Video Format demuxer.
261 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.
264 ffmpeg -f flv -i myfile.flv ...
265 ffmpeg -f live_flv -i rtmp://<any.server>/anything/key ....
270 @item -flv_metadata @var{bool}
271 Allocate the streams according to the onMetaData array content.
273 @item -flv_ignore_prevtag @var{bool}
274 Ignore the size of previous tag value.
276 @item -flv_full_metadata @var{bool}
277 Output all context of the onMetadata.
282 Animated GIF demuxer.
284 It accepts the following options:
288 Set the minimum valid delay between frames in hundredths of seconds.
289 Range is 0 to 6000. Default value is 2.
292 Set the maximum valid delay between frames in hundredth of seconds.
293 Range is 0 to 65535. Default value is 65535 (nearly eleven minutes),
294 the maximum value allowed by the specification.
297 Set the default delay between frames in hundredths of seconds.
298 Range is 0 to 6000. Default value is 10.
301 GIF files can contain information to loop a certain number of times (or
302 infinitely). If @option{ignore_loop} is set to 1, then the loop setting
303 from the input will be ignored and looping will not occur. If set to 0,
304 then looping will occur and will cycle the number of times according to
305 the GIF. Default value is 1.
308 For example, with the overlay filter, place an infinitely looping GIF
311 ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ignore_loop 0 -i input.gif -filter_complex overlay=shortest=1 out.mkv
314 Note that in the above example the shortest option for overlay filter is
315 used to end the output video at the length of the shortest input file,
316 which in this case is @file{input.mp4} as the GIF in this example loops
323 It accepts the following options:
326 @item live_start_index
327 segment index to start live streams at (negative values are from the end).
329 @item allowed_extensions
330 ',' separated list of file extensions that hls is allowed to access.
333 Maximum number of times a insufficient list is attempted to be reloaded.
334 Default value is 1000.
336 @item http_persistent
337 Use persistent HTTP connections. Applicable only for HTTP streams.
341 Use multiple HTTP connections for downloading HTTP segments.
342 Enabled by default for HTTP/1.1 servers.
349 This demuxer reads from a list of image files specified by a pattern.
350 The syntax and meaning of the pattern is specified by the
351 option @var{pattern_type}.
353 The pattern may contain a suffix which is used to automatically
354 determine the format of the images contained in the files.
356 The size, the pixel format, and the format of each image must be the
357 same for all the files in the sequence.
359 This demuxer accepts the following options:
362 Set the frame rate for the video stream. It defaults to 25.
364 If set to 1, loop over the input. Default value is 0.
366 Select the pattern type used to interpret the provided filename.
368 @var{pattern_type} accepts one of the following values.
371 Disable pattern matching, therefore the video will only contain the specified
372 image. You should use this option if you do not want to create sequences from
373 multiple images and your filenames may contain special pattern characters.
375 Select a sequence pattern type, used to specify a sequence of files
376 indexed by sequential numbers.
378 A sequence pattern may contain the string "%d" or "%0@var{N}d", which
379 specifies the position of the characters representing a sequential
380 number in each filename matched by the pattern. If the form
381 "%d0@var{N}d" is used, the string representing the number in each
382 filename is 0-padded and @var{N} is the total number of 0-padded
383 digits representing the number. The literal character '%' can be
384 specified in the pattern with the string "%%".
386 If the sequence pattern contains "%d" or "%0@var{N}d", the first filename of
387 the file list specified by the pattern must contain a number
388 inclusively contained between @var{start_number} and
389 @var{start_number}+@var{start_number_range}-1, and all the following
390 numbers must be sequential.
392 For example the pattern "img-%03d.bmp" will match a sequence of
393 filenames of the form @file{img-001.bmp}, @file{img-002.bmp}, ...,
394 @file{img-010.bmp}, etc.; the pattern "i%%m%%g-%d.jpg" will match a
395 sequence of filenames of the form @file{i%m%g-1.jpg},
396 @file{i%m%g-2.jpg}, ..., @file{i%m%g-10.jpg}, etc.
398 Note that the pattern must not necessarily contain "%d" or
399 "%0@var{N}d", for example to convert a single image file
400 @file{img.jpeg} you can employ the command:
402 ffmpeg -i img.jpeg img.png
406 Select a glob wildcard pattern type.
408 The pattern is interpreted like a @code{glob()} pattern. This is only
409 selectable if libavformat was compiled with globbing support.
411 @item glob_sequence @emph{(deprecated, will be removed)}
412 Select a mixed glob wildcard/sequence pattern.
414 If your version of libavformat was compiled with globbing support, and
415 the provided pattern contains at least one glob meta character among
416 @code{%*?[]@{@}} that is preceded by an unescaped "%", the pattern is
417 interpreted like a @code{glob()} pattern, otherwise it is interpreted
418 like a sequence pattern.
420 All glob special characters @code{%*?[]@{@}} must be prefixed
421 with "%". To escape a literal "%" you shall use "%%".
423 For example the pattern @code{foo-%*.jpeg} will match all the
424 filenames prefixed by "foo-" and terminating with ".jpeg", and
425 @code{foo-%?%?%?.jpeg} will match all the filenames prefixed with
426 "foo-", followed by a sequence of three characters, and terminating
429 This pattern type is deprecated in favor of @var{glob} and
433 Default value is @var{glob_sequence}.
435 Set the pixel format of the images to read. If not specified the pixel
436 format is guessed from the first image file in the sequence.
438 Set the index of the file matched by the image file pattern to start
439 to read from. Default value is 0.
440 @item start_number_range
441 Set the index interval range to check when looking for the first image
442 file in the sequence, starting from @var{start_number}. Default value
445 If set to 1, will set frame timestamp to modification time of image file. Note
446 that monotonity of timestamps is not provided: images go in the same order as
447 without this option. Default value is 0.
448 If set to 2, will set frame timestamp to the modification time of the image file in
449 nanosecond precision.
451 Set the video size of the images to read. If not specified the video
452 size is guessed from the first image file in the sequence.
459 Use @command{ffmpeg} for creating a video from the images in the file
460 sequence @file{img-001.jpeg}, @file{img-002.jpeg}, ..., assuming an
461 input frame rate of 10 frames per second:
463 ffmpeg -framerate 10 -i 'img-%03d.jpeg' out.mkv
467 As above, but start by reading from a file with index 100 in the sequence:
469 ffmpeg -framerate 10 -start_number 100 -i 'img-%03d.jpeg' out.mkv
473 Read images matching the "*.png" glob pattern , that is all the files
474 terminating with the ".png" suffix:
476 ffmpeg -framerate 10 -pattern_type glob -i "*.png" out.mkv
482 The Game Music Emu library is a collection of video game music file emulators.
484 See @url{http://code.google.com/p/game-music-emu/} for more information.
486 Some files have multiple tracks. The demuxer will pick the first track by
487 default. The @option{track_index} option can be used to select a different
488 track. Track indexes start at 0. The demuxer exports the number of tracks as
489 @var{tracks} meta data entry.
491 For very large files, the @option{max_size} option may have to be adjusted.
495 libopenmpt based module demuxer
497 See @url{https://lib.openmpt.org/libopenmpt/} for more information.
499 Some files have multiple subsongs (tracks) this can be set with the @option{subsong}
502 It accepts the following options:
506 Set the subsong index. This can be either 'all', 'auto', or the index of the
507 subsong. Subsong indexes start at 0. The default is 'auto'.
509 The default value is to let libopenmpt choose.
512 Set the channel layout. Valid values are 1, 2, and 4 channel layouts.
513 The default value is STEREO.
516 Set the sample rate for libopenmpt to output.
517 Range is from 1000 to INT_MAX. The value default is 48000.
520 @section mov/mp4/3gp/QuickTime
522 QuickTime / MP4 demuxer.
524 This demuxer accepts the following options:
527 Enable loading of external tracks, disabled by default.
528 Enabling this can theoretically leak information in some use cases.
530 @item use_absolute_path
531 Allows loading of external tracks via absolute paths, disabled by default.
532 Enabling this poses a security risk. It should only be enabled if the source
533 is known to be non malicious.
539 MPEG-2 transport stream demuxer.
541 This demuxer accepts the following options:
544 Set size limit for looking up a new synchronization. Default value is
547 @item skip_unknown_pmt
548 Skip PMTs for programs not defined in the PAT. Default value is 0.
550 @item fix_teletext_pts
551 Override teletext packet PTS and DTS values with the timestamps calculated
552 from the PCR of the first program which the teletext stream is part of and is
553 not discarded. Default value is 1, set this option to 0 if you want your
554 teletext packet PTS and DTS values untouched.
557 Output option carrying the raw packet size in bytes.
558 Show the detected raw packet size, cannot be set by the user.
561 Scan and combine all PMTs. The value is an integer with value from -1
562 to 1 (-1 means automatic setting, 1 means enabled, 0 means
563 disabled). Default value is -1.
565 @item merge_pmt_versions
566 Re-use existing streams when a PMT's version is updated and elementary
567 streams move to different PIDs. Default value is 0.
572 MJPEG encapsulated in multi-part MIME demuxer.
574 This demuxer allows reading of MJPEG, where each frame is represented as a part of
575 multipart/x-mixed-replace stream.
578 @item strict_mime_boundary
579 Default implementation applies a relaxed standard to multi-part MIME boundary detection,
580 to prevent regression with numerous existing endpoints not generating a proper MIME
581 MJPEG stream. Turning this option on by setting it to 1 will result in a stricter check
582 of the boundary value.
589 This demuxer allows one to read raw video data. Since there is no header
590 specifying the assumed video parameters, the user must specify them
591 in order to be able to decode the data correctly.
593 This demuxer accepts the following options:
597 Set input video frame rate. Default value is 25.
600 Set the input video pixel format. Default value is @code{yuv420p}.
603 Set the input video size. This value must be specified explicitly.
606 For example to read a rawvideo file @file{input.raw} with
607 @command{ffplay}, assuming a pixel format of @code{rgb24}, a video
608 size of @code{320x240}, and a frame rate of 10 images per second, use
611 ffplay -f rawvideo -pixel_format rgb24 -video_size 320x240 -framerate 10 input.raw
616 SBaGen script demuxer.
618 This demuxer reads the script language used by SBaGen
619 @url{http://uazu.net/sbagen/} to generate binaural beats sessions. A SBG
620 script looks like that:
623 a: 300-2.5/3 440+4.5/0
624 b: 300-2.5/0 440+4.5/3
633 A SBG script can mix absolute and relative timestamps. If the script uses
634 either only absolute timestamps (including the script start time) or only
635 relative ones, then its layout is fixed, and the conversion is
636 straightforward. On the other hand, if the script mixes both kind of
637 timestamps, then the @var{NOW} reference for relative timestamps will be
638 taken from the current time of day at the time the script is read, and the
639 script layout will be frozen according to that reference. That means that if
640 the script is directly played, the actual times will match the absolute
641 timestamps up to the sound controller's clock accuracy, but if the user
642 somehow pauses the playback or seeks, all times will be shifted accordingly.
646 JSON captions used for @url{http://www.ted.com/, TED Talks}.
648 TED does not provide links to the captions, but they can be guessed from the
649 page. The file @file{tools/bookmarklets.html} from the FFmpeg source tree
650 contains a bookmarklet to expose them.
652 This demuxer accepts the following option:
655 Set the start time of the TED talk, in milliseconds. The default is 15000
656 (15s). It is used to sync the captions with the downloadable videos, because
657 they include a 15s intro.
660 Example: convert the captions to a format most players understand:
662 ffmpeg -i http://www.ted.com/talks/subtitles/id/1/lang/en talk1-en.srt