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🎥 Command line media player
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EDL files basically concatenate ranges of video/audio from multiple sourcefiles into a single continuous virtual file. Each such range is called asegment, and consists of source file, source offset, and segment length.
For example::
# mpv EDL v0 f1.mkv,10,20 f2.mkv f1.mkv,40,10
This would skip the first 10 seconds of the file f1.mkv, then play the next20 seconds, then switch to the file f2.mkv and play all of it, then switchback to f1.mkv, skip to the 40 second mark, and play 10 seconds, and thenstop playback. The difference to specifying the files directly on commandline (and using ``--{ --start=10 --length=20 f1.mkv --}`` etc.) is that thevirtual EDL file appears as a virtual timeline (like a single file), insteadas a playlist.
The general simplified syntax is::
# mpv EDL v0 <filename> <filename>,<start in seconds>,<length in seconds>
If the start time is omitted, 0 is used. If the length is omitted, theestimated remaining duration of the source file is used.
Note::
Usage of relative or absolute paths as well as any protocol prefixes may be prevented for security reasons.
Syntax of mpv EDL files=======================
Generally, the format is relatively strict. No superfluous whitespace (exceptempty lines and commented lines) are allowed. You must use UNIX line breaks.
The first line in the file must be ``# mpv EDL v0``. This designates that thefile uses format version 0, which is not frozen yet and may change any time.(If you need a stable EDL file format, make a feature request. Likewise, ifyou have suggestions for improvements, it's not too late yet.)
The rest of the lines belong to one of these classes:
1) An empty or commented line. A comment starts with ``#``, which must be the first character in the line. The rest of the line (up until the next line break) is ignored. An empty line has 0 bytes between two line feed bytes.2) A header entry if the line starts with ``!``.3) A segment entry in all other cases.
Each segment entry consists of a list of named or unnamed parameters.Parameters are separated with ``,``. Named parameters consist of a name,followed by ``=``, followed by the value. Unnamed parameters have only avalue, and the name is implicit from the parameter position.
Syntax::
segment_entry ::= <param> ( <param> ',' )* param ::= [ <name> '=' ] ( <value> | '%' <number> '%' <valuebytes> )
The ``name`` string can consist of any characters, except ``=%,;\n!``. The``value`` string can consist of any characters except of ``,;\n!``.
The construct starting with ``%`` allows defining any value with arbitrarycontents inline, where ``number`` is an integer giving the number of bytes in``valuebytes``. If a parameter value contains disallowed characters, it has tobe guarded by a length specifier using this syntax.
The parameter name defines the meaning of the parameter:
1) ``file``, the source file to use for this segment.2) ``start``, a time value that specifies the start offset into the source file.3) ``length``, a time value that specifies the length of the segment.
See the section below for the format of timestamps.
Unnamed parameters carry implicit names. The parameter position determineswhich of the parameters listed above is set. For example, the second parameterimplicitly uses the name ``start``.
Example::
# mpv EDL v0 %18%filename,with,.mkv,10,length=20,param3=%13%value,escaped,param4=value2
this sets ``file`` to ``filename,with,.mkv``, ``start`` to ``10``, ``length``to ``20``, ``param3`` to ``value,escaped``, ``param4`` to ``value2``.
Instead of line breaks, the character ``;`` can be used. Line feed bytes and``;`` are treated equally.
Header entries start with ``!`` as first character after a line break. Headerentries affect all other file entries in the EDL file. Their format is highlyimplementation specific. They should generally follow the file header, and comebefore any file entries.
Disabling chapter generation and copying========================================
By default, chapters from the source ranges are copied to the virtual file'schapters. Also, a chapter is inserted after each range. This can be disabledwith the ``no_chapters`` header.
Example::
!no_chapters
MP4 DASH========
This is a header that helps implementing DASH, although it only provides a lowlevel mechanism.
If this header is set, the given url designates an mp4 init fragment. It'sdownloaded, and every URL in the EDL is prefixed with the init fragment on thebyte stream level. This is mostly for use by mpv's internal ytdl support. Theytdl script will call youtube-dl, which in turn actually processes DASHmanifests. It may work only for this very specific purpose and fail to beuseful in other scenarios. It can be removed or changed in incompatible waysat any times.
Example::
!mp4_dash,init=url
The ``url`` is encoded as parameter value as defined in the general EDL syntax.It's expected to point to an "initialization fragment", which will be prefixedto every entry in the EDL on the byte stream level.
The current implementation will
- ignore stream start times- use durations as hint for seeking only- not adjust source timestamps- open and close segments (i.e. fragments) as needed- not add segment boundaries as chapter points- require full compatibility between all segments (same codec etc.)
Another header part of this mechanism is ``no_clip``. This header is similarto ``mp4_dash``, but does not include on-demand opening/closing of segments,and does not support init segments. It also exists solely to support internalytdl requirements. Using ``no_clip`` with segments is not recommended andprobably breaks. ``mp4_dash`` already implicitly does a variant of ``no_clip``.
The ``mp4_dash`` and ``no_clip`` headers are not part of the core EDL format.They may be changed or removed at any time, depending on mpv's internalrequirements.
Separate files for tracks=========================
The special ``new_stream`` header lets you specify separate parts and timeoffsets for separate tracks. This can for example be used to source audio andvideo track from separate files.
Example::
# mpv EDL v0 video.mkv !new_stream audio.mkv
This adds all tracks from both files to the virtual track list. Upon playback,the tracks will be played at the same time, instead of appending them. The filescan contain more than 1 stream; the apparent effect is the same as if the secondpart after the ``!new_stream`` part were in a separate ``.edl`` file and addedwith ``--external-file``.
Note that all metadata between the stream sets created by ``new_stream`` isdisjoint. Global metadata is taken from the first part only.
In context of mpv, this is redundant to the ``--audio-file`` and``--external-file`` options, but (as of this writing) has the advantage thatthis will use a unified cache for all streams.
The ``new_stream`` header is not part of the core EDL format. It may be changedor removed at any time, depending on mpv's internal requirements.
If the first ``!new_stream`` is redundant, it is ignored. This is the sameexample as above::
# mpv EDL v0 !new_stream video.mkv !new_stream audio.mkv
Note that ``!new_stream`` must be the first header. Whether the parser accepts(i.e. ignores) or rejects other headers before that is implementation specific.
Track metadata==============
The special ``track_meta`` header can set some specific metadata fields of thecurrent ``!new_stream`` partition. The tags are applied to all tracks withinthe partition. It is not possible to set the metadata for individual tracks (thefeature was needed only for single-track media).
It provides following parameters change track metadata:
``lang`` Set the language tag.
``title`` Set the title tag.
``byterate`` Number of bytes per second this stream uses. (Purely informational.)
``index`` The numeric index of the track this should map to (default: -1). This is the 0-based index of the virtual stream as seen by the player, enumerating all audio/video/subtitle streams. If nothing matches, this is silently discarded. The special index -1 (the default) has two meanings: if there was a previous meta data entry (either ``!track_meta`` or ``!delay_open`` element since the last ``!new_stream``), then this element manipulates the previous meta data entry. If there was no previous entry, a new meta data entry that matches all streams is created.
Example::
# mpv EDL v0 !track_meta,lang=bla,title=blabla file.mkv !new_stream !track_meta,title=ducks sub.srt
If ``file.mkv`` has an audio and a video stream, both will use ``blabla`` astitle. The subtitle stream will use ``ducks`` as title.
The ``track_meta`` header is not part of the core EDL format. It may be changedor removed at any time, depending on mpv's internal requirements.
Global metadata===============
The special ``global_tags`` header can set metadata fields (aka tags) of the EDLfile. This metadata is supposed to be informational, much like for example ID3tags in audio files. Due to lack of separation of different kinds of metadata itis unspecified what names are allowed, how they are interpreted, and whethersome of them affect playback functionally. (Much of this is unfortunatelyinherited from FFmpeg. Another consequence of this is that FFmpeg "normalized"tags are recognized, or stuff like replaygain tags.)
Example::
!global_tags,title=bla,something_arbitrary=even_more_arbitrary
Any parameter names are allowed. Repeated use of this adds to the tag list. If``!new_stream`` is used, the location doesn't matter.
May possibly be ignored in some cases, such as delayed media opening.
Delayed media opening=====================
The special ``delay_open`` header can be used to open the media URL of thestream only when the track is selected for the first time. This is supposed tobe an optimization to speed up opening of a remote stream if there are manytracks for whatever reasons.
This has various tricky restrictions, and also will defer failure to open astream to "later". By design, it's supposed to be used for single-track streams.
Using multiple segments requires you to specify all offsets and durations (alsoit was never tested whether it works at all). Interaction with ``mp4_dash`` maybe strange.
You can describe multiple sub-tracks by using multiple ``delay_open`` headersbefore the same source URL. (If there are multiple sub-tracks of the same mediatype, then the mapping to the real stream is probably rather arbitrary.) If thesource contains tracks not described, a warning is logged when the delayedopening happens, and the track is hidden.
This has the following parameters:
``media_type`` Required. Must be set to ``video``, ``audio``, or ``sub``. (Other tracks in the opened URL are ignored.)
``codec`` The mpv codec name that is expected. Although mpv tries to initialize a decoder with it currently (and will fail track selection if it does not initialize successfully), it is not used for decoding - decoding still uses the information retrieved from opening the actual media information, and may be a different codec (you should try to avoid this, of course). Defaults to ``null``.
Above also applies for similar fields such as ``w``. These fields are mostly to help with user track pre-selection.
``flags`` A ``+`` separated list of boolean flags. Currently defined flags:
``default`` Set the default track flag.
``forced`` Set the forced track flag.
Other values are ignored after triggering a warning.
``w``, ``h`` For video codecs: expected video size. See ``codec`` for details.
``fps`` For video codecs: expected video framerate, as integer. (The rate is usually only crudely reported, and it makes no sense to expect exact values.)
``samplerate`` For audio codecs: expected sample rate, as integer.
The ``delay_open`` header is not part of the core EDL format. It may be changedor removed at any time, depending on mpv's internal requirements.
Timestamp format================
Currently, time values are floating point values in seconds.
As an extension, you can set the ``timestamps=chapters`` option. If this optionis set, timestamps have to be integers, and refer to chapter numbers, startingwith 0. The default value for this parameter is ``seconds``, which means thetime is as described in the previous paragraph.
Example::
# mpv EDL v0 file.mkv,2,4,timestamps=chapters
Plays chapter 3 and ends with the start of chapter 7 (4 chapters later).
Implicit chapters=================
mpv will add one chapter per segment entry to the virtual timeline.
By default, the chapter's titles will match the entries' filenames.You can override set the ``title`` option to override the chapter title forthat segment.
Example::
# mpv EDL v0 cap.ts,5,240 OP.mkv,0,90,title=Show Opening
The virtual timeline will have two chapters, one called "cap.ts" from 0-240sand a second one called "Show Opening" from 240-330s.
Entry which defines the track layout====================================
Normally, you're supposed to put only files with compatible layouts into an EDLfile. However, at least the mpv implementation accepts entries that usedifferent codecs, or even have a different number of audio/video/subtitletracks. In this case, it's not obvious, which virtual tracks the EDL show shouldexpose when being played.
Currently, mpv will apply an arbitrary heuristic which tracks the EDL fileshould expose. (Before mpv 0.30.0, it always used the first source file in thesegment list.)
You can set the ``layout`` option to ``this`` to make a specific entry definethe track layout.
Example::
# mpv EDL v0 file_with_2_streams.ts,5,240 file_with_5_streams.mkv,0,90,layout=this
The way the different virtual EDL tracks are associated with the per-segmentones is highly implementation-defined, and uses a heuristic. If a segment ismissing a track, there will be a "hole", and bad behavior may result. Improvingthis is subject to further development (due to being fringe cases, they don'thave a high priority).
If future versions of mpv change this again, this option may be ignored.
Syntax of EDL URIs==================
mpv accepts inline EDL data in form of ``edl://`` URIs. Other than theheader, the syntax is exactly the same. It's far more convenient to use ``;``instead of line breaks, but that is orthogonal.
Example: ``edl://f1.mkv,length=5,start=10;f2.mkv,30,20;f3.mkv``