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This is a new page that lists the audio/video codecs that VLC can or cannot read. It is still under development, don't hesitate to add a some FourCC and infos.
- A codec compresses or decompresses media files such as songs or videos. Windows Media Player and other apps use codecs to play and create media files. A codec can consist of two parts: an encoder that compresses the media file (encoding) and a decoder that decompresses the file (decoding).
- Today we primarily discuss VLC video transcoding feature and expound on how to let VLC convert AVI to MP4. As is well-known, VLC media player functions more than just media playback. It provides many additional features to help users achieve kinds of media processing purposes.
- Video Codec ID: CFHD Codec ID/Info: CineForm High-Definition (HD) wavelet codec Bit rate mode: Variable Bit rate: 28.7 Mb/s Width: 640 pixels Height: 360 pixels Display aspect ratio: 16:9 Frame rate mode: Constant Frame rate: 30.000 FPS Scan type: Progressive.
It should now be a bit more complete than the official features page on VideoLAN website.
If you have any question about those codecs, just consult our Knowledge Base or our friends on the Multimedia Wiki. If you don't find information, search with Wikipedia or Google.
The GoPro® CineForm video codec SDK. View on GitHub CineForm Introduction. GoPro CineForm® is a 12-bit, full-frame wavelet compression video codec. It is designed for speed and quality, at the expense of a very high compression size. Image compression is a balance of size, speed and quality, and you can only choose two.
- 1Video Codecs
Video Codecs
Widely Used Video Codecs
Name | FOURCC | Playable | Encoder | library | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MPEG-1 Part 2 | mpeg, mp1v, mpg1, PIM1 | Yes | Yes | libmpeg2 , ffmpeg | |
MPEG-2 Part 2 | mp2v, mpg2, vcr2, hdv1, hdv2, hdv3, mx*n, mx*p | Yes | Yes | libmpeg2 , ffmpeg | |
MJPEG (A/B) | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | ||
Divx (1, 2, 3) | DIV1, DIV2, DIV3, mp41, mp42, MPG4, MPG3 | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
DivX 4, 5, 6 , 3ivx D4, MPEG-4 | DIV4, DIV5, DIV6, col1, col0, 3ivd | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
MPEG-4 Part 2 (AVP), Xvid | DIVX, Xvid, mp4s, m4s2, xvid, mp4v, fmp4, 3iv2, smp4, ... | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
H.261 | h261 | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
H.262 | h262 | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | Same as MPEG-2 Video |
H.263 / H.263i | h263 | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
H.264 / X.264 (MPEG-4/AVC) (MPEG-4 Part.10) | h264, s264, AVC1, DAVC, H264, X264, VSSH | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg (decode), x264 (encode) | |
Sorenson 1 (Quicktime) | SVQ 1 | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
Sorenson 3 (Quicktime) | SVQ 3 | Yes | No | ffmpeg | |
DV | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | ||
Cinepak | cvid | Yes | No | internal, ffmpeg | |
Theora | thra | Yes | Yes, violated | libtheora | |
WMV 1/2 (7/8) | wmv1, wmv2 | Yes | Yes | ffmepg | |
WMV 3 / WMV-9 / VC-1 | wmv3, wvc1, wmva | Yes | No | ffmpeg | Not all profiles are supported. See DMO. |
On2 VP3, | VP31, VP30, VP3 | Yes | No | ffmpeg | |
On2 VP5 | VP50, VP5, VP51 | Yes | No | ffmpeg | |
On2 VP6 (used by FLV) | VP60, VP61, VP62, VP6F, VP6A | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
On2 VP7 | VP7 | No | No | ||
Flash Screen Video | FSV1 | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
Indeo Video 3 | IV31, IV32 | Yes | No | ffmpeg | |
Indeo Video 4/5 | IV41, IV51 | Yes | No | libavcodec | |
Real Video 1.0, 1.3, 2.0 | RV10, RV13, RV20 | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
Real Video 3.0, 4.0 | RV30, RV40 | No | No | ||
Dirac | BBCD | Yes | Yes | dirac | |
Huffyuv / | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg |
Rarer Video Codecs
Rare codecs | FOURCC | Decoder | Encoder | library | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apple Animation, Graphics, Video, QuickDraw | 'rle','smc ','rpza', 'qdrw' | Yes | No | ffmpeg | |
SheerVideo | No | No | Professional use, no open source decoders | ||
CorePNG | ?? | ?? | |||
MSU Lossless | ?? | ?? | |||
Snow | Yes | Yes | |||
Pixlet | ?? | ?? | |||
Rare codecs (Asus V1, Asus V2) | ASV1, ASV2 | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg | |
Game Codecs (Some) | Yes | No | ffmpeg | ||
Tarkin | No | No | |||
QPEG | QPEG | Yes | untested ??? | ffmpeg |
Audio Codecs
Add Codecs To Vlc
Name | FOURCC | Decoder | Encoder | library | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MPEG-Audio 1 Layer-1/2 | mpga | Yes | Yes | libmad (decoding), twolame (encoding) | ISO/IEC MPEG |
MP3 | mp3, .mp3, LAME | Yes | Yes | libmad (decoding), ffmpeg-mp3lame | ISO/IEC MPEG - (recompile needed for encoding) |
AAC | mp4a | Yes | Yes | faad (decode), faac (encoding) | ISO/IEC MPEG |
HE-AAC | Yes | untested ??? | faad (decode), libaacplus + ffmpeg (encoding) | ISO/IEC MPEG, AAC+ encoding through libaacplus + ffmpeg (patched) - untested RECOMPILE VLC & ffmpeg for this Audio codec | |
AC-3 | a52, a52b | Yes | Yes | liba52 (decode), ffmpeg (encode) | |
ATRAC | atrc | Yes | No | ||
iLBC | ILBC, ilbc | untested ??? | untested ??? | QuickTime (decode) | (check for encoder and free decoder) |
Mu-Law | Yes | No | ffmpeg | (check for encoder) | |
NellyMoser | Yes | No | ffmpeg | ||
QCELP (PureVoice) | Qclp | Yes | No? | ffmpeg | Usually in QCP container. buggy? |
Real Audio | lpcJ, 28_8, dnet, sipr, cook, atrc, raac, racp, ralf | Yes | No | Some work. Half don't | |
Shorten | shrn | No | No | ffmpeg and ffplay do it. VLC doesn't. (It is in the FOURCC list in VLC's modules/codec/avcodec/fourcc.c --Dionoea) | |
Speex | spex | Yes | Yes | libspeex | |
Vorbis | vorb | Yes | Yes | libvorbis | |
DTS | dts | Yes | No | libdca | DTS-HD unsupported |
MPC | Yes | No | libmpcdec | ||
WMA 1/2 | wma1, wma2 | Yes | Yes, violated | ffmpeg | WMA9 is not supported |
Flac | flac | Yes | Yes | libflac | lossless |
Apple Lossless Audio Codec | alac | Yes | No | ffmpeg | lossless |
Monkey's Audio | Yes | No | lossless | ||
Musepack | Yes | No | libmpcdec | ||
ADMPCM (various) | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg and internal | ||
AMR | samr | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg + libamrnb + libamrwb | RECOMPILE VLC for this Speech codec |
Sonic | SONC | Yes | Yes | ffmpeg |
Subtitles Codecs
- Transcluded from Subtitles codecs
Subtitle Name | Extension | Subtitle Type | Character Encoding | Line Break | Text Styling | Metadata Info | Timings | Timing Precision | VLC media player Support |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AQTitle | *.aqt | Text-based | None | Yes | No | No | Framings | Dependent on Frame | Yes (0.9.0 and over) |
Blu-Ray | N/A | Image-based | N/A | N/A | N/A | No | Elapsed Time | Unknown | Yes (1.1.0 and over) |
CVD subtitles | *.cvd | Image-based | N/A | N/A | N/A | No | Elapsed Time | Unknown | Yes |
DKS | *.dks | Text-based | None | Yes | No | No | Elapsed Time | Unknown | Yes (0.9.0 and over) |
DVB subtitles | N/A (in DVB streams) | Image-based | N/A | N/A | N/A | No | Elapsed Time | Unknown | Yes |
DVD subtitles | N/A | Image-based | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
JACOsub | *.jss | Text-based | None | Yes | Yes | No | Elapsed Time | 10 Milliseconds (1/100th sec) | Yes (0.9.0 and over), no styles |
Kate | N/A (inside OGG) | Text-based | None | Yes | Yes | No | Unknown | Unknown | Yes (0.9.0 and over), no styles |
MicroDVD | *.sub | Text-based | None | Yes | No | No | Framings | Dependent on Frames | Yes |
MPEG-4 Timed Text | .ttxt | XML | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | No | Elapsed Time | 1 Millisecond | Yes |
MPL2 | *.mpl/.txt | Text-based | None | Yes | No | No | Sequential Time | 100 Milliseconds (1/10th sec) | Yes, no italic |
MPSub | *.sub | Text-based | None | Yes | No | Yes | Sequential Time | 10 Milliseconds (1/100th sec) | Yes (0.9.0 and over) |
OggWrit | N/A (inside Oggs) | Text-based | None | No | Yes | Yes | Sequential Granules | Dependent on Bitstream | untested ???- Not specified yet. |
Phoenix Subtitle | *.pjs | Text-based | None | No | No | No | Framings | Dependent on Frames | Yes (0.9.0 and over) |
PowerDivX | .psb | Text-based | None | No | No | No | Elapsed Time | 1 Second | Yes (0.9.0 and over) |
RealText / SMIL | *.rt | HTML-based | Unicode (UTF-8) | Yes | Yes (SMIL) | No | Elapsed Time | 10 Milliseconds (1/100th sec) | Yes (0.9.0 and over) |
SAMI | *.smi | HTML-based | Unicode (Windows-1252) | Yes | Yes (CSS) | Yes | Framings | Dependent on Frames | Yes |
Structured Subtitle Format | .ssf | XML | None | No | Yes | Yes | Elapsed Time | 1 Millisecond | No |
SubRip | *.srt | Text-based | Informally Unicode | Yes | No | No | Elapsed Time | 1 Millisecond (1/1000th sec) | Yes |
SubStation Alpha | *.ssa/.ass | Text-based | None | No | Yes | Yes | Elapsed Time | 10 Milliseconds (1/100th sec) | Yes, 0.9.0 and over |
SubViewer | *.sub | Text-based | None | Yes | No | Yes | Elapsed Time | 10 Milliseconds (1/100th sec) | Yes |
SVCD subtitles | *.svcd | Image-based | N/A | N/A | N/A | No | Elapsed Time | Unknown | Yes |
Teletext | Unknown | Text-based | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Yes |
Universal Subtitle | *.usf | XML | Unicode (UTF-8) | No | Yes (XML DTD) | No | Elapsed Time | 1 Millisecond (1/1000th sec) | Yes, 0.9.0 and over |
VobSub | *.sub, *.idx | Image-based | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Elapsed Time | 1 Millisecond (1/1000th sec) | Yes |
VPlayer | *.txt | Text-based | None | Yes | No | No | Framing or Time | 10 Milliseconds (1/100th sec) | Yes |
XSUB (DivX subtitles) | N/A (embedded in .divx) | Image-based | N/A | N/A | N/A | No | Elapsed Time | 1 Millisecond | Yes (1.1.0 and over) |
Format/Container/Muxers
Name | extensions | Playable | Savable | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|
3GP | .3gp | Yes | untested ??? | |
AIFF | .asf, .wmv | Yes | No | |
ASF | .asf, .wmv | Yes | Yes | |
AU | .au | Yes | ||
AVI | .avi | Yes | Yes, violated | |
DMF | untested ??? | untested ??? | ||
FLV | .flv | Yes | Yes | through ffmpeg |
MOV | .mov | Yes | Yes | |
MP4 | .mp4 | Yes | Yes | |
OGG | .ogm, .ogg | Yes | Yes | |
MKV | .mkv, .mka | Yes | No, WIP | Summer of Code 2007 Project |
MPEG-2 / TS | .ts, .mpg | Yes | Yes | |
MPEG-2 / ES, PS, PVA, MP3 | .mpg, .mp3, .mp2 | Yes | Yes | |
NSC | .nsc | Yes | No | |
NSV | .nsv | Yes | No | |
Nut | .nut | Yes | Yes | Muxable through libavformat |
Real | .ra, .ram, .rm, .rv , .rmbv | Partial | No | version 4 and 5, no support for version 3 |
Raw (a52, dts, aac, flac, .dv, .vid) | .a52, .dts, .aac, .flac, .dv, .vid | Yes | ?? | |
True Audio Codec | .tta, .tac | Yes | No | |
Ty Tivo | .ty | Yes | No | |
Wav | .wav, .dts | Yes | Yes | |
Xa | .xa | Yes | No |
HD-Discs codecs
- Transcluded from HD-Discs codecs
Vlc Codecs Windows
Codec | VLC 1.0 | VLC 1.1 | VLC 1.2 | VLC 3.0.6 | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
H.264 | Yes | Yes | Yes | GPU acceleration recommended VLC DxVA2 or VLC VAAPI. | |
VC-1 | Partial | Partial | Partial | VC-1 Interlaced isn't ready | |
MPEG-2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | FFmpeg or libmpeg2 | |
EAC3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | FFmpeg, libavcodec > 52.0 | |
TrueHD | Yes | Yes | Yes | FFmpeg, libavcodec > 52.40 | |
DTS Core | Yes | Yes | Yes | libdca or FFmpeg | |
DTS-HD Master Audio | No | No | No | Core is played | |
Blu-Ray Subtitles | No | Yes, libavcodec > 52.40 | Yes | FFmpeg | |
HD-DVD Subtitles | No | No | No | ||
HD-DVD Files (.evo) | No | No | No | ||
Blu-Ray folders | Partial | Partial | Partial | ||
Discs | No | No | Partial |