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1155 lines
46 KiB
HTML
1155 lines
46 KiB
HTML
<html>
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<head>
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<title>A guide to mkvmerge GUI</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>A guide to mkvmerge GUI (mmg)</h1>
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<i>Moritz Bunkus</i>
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<hr>
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<h2>Table of contents</h2>
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<p>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#introduction">Introduction</a>
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<br>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#whatismatroska">What is Matroska?</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#whatismkvmerge">What is mkvmerge?
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What is mkvmerge GUI?
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#latestversion">Obtaining the latest
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version
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#scope">Scope of this guide</a>
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</li>
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</ol>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#setup">Setting up mkvmerge GUI</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#muxing">Creating Matroska files</a>
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<br>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#basics">Basics</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#fileoptions">Options for input
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files
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#trackoptions">Options for each
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track
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#attachments">Attachments</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#globaloptions">Global options</a>
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<br>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#global_title">File/segment
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title</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#global_split">Automatic
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splitting and file linking</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#global_link">Manual
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file/segment linking</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#global_chapters">Chapters</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#global_tags">Global tags</a>
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</li>
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</ol>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#doit">Starting the merge
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process
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#saveload">Saving and loading
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muxing settings
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#jobqueue">Queueing several jobs</a>
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</li>
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</ol>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#chaptereditor">The chapter editor</a>
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<br>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#chapterconcept">Matroska's
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chapter concept
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#chapterexamples">Examples</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#chapterformats">Chapter formats
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supported by mkvmerge
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</a>
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<br>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#cfsimple">Simple/OGM style
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chapter files
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#cfxml">Full-featured XML
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style chapter files
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#cfkax">Chapters found in
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Matroska files
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</a>
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</li>
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</ol>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#creatingchapters">Creating
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chapter files
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#editingchapters">Editing existing
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chapters
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</a>
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</li>
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</ol>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#headereditor">The header editor</a>
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<br>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#he_addingremovingheaderfields">Adding
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and removing header fields</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#he_analyzingthefile">Opening an existing file</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#he_analyzingthefile">Opening an existing file</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#he_validation">Validation</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#he_saving">Saving the file</a>
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</li>
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</ol>
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</li>
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</ol>
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</p>
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<hr>
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<a name="wxhh_introduction"></a>
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<h2><a name="introduction">1. Introduction</a></h2>
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<h3><a name="whatismatroska">1.1. What is Matroska?</a></h3>
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<p>(<i>Note: simply copied from <a href="http://www.matroska.org/">
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www.matroska.org</a>.</i>)</p>
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<p><b>Matroska</b> aims to become THE Standard of Multimedia Container
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Formats. It was derived from a project called MCF, but
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differentiates from it significantly because it is based on EBML
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(Extensible Binary Meta Language), a binary derivative of XML. EBML
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enables the Matroska Development Team to gain significant advantages
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in terms of future format extensibility, without breaking file
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support in old parsers.</p>
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<p>If you need any more info please head over to
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<a href="http://www.matroska.org/">Matroska's homepage</a>.</p>
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<h3><a name="whatismkvmerge">1.2. What is mkvmerge? What is mkvmerge
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GUI?</a></h3>
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<p><i>mkvmerge</i> and <i>mkvmerge GUI</i> (or just <i>mmg</i>) are two
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programs created by <a href="mailto:moritz@bunkus.org">Moritz
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Bunkus</a>. They're part of the <i>mkvtoolnix</i> package. <i>mkvmerge</i>
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can read a lot of different multimedia files and put their contents into
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Matroska files. Unfortunately this is a command line program, and not
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everyone is comfortable working on the command line. This is where
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<i>mkvmerge GUI</i> comes into play. It is a GUI that provides the user
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with an intuitive but powerful interface to <i>mkvmerge</i>.</p>
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<p>Both programs are available for both Windows and GNU/Linux and
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other Unix derivatives. The program is licensed under the GPL, so
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the source code is available to anyone interested.</p>
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<h3><a name="latestversion">1.3. Obtaining the latest version</a></h3>
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<p>You can always find the latest version of <i>mkvtoolnix</i> on
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<a href="http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/">Moritz
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Bunkus' website</a>. Windows users will have to download the runtime
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DLLs as well as the <i>mkvtoolnix</i> binaries. Linux/Unix users
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will probably download the sources and compile
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<i>mkvtoolnix</i> themselves.</p>
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<h3><a name="scope">1.4. Scope of this guide</a></h3>
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<p>This guide only focuses on the GUI part of these tools. All
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command line options are explained in detail in
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<a href="mkvmerge.html"><i>mkvmerge</i>'s man page/HTML page</a>.</p>
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<hr>
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<a name="wxhh_setup"></a>
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<h2><a name="setup">2. Setting up mkvmerge GUI</a></h2>
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<p>(<i>Note: This section does not cover compilation and
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installation. <i>mkvmerge</i>'s own documentation and the
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<code>README</code> files that are included in the
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<i>mkvtoolnix</i> package.</i>)</p>
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<div align="center">
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<p>
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<img src="images/selectmkvmergeexecutable.gif"
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alt="selecting the mkvmerge executable">
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<br>
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<font size="-1">Figure 1: Use this button to select the path to the
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<i>mkvmerge</i> program.</font>
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</p>
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</div>
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<p>The only thing that <i>mmg</i> needs to know is the location
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of the <i>mkvmerge</i> binary. Under normal circumstances it
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will be found automatically. But if not then you can select
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the binary to use on the <i>Settings</i> tab.</p>
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<hr>
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<a name="wxhh_muxing"></a>
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<h2><a name="muxing">3. Creating Matroska files</a></h2>
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<h3><a name="basics">3.1. Basics</a></h3>
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<p><i>mkvmerge</i> strictly differentiates between <i>files</i> and
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<i>tracks</i>. An input <i>file</i> usually contains one or more
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<i>tracks</i>. <i>mkvmerge</i> needs at least one input file and the file
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name of the Matroska file it should create before it can do any
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work. Starting with this minimal set of options the user can add more input
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files, select advanced options for each track, apply some more global
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options etc.</p>
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<p>The typical basic steps are:<br>
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<ol>
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<li>Select some input <i>files</i>,</li>
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<li>set language options for the <i>tracks</i>,</li>
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<li>set the movie/file title,</li>
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<li>select the file to write to and</li>
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<li>start the muxing process.</li>
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</ol>
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</p>
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<div align="center">
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<p>
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<img src="images/addremovefiles.gif"
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alt="adding and removing files">
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<br>
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<font size="-1">Figure 2: Use these buttons to add and remove
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files.</font>
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</p>
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</div>
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<p>When <i>mmg</i> starts up it shows the first and probably most
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important tab: the <i>input tab</i>. Here you see four different
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elements. The topmost input box lists all input
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<i>files</i>. Directly under this box are options that apply
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to the currently selected input <i>file</i>.</p>
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<p>Figure 2 shows the three buttons to the right of the upper list box that
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can be used to add files to the list box with the <i>add</i> and
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<i>append</i> buttons and to remove the selected entry with the
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<i>remove</i> button.</p>
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<p>There is a difference between <i>adding</i> and <i>appending</i> a
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file. Normally, the tracks of all <i>added</i> files are put into the
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resulting Matroska file in parallel. This is usually the case if you
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have e.g. a video track, one or more audio tracks and one or more
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subtitle tracks. They all contain material that belongs to the same
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timecodes and that has to be played simulatneously.</p>
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<p><i>Appending</i> a file on the other hand will cause all tracks of the
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second file to be appended to tracks of a previously <i>added</i>
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file. That way the contents of those tracks will be played one after the
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other. You can only concatenate tracks that are of the same kind (video
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to video tracks etc), have the same codec (e.g. MP3 to MP3 but not MP3
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to AC3) and the same parameters (e.g. the sample rate must match).</p>
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<p>You can tell an <i>added</i> file from an <i>appended</i> one by
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looking at its name. <i>Appended</i> files and tracks start with
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"<code>++></code>".</p>
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<div align="center">
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<p>
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<img src="images/trackselection.gif"
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alt="selecting specific tracks">
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<br>
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<font size="-1">Figure 3: One enabled and one disabled track. The second
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track will not be copied into the output file.</font>
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</p>
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</div>
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<p>Once the user has added at least one input <i>file</i> in the upper
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list box the second list box will contains all available
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<i>tracks</i>. Each track is ENabled by default and will be
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muxed into the resulting file. However, you can change that by
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simply clicking on the check box right in front of the track's
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name in the second list box. This is shown in figure 3.</p>
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<p>For each of these tracks the user can select track specific options with
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the input boxes and check boxes below the track listing. These options will
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be described in the following sections.</p>
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<p>To the right of the track list box there are two buttons with which
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you can control the order of the tracks in the output file. By hitting
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the <i>up</i> and <i>down</i> the currently selected track is moved in
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the appropriate direction. There are some restrictions to moving
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<i>appended</i> tracks around (the ones that start with
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"<code>++></code>") like an <i>appended</i> track must not be
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the first track etc.</p>
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<h3><a name="fileoptions">3.2. Options for input file</a></h3>
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<p>Once the user has added and selected an input file he can set options
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that apply to this specific file. At the moment three such options have
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been implemented, and they all are only available for Matroska files:
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<code>No chapters</code>, <code>No attachments</code> and <code>No
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tags</code>. These options tell <i>mkvmerge</i> not to copy any
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chapters / attachments / tags from the current source file.</p>
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<p>More information about chapters can be found in the section about the
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<a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#chaptereditor">chapter editor</a> in this
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document and in <i>mkvmerge</i>'s own documentation.</p>
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<h3><a name="trackoptions">3.3. Options for each track</a></h3>
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<p>Depending on the type of the currently selected track (audio,
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video, subtitles) and even depending on the contents of the track
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only a subset of all the track specific options are
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available. These options span over two sub-pages. There
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are <em>general track options</em> and <em>format specific
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options</em>.</p>
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<div align="center">
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<p>
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<img src="images/generaltrackoptions.gif"
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alt="typical options for a video track">
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<br>
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<font size="-1">Figure 4: Options common for all kinds of tracks</font>
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</p>
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</div>
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<p><b>Note:</b> Unless overridden by the user <i>mkvmerge</i> will
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either copy track settings from the input file if the source format
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supports such information, or it will use sensitive default
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values.</p>
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<p>The available general options are:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><code>Track name:</code> The user can set a name for the current
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track. This name is a free-form string. Practical examples could be
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'director's comments' or 'great view of Seattle'. Note that these names
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are not meant to contain the movie title!</li>
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<li><code>Language:</code> The user can select the language for each track
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regardless of its type. This language is coded in the ISO639-2 language
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code. The drop-down box contains all ISO639-2 codes so the user does not
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have to worry about selecting the wrong language code.</li>
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<li><code>Cues:</code> The <i>cues</i> are for Matroska what the index is
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for AVI files. They contain links to the key frames. Usually this option
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should be left on the value 'default'. <i>mkvmerge</i> will automatically
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chose the best method for any given track type. A full explanation of
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tracks can be found in <a href="mkvmerge.html"><i>mkvmerge</i>'s
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documentation</a>.</li>
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<li><code>Make default track:</code> Matroska knows a flag which tells the
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player that a specific track should be preferred upon playback if the user
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does not chose another one. Of course each track <i>type</i> has its own
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default track - e.g. the default audio track is the English one, and the
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default subtitle track is the French one. If no track is set to be the
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default track then <i>mkvmerge</i> will promote the first track of each
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type that it finds to be the default track. This is consistent with the
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behavior of various media players.</li>
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<li><code>Tags:</code> For each track you can create a XML tags file. For a
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full explanation of all tags please refer to the example file and <a
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href="mkvmerge.html"><i>mkvmerge</i>'s own documentation</a>. In probably
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99% of all cases you want to use THIS option and associate tags with a
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specific track. The tags option on the global tab is probably not what you
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need.</li>
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<li><code>Tags:</code> Normally <i>mkvmerge</i> will derive the
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timecodes for each frame from the source file, but it can also
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read and use timecodes from an external text file whose name you
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can specify here. This feature is a very advanced feature. Almost
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all users should leave this entry empty.</li>
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</ul>
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<div align="center">
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<p>
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<img src="images/videotrackoptions.gif"
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alt="typical options for a video track">
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<br>
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<font size="-1">Figure 5: Typical options for a video track</font>
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</p>
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</div>
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<p>The format specific options include:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><code>Aspect ratio:</code> With this option the user can set the aspect
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ratio that should be used upon playback. It defaults to the aspect ratio
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that the movie was encoded with but can be changed, e.g. for anamorphic
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encodings. The GUI expects the format to be either a floating point number
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(e.g. '2.33') or a fraction (e.g. '16/9').
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<br>
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Another possibility is to set the values for the display width and display
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height manually. This can come in handy if you want to adjust the
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parameters to a specific resolution. If you specify the aspect ratio then
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<i>mkvmerge</i> will calculate the display dimensions based on the size of
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the video track.
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<br>
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This option is only available for video tracks.</li>
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<li><code>FourCC:</code> Matroska does not normally store the Four-CC
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which is used in other containers to identify the codec used. Matroska
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has its own format, called <i>CodecID</i>, but it also has an AVI
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compatibility mode. In this mode the FourCC is also stored. With this
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option the FourCC can be forced to a different value. However, you
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cannot change the <i>CodecID</i> used by <i>mkvmerge</i>.
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<br>
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This option is only available for video tracks.</li>
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<li><code>Stereo mode:</code> There's a technology of providing
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pseudo three dimensional images by playing back two video tracks
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that have been filmed from slightly different positions
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simultaneously. Each eye only sees one of those tracks. This is
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called <i>stereo mode</i>. Most users should leave this empty.
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<br>
|
|
This option is only available for video tracks.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><code>FPS:</code> Number of <i>frames per second</i> for
|
|
AVC/h.264 video tracks. When you add AVC/h.264 elementary streams
|
|
then <i>mkvmerge</i> must be told which how many frames per second
|
|
this video was recorded with because that piece of information is
|
|
not available in elementary streams. If you don't select anything
|
|
then <i>mkvmerge</i> defaults to 25. You can either enter a
|
|
floating point number (e.g. 29.97) or a fraction
|
|
(e.g. 30000/1001).
|
|
<br>
|
|
This option is only available for AVC/h.264 video tracks read from
|
|
AVC/h.264 elementary streams.</li>
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img src="images/audiotrackoptions.gif"
|
|
alt="typical options for an audio track">
|
|
<br>
|
|
<font size="-1">Figure 6: Typical options for an audio track</font>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><code>Delay (in ms):</code> In some cases audio and video are
|
|
not synchronized properly. With this option the user can offset
|
|
the timecodes of any track by a given amount, either positive or
|
|
negative. The number you enter here is the amount in milliseconds
|
|
that is added to each timecode after the <code>Stretch by</code>
|
|
factor has been applied (see below).
|
|
<br>
|
|
This option is available for all track types. However, timecode
|
|
adjustments work best for video and subtitle tracks during
|
|
playback.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><code>Stretch by:</code> In some cases audio and video slowly
|
|
drift apart during playback. This can be fixed by supplying a
|
|
factor of how much the time codes should be stretched
|
|
by <i>mkvmerge</i>. If nothing is entered then '1.0' is assumed
|
|
which does not alter the time codes.
|
|
<br>
|
|
The value you enter can either be a floating point number or a
|
|
fraction, e.g. "1/2". The factor is applied before
|
|
the <code>Delay</code> is added (see above).
|
|
<br>
|
|
This option is available for all track types. However, timecode
|
|
adjustments work best for video and subtitle tracks during
|
|
playback.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><code>Subtitle charset:</code> Some text subtitle formats do not store
|
|
the charset that they were created with. This is important because text
|
|
subtitles are automatically converted to the UTF-8 charset during
|
|
muxing. <i>mkvmerge</i> will normally assume that the system's current
|
|
charset is the same that the subtitle file was written in. But in case
|
|
this is not true the user can select the correct charset.
|
|
<br>
|
|
This option is only available for text subtitle tracks.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img src="images/textsubtitlestrackoptions.gif"
|
|
alt="typical options for a text subtitle track">
|
|
<br>
|
|
<font size="-1">Figure 7: Typical options for a text subtitle track</font>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><code>Compression:</code> Matroska features a powerful system for
|
|
compressing tracks with lossless compression algorithms. Those
|
|
compressions can be applied to any given track, but some players only
|
|
support this for VobSub tracks. This is where it's most useful. Other
|
|
tracks, especially audio and video tracks, are already compressed so
|
|
that additional compression will not yield any result. For VobSubs you
|
|
can achieve an additional gain of about 30% if you enable zlib
|
|
compression. That's why it is the default for VobSub tracks.
|
|
<br>
|
|
You should just leave this setting at <i>default</i>.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><code>AAC is SBR/HE-AAC/AAC+:</code> The new technology called 'high
|
|
efficiency AAC' has some drawbacks when it is being stored in
|
|
<code>.AAC</code> files: it is not possible to detect the HE-AAC part
|
|
for these files. Therefore the user has to check this option manually
|
|
if it applies. Please note that this problem does not exist for HE-AAC
|
|
stored in <code>.MP4</code> files.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="attachments">3.4. Attachments</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Matroska files can also contain other files, called attachments. This
|
|
works basically just like with your favorite email program. The idea is to
|
|
provide additional information about the file. Some examples could be cover
|
|
photos for a CD rip, additional background information in text form about
|
|
the movie or even some compressed fonts for the subtitles.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Every attachment needs two things: the file name (obviously) and the MIME
|
|
type that should be associated with the file. The usage is very easy and
|
|
similar to adding files on the
|
|
<i>input</i> tab.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img src="images/addingremovingattachments.gif"
|
|
alt="adding and removing attachments">
|
|
<br>
|
|
<font size="-1">Figure 8: Add and remove attachments with these
|
|
buttons.</font>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>On the second tab of the GUI, the <i>attachment</i> tab, you can add a
|
|
file with the <i>+</i> button and remove the selected attachment with the
|
|
<i>-</i> button. Once an attachment has been selected the other controls on
|
|
this tab will be available. You do have to select a MIME type for each
|
|
attachment, but the description is optional - although it is a good idea to
|
|
always provide a description. This makes it easier for others to identify
|
|
what you've attached to this Matroska file.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img src="images/attachmentoptions.gif"
|
|
alt="typical options for an attachment">
|
|
<br>
|
|
<font size="-1">Figure 9: Typical options for an attachment</font>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>The last option, <code>attachment style</code>, is only evaluated when
|
|
you also split the output into several files. (Splitting in general is
|
|
explained in the following section.) If the option <code>To all
|
|
files</code> is selected then the current file will be attached to all
|
|
output files created. If the option <code>Only to the first</code> is
|
|
selected then the file is only attached to the very first output file
|
|
created.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="globaloptions">3.5. Global options</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The third tab, <i>Global</i>, is packed full of options that apply to the
|
|
complete file and not just to one or more tracks.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="global_title">3.5.1. File/segment title</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img src="images/movietitle.gif"
|
|
alt="selecting a movie title">
|
|
<br>
|
|
<font size="-1">Figure 10: Selecting a title for the movie</font>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p><code>File/segment title:</code> This title is used for the actual
|
|
movie title, e.g. 'Vanilla Sky'.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="global_split">3.5.2. Automatic splitting and file
|
|
linking </a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>The <code>Split</code> section handles how the output file is split
|
|
into several smaller files. If no splitting is selected then only one
|
|
big file is generated. If splitting is activated then you can tell
|
|
<i>mkvmerge</i> to start a new output file after either a specific
|
|
amount of data has been written to the current file or after a specific
|
|
timecode has been reached. The accepted formats are:
|
|
<br>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>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 * 1024 bytes). Examples: '700M' or
|
|
'100000K'.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>For the time: The format is either <code>HH:MM:SS.nnn</code>
|
|
with up to nine digits for up to nanosecond precision or a number
|
|
followed by the letter 's' indicating a number of
|
|
seconds. Several timecodes can be entered separated by
|
|
commas.<br>
|
|
|
|
Please note that the timecodes refer to the unsplit output
|
|
stream. Therefore entering '00:10:00,00:20:00' will result in
|
|
three files of which the first two will be roughly ten minutes
|
|
long. The third piece will contain the rest of the input
|
|
stream. This is independant of the 'file linking' feature.<br>
|
|
|
|
Examples: '01:20:00' (split after 1 hour, 20 minutes) or
|
|
'1800s' (split after 1800 seconds = 30 minutes).</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img src="images/splitting.gif"
|
|
alt="typical options for splitting">
|
|
<br>
|
|
<font size="-1">Figure 11: Typical options for splitting. Create two files
|
|
which will be approx. 700megs big.</font>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p><code>Don't link:</code> This option controls how <i>mkvmerge</i> will
|
|
handle splitting. A little explanation about this feature:</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Matroska supports file linking which simply says that a specific file
|
|
is the predecessor or successor of the current file. To be precise, it's
|
|
not really the files that are linked but the Matroska segments. As most
|
|
files will probably only contain one Matroska segment I simply say 'file
|
|
linking' although 'segment linking' would be more appropriate.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Each segment is identified by a unique 128 bit wide segment UID. This
|
|
UID is automatically generated by <i>mkvmerge</i>. The linking is done
|
|
primarily via putting the segment UIDs of the previous/next file into
|
|
the segment header information. <i>mkvinfo</i> prints these UIDs if it
|
|
finds them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If a file is split into several smaller ones and linking is used then
|
|
the time codes will not start at 0 again but will continue where the
|
|
last file has left off. This way the absolute time is kept even if the
|
|
previous files are not available (e.g. when streaming). If no linking is
|
|
used then the time codes should start at 0 for each file. By default
|
|
<i>mkvmerge</i> does not use file linking because some players still
|
|
don't handle linked files properly. If you want linking that you can
|
|
turn it on by enabling this <code>link files</code> check box.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="global_link">3.5.3. Manual file/segment linking</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>Regardless of whether splitting is active or not the user can tell
|
|
<i>mkvmerge</i> to link the produced files to specific
|
|
UIDs. This is done by entering a valid segment UID into the
|
|
two input boxes, <code>Previous segment UID</code> and
|
|
<code>Next segment UID</code>. These options accept a segment
|
|
UID in the format that <i>mkvinfo</i> outputs: 16 hexadecimal
|
|
numbers between 0x00 and 0xff prefixed with '0x' each and
|
|
separated with spaces, e.g. <code>0x41 0xda 0x73 0x66 0xd9
|
|
0xcf 0xb2 0x1e 0xae 0x78 0xeb 0xb4 0x5e 0xca 0xb3
|
|
0x93</code>. Alternatively a shorter form can be used: 16
|
|
hexadecimal numbers between 0x00 and 0xff without the '0x'
|
|
prefixes and without the spaces, e.g.
|
|
<code>41da7366d9cfb21eae78ebb45ecab393</code>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If splitting is used then the first file is linked to the UID given in
|
|
the <code>Previous segment UID</code> input box, and the last file is
|
|
linked to the UID given in the <code>Next segment UID</code> input
|
|
box. If splitting is not used then the one output file will be linked to
|
|
both of the two UIDs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="global_chapters">3.5.4. Chapters</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>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 <a href="mkvmerge-gui.html#chaptereditor"> Chapter editor
|
|
section</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="global_tags">3.5.5. Global tags</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>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!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The full explanation can be found in
|
|
<a href="mkvmerge.html">mkvmerge's documentation</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="doit">3.6. Starting the merge process</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>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
|
|
<code>browse</code> button you can select the output file. After this has
|
|
been done hit the <code>Start muxing</code> button or select the same entry
|
|
from the <code>Muxing</code> menu.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If everything has been set up correctly <i>mmg</i> will show the muxing
|
|
dialog. The progress is shown at the top, as is a general description of
|
|
what <i>mkvmerge</i> is doing at the moment.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img src="images/muxingwindow.gif"
|
|
alt="the muxing window">
|
|
<br>
|
|
<font size="-1">Figure 12: The muxing window</font>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p><i>mkvmerge</i> 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.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Warnings are shown in the middle window. <i>mkvmerge</i> 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.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Errors are show in the lower window. Errors are always fatal, and
|
|
<i>mkvmerge</i> 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.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The button <code>Abort</code> sends <i>mkvmerge</i> the signal to stop
|
|
muxing. Unless <i>mkvmerge</i> is stuck in some endless loop it will stop
|
|
soon after you've pressed the button. With <code>Save log</code> you can
|
|
save the complete output from <i>mkvmerge</i> into a text file for further
|
|
study or in case you've encountered a bug and want to send me some
|
|
additional information.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="saveload">3.7. Saving and loading muxing settings</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>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 <code>Save settings</code> option in the
|
|
<code>File</code> menu and restore them later with the <code>Load
|
|
settings</code> option. The default extension is <code>.mmg</code> and is
|
|
usually not used by other programs. You can also associate this extension
|
|
with <i>mmg</i> so that it automatically loads the settings if it is called
|
|
with the name of such a settings file.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="jobqueue">3.8. Queueing several jobs</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>For the case that you have several files that you want to mux you don't
|
|
have to prepare the first file, wait for it to finish muxing, prepare the
|
|
second, wait for it to finish muxing etc. <i>mkvmerge GUI</i> contains a
|
|
job manager which can queue complete jobs and run them one after another at
|
|
your conveniance. The basic steps when using the job manager are:</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>Add all files, set all the options, set the output file name.</li>
|
|
<li>Hit the <code>Add to job queue</code> button and select a title that
|
|
this job will be referred under.</li>
|
|
<li>Repeat as often as wanted.</li>
|
|
<li>Bring up the job manager window by selecting <code>Manage jobs</code>
|
|
from the <code>Muxing</code> menu.</li>
|
|
<li>Hit the <code>Start</code> button.</li>
|
|
<li>Get something to drink, go shopping or talk to your significant other
|
|
;)</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img src="images/jobmanager.gif" alt="the job management dialog">
|
|
<br>
|
|
<font size="-1">Figure 13: The job management dialog</font>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>Each job has six attributes: an ID which is automatically chosen my
|
|
<i>mkvmerge GUI</i>; its status (<code>pending</code> - it hasn't been
|
|
muxed yet, <code>done</code> - muxing has completed successfully,
|
|
<code>done with warnings</code> - muxing has completed successfully but
|
|
there were warnings, <code>failed</code> - the muxing process failed); the
|
|
name that you've entered before; the time and date on which the job was
|
|
added to the job queue; the time and date when the muxing process was
|
|
started for this job and the time and date when the muxing process
|
|
finished.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The general controls are located at the bottom. The <code>Start</code>
|
|
button will start the muxing process for all jobs whose status is
|
|
<code>pending</code>. The <code>Start selected</code> button will start
|
|
the muxing process for all jobs that are currently selected independent
|
|
of their status.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The buttons on the right manipulate all selected jobs. The
|
|
<code>Up</code> and <code>Down</code> move the selected jobs up and down in
|
|
the list. The <code>Re-enable</code> button sets the jobs' status to
|
|
<code>pending</code> so that they will be started the next time the
|
|
<code>Start</code> button is pressed. The <code>Disable</code> button
|
|
will set the status to <code>done</code>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>During the muxing process <i>mkvmerge</i>'s output will not be shown but
|
|
saved. If you want to see a job's output you can hit the <code>View
|
|
log</code> button. This is useful if a job completed with warnings or if it
|
|
failed completely.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr>
|
|
|
|
<a name="wxhh_chaptereditor"></a>
|
|
<h2><a name="chaptereditor">4. The chapter editor</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>One of the new features of <i>mmg</i> 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.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="chapterconcept">4.1. Matroska's chapter concept</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Unlike a lot of other systems Matroska supports <i>nested</i>
|
|
chapters. This basically means that you can define sub chapters for
|
|
chapters.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>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. <i>mkvmerge</i> will then
|
|
automatically assign all chapters to the complete file.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="chapterexamples">4.2. Examples</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><code>Intro (from 00:00:00, language English)
|
|
<br>
|
|
Act 1 (from 00:01:00, language English)
|
|
<br>
|
|
Act 2 (from 00:05:30, language English)
|
|
<br>
|
|
Credits (from 00:12:20 until 00;12:55, language English)</code></p>
|
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The first act contains:
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>Overtüre (6:24 long),</li>
|
|
<li>Arie: 'Jetzt, Schätzchen, jetzt sind wir allein' (4:46
|
|
long) and</li>
|
|
<li>Dialog: 'Armer Jaquino' (0:10 long).</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
The second act contains:
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>Ouvertüre und Arie: 'Gott! welch Dunkel hier!' (10:46
|
|
long),</li>
|
|
<li>Melodrama und Duett: 'Wie kalt ist es' (5:21 long) and</li>
|
|
<li>Dialog: 'Er erwacht!' (0:59 long).</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>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:</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><code>Erster Akt (from 00:00:00 until 00:11:20, language German,
|
|
country Germany)
|
|
<br>
|
|
Ouvertüre (from 00:00:00 until 00:06:24, language
|
|
German, country Germany)
|
|
<br>
|
|
Arie: 'Jetzt, Schätzchen, jetzt sind wir allein'
|
|
(from 00:06:24 until 00:11:10, language German, country Germany)<br>
|
|
Dialog: 'Armer Jaquino' (from 00:11:10 until 00:11:20,
|
|
language German, country Germany)
|
|
<br>
|
|
|
|
Zweiter Akt (from 00:11:20 until 00:28:26, language German,
|
|
country Germany)
|
|
<br>
|
|
Ouvertüre und Arie: 'Gott! welch Dunkel hier!'
|
|
(from 00:11:20 until 00:22:06, language German, country Germany)
|
|
<br>
|
|
Melodrama und Duett: 'Wie kalt ist es' (from 00:22:06
|
|
until 00:27:27, language German, country Germany)
|
|
<br>
|
|
Dialog: 'Er erwacht!' (from 00:27:27 until 00:28:26,
|
|
language German, country Germany)
|
|
</code>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="chapterformats">4.3. Chapter formats supported by mkvmerge
|
|
</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p><i>mkvmerge</i> and <i>mmg</i>'s chapter editor both support different
|
|
formats for chapter files.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="cfsimple">4.3.1. Simple/OGM style chapter files</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The first example from above can be expressed in this format:<br>
|
|
<code>CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000<br>
|
|
CHAPTER01NAME=Intro<br>
|
|
CHAPTER02=00:01:00.000<br>
|
|
CHAPTER02NAME=Act 1<br>
|
|
CHAPTER03=00:05:30.000<br>
|
|
CHAPTER03NAME=Act 2<br>
|
|
CHAPTER04=00:12:20.000<br>
|
|
CHAPTER04NAME=Credits
|
|
</code>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Due to its limitations <i>mmg</i> cannot output chapters in this
|
|
format.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="cfxml">4.3.2. Full-featured XML style chapter files</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>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 <i>mkvtoolnix</i>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="cfkax">4.3.3. Chapters found in Matroska files</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="creatingchapters">4.4. Creating chapter files</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The chapter editor consists of three parts: the tree view of all
|
|
chapters, the four buttons used for adding and removing chapter entries,
|
|
and the input boxes which are used for setting the chapter entry's
|
|
data.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img src="images/chaptereditor.gif"
|
|
alt="the chapter editor">
|
|
<br>
|
|
<font size="-1">Figure 14: The chapter editor showing the example from
|
|
above</font>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>In Matroska files one chapter is defined by having a start time, a name
|
|
and a language that is associated with that name. You can have several
|
|
names for one chapter and each associated with a different language. You
|
|
may also add an end time, but that is not mandatory.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>A new chapter file is started with the <code>New</code> option from the
|
|
<code>Chapter editor</code> menu. You can add a new chapter with the
|
|
<code>Add chapter</code> or <code>Add subchapter</code> buttons. The
|
|
difference between these two buttons is that when a chapter has been
|
|
selected <code>Add chapter</code> will append a new chapter directly
|
|
after the selected chapter on the same level, and <code>Add
|
|
subchapter</code> will add a new chapter as the last child of the
|
|
currently selected chapter.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The <code>Remove chapter</code> has to be used with care. It removes the
|
|
complete subtree without asking for confirmation, and there is no undo
|
|
option available at the moment.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>After selecting a chapter entry you can change its data. The format for
|
|
the start and end time are either <code>HH:MM:SS.mmm</code> or simply
|
|
<code>HH:MM:SS</code>. One chapter name will already have been added. You
|
|
can edit it and select the language that this name is given in. This way
|
|
you could provide names in several languages, e.g. 'The hero arrives' with
|
|
'eng' as the language and 'Der Held kommt an' with 'ger' as the
|
|
language. Just hit the <code>Add name</code> button if you need more
|
|
entries and <code>Remove name</code> in order to get rid of one.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Creating many chapters and always changing the language can be quite some
|
|
work. Therefore you can select which language and country tags
|
|
<i>mmg</i> should add by default with the <code>Set default values</code>
|
|
menu entry in the <code>Chapters</code> menu. The
|
|
<code>Set values</code> button does something similar. With it you can
|
|
apply a language and/or country to the currently selected entry and all its
|
|
children.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Saving chapters to XML files can be done with <code>Save</code> or
|
|
<code>Save as</code>. <code>Save as</code> cannot be used to write chapters
|
|
to an existing Matroska file - you'll have to use <code>Save to Matroska
|
|
file</code> for that.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="editingchapters">4.5. Editing existing chapters</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>You can load existing chapter files or chapters from Matroska files by
|
|
selecting the <code>Load</code> option from the <code>Chapter editor</code>
|
|
menu. <i>mmg</i> will automatically detect the file type used and read the
|
|
chapters.</p>
|
|
|
|
<a name="wxhh_headereditor"></a>
|
|
<h2><a name="headereditor">5. The header editor</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
mmg features an editor for header fields of existing Matroska
|
|
files. It can be started from mmg's "File" menu by
|
|
chosing the "Header editor".
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The header editor allows the user to edit certain fields of the
|
|
segment information headers and of the headers of each track
|
|
without having to remux the whole file. Its usage is simple: load a
|
|
file, select the header fields you want to change, change its
|
|
value, and save the file.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="he_addingremovingheaderfields">5.1. Adding and removing header fields</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The Matroska file format allows for most header fields to be
|
|
present or absent. mmg's header editor will show inputs for all
|
|
header fields it supports even if they're currently not present in
|
|
the file. It allows the user to add fields that are currently not
|
|
present to the file and to remove currently present fields from the
|
|
file.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="he_analyzingthefile">5.2. Opening an existing file</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The user can start editing a file by chosing "Open" from
|
|
the "File" menu. After selecting the appropriate file the
|
|
header editor will scan the file for all important elements. This
|
|
can take some time depending on the file's size. This is neccessary
|
|
due to Matroska's flexible file structure.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="he_analyzingthefile">5.3. Editing header fields</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
After opening the file the left pane will show one element for the
|
|
segment headers and one element for each track that is found in the
|
|
file. Each node in the tree contains a number of sub-elements which
|
|
represent the actual header values. When the user selects such a
|
|
sub-element the right pane is updated to show a number of facts
|
|
about the element:
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>its type (a number, a string etc),</li>
|
|
<li>its name,</li>
|
|
<li>a short description of its contents,</li>
|
|
<li>whether or not the element is currently present in the file
|
|
including an option to remove it if it is or to to add it if it
|
|
isn't,</li>
|
|
<li>the element's original value if it was present when the file
|
|
was opened and</li>
|
|
<li>a control to modify its content.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Most value types are self-explanatory: numbers, strings etc. The
|
|
binary type however is shown as a sequence of hex digits. The
|
|
accepted formats are the same as mkvmerge's various options for
|
|
specifying segment UIDs: either a simple sequence of hex digits
|
|
(e.g. 1857a7fe7d...) or the hex numbers prefixed with
|
|
"0x" before each pair (e.g. 0x18 0x57 0xa7 0xfe 0x7d...).
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="he_validation">5.4. Validation</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The user can validate your changes by chosing "Validate"
|
|
from the "Headers" menu. Validation is also run
|
|
automatically each time the user wants to save the
|
|
files. Validation makes sure that the values the user supplied can
|
|
be stored in the element in question. For example a number element
|
|
must not contain characters.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
If validation fails then the first element failing validation is
|
|
selected so that the user can correct the mistake.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="he_saving">5.5. Saving the file</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The user can save the changes by selecting "Save" from
|
|
the "File" menu. If no changes have been made then mmg
|
|
will say so and not modify the file.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Before modifying the file mmg check if the file has been modified
|
|
by another application since it has been opened. If this is the
|
|
case then mmg warns the user, discards all changes and reloads the
|
|
file in order to ensure that the file will not be corrupted.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
mmg tries very hard to find suitable spots for writing the modified
|
|
headers. It will overwrite existing header elements at their
|
|
original position, EbmlVoid elements and all other instances of the
|
|
headers it finds. It will also update the meta seek heads so that
|
|
the headers can be found easily by applications reading that file.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
After saving the file the header editor will automatically reload
|
|
and analyze it again. This is done to ensure that no file
|
|
corruoption occurs. As it slows down the process of saving the file
|
|
considerably this safety feature will be removed in a future
|
|
release of mmg after enough testing has been done.
|
|
</p>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|