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 Supported File Format @tab Encoding @tab Decoding @tab Comments
44 @item MPEG audio @tab X @tab X
45 @item MPEG-1 systems @tab X @tab X
46 @tab muxed audio and video
47 @item MPEG-2 PS @tab X @tab X
48 @tab also known as @code{VOB} file
49 @item MPEG-2 TS @tab @tab X
50 @tab also known as DVB Transport Stream
51 @item ASF@tab X @tab X
52 @item AVI@tab X @tab X
53 @item WAV@tab X @tab X
54 @item Macromedia Flash@tab X @tab X
55 @item AVM2 (Flash 9) @tab X @tab X
56 @tab Only embedded audio is decoded.
57 @item FLV @tab X @tab X
58 @tab Macromedia Flash video files
59 @item Real Audio and Video @tab X @tab X
60 @item Raw AC3 @tab X @tab X
61 @item Raw MJPEG @tab X @tab X
62 @item Raw MPEG video @tab X @tab X
63 @item Raw PCM8/16 bits, mulaw/Alaw@tab X @tab X
64 @item Raw CRI ADX audio @tab X @tab X
65 @item Raw Shorten audio @tab @tab X
66 @item SUN AU format @tab X @tab X
67 @item NUT @tab X @tab X @tab NUT Open Container Format
68 @item QuickTime @tab X @tab X
69 @item MPEG-4 @tab X @tab X
70 @tab MPEG-4 is a variant of QuickTime.
71 @item Raw MPEG4 video @tab X @tab X
72 @item DV @tab X @tab X
74 @tab 4X Technologies format, used in some games.
75 @item Playstation STR @tab @tab X
76 @item Id RoQ @tab X @tab X
77 @tab Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.
78 @item Interplay MVE @tab @tab X
79 @tab Format used in various Interplay computer games.
80 @item WC3 Movie @tab @tab X
81 @tab Multimedia format used in Origin's Wing Commander III computer game.
82 @item Sega FILM/CPK @tab @tab X
83 @tab Used in many Sega Saturn console games.
84 @item Westwood Studios VQA/AUD @tab @tab X
85 @tab Multimedia formats used in Westwood Studios games.
86 @item Id Cinematic (.cin) @tab @tab X
87 @tab Used in Quake II.
88 @item FLIC format @tab @tab X
90 @item Sierra VMD @tab @tab X
91 @tab Used in Sierra CD-ROM games.
92 @item Sierra Online @tab @tab X
93 @tab .sol files used in Sierra Online games.
94 @item Matroska @tab X @tab X
95 @item Electronic Arts Multimedia @tab @tab X
96 @tab Used in various EA games; files have extensions like WVE and UV2.
97 @item Nullsoft Video (NSV) format @tab @tab X
98 @item ADTS AAC audio @tab X @tab X
99 @item Creative VOC @tab X @tab X @tab Created for the Sound Blaster Pro.
100 @item American Laser Games MM @tab @tab X
101 @tab Multimedia format used in games like Mad Dog McCree
102 @item AVS @tab @tab X
103 @tab Multimedia format used by the Creature Shock game.
104 @item Smacker @tab @tab X
105 @tab Multimedia format used by many games.
106 @item GXF @tab X @tab X
107 @tab General eXchange Format SMPTE 360M, used by Thomson Grass Valley playout servers.
108 @item CIN @tab @tab X
109 @tab Multimedia format used by Delphine Software games.
110 @item MXF @tab @tab X
111 @tab Material eXchange Format SMPTE 377M, used by D-Cinema, broadcast industry.
112 @item SEQ @tab @tab X
113 @tab Tiertex .seq files used in the DOS CDROM version of the game Flashback.
114 @item DXA @tab @tab X
115 @tab This format is used in non-Windows version of Feeble Files game and
116 different game cutscenes repacked for use with ScummVM.
117 @item THP @tab @tab X
118 @tab Used on the Nintendo GameCube.
119 @item C93 @tab @tab X
120 @tab Used in the game Cyberia from Interplay.
121 @item Bethsoft VID @tab @tab X
122 @tab Used in some games from Bethesda Softworks.
123 @item CRYO APC @tab @tab X
124 @tab Audio format used in some games by CRYO Interactive Entertainment.
125 @item Monkey's Audio @tab @tab X
126 @item SIFF @tab @tab X
127 @tab Audio and video format used in some games by Beam Software
128 @item LMLM4 @tab @tab X
129 @tab Used by Linux Media Labs MPEG-4 PCI boards
130 @item PVA @tab @tab X
131 @tab Used by TechnoTrend DVB PCI boards
132 @item MSN TCP Webcam @tab @tab X
133 @tab Used by MSN Messenger Webcam streams.
134 @item RL2 @tab @tab X
135 @tab Audio and video format used in some games by Entertainment Software Partners
138 @code{X} means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.
140 @section Image Formats
142 FFmpeg can read and write images for each frame of a video sequence. The
143 following image formats are supported:
145 @multitable @columnfractions .4 .1 .1 .4
146 @item Supported Image Format @tab Encoding @tab Decoding @tab Comments
147 @item PGM, PPM @tab X @tab X
148 @item PAM @tab X @tab X @tab PAM is a PNM extension with alpha support.
149 @item PGMYUV @tab X @tab X @tab PGM with U and V components in YUV 4:2:0
150 @item JPEG @tab X @tab X @tab Progressive JPEG is not supported.
151 @item .Y.U.V @tab X @tab X @tab one raw file per component
152 @item animated GIF @tab X @tab X @tab Only uncompressed GIFs are generated.
153 @item PNG @tab X @tab X @tab 2 bit and 4 bit/pixel not supported yet.
154 @item Targa @tab @tab X @tab Targa (.TGA) image format.
155 @item TIFF @tab X @tab X @tab YUV, JPEG and some extension is not supported yet.
156 @item SGI @tab X @tab X @tab SGI RGB image format
157 @item PTX @tab @tab X @tab V.Flash PTX format
158 @item RAS @tab @tab X @tab Sun Rasterfile
159 @item PCX @tab @tab X @tab PC Paintbrush
162 @code{X} means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.
164 @section Video Codecs
166 @multitable @columnfractions .4 .1 .1 .4
167 @item Supported Codec @tab Encoding @tab Decoding @tab Comments
168 @item MPEG-1 video @tab X @tab X
169 @item MPEG-2 video @tab X @tab X
170 @item MPEG-4 @tab X @tab X
171 @item MSMPEG4 V1 @tab X @tab X
172 @item MSMPEG4 V2 @tab X @tab X
173 @item MSMPEG4 V3 @tab X @tab X
174 @item WMV7 @tab X @tab X
175 @item WMV8 @tab X @tab X @tab not completely working
176 @item WMV9 @tab @tab X @tab not completely working
177 @item VC1 @tab @tab X
178 @item H.261 @tab X @tab X
179 @item H.263(+) @tab X @tab X @tab also known as RealVideo 1.0
180 @item H.264 @tab @tab X
181 @item RealVideo 1.0 @tab X @tab X
182 @item RealVideo 2.0 @tab X @tab X
183 @item MJPEG @tab X @tab X
184 @item lossless MJPEG @tab X @tab X
185 @item JPEG-LS @tab X @tab X @tab fourcc: MJLS, lossless and near-lossless is supported
186 @item Apple MJPEG-B @tab @tab X
187 @item Sunplus MJPEG @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: SP5X
188 @item DV @tab X @tab X
189 @item HuffYUV @tab X @tab X
190 @item FFmpeg Video 1 @tab X @tab X @tab experimental lossless codec (fourcc: FFV1)
191 @item FFmpeg Snow @tab X @tab X @tab experimental wavelet codec (fourcc: SNOW)
192 @item Asus v1 @tab X @tab X @tab fourcc: ASV1
193 @item Asus v2 @tab X @tab X @tab fourcc: ASV2
194 @item Creative YUV @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: CYUV
195 @item Sorenson Video 1 @tab X @tab X @tab fourcc: SVQ1
196 @item Sorenson Video 3 @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: SVQ3
197 @item On2 VP3 @tab @tab X @tab still experimental
198 @item On2 VP5 @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: VP50
199 @item On2 VP6 @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: VP60,VP61,VP62
200 @item Theora @tab X @tab X @tab still experimental
201 @item Intel Indeo 3 @tab @tab X
202 @item FLV @tab X @tab X @tab Sorenson H.263 used in Flash
203 @item Flash Screen Video @tab X @tab X @tab fourcc: FSV1
204 @item ATI VCR1 @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: VCR1
205 @item ATI VCR2 @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: VCR2
206 @item Cirrus Logic AccuPak @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: CLJR
207 @item 4X Video @tab @tab X @tab Used in certain computer games.
208 @item Sony Playstation MDEC @tab @tab X
209 @item Id RoQ @tab X @tab X @tab Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.
210 @item Xan/WC3 @tab @tab X @tab Used in Wing Commander III .MVE files.
211 @item Interplay Video @tab @tab X @tab Used in Interplay .MVE files.
212 @item Apple Animation @tab X @tab X @tab fourcc: 'rle '
213 @item Apple Graphics @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: 'smc '
214 @item Apple Video @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: rpza
215 @item Apple QuickDraw @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: qdrw
216 @item Cinepak @tab @tab X
217 @item Microsoft RLE @tab @tab X
218 @item Microsoft Video-1 @tab @tab X
219 @item Westwood VQA @tab @tab X
220 @item Id Cinematic Video @tab @tab X @tab Used in Quake II.
221 @item Planar RGB @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: 8BPS
222 @item FLIC video @tab @tab X
223 @item Duck TrueMotion v1 @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: DUCK
224 @item Duck TrueMotion v2 @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: TM20
225 @item VMD Video @tab @tab X @tab Used in Sierra VMD files.
226 @item MSZH @tab @tab X @tab Part of LCL
227 @item ZLIB @tab X @tab X @tab Part of LCL, encoder experimental
228 @item TechSmith Camtasia @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: TSCC
229 @item IBM Ultimotion @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: ULTI
230 @item Miro VideoXL @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: VIXL
231 @item QPEG @tab @tab X @tab fourccs: QPEG, Q1.0, Q1.1
232 @item LOCO @tab @tab X @tab
233 @item Winnov WNV1 @tab @tab X @tab
234 @item Autodesk Animator Studio Codec @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: AASC
235 @item Fraps FPS1 @tab @tab X @tab
236 @item CamStudio @tab @tab X @tab fourcc: CSCD
237 @item American Laser Games Video @tab @tab X @tab Used in games like Mad Dog McCree
238 @item ZMBV @tab X @tab X @tab Encoder works only on PAL8
239 @item AVS Video @tab @tab X @tab Video encoding used by the Creature Shock game.
240 @item Smacker Video @tab @tab X @tab Video encoding used in Smacker.
241 @item RTjpeg @tab @tab X @tab Video encoding used in NuppelVideo files.
242 @item KMVC @tab @tab X @tab Codec used in Worms games.
243 @item VMware Video @tab @tab X @tab Codec used in videos captured by VMware.
244 @item Cin Video @tab @tab X @tab Codec used in Delphine Software games.
245 @item Tiertex Seq Video @tab @tab X @tab Codec used in DOS CDROM FlashBack game.
246 @item DXA Video @tab @tab X @tab Codec originally used in Feeble Files game.
247 @item AVID DNxHD @tab X @tab X @tab aka SMPTE VC3
248 @item C93 Video @tab @tab X @tab Codec used in Cyberia game.
249 @item THP @tab @tab X @tab Used on the Nintendo GameCube.
250 @item Bethsoft VID @tab @tab X @tab Used in some games from Bethesda Softworks.
251 @item Renderware TXD @tab @tab X @tab Texture dictionaries used by the Renderware Engine.
252 @item AMV @tab @tab X @tab Used in Chinese MP3 players.
253 @item Mimic @tab @tab X @tab Used in MSN Messenger Webcam streams.
256 @code{X} means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.
258 @section Audio Codecs
260 @multitable @columnfractions .4 .1 .1 .1 .7
261 @item Supported Codec @tab Encoding @tab Decoding @tab Comments
262 @item MPEG audio layer 2 @tab IX @tab IX
263 @item MPEG audio layer 1/3 @tab X @tab IX
264 @tab MP3 encoding is supported through the external library LAME.
265 @item AC3 @tab IX @tab IX
266 @tab liba52 is used internally for decoding.
267 @item Vorbis @tab X @tab X
268 @item WMA V1/V2 @tab X @tab X
269 @item AAC @tab X @tab X
270 @tab Supported through the external library libfaac/libfaad.
271 @item Microsoft ADPCM @tab X @tab X
272 @item AMV IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
273 @tab Used in AMV files
274 @item MS IMA ADPCM @tab X @tab X
275 @item QT IMA ADPCM @tab X @tab X
276 @item 4X IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
277 @item G.726 ADPCM @tab X @tab X
278 @item Duck DK3 IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
279 @tab Used in some Sega Saturn console games.
280 @item Duck DK4 IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
281 @tab Used in some Sega Saturn console games.
282 @item Westwood Studios IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
283 @tab Used in Westwood Studios games like Command and Conquer.
284 @item SMJPEG IMA ADPCM @tab @tab X
285 @tab Used in certain Loki game ports.
286 @item CD-ROM XA ADPCM @tab @tab X
287 @item CRI ADX ADPCM @tab X @tab X
288 @tab Used in Sega Dreamcast games.
289 @item Electronic Arts ADPCM @tab @tab X
290 @tab Used in various EA titles.
291 @item Creative ADPCM @tab @tab X
292 @tab 16 -> 4, 8 -> 4, 8 -> 3, 8 -> 2
293 @item THP ADPCM @tab @tab X
294 @tab Used on the Nintendo GameCube.
295 @item RA144 @tab @tab X
296 @tab Real 14400 bit/s codec
297 @item RA288 @tab @tab X
298 @tab Real 28800 bit/s codec
299 @item RADnet @tab X @tab IX
300 @tab Real low bitrate AC3 codec, liba52 is used for decoding.
301 @item AMR-NB @tab X @tab X
302 @tab Supported through an external library.
303 @item AMR-WB @tab X @tab X
304 @tab Supported through an external library.
305 @item DV audio @tab @tab X
306 @item Id RoQ DPCM @tab X @tab X
307 @tab Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.
308 @item Interplay MVE DPCM @tab @tab X
309 @tab Used in various Interplay computer games.
310 @item Xan DPCM @tab @tab X
311 @tab Used in Origin's Wing Commander IV AVI files.
312 @item Sierra Online DPCM @tab @tab X
313 @tab Used in Sierra Online game audio files.
314 @item Apple MACE 3 @tab @tab X
315 @item Apple MACE 6 @tab @tab X
316 @item FLAC lossless audio @tab X @tab X
317 @item Shorten lossless audio @tab @tab X
318 @item Apple lossless audio @tab @tab X
319 @tab QuickTime fourcc 'alac'
320 @item FFmpeg Sonic @tab X @tab X
321 @tab experimental lossy/lossless codec
322 @item Qdesign QDM2 @tab @tab X
323 @tab there are still some distortions
324 @item Real COOK @tab @tab X
325 @tab All versions except 5.1 are supported
326 @item DSP Group TrueSpeech @tab @tab X
327 @item True Audio (TTA) @tab @tab X
328 @item Smacker Audio @tab @tab X
329 @item WavPack Audio @tab @tab X
330 @item Cin Audio @tab @tab X
331 @tab Codec used in Delphine Software games.
332 @item Intel Music Coder @tab @tab X
333 @item Musepack @tab @tab X
334 @tab SV7 and SV8 are supported
335 @item DT$ Coherent Audio @tab @tab X
336 @item ATRAC 3 @tab @tab X
337 @item Monkey's Audio @tab @tab X @tab Only versions 3.97-3.99 are supported
338 @item Nellymoser ASAO @tab @tab X
341 @code{X} means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.
343 @code{I} means that an integer-only version is available, too (ensures high
344 performance on systems without hardware floating point support).
346 @chapter Platform Specific information
350 BSD make will not build FFmpeg, you need to install and use GNU Make
355 To get help and instructions for building FFmpeg under Windows, check out
356 the FFmpeg Windows Help Forum at
357 @url{http://arrozcru.no-ip.org/ffmpeg/}.
359 @subsection Native Windows compilation
361 FFmpeg can be built to run natively on Windows using the MinGW tools. Install
362 the current versions of MSYS and MinGW from @url{http://www.mingw.org/}. Also
363 install the coreutils package. You can find detailed installation
364 instructions in the download section and the FAQ.
366 Within the MSYS shell, configure and make with:
369 ./configure --enable-memalign-hack
374 This will install @file{ffmpeg.exe} along with many other development files
375 to @file{/usr/local}. You may specify another install path using the
376 @code{--prefix} option in @file{configure}.
382 @item Use at least bash 3.1. Older versions are known to fail on the
385 @item In order to compile vhooks, you must have a POSIX-compliant libdl in
386 your MinGW system. Get dlfcn-win32 from
387 @url{http://code.google.com/p/dlfcn-win32}.
389 @item In order to compile FFplay, you must have the MinGW development library
390 of SDL. Get it from @url{http://www.libsdl.org}.
391 Edit the @file{bin/sdl-config} script so that it points to the correct prefix
392 where SDL was installed. Verify that @file{sdl-config} can be launched from
393 the MSYS command line.
395 @item The target @code{make wininstaller} can be used to create a
396 Nullsoft-based Windows installer for FFmpeg and FFplay. @file{SDL.dll}
397 must be copied to the FFmpeg directory in order to build the
400 @item By using @code{./configure --enable-shared} when configuring FFmpeg,
401 you can build libavutil, libavcodec and libavformat as DLLs.
405 @subsection Microsoft Visual C++ compatibility
407 As stated in the FAQ, FFmpeg will not compile under MSVC++. However, if you
408 want to use the libav* libraries in your own applications, you can still
409 compile those applications using MSVC++. But the libav* libraries you link
410 to @emph{must} be built with MinGW. However, you will not be able to debug
411 inside the libav* libraries, since MSVC++ does not recognize the debug
412 symbols generated by GCC.
413 We strongly recommend you to move over from MSVC++ to MinGW tools.
415 This description of how to use the FFmpeg libraries with MSVC++ is based on
416 Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition. If you have a different version,
417 you might have to modify the procedures slightly.
419 @subsubsection Using static libraries
421 Assuming you have just built and installed FFmpeg in @file{/usr/local}.
425 @item Create a new console application ("File / New / Project") and then
426 select "Win32 Console Application". On the appropriate page of the
427 Application Wizard, uncheck the "Precompiled headers" option.
429 @item Write the source code for your application, or, for testing, just
430 copy the code from an existing sample application into the source file
431 that MSVC++ has already created for you. For example, you can copy
432 @file{output_example.c} from the FFmpeg distribution.
434 @item Open the "Project / Properties" dialog box. In the "Configuration"
435 combo box, select "All Configurations" so that the changes you make will
436 affect both debug and release builds. In the tree view on the left hand
437 side, select "C/C++ / General", then edit the "Additional Include
438 Directories" setting to contain the path where the FFmpeg includes were
439 installed (i.e. @file{c:\msys\1.0\local\include}).
441 @item Still in the "Project / Properties" dialog box, select
442 "Linker / General" from the tree view and edit the
443 "Additional Library Directories" setting to contain the @file{lib}
444 directory where FFmpeg was installed (i.e. @file{c:\msys\1.0\local\lib}),
445 the directory where MinGW libs are installed (i.e. @file{c:\mingw\lib}),
446 and the directory where MinGW's GCC libs are installed
447 (i.e. @file{C:\mingw\lib\gcc\mingw32\4.2.1-sjlj}). Then select
448 "Linker / Input" from the tree view, and add the files @file{libavformat.a},
449 @file{libavcodec.a}, @file{libavutil.a}, @file{libmingwex.a},
450 @file{libgcc.a}, and any other libraries you used (i.e. @file{libz.a})
451 to the end of "Additional Dependencies".
453 @item Now, select "C/C++ / Code Generation" from the tree view. Select
454 "Debug" in the "Configuration" combo box. Make sure that "Runtime
455 Library" is set to "Multi-threaded Debug DLL". Then, select "Release" in
456 the "Configuration" combo box and make sure that "Runtime Library" is
457 set to "Multi-threaded DLL".
459 @item Click "OK" to close the "Project / Properties" dialog box.
461 @item MSVC++ lacks some C99 header files that are fundamental for FFmpeg.
462 Get msinttypes from @url{http://code.google.com/p/msinttypes/downloads/list}
463 and install it in MSVC++'s include directory
464 (i.e. @file{C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\include}).
466 @item MSVC++ also does not understand the @code{inline} keyword used by
467 FFmpeg, so you must add this line before @code{#include}ing libav*:
469 #define inline _inline
472 @item If you used @file{output_example.c} as your sample application,
473 you will have to edit the @code{#include}s to point to the files which
474 are under the @file{ffmpeg} directory (i.e. @code{<ffmpeg/avformat.h>}).
476 @item Build your application, everything should work.
480 @subsubsection Using shared libraries
482 This is how to create DLL and LIB files that are compatible with MSVC++:
486 @item Add a call to @file{vcvars32.bat} (which sets up the environment
487 variables for the Visual C++ tools) as the first line of @file{msys.bat}.
488 The standard location for @file{vcvars32.bat} is
489 @file{C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat},
490 and the standard location for @file{msys.bat} is @file{C:\msys\1.0\msys.bat}.
491 If this corresponds to your setup, add the following line as the first line
495 call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat"
498 Alternatively, you may start the @file{Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt},
499 and run @file{c:\msys\1.0\msys.bat} from there.
501 @item Within the MSYS shell, run @code{lib.exe}. If you get a help message
502 from @file{Microsoft (R) Library Manager}, this means your environment
503 variables are set up correctly, the @file{Microsoft (R) Library Manager}
504 is on the path and will be used by FFmpeg to create
505 MSVC++-compatible import libraries.
507 @item Build FFmpeg with
510 ./configure --enable-shared --enable-memalign-hack
515 Your install path (@file{/usr/local/} by default) should now have the
516 necessary DLL and LIB files under the @file{bin} directory.
520 To use those files with MSVC++, do the same as you would do with
521 the static libraries, as described above. But in Step 4,
522 you should only need to add the directory where the LIB files are installed
523 (i.e. @file{c:\msys\usr\local\bin}). This is not a typo, the LIB files are
524 installed in the @file{bin} directory. And instead of adding @file{libxx.a}
525 files, you should add @file{avcodec.lib}, @file{avformat.lib}, and
526 @file{avutil.lib}. There should be no need for @file{libmingwex.a},
527 @file{libgcc.a}, and @file{wsock32.lib}, nor any other external library
528 statically linked into the DLLs. The @file{bin} directory contains a bunch
529 of DLL files, but the ones that are actually used to run your application
530 are the ones with a major version number in their filenames
531 (i.e. @file{avcodec-51.dll}).
533 @subsection Cross compilation for Windows with Linux
535 You must use the MinGW cross compilation tools available at
536 @url{http://www.mingw.org/}.
538 Then configure FFmpeg with the following options:
540 ./configure --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i386-mingw32msvc-
542 (you can change the cross-prefix according to the prefix chosen for the
545 Then you can easily test FFmpeg with Wine
546 (@url{http://www.winehq.com/}).
548 @subsection Compilation under Cygwin
550 The main issue with Cygwin is that newlib, its C library, does not
551 contain llrint(). However, it is possible to leverage the
552 implementation in MinGW.
554 Just install your Cygwin with all the "Base" packages, plus the
555 following "Devel" ones:
557 binutils, gcc-core, make, subversion, mingw-runtime
560 Do not install binutils-20060709-1 (they are buggy on shared builds);
561 use binutils-20050610-1 instead.
563 Then create a small library that just contains llrint():
566 ar x /usr/lib/mingw/libmingwex.a llrint.o
567 ar cq /usr/local/lib/libllrint.a llrint.o
573 ./configure --enable-static --disable-shared --extra-ldflags='-L /usr/local/lib' --extra-libs='-l llrint'
576 to make a static build or
579 ./configure --enable-shared --disable-static --extra-ldflags='-L /usr/local/lib' --extra-libs='-l llrint'
582 to build shared libraries.
584 If you want to build FFmpeg with additional libraries, download Cygwin
585 "Devel" packages for Ogg and Vorbis from any Cygwin packages repository
586 and/or SDL, xvid, faac, faad2 packages from Cygwin Ports,
587 (@url{http://cygwinports.dotsrc.org/}).
589 @subsection Crosscompilation for Windows under Cygwin
591 With Cygwin you can create Windows binaries that do not need the cygwin1.dll.
593 Just install your Cygwin as explained before, plus these additional
596 gcc-mingw-core, mingw-runtime, mingw-zlib
599 and add some special flags to your configure invocation.
601 For a static build run
603 ./configure --target-os=mingw32 --enable-memalign-hack --enable-static --disable-shared --extra-cflags=-mno-cygwin --extra-libs=-mno-cygwin
606 and for a build with shared libraries
608 ./configure --target-os=mingw32 --enable-memalign-hack --enable-shared --disable-static --extra-cflags=-mno-cygwin --extra-libs=-mno-cygwin
613 BeOS support is broken in mysterious ways.
617 For information about compiling FFmpeg on OS/2 see
618 @url{http://www.edm2.com/index.php/FFmpeg}.
620 @chapter Developers Guide
624 @item libavcodec is the library containing the codecs (both encoding and
625 decoding). Look at @file{libavcodec/apiexample.c} to see how to use it.
627 @item libavformat is the library containing the file format handling (mux and
628 demux code for several formats). Look at @file{ffplay.c} to use it in a
629 player. See @file{output_example.c} to use it to generate audio or video
634 @section Integrating libavcodec or libavformat in your program
636 You can integrate all the source code of the libraries to link them
637 statically to avoid any version problem. All you need is to provide a
638 'config.mak' and a 'config.h' in the parent directory. See the defines
639 generated by ./configure to understand what is needed.
641 You can use libavcodec or libavformat in your commercial program, but
642 @emph{any patch you make must be published}. The best way to proceed is
643 to send your patches to the FFmpeg mailing list.
646 @section Coding Rules
648 FFmpeg is programmed in the ISO C90 language with a few additional
649 features from ISO C99, namely:
652 the @samp{inline} keyword;
656 designated struct initializers (@samp{struct s x = @{ .i = 17 @};})
658 compound literals (@samp{x = (struct s) @{ 17, 23 @};})
661 These features are supported by all compilers we care about, so we will not
662 accept patches to remove their use unless they absolutely do not impair
663 clarity and performance.
665 All code must compile with GCC 2.95 and GCC 3.3. Currently, FFmpeg also
666 compiles with several other compilers, such as the Compaq ccc compiler
667 or Sun Studio 9, and we would like to keep it that way unless it would
668 be exceedingly involved. To ensure compatibility, please do not use any
669 additional C99 features or GCC extensions. Especially watch out for:
672 mixing statements and declarations;
674 @samp{long long} (use @samp{int64_t} instead);
676 @samp{__attribute__} not protected by @samp{#ifdef __GNUC__} or similar;
678 GCC statement expressions (@samp{(x = (@{ int y = 4; y; @})}).
682 The presentation is the one specified by 'indent -i4 -kr -nut'.
683 The TAB character is forbidden outside of Makefiles as is any
684 form of trailing whitespace. Commits containing either will be
685 rejected by the Subversion repository.
687 The main priority in FFmpeg is simplicity and small code size in order to
688 minimize the bug count.
690 Comments: Use the JavaDoc/Doxygen
691 format (see examples below) so that code documentation
692 can be generated automatically. All nontrivial functions should have a comment
693 above them explaining what the function does, even if it is just one sentence.
694 All structures and their member variables should be documented, too.
707 typedef struct Foobar@{
708 int var1; /**< var1 description */
709 int var2; ///< var2 description
710 /** var3 description */
718 * @@param my_parameter description of my_parameter
719 * @@return return value description
721 int myfunc(int my_parameter)
725 fprintf and printf are forbidden in libavformat and libavcodec,
726 please use av_log() instead.
728 Casts should be used only when necessary. Unneeded parentheses
729 should also be avoided if they don't make the code easier to understand.
731 @section Development Policy
735 Contributions should be licensed under the LGPL 2.1, including an
736 "or any later version" clause, or the MIT license. GPL 2 including
737 an "or any later version" clause is also acceptable, but LGPL is
740 You must not commit code which breaks FFmpeg! (Meaning unfinished but
741 enabled code which breaks compilation or compiles but does not work or
742 breaks the regression tests)
743 You can commit unfinished stuff (for testing etc), but it must be disabled
744 (#ifdef etc) by default so it does not interfere with other developers'
747 You do not have to over-test things. If it works for you, and you think it
748 should work for others, then commit. If your code has problems
749 (portability, triggers compiler bugs, unusual environment etc) they will be
750 reported and eventually fixed.
752 Do not commit unrelated changes together, split them into self-contained
753 pieces. Also do not forget that if part B depends on part A, but A does not
754 depend on B, then A can and should be committed first and separate from B.
755 Keeping changes well split into self-contained parts makes reviewing and
756 understanding them on the commit log mailing list easier. This also helps
757 in case of debugging later on.
758 Also if you have doubts about splitting or not splitting, do not hesitate to
759 ask/discuss it on the developer mailing list.
761 Do not change behavior of the program (renaming options etc) without
762 first discussing it on the ffmpeg-devel mailing list. Do not remove
763 functionality from the code. Just improve!
765 Note: Redundant code can be removed.
767 Do not commit changes to the build system (Makefiles, configure script)
768 which change behavior, defaults etc, without asking first. The same
769 applies to compiler warning fixes, trivial looking fixes and to code
770 maintained by other developers. We usually have a reason for doing things
771 the way we do. Send your changes as patches to the ffmpeg-devel mailing
772 list, and if the code maintainers say OK, you may commit. This does not
773 apply to files you wrote and/or maintain.
775 We refuse source indentation and other cosmetic changes if they are mixed
776 with functional changes, such commits will be rejected and removed. Every
777 developer has his own indentation style, you should not change it. Of course
778 if you (re)write something, you can use your own style, even though we would
779 prefer if the indentation throughout FFmpeg was consistent (Many projects
780 force a given indentation style - we do not.). If you really need to make
781 indentation changes (try to avoid this), separate them strictly from real
784 NOTE: If you had to put if()@{ .. @} over a large (> 5 lines) chunk of code,
785 then either do NOT change the indentation of the inner part within (do not
786 move it to the right)! or do so in a separate commit
788 Always fill out the commit log message. Describe in a few lines what you
789 changed and why. You can refer to mailing list postings if you fix a
790 particular bug. Comments such as "fixed!" or "Changed it." are unacceptable.
792 If you apply a patch by someone else, include the name and email address in
793 the log message. Since the ffmpeg-cvslog mailing list is publicly
794 archived you should add some SPAM protection to the email address. Send an
795 answer to ffmpeg-devel (or wherever you got the patch from) saying that
796 you applied the patch.
798 When applying patches that have been discussed (at length) on the mailing
799 list, reference the thread in the log message.
801 Do NOT commit to code actively maintained by others without permission.
802 Send a patch to ffmpeg-devel instead. If no one answers within a reasonable
803 timeframe (12h for build failures and security fixes, 3 days small changes,
804 1 week for big patches) then commit your patch if you think it is OK.
805 Also note, the maintainer can simply ask for more time to review!
807 Subscribe to the ffmpeg-cvslog mailing list. The diffs of all commits
808 are sent there and reviewed by all the other developers. Bugs and possible
809 improvements or general questions regarding commits are discussed there. We
810 expect you to react if problems with your code are uncovered.
812 Update the documentation if you change behavior or add features. If you are
813 unsure how best to do this, send a patch to ffmpeg-devel, the documentation
814 maintainer(s) will review and commit your stuff.
816 Try to keep important discussions and requests (also) on the public
817 developer mailing list, so that all developers can benefit from them.
819 Never write to unallocated memory, never write over the end of arrays,
820 always check values read from some untrusted source before using them
821 as array index or other risky things.
823 Remember to check if you need to bump versions for the specific libav
824 parts (libavutil, libavcodec, libavformat) you are changing. You need
825 to change the version integer and the version string.
826 Incrementing the first component means no backward compatibility to
827 previous versions (e.g. removal of a function from the public API).
828 Incrementing the second component means backward compatible change
829 (e.g. addition of a function to the public API).
830 Incrementing the third component means a noteworthy binary compatible
831 change (e.g. encoder bug fix that matters for the decoder).
833 If you add a new codec, remember to update the changelog, add it to
834 the supported codecs table in the documentation and bump the second
835 component of the @file{libavcodec} version number appropriately. If
836 it has a fourcc, add it to @file{libavformat/avienc.c}, even if it
839 Compiler warnings indicate potential bugs or code with bad style. If a type of
840 warning always points to correct and clean code, that warning should
841 be disabled, not the code changed.
842 Thus the remaining warnings can either be bugs or correct code.
843 If it is a bug, the bug has to be fixed. If it is not, the code should
844 be changed to not generate a warning unless that causes a slowdown
845 or obfuscates the code.
847 If you add a new file, give it a proper license header. Do not copy and
848 paste it from a random place, use an existing file as template.
851 We think our rules are not too hard. If you have comments, contact us.
853 Note, these rules are mostly borrowed from the MPlayer project.
855 @section Submitting patches
857 First, (@pxref{Coding Rules}) above if you did not yet.
859 When you submit your patch, try to send a unified diff (diff '-up'
860 option). We cannot read other diffs :-)
862 Also please do not submit a patch which contains several unrelated changes.
863 Split it into separate, self-contained pieces. This does not mean splitting
864 file by file. Instead, make the patch as small as possible while still
865 keeping it as a logical unit that contains an individual change, even
866 if it spans multiple files. This makes reviewing your patches much easier
867 for us and greatly increases your chances of getting your patch applied.
869 Run the regression tests before submitting a patch so that you can
870 verify that there are no big problems.
872 Patches should be posted as base64 encoded attachments (or any other
873 encoding which ensures that the patch will not be trashed during
874 transmission) to the ffmpeg-devel mailing list, see
875 @url{http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/mailman/listinfo/ffmpeg-devel}
877 It also helps quite a bit if you tell us what the patch does (for example
878 'replaces lrint by lrintf'), and why (for example '*BSD isn't C99 compliant
881 Also please if you send several patches, send each patch as a separate mail,
882 do not attach several unrelated patches to the same mail.
884 @section patch submission checklist
888 Do the regression tests pass with the patch applied?
890 Is the patch a unified diff?
892 Is the patch against latest FFmpeg SVN?
894 Are you subscribed to ffmpeg-dev?
895 (the list is subscribers only due to spam)
897 Have you checked that the changes are minimal, so that the same cannot be
898 achieved with a smaller patch and/or simpler final code?
900 If the change is to speed critical code, did you benchmark it?
902 If you did any benchmarks, did you provide them in the mail?
904 Have you checked that the patch does not introduce buffer overflows or
905 other security issues?
907 Is the patch created from the root of the source tree, so it can be
908 applied with @code{patch -p0}?
910 Does the patch not mix functional and cosmetic changes?
912 Did you add tabs or trailing whitespace to the code? Both are forbidden.
914 Is the patch attached to the email you send?
916 Is the mime type of the patch correct? It should be text/x-diff or
917 text/x-patch or at least text/plain and not application/octet-stream.
919 If the patch fixes a bug, did you provide a verbose analysis of the bug?
921 If the patch fixes a bug, did you provide enough information, including
922 a sample, so the bug can be reproduced and the fix can be verified?
923 Note please do not attach samples >100k to mails but rather provide a
924 URL, you can upload to ftp://upload.mplayerhq.hu
926 Did you provide a verbose summary about what the patch does change?
928 Did you provide a verbose explanation why it changes things like it does?
930 Did you provide a verbose summary of the user visible advantages and
931 disadvantages if the patch is applied?
933 Did you provide an example so we can verify the new feature added by the
936 If you added a new file, did you insert a license header? It should be
937 taken from FFmpeg, not randomly copied and pasted from somewhere else.
939 You should maintain alphabetical order in alphabetically ordered lists as
940 long as doing so does not break API/ABI compatibility.
942 Lines with similar content should be aligned vertically when doing so
943 improves readability.
945 Did you provide a suggestion for a clear commit log message?
947 Did you test your decoder or demuxer against damaged data? If no, see
948 tools/trasher and the noise bitstream filter. Your decoder or demuxer
949 should not crash or end in a (near) infinite loop when fed damaged data.
952 @section Patch review process
954 All patches posted to ffmpeg-devel will be reviewed, unless they contain a
955 clear note that the patch is not for SVN.
956 Reviews and comments will be posted as replies to the patch on the
957 mailing list. The patch submitter then has to take care of every comment,
958 that can be by resubmitting a changed patch or by discussion. Resubmitted
959 patches will themselves be reviewed like any other patch. If at some point
960 a patch passes review with no comments then it is approved, that can for
961 simple and small patches happen immediately while large patches will generally
962 have to be changed and reviewed many times before they are approved.
963 After a patch is approved it will be committed to the repository.
965 We will review all submitted patches, but sometimes we are quite busy so
966 especially for large patches this can take several weeks.
968 When resubmitting patches, please do not make any significant changes
969 not related to the comments received during review. Such patches will
970 be rejected. Instead, submit significant changes or new features as
973 @section Regression tests
975 Before submitting a patch (or committing to the repository), you should at least
976 test that you did not break anything.
978 The regression tests build a synthetic video stream and a synthetic
979 audio stream. These are then encoded and decoded with all codecs or
980 formats. The CRC (or MD5) of each generated file is recorded in a
981 result file. A 'diff' is launched to compare the reference results and
984 The regression tests then go on to test the FFserver code with a
985 limited set of streams. It is important that this step runs correctly
988 Run 'make test' to test all the codecs and formats.
990 Run 'make fulltest' to test all the codecs, formats and FFserver.
992 [Of course, some patches may change the results of the regression tests. In
993 this case, the reference results of the regression tests shall be modified