A Codec Mapping is a set of attributes to identify, name, and contextualize the format
and characteristics of encoded data that can be contained within Matroska Clusters.
Each TrackEntry used within Matroska MUST reference a defined Codec Mapping using the
CodecID to identify and describe the format of the encoded data in its associated Clusters.
This CodecID is a unique registered identifier that represents the encoding stored within
the Track. Certain encodings MAY also require some form of codec initialization
to provide its decoder with context and technical metadata.
The intention behind this list is not to list all existing audio and video codecs,
but rather to list those codecs that are currently supported in Matroska and therefore
need a well defined CodecID so that all developers supporting Matroska will use the
same CodecID. If you feel we missed support for a very important codec, please tell
us on our development mailing list (cellar at ietf.org).
Support for a codec is defined in Matroska with the following values.
Each codec supported for storage in Matroska MUST have a unique CodecID.
Each CodecID MUST be prefixed with the string from the following table according to
the associated type of the codec. All characters of a Codec ID Prefix MUST be
capital letters (A-Z) except for the last character of a Codec ID Prefix which MUST be
an underscore ("_").
| Codec Type | Codec ID Prefix |
|---|---|
| Video | "V_" |
| Audio | "A_" |
| Subtitle | "S_" |
| Button | "B_" |
| Table: Codec ID Prefix by Codec Type{#CodecPrefix} |
Each CodecID MUST include a Major Codec ID immediately following the Codec ID Prefix.
A Major Codec ID MAY be followed by an OPTIONAL Codec ID Suffix to communicate a refinement
of the Major Codec ID. If a Codec ID Suffix is used, then the CodecID MUST include a
forward slash ("/") as a separator between the Major Codec ID and the Codec ID Suffix.
The Major Codec ID MUST be composed of only capital letters (A-Z) and numbers (0-9).
The Codec ID Suffix MUST be composed of only capital letters (A-Z), numbers (0-9),
underscore ("_"), and forward slash ("/").
The following table provides examples of valid Codec IDs and their components:
| Codec ID Prefix | Major Codec ID | Separator | Codec ID Suffix | Codec ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A_ | AAC | / | MPEG2/LC/SBR | A_AAC/MPEG2/LC/SBR |
| V_ | MPEG4 | / | ISO/ASP | V_MPEG4/ISO/ASP |
| V_ | MPEG1 | V_MPEG1 | ||
| Table: Codec ID Components{#CodecComponents} |
Each encoding supported for storage in Matroska MUST have a Codec Name.
The Codec Name provides a readable label for the encoding.
An optional description for the encoding. This value is only intended for human consumption.
Each encoding supported for storage in Matroska MUST have a defined Initialization.
The Initialization MUST describe the storage of data necessary to initialize the decoder,
which MUST be stored within the CodecPrivate element. When the Initialization is updated
within a track, then that updated Initialization data MUST be written into the CodecState element
of the first Cluster to require it. If the encoding does not require any form of Initialization,
then none MUST be used to define the Initialization and the CodecPrivate element
SHOULD NOT be written and MUST be ignored.
Additional data that contextualizes or supplements a Block can be stored within
the BlockAdditional element of a BlockMore element [@!RFC9559, section 5.1.3.5.2.1].
Each BlockAdditional is coupled with a BlockAddID that identifies the kind of data it contains.
A BlockAddID of 1 means the data in the BlockAdditional element are tied to the codec.
This BlockAdditional data with a BlockAddID of 1 MAY be passed to the associated decoder alongside the Block content .
A codec definition MUST contain a "Codec BlockAdditions" section if the codec can use BlockAdditional data with a BlockAddID of 1.
The BlockAddID values are defined in (#block-addition-mappings).
Documentation of the associated normative and informative references for the codec is RECOMMENDED.
When a Superseded By is set, the specified CodecID value MUST be used instead of the CodecID it's defined for.
Files MAY exist with the superseded CodecID and MAY be supported by Matroska Players.
Creators of new Codec Mappings to be used in the context of Matroska:
-
SHOULD assume that all
Codec Mappingsthey create might become standardized, public, commonly deployed, or usable across multiple implementations. -
SHOULD employ meaningful values for
CodecIDandCodec Namethat they have reason to believe are currently unused. -
SHOULD NOT prefix their
CodecIDwith "X_" or similar constructs.
These recommendations are based on [@!RFC6648, section 3].
All codecs described in this section MUST have a TrackType ([@!RFC9559, section 5.1.4.1.3]) value of "1" for video.
The track using these codecs MUST contain a Video element -- EBML Path \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video.
Most video codec contain meta information about the data they contain, like encoded width and height, chroma subsampling, etc.
Whenever possible these information inside the codec SHOULD be extracted and repeated at the Matroska level with
the appropriate element(s) inside the \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video and \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry elements.
These values MUST be valid for the whole Segment.
Codec ID: V_AV1
Codec Name: Alliance for Open Media AV1 Video codec
Description: Only one Sequence Header OBU, as defined in section 6.4 of [@!AV1], is supported per Matroska Segment.
Each Block contains one Temporal Unit containing one or more OBUs. Each OBU stored in the Block MUST contain its header and its payload.
The OBUs in the Block follow the Low Overhead Bitstream Format syntax.
They MUST have the obu_has_size_field set to 1 except for the last OBU in the frame, for which obu_has_size_field MAY be set to 0, in which case it is assumed to fill the remainder of the frame.
A SimpleBlock MUST NOT be marked as a Keyframe if it doesn't contain a Frame OBU.
A SimpleBlock MUST NOT be marked as a Keyframe if the first Frame OBU doesn't have a frame_type of KEY_FRAME.
A SimpleBlock MUST NOT be marked as a Keyframe if it doesn't contains a Sequence Header OBU.
A Block inside a BlockGroup MUST use ReferenceBlock elements if the first Frame OBU in the Block has a frame_type other than KEY_FRAME.
A Block inside a BlockGroup MUST use ReferenceBlock elements if the Block doesn't contain a Sequence Header OBU.
A Block with frame_header_obu where the frame_type is INTRA_ONLY_FRAME MUST use a ReferenceBlock with a value of 0 to reference itself.
Initialization: The CodecPrivate consists of the AV1CodecConfigurationRecord described in section 2.3 of [@!AV1-ISOBMFF].
PixelWidth: MUST be max_frame_width_minus_1+1 of the Sequence Header OBU.
PixelHeight: MUST be max_frame_height_minus_1+1 of the Sequence Header OBU.
Codec ID: V_AVS2
Codec Name: AVS2-P2/IEEE.1857.4
Description: Individual pictures of AVS2-P2 stored as described in the second part of [@!IEEE.1857-4].
Initialization: none.
Codec ID: V_AVS3
Codec Name: AVS3-P2/IEEE.1857.10
Description: Individual pictures of AVS3-P2 stored as described in the second part of [@!IEEE.1857-10].
Initialization: none.
Codec ID: V_CAVS
Codec Name: AVS1-P2, JiZhun profile
Description: Individual pictures of AVS1-P2 stored as described in [@!IEEE.1857-3].
Codec ID: V_DIRAC
Codec Name: BBC Dirac
Description: A video codec developed by the BBC [@Dirac]. The Intra-only version of Dirac, also known as Dirac Pro, resulted in SMPTE VC-2 [@SMPTE.ST2042-1]. Each Matroska frame corresponds to a Sequence as defined in [@!Dirac].
Codec ID: V_FFV1
Codec Name: FF Video Codec 1
Description: FFV1 is a lossless intra-frame video encoding format designed to efficiently compress video data in a variety of pixel formats. Compared to uncompressed video, FFV1 offers storage compression, frame fixity, and self-description, which makes FFV1 useful as a preservation or intermediate video format. [@!RFC9043]
Initialization: For FFV1 versions 0 or 1, CodecPrivate SHOULD NOT be written.
For FFV1 version 3 or greater, the CodecPrivate MUST contain the FFV1 Configuration Record structure, as defined in [@!RFC9043, section 4.3], and no other data.
Codec ID: V_MJPEG
Codec Name: Motion JPEG
Description: Motion JPEG is a video compression format in which each video frame or interlaced field is compressed separately as a [@!JPEG] image.
Codec ID: V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Codec Name: HEVC/H.265
Description: Individual pictures (which could be a frame, a field, or 2 fields having the same timestamp) of HEVC/H.265 stored as described in [@!ISO.14496-15].
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a HEVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!ISO.14496-15].
Codec ID: V_MPEGI/ISO/VVC
Codec Name: VVC/H.266
Description: Individual pictures (which could be a frame, a field, or 2 fields having the same timestamp) of VVC/H.266 stored as described in [@!ISO.14496-15].
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a VVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!ISO.14496-15].
Codec ID: V_MPEG1
Codec Name: MPEG 1
Description: Frames correspond to a Video Sequence as defined in [@!ISO.11172-2].
Initialization: none
Codec ID: V_MPEG2
Codec Name: MPEG 2
Description: Frames correspond to a Video Sequence as defined in [@!ISO.13818-2].
Initialization: none
Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Codec Name: AVC/H.264
Description: Individual pictures (which could be a frame, a field, or 2 fields having the same timestamp) of AVC/H.264 stored as described in [@!ISO.14496-15].
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a AVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!ISO.14496-15].
For legacy reasons, because Block Additional Mappings are preferred; see (#block-addition-mappings),
the AVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure MAY be followed by an extension block beginning
with a 4-byte extension block size field in big-endian byte order which is the size of the extension block
minus 4 (excluding the size of the extension block size field) and a 4-byte field corresponding
to a BlockAddIDType of "mvcC" followed by a content corresponding to the content of BlockAddIDExtraData for mvcC; see (#mvcc).
Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AP
Codec Name: MPEG4 ISO Advanced Profile
Description: Frames correspond to frames defined in [@!ISO.14496-2].
Stream was created via improved codec API (UCI) or transmuxed from MP4, not simply transmuxed from AVI.
Note there are differences how b-frames are handled in these original streams,
when being compared to a VfW created stream, as here there are no dummy frames inserted,
same as in MP4 streams.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/ASP
Codec Name: MPEG4 ISO Advanced Simple Profile (DivX5, XviD)
Description: Frames correspond to frames defined in [@!ISO.14496-2].
Stream was created via improved codec API (UCI) or transmuxed from MP4, not simply transmuxed from AVI.
Note there are differences how b-frames are handled in these original streams,
when being compared to a VfW created stream, as here there are no dummy frames inserted,
same as in MP4 streams.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/SP
Codec Name: MPEG4 ISO Simple Profile (DivX4)
Description: Frames correspond to frames defined in [@!ISO.14496-2]. Stream was created via improved codec API (UCI) or even transmuxed from AVI (no b-frames in Simple Profile).
Initialization: none
Codec ID: V_MPEG4/MS/V3
Codec Name: Microsoft MPEG4 V3
Description: Microsoft MPEG4 V3 and derivates, means DivX3, Angelpotion, SMR, etc.; stream was created using VfW codec or transmuxed from AVI; note that V1/V2 are covered in VfW compatibility mode.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: V_MS/VFW/FOURCC
Codec Name: Microsoft Video Codec Manager (VCM)
Description: The CodecPrivate contains the VCM structure BITMAPINFOHEADER including
the extra private bytes, as defined in [@!BITMAPINFOHEADER].
The data are stored in little-endian format (like on IA32 machines). Where is the Huffman table stored
in HuffYUV, not AVISTREAMINFO ??? And the FourCC, not in AVISTREAMINFO.fccHandler ???
Initialization: CodecPrivate contains the VCM structure BITMAPINFOHEADER including the extra private bytes,
as defined by Microsoft in [@!BITMAPINFOHEADER].
Codec ID: V_QUICKTIME
Codec Name: Video taken from QuickTime files
Description: Several codecs as stored in QuickTime (e.g., Sorenson or Cinepak).
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains all additional data that is stored in the 'stsd' (sample description) atom
in the QuickTime file after the mandatory video descriptor structure
(starting with the size and FourCC fields). For an explanation of the QuickTime file format read [@!QTFF].
Codec ID: V_PRORES
Codec Name: Apple ProRes
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the FourCC as found in MP4 movies:
-
ap4x: ProRes 4444 XQ
-
ap4h: ProRes 4444
-
apch: ProRes 422 High Quality
-
apcn: ProRes 422 Standard Definition
-
apcs: ProRes 422 LT
-
apco: ProRes 422 Proxy
-
aprh: ProRes RAW High Quality
-
aprn: ProRes RAW Standard Definition
ProRes is defined as [@!SMPTE.RDD36].
Codec ID: V_REAL/RV10
Codec Name: RealVideo 1.0 aka RealVideo 5
Description: Individual slices from the Real container are combined into a single frame.
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a real_video_props_t structure in big-endian byte order as found in [@!librmff].
Codec ID: V_REAL/RV20
Codec Name: RealVideo G2 and RealVideo G2+SVT
Description: Individual slices from the Real container are combined into a single frame.
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a real_video_props_t structure in big-endian byte order as found in [@!librmff].
Codec ID: V_REAL/RV30
Codec Name: RealVideo 8
Description: Individual slices from the Real container are combined into a single frame.
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a real_video_props_t structure in big-endian byte order as found in [@!librmff].
Codec ID: V_REAL/RV40
Codec Name: rv40 : RealVideo 9
Description: Individual slices from the Real container are combined into a single frame.
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a real_video_props_t structure in big-endian byte order as found in [@!librmff].
Codec ID: V_THEORA
Codec Name: Theora
Description: Frames correspond to a Theora Frame as defined in [@!Theora].
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the first three Theora packets in order. The lengths of the packets precedes them. The actual layout is:
-
Byte 1: number of distinct packets
#pminus one inside theCodecPrivateblock. This MUST be "2" for current (as of 2016-07-08) Theora headers. -
Bytes 2..n: lengths of the first
#ppackets, coded in Xiph-style lacing. The length of the last packet is the length of theCodecPrivateblock minus the lengths coded in these bytes minus one. -
Bytes n+1..: The Theora identification header, followed by the commend header followed by the codec setup header. Those are described in the [@!Theora].
Codec ID: V_UNCOMPRESSED
Codec Name: Video, raw uncompressed video frames
Description: All details about the used color specs and bit depth are to be put/read from the TrackEntry\Video\UncompressedFourCC elements.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: V_VP8
Codec Name: VP8 Codec format
Description: VP8 is an open and royalty free video compression format developed by Google and created by On2 Technologies as a successor to VP7. [@!RFC6386]
Codec BlockAdditions: A single-channel encoding of an alpha channel MAY be stored in BlockAdditions. The BlockAddID of the BlockMore containing these data MUST be 1.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: V_VP9
Codec Name: VP9 Codec format
Description: VP9 is an open and royalty free video compression format developed by Google as a successor to VP8. [@!VP9]
Codec BlockAdditions: A single-channel encoding of an alpha channel MAY be stored in BlockAdditions. The BlockAddID of the BlockMore containing these data MUST be 1.
Initialization: The CodecPrivate SHOULD contain a list of specific VP9 codec features as described in the "VP9 Codec Feature Metadata" section of [@!WebMContainer].
This piece of data helps to select a decoder on playback, but as many muxers don't provide the CodecPrivate for "V_VP9" it's not a hard requirement.
It is possible for the decoder to reconstruct the "VP9 Codec Feature Metadata" from the first frame in case the CodecPrivate is not present.
Note that the format differs from the VPCodecConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@VP-ISOBMFF].
All codecs described in this section MUST have a TrackType ([@!RFC9559, section 5.1.4.1.3]) value of "2" for audio.
The track using these codecs MUST contain an Audio element -- EBML Path \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio.
Most audio codec contain meta information about the data they contain, like encoded sampling frequency, channel count, etc.
Whenever possible these information inside the codec SHOULD be extracted and repeated at the Matroska level with
the appropriate element(s) inside the \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio and \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry elements.
These values MUST be valid for the whole Segment.
Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG2/LC
Codec Name: Low Complexity
Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG2/LC/SBR
Codec Name: Low Complexity with Spectral Band Replication
Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG2/MAIN
Codec Name: MPEG2 Main Profile
Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG2/SSR
Codec Name: Scalable Sampling Rate
Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/LC
Codec Name: Low Complexity
Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/LC/SBR
Codec Name: Low Complexity with Spectral Band Replication
Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/LTP
Codec Name: Long Term Prediction
Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/MAIN
Codec Name: MPEG4 Main Profile
Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/SSR
Codec Name: Scalable Sampling Rate
Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AC3
Codec Name: Dolby Digital / AC-3
Description: Individual frames of AC-3 syncframe() stored as described in [@!ATSC.A52] or [@!ETSI.TS102-366] when the value of the bsid field defined in Section 5.4.2.1 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] is 10 or below.
Channel number have to be read from the corresponding audio element
Codec ID: A_AC3/BSID9
Codec Name: Dolby Digital / AC-3
Description: Individual frames of AC-3 syncframe() stored as described in [@!ATSC.A52] or [@!ETSI.TS102-366] when the value of the bsid field defined in Section 5.4.2.1 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] is 9.
Note that the value 9 in the bsid field is not standard but it is defacto used for dividing the sampling rate defined in Section 5.4.1.3 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] by 2.
Using this Codec ID is NOT RECOMMENDED as many Matroska Players don't support it. The generic A_AC3 Codec ID should be used instead as it supports a bsid of 9 as well.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_AC3/BSID10
Codec Name: Dolby Digital / AC-3
Description: Individual frames of AC-3 syncframe() stored as described in [@!ATSC.A52] or [@!ETSI.TS102-366] when the value of the bsid field defined in Section 5.4.2.1 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] is 10.
Note that the value 10 in the bsid field is not standard but it is defacto used for dividing the sampling rate defined in Section 5.4.1.3 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] by 4.
Using this Codec ID is NOT RECOMMENDED as many Matroska Players don't support it. The generic A_AC3 Codec ID should be used instead as it supports a bsid of 10 as well.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_ALAC
Codec Name: ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec)
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains ALAC's magic cookie (both the codec specific configuration as well as the optional channel layout information).
Its format is described in the "Magic Cookie" defined in [@!ALAC].
Codec ID: A_ATRAC/AT1
Codec Name: Sony ATRAC1 Codec
Description: The original ATRAC codec by Sony, mainly used in MiniDisc platforms. The core technical details on ATRAC1 can be found in [@?AtracAES]. An example encoder/decoder can be found at [@?atracdenc].
Initialization: None
Codec ID: A_DTS
Codec Name: Digital Theatre System
Description: Supports DTS, DTS-ES, DTS-96/26, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio. It corresponds to the base codec defined in [@!ETSI.TS102-114].
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_DTS/EXPRESS
Codec Name: Digital Theatre System Express
Description: DTS Express (a.k.a. LBR) audio streams. It corresponds to the LBR extension of the DTS codec defined in section 9 of [@!ETSI.TS102-114].
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_DTS/LOSSLESS
Codec Name: Digital Theatre System Lossless
Description: DTS Lossless audio that does not have a core substream. It corresponds to the Lossless extension (XLL) of the DTS codec defined in section 8 of [@!ETSI.TS102-114].
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_EAC3
Codec Name: Dolby Digital Plus / E-AC-3
Description: Individual frames of E-AC-3 syncframe() stored as described in [@!ATSC.A52] or [@!ETSI.TS102-366] when the value of the bsid field defined in Annex E Section 2.1 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section E.1.3.1.6 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] is 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16.
Codec ID: A_FLAC
Codec Name: FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains all the header/metadata packets before the first data packet as defined in [@!I-D.ietf-cellar-flac].
These include the first header packet containing only the word fLaC as well as all metadata packets.
Codec ID: A_MLP
Codec Name: Meridian Lossless Packing / MLP
Description: A lossless audio codec used in DVD-Audio discs. The format is similar to Dolby TrueHD ((#a-truehd)) but with less channels.
Codec ID: A_MPC
Codec Name: MPC (musepack) SV8
Description: The main developer for musepack has requested that we wait until the SV8 framing has been fully defined for musepack before defining how to store it in Matroska.
Codec ID: A_MPEG/L1
Codec Name: MPEG Audio 1, 2 Layer I
Description: Frames correspond to Audio Frames of a Layer I bitstream as defined in [@!ISO.11172-3].
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_MPEG/L2
Codec Name: MPEG Audio 1, 2 Layer II
Description: Frames correspond to Audio Frames of a Layer II bitstream as defined in [@!ISO.11172-3].
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_MPEG/L3
Codec Name: MPEG Audio 1, 2, 2.5 Layer III
Description: Frames correspond to Audio Frames of a Layer III bitstream as defined in [@!ISO.11172-3].
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_MS/ACM
Codec Name: Microsoft Audio Codec Manager (ACM)
Description: The data are stored in little-endian format (like on IA32 machines).
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the [@!WAVEFORMATEX] structure including the extra format information bytes.
The structure is stored without packing or padding bytes.
A WORD corresponds to a signed 2 octets integer, DWORD corresponds to a signed 4 octets integer.
The extra format information are appended after the WAVEFORMATEX octets.
Codec ID: A_REAL/14_4
Codec Name: Real Audio 1
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains either the "real_audio_v4_props_t" or the "real_audio_v5_props_t" structure
(differentiated by their "version" field; big-endian byte order) as found in [librmff].
Codec ID: A_REAL/28_8
Codec Name: Real Audio 2
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains either the "real_audio_v4_props_t" or the "real_audio_v5_props_t" structure
(differentiated by their "version" field; big-endian byte order) as found in [librmff].
Codec ID: A_REAL/ATRC
Codec Name: Sony Atrac3 Codec
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains either the "real_audio_v4_props_t" or the "real_audio_v5_props_t" structure
(differentiated by their "version" field; big-endian byte order) as found in [librmff].
Codec ID: A_REAL/COOK
Codec Name: Real Audio Cook Codec (codename: Gecko)
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains either the "real_audio_v4_props_t" or the "real_audio_v5_props_t" structure
(differentiated by their "version" field; big-endian byte order) as found in [librmff].
Codec ID: A_REAL/RALF
Codec Name: Real Audio Lossless Format
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains either the "real_audio_v4_props_t" or the "real_audio_v5_props_t" structure
(differentiated by their "version" field; big-endian byte order) as found in [librmff].
Codec ID: A_REAL/SIPR
Codec Name: Sipro Voice Codec
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains either the "real_audio_v4_props_t" or the "real_audio_v5_props_t" structure
(differentiated by their "version" field; big-endian byte order) as found in [librmff].
Codec ID: A_OPUS
Codec Name: Opus interactive speech and audio codec
Description: The OPUS audio codec defined by [@!RFC6716] using a similar encapsulation as the Ogg Encapsulation [@!RFC7845].
Initialization: The track CodecPrivate MUST be present and contain the Identification Header defined in [@!RFC7845, section 5.1].
Channels: The track Channels element value MUST be the "Output Channel Count" value of the Identification Header.
SamplingFrequency: The track SamplingFrequency element value MUST be the "Input Sample Rate" value of the Identification Header.
CodecDelay: The track CodecDelay element MUST be present and set to the "Pre-skip" value of the Identification Header translated to Matroska Ticks.
The "Pre-skip" value is in samples at 48,000 Hz. The formula to get the CodecDelay is:
CodecDelay = pre-skip * 1,000,000,000 / 48,000.
SeekPreRoll: The track SeekPreRoll element SHOULD be present and set to 80,000,000 -- 80 ms in Matroska Ticks --
in order to ensure that the output audio is correct by the time it reaches the seek target.
Codec ID: A_PCM/FLOAT/IEEE
Codec Name: Floating-Point, IEEE compatible
Description: The audio bit depth MUST be read and set from the BitDepth element (32 bits in most cases).
The floats are stored as defined in [@!IEEE.754] and in little-endian order.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_PCM/INT/BIG
Codec Name: PCM Integer Big Endian
Description: The audio bit depth MUST be read and set from the BitDepth element. Audio samples MUST be considered as signed values,
except if the audio bit depth is 8 which MUST be interpreted as unsigned values.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_PCM/INT/LIT
Codec Name: PCM Integer Little Endian
Description: The audio bit depth MUST be read and set from the BitDepth element. Audio samples MUST be considered as signed values,
except if the audio bit depth is 8 which MUST be interpreted as unsigned values.
Initialization: none
Codec ID: A_QUICKTIME
Codec Name: Audio taken from QuickTime files
Description: Several codecs as stored in QuickTime (e.g., QDesign Music v1 or v2).
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains all additional data that is stored in the 'stsd' (sample description) atom
in the QuickTime file after the mandatory sound descriptor structure (starting with the size and FourCC fields).
For an explanation of the QuickTime file format read [@!QTFF].
Codec ID: A_QUICKTIME/QDMC
Codec Name: QDesign Music
Description:
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains all additional data that is stored in the 'stsd' (sample description) atom
in the QuickTime file after the mandatory sound descriptor structure (starting with the size and FourCC fields).
For an explanation of the QuickTime file format read [@!QTFF].
Superseded By: A_QUICKTIME ((#a-quicktime))
Codec ID: A_QUICKTIME/QDM2
Codec Name: QDesign Music v2
Description:
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains all additional data that is stored in the 'stsd' (sample description) atom
in the QuickTime file after the mandatory sound descriptor structure (starting with the size and FourCC fields).
For an explanation of the QuickTime file format read [@!QTFF].
Superseded By: A_QUICKTIME ((#a-quicktime))
Codec ID: A_TRUEHD
Codec Name: Dolby TrueHD
Description: Lossless audio codec from Dolby. Each Matroska frame corresponds to a single Access Unit as defined in [@!TRUEHD].
Codec ID: A_TTA1
Codec Name: The True Audio lossless audio compressor
Description: The format is described in [@!TTA].
Each frame is kept intact, including the CRC32. The header and seektable are dropped. SamplingFrequency, Channels and BitDepth are used in the TrackEntry.
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the TTA Header Structure, as defined in [@!TTA].
Codec ID: A_VORBIS
Codec Name: Vorbis
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the first three Vorbis packet in order. The lengths of the packets precedes them. The actual layout is:
-
Byte 1: number of distinct packets
#pminus one inside theCodecPrivateblock. This MUST be "2" for current (as of 2016-07-08) Vorbis headers. -
Bytes 2..n: lengths of the first
#ppackets, coded in Xiph-style lacing. The length of the last packet is the length of theCodecPrivateblock minus the lengths coded in these bytes minus one. -
Bytes n+1..: The "Identification Header" as defined in Section 4.2.2 of [@!VORBIS], followed by the "Comment Header" as defined in Section 5 of [@!VORBIS], followed by the "Setup Header" as defined in Section 4.2.4 of [@!VORBIS].
Codec ID: A_WAVPACK4
Codec Name: WavPack lossless audio compressor
Description: The WavPack packets consist of a block defined in [@!WAVPACK] with a WavpackHeader header.
For multichannel (> 2 channels) a frame consists of many packets. For more details, check the WavPack muxing description (#wavpack).
Codec BlockAdditions: For hybrid A_WAVPACK4 encodings (that include a lossy encoding with a supplemental correction
to produce a lossless encoding), the correction part is stored in BlockAdditional.
The BlockAddID of the BlockMore containing these data MUST be 1.
Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the version 16-bit integer from the WavpackHeader of [@!WAVPACK] stored in little-endian.
All codecs described in this section MUST have a TrackType ([@!RFC9559, section 5.1.4.1.3]) value of "17" for subtitles.
Subtitle codec often contain meta information about the data they contain, like expected output dimension, language, etc.
Whenever possible these information inside the codec SHOULD be extracted and repeated at the Matroska level with
the appropriate element(s) inside the \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video and \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry elements.
These values MUST be valid for the whole Segment.
Codec ID: S_ARIBSUB
Codec Name: ARIB STD-B24 subtitles
Description: This is the textual subtitle format used in the ISDB/ARIB broadcasting standard. For more information see (#arib-isdb-subtitles) on ARIB (ISDB) subtitles.
Codec ID: S_DVBSUB
Codec Name: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) subtitles
Description: This is the graphical subtitle format used in the Digital Video Broadcasting standard. For more information see (#digital-video-broadcasting-dvb-subtitles) on Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB).
Codec ID: S_HDMV/PGS
Codec Name: HDMV presentation graphics subtitles (PGS)
Description: This is the graphical subtitle format used on Blu-rays. For more information, see (#hdmv-text-subtitles) on HDMV text presentation.
Codec ID: S_HDMV/TEXTST
Codec Name: HDMV text subtitles
Description: This is the textual subtitle format used on Blu-rays. For more information, see (#hdmv-presentation-graphics-subtitles) on HDMV graphics presentation.
Codec ID: S_KATE
Codec Name: Karaoke And Text Encapsulation
Description: A subtitle format developed for ogg. The mapping for Matroska is described
on the "Matroska mapping" section of [@!OggKate].
Kate headers are stored in the CodecPrivate as xiph-laced packets.
The length of the last packet isn't encoded, it is deduced from the sizes of the other packets and the total size of the CodecPrivate.
Codec ID: S_IMAGE/BMP
Codec Name: Bitmap
Description: Basic image based subtitle format; The subtitles are stored as images, like in the DVD [@?DVD-Video].
The timestamp in the block header of Matroska indicates the start display time,
the duration is set with the BlockDuration element. The full data for the subtitle bitmap
is stored in the Block's data section.
Codec ID: S_TEXT/ASS
Codec Name: Advanced SubStation Alpha Format
Description: Each event is stored in its own Block.
For more information see (#ssa-ass-subtitles) on SSA/ASS.
This codec ID MUST be used when "ScriptType: v4.00+" or "[V4+ Styles]" sections are found in the original SSA script.
The codec MAY also be found with the Codec ID S_ASS, but using that value is NOT RECOMMENDED.
Initialization: The "[Script Info]" and "[V4 Styles]" sections are stored in the CodecPrivate.
Codec ID: S_TEXT/ASCII
Codec Name: ASCII Plain Text
Description: Basic text subtitles with only ASCII characters allowed.
Codec ID: S_TEXT/SSA
Codec Name: SubStation Alpha Format
Description: Each event is stored in its own Block.
For more information see (#ssa-ass-subtitles) on SSA/ASS.
This codec ID MUST NOT be used when "ScriptType: v4.00+" or "[V4+ Styles]" sections are found in the original SSA script.
The codec MAY also be found with the Codec ID S_SSA, but using that value is NOT RECOMMENDED.
Initialization: The "[Script Info]" and "[V4+ Styles]" sections are stored in the CodecPrivate.
Codec ID: S_TEXT/USF
Codec Name: Universal Subtitle Format
Description: An XML based subtitle format.
Each BlockGroup contains XML data from a "subtitle" XML element as defined in section 3.4 of [@!USF],
without the "subtitle" element itself and with the start, stop duration mapped to the BlockGroup timestamp and BlockDuration element.
The "image" XML elements are turned into Matroska attachments and replaced in the stream with their attachment filename.
Initialization: The CodecPrivate element MAY be present.
If present it MAY contains "metadata", "styles" and "effects" XML elements usable in the whole stream inside a parent "USFSubtitles" XML parent element,
similar to the "USFSubtitles" element of a standalone USF file but without the "subtitles" XML element.
Codec ID: S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec Name: UTF-8 Plain Text
Description: Basic text subtitles. For more information see (#subtitles) on Subtitles.
Codec ID: S_TEXT/WEBVTT
Codec Name: Web Video Text Tracks Format (WebVTT)
Description: Advanced text subtitles. For more information see (#webvtt) on WebVTT.
Codec ID: S_VOBSUB
Codec Name: VobSub subtitles
Description: The same subtitle format used on DVDs [@?DVD-Video]. Supported is only format version 7 and newer.
VobSubs consist of two files, the .idx containing information, and the .sub, containing the actual data.
The .idx file is stripped of all empty lines, of all comments and of lines beginning with alt: or langidx:.
The line beginning with id: SHOULD be transformed into the appropriate Matroska track language element
and is discarded. All remaining lines but the ones containing timestamps and file positions
are put into the CodecPrivate element.
For each line containing the timestamp and file position data is read from the appropriate position in the .sub file. This data consists of a MPEG program stream which in turn contains SPU packets. The MPEG program stream data is discarded, and each SPU packet is put into one Matroska frame.
All codecs described in this section MUST have a TrackType ([@!RFC9559, section 5.1.4.1.3]) value of "18" for buttons.
Codec ID: B_VOBBTN
Codec Name: VobBtn Buttons
Description: Based on MPEG/VOB PCI packets. The frame contains a header consisting of the string "butonDVD" followed by the width and height in pixels (16-bit unsigned integer each) and 4 reserved bytes. The rest is a full PCI packet described in [@!DVD-Info.PCI].
Registered BlockAddIDType are:
Block type identifier: 0
Block type name: Use BlockAddIDValue
Description: This value indicates that the actual type is stored in BlockAddIDValue instead.
This value is expected to be used when it is important to have a strong compatibility
with players or derived formats not supporting BlockAdditionMapping but using BlockAdditions
with an unknown BlockAddIDValue, and SHOULD NOT be used if it is possible to use another value.
Block type identifier: 1
Block type name: Opaque data
Description: the BlockAdditional data is interpreted as opaque additional data passed to the codec
with the Block data.
The usage of these BlockAdditional data is defined in the "Codec BlockAdditions" section of the codec; see (#codec-blockadditions).
Block type identifier: 4
Block type name: ITU T.35 metadata
Description: the BlockAdditional data is interpreted as ITU T.35 metadata, as defined by [@?ITU-T.35]
terminal codes. BlockAddIDValue MUST be 4.
Block type identifier: 0x61766345
Block type name: Dolby Vision enhancement-layer AVC configuration
Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as the Dolby Vision enhancement-layer AVC
configuration box as described in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF]. This extension MUST NOT
be used if CodecID is not V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC.
Block type identifier: 0x68766345
Block type name: Dolby Vision enhancement-layer HEVC configuration
Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as the Dolby Vision enhancement-layer HEVC configuration as described in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF].
This extension MUST NOT be used if CodecID is not V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC.
Block type identifier: 0x64766343
Block type name: Dolby Vision configuration dvcC
Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as DOVIDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF],
for Dolby Vision profiles 0 to 7 included.
Block type identifier: 0x64767643
Block type name: Dolby Vision configuration dvvC
Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as DOVIDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF],
for Dolby Vision profiles 8 to 10 included and 20.
Block type identifier: 0x64767743
Block type name: Dolby Vision configuration dvwC
Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as DOVIDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF],
for Dolby Vision profiles 11 to 19 included.
Block type identifier: 0x6D766343
Block type name: MVC configuration
Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as MVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!ISO.14496-15].
This extension MUST NOT be used if CodecID is not V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC.