The only thing that mmg needs to know is the location of the - mkvmerge binary. Under normal circumstances it will be - found automatically. But if not then you can select the binary - to use on the Settings tab.
+ mkvmerge binary. Under normal circumstances it will be + found automatically. But if not then you can select the binary + to use on the Settings tab.Basics
mkvmerge strictly differentiates between files and - tracks. An input file usually contains one or more - tracks. mkvmerge needs at least one input file and the - file name of the Matroska file it should create before it can do any - work. Starting with this minimal set of options the user can add more - input files, select advanced options for each track, apply some more - global options etc.
+ tracks. An input file usually contains one or more + tracks. mkvmerge needs at least one input file and the + file name of the Matroska file it should create before it can do any + work. Starting with this minimal set of options the user can add + more input files, select advanced options for each track, apply some + more global options etc.The typical basic steps are:
-
@@ -233,14 +234,14 @@
Aspect ratio:With this option the user can set the aspect ratio that should be used upon playback. It @@ -388,6 +398,16 @@ user has to check this option manually if it applies. Please note that this problem does not exist for HE-AAC stored in.MP4files.
+
+ Tags:For each track you can create a XML + tags file. For a full explanation of all tags please refer + to the example file and mkvmerge's own + documentation. In probably 99% of all cases you want to + use THIS option and associate tags with a specific + track. The tags option on the global tab is probably not + what you need.
+
- For the size: A number optionally followed by the letter
'K', 'M' or 'G' indicating kilobytes (1024 bytes),
megabytes (1024 * 1024 bytes) or gigabytes (1024 * 1024 *
@@ -574,6 +593,25 @@
the one output file will be linked to both of the two
UIDs.
+
Chapters
+ +With the browse button you can select the chapters to add to + the output file. A full explanation of all aspects around + chapters can be found in the Chapter editor + section.
+ +Global tags
+ +Unlike the tags you can select for each track on the input + tab the tags selected here have to contain the track + UIDs. These tags are not assigned to any track + automatically. In 99% of all cases this is NOT the option you + want to use!
+ +The full explanation can be found in + mkvmerge's documentation.
+@@ -590,31 +628,269 @@ Starting the merge process
++
++ ++ +Once everything has been set up the muxing process can be + started. The last thing to do is to chose where to mux + to. With the
+ +browsebutton you can select the + output file. After this has been done hit theStart + muxingbutton or select the same entry from the +Muxingmenu.If everything has been set up correctly mmg will show + the muxing dialog. The progress is shown at the top, as is a + general description of what mkvmerge is doing at the + moment (muxing, 1st pass of splitting files or 2nd pass of + splitting files).
+ +mkvmerge knows three different 'severity levels' for + its messages: status reports, warnings and errors. All status + report messages are shown in the upper window. These include + the track types encountered and other interesting things.
+ +Warnings are shown in the middle window. mkvmerge will + not abort when it issues a warning, but it might stop muxing + the track for which the warning was printed. You should pay + close attention to all warning messages.
+ +Errors are show in the lower window. Errors are always fatal, + and mkvmerge will stop muxing right after it has printed + the error message. Such a message might be that the hard disc + is full or that the source file is damaged and cannot be + processed any further.
+ +The button
+Abortsends mkvmerge the + signal to stop muxing. Unless mkvmerge is stuck in some + endless loop it will stop soon after you've pressed the + button. WithSave logyou can save the complete + output from mkvmerge into a text file for further study + or in case you've encountered a bug and want to send me some + additional information.+ ++
+
+
+ The muxing window +Saving and loading muxing settings
+All your hard work of setting options does not have to be lost when + you exit the program. You can save all your muxing settings into + text based configuration files with the
+Save settings+ option in theFilemenu and restore them later with the +Load settingsoption. The default extension is +.mmgand is usually not used by other programs. You can + also associate this extension with mmg so that it + automatically loads the settings if it is called with the name of + such a settings file.
The chapter editor
+One of the new features of mmg is a full-featured chapter + editor. It can read text based chapter files, import chapters from + existing Matroska files, write text based chapter files that can be + selected on the global tab and write chapters directly to existing + Matroska files.
+Matroska's chapter concept
+Unlike a lot of other systems Matroska supports nested + chapters. This basically means that you can define sub chapters for + chapters.
+ +A chapter entity in Matroska consists of at least four items: The + UID of the track(s) it applies to, the chapter title/name, it's + start time and the language code associated with it. Additional + elements are optional and include the end time, more language codes + and country codes. Usually the user will only need the mandatory + elements. Of these he can only specify the name, the start time and + the language code. mkvmerge will then automatically assign + all chapters to the complete file.
+Examples
+The first example is a simple one. The movie in question contains + four parts: The intro starting at the beginning, the first act, the + second act, and the credits. Note that the end timestamps are + optional.
+ +
+ +Intro (from 00:00:00, language English)
+ Act 1 (from 00:01:00, language English)
+ Act 2 (from 00:05:30, language English)
+ Credits (from 00:12:20 until 00;12:55, language + English)A more complex example including sub chapters. Let's take Ludwig + van Beethoven's opera Fidelio. For the sake of brevity I'm only + including the first three pieces of the two acts.
+ +The first act contains: +
-
+
- Overtüre (6:24 long), +
- Arie: 'Jetzt, Schätzchen, jetzt sind wir allein' (4:46 + long) and +
- Dialog: 'Armer Jaquino' (0:10 long). +
-
+
- Ouvertüre und Arie: 'Gott! welch Dunkel hier!' (10:46 + long), +
- Melodrama und Duett: 'Wie kalt ist es' (5:21 long) and +
- Dialog: 'Er erwacht!' (0:59 long). +
The first act, which will be our first chapter, has a combined + length of 11:20. Our second act has a length of 17:06. These + chapters would look like this:
+ +
+Erster Akt (from 00:00:00 until 00:11:20, language German, + country Germany)+
+ + Ouvertüre (from 00:00:00 until 00:06:24, language German, + country Germany)
+ + Arie: 'Jetzt, Schätzchen, jetzt sind wir allein' (from + 00:06:24 until 00:11:10, language German, country Germany)
+ + Dialog: 'Armer Jaquino' (from 00:11:10 until 00:11:20, language + German, country Germany)
+ + Zweiter Akt (from 00:11:20 until 00:28:26, language German, + country Germany)
+ + Ouvertüre und Arie: 'Gott! welch Dunkel hier!' (from 00:11:20 + until 00:22:06, language German, country Germany)
+ + Melodrama und Duett: 'Wie kalt ist es' (from 00:22:06 until + 00:27:27, language German, country Germany)
+ + Dialog: 'Er erwacht!' (from 00:27:27 until 00:28:26, language + German, country Germany) +Chapter formats supported by mkvmerge
+mkvmerge and mmg's chapter editor both support + different formats for chapter files.
+Simple/OGM style chapter files
+One of the most basic formats is the format used in OGM files. It + is a text based format. Each chapter entry contains of two lines, + the first containing the start time, the second the chapter's + title/name. All lines are numbered.
+ +The first example from above can be expressed in this format:
+ +
+CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000+
+ CHAPTER01NAME=Intro
+ CHAPTER02=00:01:00.000
+ CHAPTER02NAME=Act 1
+ CHAPTER03=00:05:30.000
+ CHAPTER03NAME=Act 2
+ CHAPTER04=00:12:20.000
+ CHAPTER04NAME=Credits +The second example cannot be expressed in this format because it + supports neither language specifications nor end times or nested + chapters. The advantage is that such files are very easy to create, + and there are several tools available for both Windows and + Unix/Linux that create such files directly from DVDs.
+ +Due to its limitations mmg cannot output chapters in this + format.
+Full-featured XML style chapter files
+I've created a XML based chapter format that closely matches the + system Matroska uses. With this format you have the full control + over all features. I won't describe this format here in + detail. Please have a look at the example XML chapter files that + came with mkvtoolnix.
+Chapters found in Matroska files
+The chapter editor can read chapters directly from Matroska + files. These can be written to XML chapter files or back to the same + Matroska file or another Matroska file. All features are + supported.
+Creating chapter files
++
++ ++ +The chapter editor consists of three parts: the tree view of + all chapters, the three buttons used for adding and removing + chapter entries, and the input boxes which are used for + setting the chapter entry's data.
+ +A new chapter file is started with the
+ +New+ option from theChapter editormenu. You can add + a new chapter with theAdd chapterorAdd + subchapterbuttons. The difference between these two + buttons is that when a chapter has been selectedAdd + chapterwill append a new chapter directly after the + selected chapter on the same level, andAdd + subchapterwill add a new chapter as the last child of + the currently selected chapter.The
+ +Remove chapterhas to be used with care. It + removes the complete subtree without asking for confirmation, + and there is no undo option available at the moment.After selecting a chapter entry you can change its data. The + format for the start and end time are either +
+ +HH:MM:SS.mmmor simplyHH:MM:SS. The + language codes are the same ISO639-2 language codes used + everywhere else. Please note that you can use more than one + language codes by separating them with spaces. You can add a + language code to the already entered codes by selecting it + from the drop down box. The same is true for the country codes + which are ISO639-1 codes. You can have more than country code + by separating them with spaces.Saving chapters to XML files can be done with
+Saveor +Save as.Save ascannot be used to + write chapters to an existing Matroska file - you'll have to + useSave to Matroska filefor that.+ ++
+
+
+ The chapter editor showing the example from + above +Editing existing chapters
+You can load existing chapter files or chapters from Matroska files + by selecting the
+Loadoption from theChapter + editormenu. mmg will automatically detect the file + type used and read the chapters.
When mmg starts up it shows the first and probably - most important tab: the input tab. Here you see four - different elements. The topmost input box lists all input - files. Directly under this box are options that apply - to the currently selected input file.
+ most important tab: the input tab. Here you see four + different elements. The topmost input box lists all input + files. Directly under this box are options that apply + to the currently selected input file.The two buttons to the right of the upper list box can be - used to add files to the list box with the + button and - to remove the selected entry with the - button.
+ used to add files to the list box with the + button and + to remove the selected entry with the - button.Once the user selects an input file in the upper list - box the second list box will contains all tracks that can - be read from this file. Each track is ENabled by default - and will be muxed into the resulting file. However, you can - change that by simply clicking on the check box right in front of - the track's name in the second list box. For each of these - tracks the user can select track specific options with the input - boxes and check boxes below the track listing. These options - will be described in the following sections.
+ box the second list box will contains all tracks that + can be read from this file. Each track is ENabled by + default and will be muxed into the resulting file. However, + you can change that by simply clicking on the check box right + in front of the track's name in the second list box. For each + of these tracks the user can select track specific options + with the input boxes and check boxes below the track + listing. These options will be described in the following + sections.
- Three enabled tracks and one disabled track. The fourth track will - not be copied into the output file. + Three enabled tracks and one disabled track. The + fourth track will not be copied into the output file.
Options for input file
Once the user has added and selected an input file he can set
- options that apply to this specific file. At the moment only two such
- options have been implemented: No chapters and No
- attachments. These options tell mkvmerge not to copy any
- chapters / attachments from the current source file.
No chapters, No
+ attachments and No tags. These options tell
+ mkvmerge not to copy any chapters / attachments / tags from
+ the current source file.
+ + Note: At the time of writing mkvmerge cannot copy tags + from a source Matroska file. You have to extract them with + mkvextract first.
More information about chapters can be found in the section about - the chapter editor in - this document and in mkvmerge's own documentation.
+ the chapter editor in + this document and in mkvmerge's own documentation.Options for each track
Depending on the type of the currently selected track (audio, - video, subtitles) and even depending on the contents of the track only - a subset of all the track specific options are available. The options - are:
+ video, subtitles) and even depending on the contents of the track + only a subset of all the track specific options are available. The + options are:| @@ -509,7 +529,6 @@ accumulated. The formats accepted are: |