cellar S. Lhomme
Internet-Draft
Intended status: Standards Track M. Bunkus
Expires: 12 April 2022
D. Rice
9 October 2021
Matroska Media Container Format Specifications
draft-ietf-cellar-matroska-08
Abstract
This document defines the Matroska audiovisual container, including
definitions of its structural elements, as well as its terminology,
vocabulary, and application.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 12 April 2022.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2021 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Status of this document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. Notation and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. Basis in EBML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.1. Added Constraints on EBML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.2. Matroska Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6. Language Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
7. Matroska Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
8. Matroska Schema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8.1. Segment Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8.1.1. SeekHead Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.1.1.1. Seek Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.1.2. Info Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.1.2.1. SegmentUID Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.1.2.2. SegmentFilename Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
8.1.2.3. PrevUID Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
8.1.2.4. PrevFilename Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
8.1.2.5. NextUID Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
8.1.2.6. NextFilename Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
8.1.2.7. SegmentFamily Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
8.1.2.8. ChapterTranslate Element . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
8.1.2.9. TimestampScale Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
8.1.2.10. Duration Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
8.1.2.11. DateUTC Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
8.1.2.12. Title Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8.1.2.13. MuxingApp Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8.1.2.14. WritingApp Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
8.1.3. Cluster Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
8.1.3.1. Timestamp Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
8.1.3.2. Position Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.1.3.3. PrevSize Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.1.3.4. SimpleBlock Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.1.3.5. BlockGroup Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.1.4. Tracks Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
8.1.4.1. TrackEntry Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
8.1.5. Cues Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.1.5.1. CuePoint Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.1.6. Attachments Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
8.1.6.1. AttachedFile Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
8.1.7. Chapters Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
8.1.7.1. EditionEntry Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
8.1.8. Tags Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.1.8.1. Tag Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
9. Matroska Element Ordering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
9.1. Top-Level Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
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9.2. CRC-32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
9.3. SeekHead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
9.4. Cues (index) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
9.5. Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
9.6. Chapters Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
9.7. Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
9.8. Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
9.9. Optimum layout from a muxer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
9.10. Optimum layout after editing tags . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
9.11. Optimum layout with Cues at the front . . . . . . . . . . 116
9.12. Cluster Timestamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
10. Unknown elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
11. DefaultDecodedFieldDuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
12. Block Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.1. Block Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.2. Block Header Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.3. Lacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
12.3.1. Xiph lacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
12.3.2. EBML lacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
12.3.3. Fixed-size lacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
12.4. SimpleBlock Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
12.4.1. SimpleBlock Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
12.4.2. SimpleBlock Header Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
12.4.3. Laced Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
13. Timestamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
13.1. Timestamp Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
13.2. Block Timestamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
13.3. Raw Timestamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
13.4. TimestampScale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
13.5. TimestampScale Rounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
13.6. TrackTimestampScale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
14. Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
15. Image Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
15.1. Cropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
15.2. Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
16. Matroska versioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
17. MIME Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
18. Segment Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
18.1. Segment Position Exception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
18.2. Example of Segment Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
19. Linked Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
19.1. Hard Linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
19.2. Medium Linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
19.2.1. Variation 1: Linked-Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
19.2.2. Variation 2: Linked-Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
19.3. Soft Linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
20. Track Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
20.1. Default flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
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20.2. Forced flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
20.3. Hearing-impaired flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
20.4. Visual-impaired flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
20.5. Descriptions flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
20.6. Original flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
20.7. Commentary flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
20.8. Track Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
20.9. Overlay Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
20.10. Multi-planar and 3D videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
21. Default track selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
21.1. Audio Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
21.2. Subtitle selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
22. Chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
22.1. EditionEntry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
22.1.1. EditionFlagDefault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
22.1.2. Default Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
22.1.3. EditionFlagOrdered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
22.1.3.1. Ordered-Edition and Matroska Segment-Linking . . 143
22.2. ChapterAtom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
22.2.1. ChapterTimeStart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
22.2.2. ChapterTimeEnd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
22.2.3. ChapterFlagHidden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
22.3. Menu features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
22.4. Physical Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
22.5. Chapter Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
22.5.1. Example 1 : basic chaptering . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
22.5.2. Example 2 : nested chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
22.5.2.1. The Micronauts "Bleep To Bleep" . . . . . . . . 148
23. Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
23.1. Cover Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
24. Cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
24.1. Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
25. Matroska Streaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
25.1. File Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
25.2. Livestreaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
26. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
26.1. Matroska Element IDs Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
26.2. ChapterCodecID Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
26.3. Historic Deprecated Element IDs Registry . . . . . . . . 154
26.3.1. SilentTracks Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
26.3.2. SilentTrackNumber Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
26.3.3. BlockVirtual Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
26.3.4. ReferenceVirtual Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
26.3.5. FrameNumber Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
26.3.6. BlockAdditionID Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
26.3.7. Delay Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
26.3.8. SliceDuration Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
26.3.9. ReferenceFrame Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
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26.3.10. ReferenceOffset Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
26.3.11. ReferenceTimestamp Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
26.3.12. EncryptedBlock Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
26.3.13. TrackOffset Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
26.3.14. CodecSettings Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
26.3.15. CodecInfoURL Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
26.3.16. CodecDownloadURL Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
26.3.17. CodecDecodeAll Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
26.3.18. OldStereoMode Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
26.3.19. AspectRatioType Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
26.3.20. GammaValue Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
26.3.21. FrameRate Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
26.3.22. ChannelPositions Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
26.3.23. TrickTrackUID Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.3.24. TrickTrackSegmentUID Element . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.3.25. TrickTrackFlag Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.3.26. TrickMasterTrackUID Element . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.3.27. TrickMasterTrackSegmentUID Element . . . . . . . . . 161
26.3.28. ContentSignature Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
26.3.29. ContentSigKeyID Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
26.3.30. ContentSigAlgo Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
26.3.31. ContentSigHashAlgo Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
26.3.32. CueRefCluster Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
26.3.33. CueRefNumber Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
26.3.34. CueRefCodecState Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
26.3.35. FileReferral Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
26.3.36. FileUsedStartTime Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
26.3.37. FileUsedEndTime Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
26.3.38. TagDefaultBogus Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
27. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
28. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
1. Introduction
Matroska aims to become THE standard of multimedia container formats.
It was derived from a project called [MCF], but differentiates from
it significantly because it is based on EBML (Extensible Binary Meta
Language) [RFC8794], a binary derivative of XML. EBML enables
significant advantages in terms of future format extensibility,
without breaking file support in old parsers.
First, it is essential to clarify exactly "What an Audio/Video
container is", to avoid any misunderstandings:
* It is NOT a video or audio compression format (codec)
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* It is an envelope for which there can be many audio, video, and
subtitles streams, allowing the user to store a complete movie or
CD in a single file.
Matroska is designed with the future in mind. It incorporates
features like:
* Fast seeking in the file
* Chapter entries
* Full metadata (tags) support
* Selectable subtitle/audio/video streams
* Modularly expandable
* Error resilience (can recover playback even when the stream is
damaged)
* Streamable over the internet and local networks (HTTP, CIFS, FTP,
etc)
* Menus (like DVDs have)
Matroska is an open standards project. This means for personal use
it is absolutely free to use and that the technical specifications
describing the bitstream are open to everybody, even to companies
that would like to support it in their products.
2. Status of this document
This document is a work-in-progress specification defining the
Matroska file format as part of the IETF Cellar working group
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/cellar/charter/). But since it's
quite complete it is used as a reference for the development of
libmatroska.
Note that versions 1, 2, and 3 have been finalized. Version 4 is
currently work in progress. There MAY be further additions to v4.
3. Security Considerations
Matroska inherits security considerations from EBML.
Attacks on a Matroska Reader could include:
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* Storage of a arbitrary and potentially executable data within an
Attachment Element. Matroska Readers that extract or use data
from Matroska Attachments SHOULD check that the data adheres to
expectations.
* A Matroska Attachment with an inaccurate mime-type.
4. Notation and Conventions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
This document defines specific terms in order to define the format
and application of Matroska. Specific terms are defined below:
Matroska: A multimedia container format based on EBML (Extensible
Binary Meta Language).
Matroska Reader: A data parser that interprets the semantics of a
Matroska document and creates a way for programs to use Matroska.
Matroska Player: A Matroska Reader with a primary purpose of playing
audiovisual files, including Matroska documents.
5. Basis in EBML
Matroska is a Document Type of EBML (Extensible Binary Meta
Language). This specification is dependent on the EBML Specification
[RFC8794]. For an understanding of Matroska's EBML Schema, see in
particular the sections of the EBML Specification covering EBML
Element Types (Section 7), EBML Schema (Section 11.1), and EBML
Structure (Section 3).
5.1. Added Constraints on EBML
As an EBML Document Type, Matroska adds the following constraints to
the EBML specification.
* The docType of the EBML Header MUST be "matroska".
* The EBMLMaxIDLength of the EBML Header MUST be "4".
* The EBMLMaxSizeLength of the EBML Header MUST be between "1" and
"8" inclusive.
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5.2. Matroska Design
All top-levels elements (Segment and direct sub-elements) are coded
on 4 octets -- i.e. class D elements.
6. Language Codes
Matroska from version 1 through 3 uses language codes that can be
either the 3 letters bibliographic ISO-639-2 form [ISO639-2] (like
"fre" for french), or such a language code followed by a dash and a
country code for specialities in languages (like "fre-ca" for
Canadian French). The ISO 639-2 Language Elements are "Language
Element", "TagLanguage Element", and "ChapLanguage Element".
Starting in Matroska version 4, either [ISO639-2] or [BCP47] MAY be
used, although BCP 47 is RECOMMENDED. The BCP 47 Language Elements
are "LanguageIETF Element", "TagLanguageIETF Element", and
"ChapLanguageIETF Element". If a BCP 47 Language Element and an ISO
639-2 Language Element are used within the same Parent Element, then
the ISO 639-2 Language Element MUST be ignored and precedence given
to the BCP 47 Language Element.
Country codes are the same 2 octets country-codes as in Internet
domains [IANADomains] based on [ISO3166-1] alpha-2 codes.
7. Matroska Structure
A Matroska file MUST be composed of at least one EBML Document using
the Matroska Document Type. Each EBML Document MUST start with an
EBML Header and MUST be followed by the EBML Root Element, defined as
Segment in Matroska. Matroska defines several Top Level Elements
which MAY occur within the Segment.
As an example, a simple Matroska file consisting of a single EBML
Document could be represented like this:
* EBML Header
* Segment
A more complex Matroska file consisting of an EBML Stream (consisting
of two EBML Documents) could be represented like this:
* EBML Header
* Segment
* EBML Header
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* Segment
The following diagram represents a simple Matroska file, comprised of
an EBML Document with an EBML Header, a Segment Element (the Root
Element), and all eight Matroska Top Level Elements. In the
following diagrams of this section, horizontal spacing expresses a
parent-child relationship between Matroska Elements (e.g., the Info
Element is contained within the Segment Element) whereas vertical
alignment represents the storage order within the file.
+-------------+
| EBML Header |
+---------------------------+
| Segment | SeekHead |
| |-------------|
| | Info |
| |-------------|
| | Tracks |
| |-------------|
| | Chapters |
| |-------------|
| | Cluster |
| |-------------|
| | Cues |
| |-------------|
| | Attachments |
| |-------------|
| | Tags |
+---------------------------+
Figure 1: Basic layout of a Matroska file.
The Matroska EBML Schema defines eight Top Level Elements: SeekHead,
Info, Tracks, Chapters, Cluster, Cues, Attachments, and Tags.
The SeekHead Element (also known as MetaSeek) contains an index of
Top Level Elements locations within the Segment. Use of the SeekHead
Element is RECOMMENDED. Without a SeekHead Element, a Matroska
parser would have to search the entire file to find all of the other
Top Level Elements. This is due to Matroska's flexible ordering
requirements; for instance, it is acceptable for the Chapters Element
to be stored after the Cluster Elements.
+--------------------------------+
| SeekHead | Seek | SeekID |
| | |--------------|
| | | SeekPosition |
+--------------------------------+
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Figure 2: Representation of a SeekHead Element.
The Info Element contains vital information for identifying the whole
Segment. This includes the title for the Segment, a randomly
generated unique identifier, and the unique identifier(s) of any
linked Segment Elements.
+-------------------------+
| Info | SegmentUID |
| |------------------|
| | SegmentFilename |
| |------------------|
| | PrevUID |
| |------------------|
| | PrevFilename |
| |------------------|
| | NextUID |
| |------------------|
| | NextFilename |
| |------------------|
| | SegmentFamily |
| |------------------|
| | ChapterTranslate |
| |------------------|
| | TimestampScale |
| |------------------|
| | Duration |
| |------------------|
| | DateUTC |
| |------------------|
| | Title |
| |------------------|
| | MuxingApp |
| |------------------|
| | WritingApp |
|-------------------------|
Figure 3: Representation of an Info Element and its Child Elements.
The Tracks Element defines the technical details for each track and
can store the name, number, unique identifier, language, and type
(audio, video, subtitles, etc.) of each track. For example, the
Tracks Element MAY store information about the resolution of a video
track or sample rate of an audio track.
The Tracks Element MUST identify all the data needed by the codec to
decode the data of the specified track. However, the data required
is contingent on the codec used for the track. For example, a Track
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Element for uncompressed audio only requires the audio bit rate to be
present. A codec such as AC-3 would require that the CodecID Element
be present for all tracks, as it is the primary way to identify which
codec to use to decode the track.
+------------------------------------+
| Tracks | TrackEntry | TrackNumber |
| | |--------------|
| | | TrackUID |
| | |--------------|
| | | TrackType |
| | |--------------|
| | | Name |
| | |--------------|
| | | Language |
| | |--------------|
| | | CodecID |
| | |--------------|
| | | CodecPrivate |
| | |--------------|
| | | CodecName |
| | |----------------------------------+
| | | Video | FlagInterlaced |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | FieldOrder |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | StereoMode |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | AlphaMode |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | PixelWidth |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | PixelHeight |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | DisplayWidth |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | DisplayHeight |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | AspectRatioType |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | Color |
| | |----------------------------------|
| | | Audio | SamplingFrequency |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | Channels |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | BitDepth |
|--------------------------------------------------------|
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Figure 4: Representation of the Tracks Element and a selection of its
Descendant Elements.
The Chapters Element lists all of the chapters. Chapters are a way
to set predefined points to jump to in video or audio.
+-----------------------------------------+
| Chapters | Edition | EditionUID |
| | Entry |--------------------|
| | | EditionFlagDefault |
| | |--------------------|
| | | EditionFlagOrdered |
| | |---------------------------------+
| | | ChapterAtom | ChapterUID |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | ChapterStringUID |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | ChapterTimeStart |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | ChapterTimeEnd |
| | | |-------------------|
| | | | ChapterFlagHidden |
| | | |-------------------------------+
| | | | ChapterDisplay | ChapString |
| | | | |--------------|
| | | | | ChapLanguage |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
Figure 5: Representation of the Chapters Element and a selection
of its Descendant Elements.
Cluster Elements contain the content for each track, e.g., video
frames. A Matroska file SHOULD contain at least one Cluster Element.
The Cluster Element helps to break up SimpleBlock or BlockGroup
Elements and helps with seeking and error protection. It is
RECOMMENDED that the size of each individual Cluster Element be
limited to store no more than 5 seconds or 5 megabytes. Every
Cluster Element MUST contain a Timestamp Element. This SHOULD be the
Timestamp Element used to play the first Block in the Cluster
Element. There SHOULD be one or more BlockGroup or SimpleBlock
Element in each Cluster Element. A BlockGroup Element MAY contain a
Block of data and any information relating directly to that Block.
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+--------------------------+
| Cluster | Timestamp |
| |----------------|
| | SilentTracks |
| |----------------|
| | Position |
| |----------------|
| | PrevSize |
| |----------------|
| | SimpleBlock |
| |----------------|
| | BlockGroup |
| |----------------|
| | EncryptedBlock |
+--------------------------+
Figure 6: Representation of a Cluster Element and its immediate
Child Elements.
+----------------------------------+
| Block | Portion of | Data Type |
| | a Block | - Bit Flag |
| |--------------------------+
| | Header | TrackNumber |
| | |-------------|
| | | Timestamp |
| | |-------------|
| | | Flags |
| | | - Gap |
| | | - Lacing |
| | | - Reserved |
| |--------------------------|
| | Optional | FrameSize |
| |--------------------------|
| | Data | Frame |
+----------------------------------+
Figure 7: Representation of the Block Element structure.
Each Cluster MUST contain exactly one Timestamp Element. The
Timestamp Element value MUST be stored once per Cluster. The
Timestamp Element in the Cluster is relative to the entire Segment.
The Timestamp Element SHOULD be the first Element in the Cluster.
Additionally, the Block contains an offset that, when added to the
Cluster's Timestamp Element value, yields the Block's effective
timestamp. Therefore, timestamp in the Block itself is relative to
the Timestamp Element in the Cluster. For example, if the Timestamp
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Element in the Cluster is set to 10 seconds and a Block in that
Cluster is supposed to be played 12 seconds into the clip, the
timestamp in the Block would be set to 2 seconds.
The ReferenceBlock in the BlockGroup is used instead of the basic
"P-frame"/"B-frame" description. Instead of simply saying that this
Block depends on the Block directly before, or directly afterwards,
the Timestamp of the necessary Block is used. Because there can be
as many ReferenceBlock Elements as necessary for a Block, it allows
for some extremely complex referencing.
The Cues Element is used to seek when playing back a file by
providing a temporal index for some of the Tracks. It is similar to
the SeekHead Element, but used for seeking to a specific time when
playing back the file. It is possible to seek without this element,
but it is much more difficult because a Matroska Reader would have to
'hunt and peck' through the file looking for the correct timestamp.
The Cues Element SHOULD contain at least one CuePoint Element. Each
CuePoint Element stores the position of the Cluster that contains the
BlockGroup or SimpleBlock Element. The timestamp is stored in the
CueTime Element and location is stored in the CueTrackPositions
Element.
The Cues Element is flexible. For instance, Cues Element can be used
to index every single timestamp of every Block or they can be indexed
selectively. For video files, it is RECOMMENDED to index at least
the keyframes of the video track.
+-------------------------------------+
| Cues | CuePoint | CueTime |
| | |-------------------|
| | | CueTrackPositions |
| |------------------------------|
| | CuePoint | CueTime |
| | |-------------------|
| | | CueTrackPositions |
+-------------------------------------+
Figure 8: Representation of a Cues Element and two levels of its
Descendant Elements.
The Attachments Element is for attaching files to a Matroska file
such as pictures, webpages, programs, or even the codec needed to
play back the file.
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+------------------------------------------------+
| Attachments | AttachedFile | FileDescription |
| | |-------------------|
| | | FileName |
| | |-------------------|
| | | FileMimeType |
| | |-------------------|
| | | FileData |
| | |-------------------|
| | | FileUID |
| | |-------------------|
| | | FileName |
| | |-------------------|
| | | FileReferral |
| | |-------------------|
| | | FileUsedStartTime |
| | |-------------------|
| | | FileUsedEndTime |
+------------------------------------------------+
Figure 9: Representation of a Attachments Element.
The Tags Element contains metadata that describes the Segment and
potentially its Tracks, Chapters, and Attachments. Each Track or
Chapter that those tags applies to has its UID listed in the Tags.
The Tags contain all extra information about the file: scriptwriter,
singer, actors, directors, titles, edition, price, dates, genre,
comments, etc. Tags can contain their values in multiple languages.
For example, a movie's "title" Tag might contain both the original
English title as well as the title it was released as in Germany.
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+-------------------------------------------+
| Tags | Tag | Targets | TargetTypeValue |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | TargetType |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | TagTrackUID |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | TagEditionUID |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | TagChapterUID |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | TagAttachmentUID |
| | |------------------------------|
| | | SimpleTag | TagName |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | TagLanguage |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | TagDefault |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | TagString |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | TagBinary |
| | | |------------------|
| | | | SimpleTag |
+-------------------------------------------+
Figure 10: Representation of a Tags Element and three levels of
its Children Elements.
8. Matroska Schema
This specification includes an EBML Schema, which defines the
Elements and structure of Matroska as an EBML Document Type. The
EBML Schema defines every valid Matroska element in a manner defined
by the EBML specification.
Here the definition of each Matroska Element is provided.
8.1. Segment Element
name: Segment
path: \Segment
id: 0x18538067
minOccurs: 1
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maxOccurs: 1
type: master
unknownsizeallowed: 1
definition: The Root Element that contains all other Top-Level
Elements (Elements defined only at Level 1). A Matroska file is
composed of 1 Segment.
8.1.1. SeekHead Element
name: SeekHead
path: \Segment\SeekHead
id: 0x114D9B74
maxOccurs: 2
type: master
definition: Contains the Segment Position of other Top-Level
Elements.
8.1.1.1. Seek Element
name: Seek
path: \Segment\SeekHead\Seek
id: 0x4DBB
minOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Contains a single seek entry to an EBML Element.
8.1.1.1.1. SeekID Element
name: SeekID
path: \Segment\SeekHead\Seek\SeekID
id: 0x53AB
minOccurs: 1
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maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: The binary ID corresponding to the Element name.
8.1.1.1.2. SeekPosition Element
name: SeekPosition
path: \Segment\SeekHead\Seek\SeekPosition
id: 0x53AC
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: The Segment Position of the Element.
8.1.2. Info Element
name: Info
path: \Segment\Info
id: 0x1549A966
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
recurring: 1
definition: Contains general information about the Segment.
8.1.2.1. SegmentUID Element
name: SegmentUID
path: \Segment\Info\SegmentUID
id: 0x73A4
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maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: binary
definition: A randomly generated unique ID to identify the Segment
amongst many others (128 bits).
usage notes: If the Segment is a part of a Linked Segment, then this
Element is REQUIRED.
8.1.2.2. SegmentFilename Element
name: SegmentFilename
path: \Segment\Info\SegmentFilename
id: 0x7384
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: A filename corresponding to this Segment.
8.1.2.3. PrevUID Element
name: PrevUID
path: \Segment\Info\PrevUID
id: 0x3CB923
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: A unique ID to identify the previous Segment of a Linked
Segment (128 bits).
usage notes: If the Segment is a part of a Linked Segment that uses
Hard Linking, then either the PrevUID or the NextUID Element is
REQUIRED. If a Segment contains a PrevUID but not a NextUID, then
it MAY be considered as the last Segment of the Linked Segment.
The PrevUID MUST NOT be equal to the SegmentUID.
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8.1.2.4. PrevFilename Element
name: PrevFilename
path: \Segment\Info\PrevFilename
id: 0x3C83AB
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: A filename corresponding to the file of the previous
Linked Segment.
usage notes: Provision of the previous filename is for display
convenience, but PrevUID SHOULD be considered authoritative for
identifying the previous Segment in a Linked Segment.
8.1.2.5. NextUID Element
name: NextUID
path: \Segment\Info\NextUID
id: 0x3EB923
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: A unique ID to identify the next Segment of a Linked
Segment (128 bits).
usage notes: If the Segment is a part of a Linked Segment that uses
Hard Linking, then either the PrevUID or the NextUID Element is
REQUIRED. If a Segment contains a NextUID but not a PrevUID, then
it MAY be considered as the first Segment of the Linked Segment.
The NextUID MUST NOT be equal to the SegmentUID.
8.1.2.6. NextFilename Element
name: NextFilename
path: \Segment\Info\NextFilename
id: 0x3E83BB
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maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: A filename corresponding to the file of the next Linked
Segment.
usage notes: Provision of the next filename is for display
convenience, but NextUID SHOULD be considered authoritative for
identifying the Next Segment.
8.1.2.7. SegmentFamily Element
name: SegmentFamily
path: \Segment\Info\SegmentFamily
id: 0x4444
type: binary
definition: A randomly generated unique ID that all Segments of a
Linked Segment MUST share (128 bits).
usage notes: If the Segment is a part of a Linked Segment that uses
Soft Linking, then this Element is REQUIRED.
8.1.2.8. ChapterTranslate Element
name: ChapterTranslate
path: \Segment\Info\ChapterTranslate
id: 0x6924
type: master
definition: A tuple of corresponding ID used by chapter codecs to
represent this Segment.
8.1.2.8.1. ChapterTranslateEditionUID Element
name: ChapterTranslateEditionUID
path: \Segment\Info\ChapterTranslate\ChapterTranslateEditionUID
id: 0x69FC
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type: uinteger
definition: Specify an edition UID on which this correspondence
applies. When not specified, it means for all editions found in
the Segment.
8.1.2.8.2. ChapterTranslateCodec Element
name: ChapterTranslateCodec
path: \Segment\Info\ChapterTranslate\ChapterTranslateCodec
id: 0x69BF
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: The chapter codec; see Section 8.1.7.1.4.15.
restrictions:
+=======+=================+
| value | label |
+=======+=================+
| 0 | Matroska Script |
+-------+-----------------+
| 1 | DVD-menu |
+-------+-----------------+
Table 1:
ChapterTranslateCodec
values
8.1.2.8.3. ChapterTranslateID Element
name: ChapterTranslateID
path: \Segment\Info\ChapterTranslate\ChapterTranslateID
id: 0x69A5
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
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type: binary
definition: The binary value used to represent this Segment in the
chapter codec data. The format depends on the ChapProcessCodecID
used; see Section 8.1.7.1.4.15.
8.1.2.9. TimestampScale Element
name: TimestampScale
path: \Segment\Info\TimestampScale
id: 0x2AD7B1
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
default: 1000000
type: uinteger
definition: Timestamp scale in nanoseconds (1.000.000 means all
timestamps in the Segment are expressed in milliseconds).
8.1.2.10. Duration Element
name: Duration
path: \Segment\Info\Duration
id: 0x4489
maxOccurs: 1
range: > 0x0p+0
type: float
definition: Duration of the Segment in nanoseconds based on
TimestampScale.
8.1.2.11. DateUTC Element
name: DateUTC
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path: \Segment\Info\DateUTC
id: 0x4461
maxOccurs: 1
type: date
definition: The date and time that the Segment was created by the
muxing application or library.
8.1.2.12. Title Element
name: Title
path: \Segment\Info\Title
id: 0x7BA9
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: General name of the Segment.
8.1.2.13. MuxingApp Element
name: MuxingApp
path: \Segment\Info\MuxingApp
id: 0x4D80
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: Muxing application or library (example: "libmatroska-
0.4.3").
usage notes: Include the full name of the application or library
followed by the version number.
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8.1.2.14. WritingApp Element
name: WritingApp
path: \Segment\Info\WritingApp
id: 0x5741
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: Writing application (example: "mkvmerge-0.3.3").
usage notes: Include the full name of the application followed by
the version number.
8.1.3. Cluster Element
name: Cluster
path: \Segment\Cluster
id: 0x1F43B675
type: master
unknownsizeallowed: 1
definition: The Top-Level Element containing the (monolithic) Block
structure.
8.1.3.1. Timestamp Element
name: Timestamp
path: \Segment\Cluster\Timestamp
id: 0xE7
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
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definition: Absolute timestamp of the cluster (based on
TimestampScale).
8.1.3.2. Position Element
name: Position
path: \Segment\Cluster\Position
id: 0xA7
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: The Segment Position of the Cluster in the Segment (0 in
live streams). It might help to resynchronise offset on damaged
streams.
8.1.3.3. PrevSize Element
name: PrevSize
path: \Segment\Cluster\PrevSize
id: 0xAB
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: Size of the previous Cluster, in octets. Can be useful
for backward playing.
8.1.3.4. SimpleBlock Element
name: SimpleBlock
path: \Segment\Cluster\SimpleBlock
id: 0xA3
type: binary
minver: 2
definition: Similar to Block, see Section 12, but without all the
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extra information, mostly used to reduced overhead when no extra
feature is needed; see Section 12.4 on SimpleBlock Structure.
8.1.3.5. BlockGroup Element
name: BlockGroup
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup
id: 0xA0
type: master
definition: Basic container of information containing a single Block
and information specific to that Block.
8.1.3.5.1. Block Element
name: Block
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\Block
id: 0xA1
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: Block containing the actual data to be rendered and a
timestamp relative to the Cluster Timestamp; see Section 12 on
Block Structure.
8.1.3.5.2. BlockAdditions Element
name: BlockAdditions
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\BlockAdditions
id: 0x75A1
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Contain additional blocks to complete the main one. An
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EBML parser that has no knowledge of the Block structure could
still see and use/skip these data.
8.1.3.5.2.1. BlockMore Element
name: BlockMore
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\BlockAdditions\BlockMore
id: 0xA6
minOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Contain the BlockAdditional and some parameters.
8.1.3.5.2.2. BlockAddID Element
name: BlockAddID
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\BlockAdditions\BlockMore\BlockAddI
D
id: 0xEE
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
default: 1
type: uinteger
definition: An ID to identify the BlockAdditional level. If
BlockAddIDType of the corresponding block is 0, this value is also
the value of BlockAddIDType for the meaning of the content of
BlockAdditional.
8.1.3.5.2.3. BlockAdditional Element
name: BlockAdditional
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\BlockAdditions\BlockMore\BlockAddi
tional
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id: 0xA5
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: Interpreted by the codec as it wishes (using the
BlockAddID).
8.1.3.5.3. BlockDuration Element
name: BlockDuration
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\BlockDuration
id: 0x9B
minOccurs: see implementation notes
maxOccurs: 1
default: see implementation notes
type: uinteger
definition: The duration of the Block (based on TimestampScale).
The BlockDuration Element can be useful at the end of a Track to
define the duration of the last frame (as there is no subsequent
Block available), or when there is a break in a track like for
subtitle tracks.
notes:
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+===========+===================================================+
| attribute | note |
+===========+===================================================+
| minOccurs | BlockDuration MUST be set (minOccurs=1) if the |
| | associated TrackEntry stores a DefaultDuration |
| | value. |
+-----------+---------------------------------------------------+
| default | When not written and with no DefaultDuration, the |
| | value is assumed to be the difference between the |
| | timestampof this Block and the timestamp of the |
| | next Block in "display" order (not coding order). |
+-----------+---------------------------------------------------+
Table 2: BlockDuration implementation notes
8.1.3.5.4. ReferencePriority Element
name: ReferencePriority
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\ReferencePriority
id: 0xFA
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: This frame is referenced and has the specified cache
priority. In cache only a frame of the same or higher priority
can replace this frame. A value of 0 means the frame is not
referenced.
8.1.3.5.5. ReferenceBlock Element
name: ReferenceBlock
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\ReferenceBlock
id: 0xFB
type: integer
definition: Timestamp of another frame used as a reference (ie: B or
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P frame). The timestamp is relative to the block it's attached
to.
8.1.3.5.6. CodecState Element
name: CodecState
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\CodecState
id: 0xA4
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
minver: 2
definition: The new codec state to use. Data interpretation is
private to the codec. This information SHOULD always be
referenced by a seek entry.
8.1.3.5.7. DiscardPadding Element
name: DiscardPadding
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\DiscardPadding
id: 0x75A2
maxOccurs: 1
type: integer
minver: 4
definition: Duration in nanoseconds of the silent data added to the
Block (padding at the end of the Block for positive value, at the
beginning of the Block for negative value). The duration of
DiscardPadding is not calculated in the duration of the TrackEntry
and SHOULD be discarded during playback.
8.1.3.5.8. Slices Element
name: Slices
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\Slices
id: 0x8E
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maxOccurs: 1
type: master
maxver: 1
definition: Contains slices description.
8.1.3.5.8.1. TimeSlice Element
name: TimeSlice
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\Slices\TimeSlice
id: 0xE8
type: master
maxver: 1
definition: Contains extra time information about the data contained
in the Block. Being able to interpret this Element is not
REQUIRED for playback.
8.1.3.5.8.2. LaceNumber Element
name: LaceNumber
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\Slices\TimeSlice\LaceNumber
id: 0xCC
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
maxver: 1
definition: The reverse number of the frame in the lace (0 is the
last frame, 1 is the next to last, etc). Being able to interpret
this Element is not REQUIRED for playback.
8.1.4. Tracks Element
name: Tracks
path: \Segment\Tracks
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id: 0x1654AE6B
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
recurring: 1
definition: A Top-Level Element of information with many tracks
described.
8.1.4.1. TrackEntry Element
name: TrackEntry
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry
id: 0xAE
minOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Describes a track with all Elements.
8.1.4.1.1. TrackNumber Element
name: TrackNumber
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackNumber
id: 0xD7
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: The track number as used in the Block Header (using more
than 127 tracks is not encouraged, though the design allows an
unlimited number).
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8.1.4.1.2. TrackUID Element
name: TrackUID
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackUID
id: 0x73C5
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: A unique ID to identify the Track.
usage notes: The value of this Element SHOULD be kept the same when
making a direct stream copy to another file.
8.1.4.1.3. TrackType Element
name: TrackType
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackType
id: 0x83
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: A set of track types coded on 8 bits.
restrictions:
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+=======+==========+
| value | label |
+=======+==========+
| 1 | video |
+-------+----------+
| 2 | audio |
+-------+----------+
| 3 | complex |
+-------+----------+
| 16 | logo |
+-------+----------+
| 17 | subtitle |
+-------+----------+
| 18 | buttons |
+-------+----------+
| 32 | control |
+-------+----------+
| 33 | metadata |
+-------+----------+
Table 3: TrackType values
8.1.4.1.4. FlagEnabled Element
name: FlagEnabled
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\FlagEnabled
id: 0xB9
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
default: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 2
definition: Set to 1 if the track is usable. It is possible to turn
a not usable track into a usable track using chapter codecs or
control tracks.
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8.1.4.1.5. FlagDefault Element
name: FlagDefault
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\FlagDefault
id: 0x88
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
default: 1
type: uinteger
definition: Set if that track (audio, video or subs) SHOULD be
eligible for automatic selection by the player; see Section 21 for
more details.
8.1.4.1.6. FlagForced Element
name: FlagForced
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\FlagForced
id: 0x55AA
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: Applies only to subtitles. Set if that track SHOULD be
eligible for automatic selection by the player if it matches the
user's language preference, even if the user's preferences would
normally not enable subtitles with the selected audio track; this
can be used for tracks containing only translations of foreign-
language audio or onscreen text. See Section 21 for more details.
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8.1.4.1.7. FlagHearingImpaired Element
name: FlagHearingImpaired
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\FlagHearingImpaired
id: 0x55AB
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Set to 1 if that track is suitable for users with
hearing impairments, set to 0 if it is unsuitable for users with
hearing impairments.
8.1.4.1.8. FlagVisualImpaired Element
name: FlagVisualImpaired
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\FlagVisualImpaired
id: 0x55AC
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Set to 1 if that track is suitable for users with visual
impairments, set to 0 if it is unsuitable for users with visual
impairments.
8.1.4.1.9. FlagTextDescriptions Element
name: FlagTextDescriptions
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\FlagTextDescriptions
id: 0x55AD
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maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Set to 1 if that track contains textual descriptions of
video content, set to 0 if that track does not contain textual
descriptions of video content.
8.1.4.1.10. FlagOriginal Element
name: FlagOriginal
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\FlagOriginal
id: 0x55AE
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Set to 1 if that track is in the content's original
language, set to 0 if it is a translation.
8.1.4.1.11. FlagCommentary Element
name: FlagCommentary
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\FlagCommentary
id: 0x55AF
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Set to 1 if that track contains commentary, set to 0 if
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it does not contain commentary.
8.1.4.1.12. FlagLacing Element
name: FlagLacing
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\FlagLacing
id: 0x9C
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
default: 1
type: uinteger
definition: Set to 1 if the track MAY contain blocks using lacing.
8.1.4.1.13. MinCache Element
name: MinCache
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\MinCache
id: 0x6DE7
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: The minimum number of frames a player SHOULD be able to
cache during playback. If set to 0, the reference pseudo-cache
system is not used.
8.1.4.1.14. MaxCache Element
name: MaxCache
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\MaxCache
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id: 0x6DF8
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: The maximum cache size necessary to store referenced
frames in and the current frame. 0 means no cache is needed.
8.1.4.1.15. DefaultDuration Element
name: DefaultDuration
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\DefaultDuration
id: 0x23E383
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: Number of nanoseconds (not scaled via TimestampScale)
per frame (frame in the Matroska sense -- one Element put into a
(Simple)Block).
8.1.4.1.16. DefaultDecodedFieldDuration Element
name: DefaultDecodedFieldDuration
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\DefaultDecodedFieldDuration
id: 0x234E7A
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The period in nanoseconds (not scaled by TimestampScale)
between two successive fields at the output of the decoding
process, see Section 11 for more information
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8.1.4.1.17. TrackTimestampScale Element
name: TrackTimestampScale
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackTimestampScale
id: 0x23314F
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: > 0x0p+0
default: 0x1p+0
type: float
maxver: 3
definition: DEPRECATED, DO NOT USE. The scale to apply on this
track to work at normal speed in relation with other tracks
(mostly used to adjust video speed when the audio length differs).
8.1.4.1.18. MaxBlockAdditionID Element
name: MaxBlockAdditionID
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\MaxBlockAdditionID
id: 0x55EE
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: The maximum value of BlockAddID (Section 8.1.3.5.2.2).
A value 0 means there is no BlockAdditions (Section 8.1.3.5.2) for
this track.
8.1.4.1.19. BlockAdditionMapping Element
name: BlockAdditionMapping
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path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\BlockAdditionMapping
id: 0x41E4
type: master
minver: 4
definition: Contains elements that extend the track format, by
adding content either to each frame, with BlockAddID
(Section 8.1.3.5.2.2), or to the track as a whole with
BlockAddIDExtraData.
8.1.4.1.19.1. BlockAddIDValue Element
name: BlockAddIDValue
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\BlockAdditionMapping\BlockAddIDValu
e
id: 0x41F0
maxOccurs: 1
range: >=2
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: If the track format extension needs content beside
frames, the value refers to the BlockAddID (Section 8.1.3.5.2.2),
value being described. To keep MaxBlockAdditionID as low as
possible, small values SHOULD be used.
8.1.4.1.19.2. BlockAddIDName Element
name: BlockAddIDName
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\BlockAdditionMapping\BlockAddIDName
id: 0x41A4
maxOccurs: 1
type: string
minver: 4
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definition: A human-friendly name describing the type of
BlockAdditional data, as defined by the associated Block
Additional Mapping.
8.1.4.1.19.3. BlockAddIDType Element
name: BlockAddIDType
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\BlockAdditionMapping\BlockAddIDType
id: 0x41E7
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Stores the registered identifier of the Block Additional
Mapping to define how the BlockAdditional data should be handled.
8.1.4.1.19.4. BlockAddIDExtraData Element
name: BlockAddIDExtraData
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\BlockAdditionMapping\BlockAddIDExtr
aData
id: 0x41ED
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
minver: 4
definition: Extra binary data that the BlockAddIDType can use to
interpret the BlockAdditional data. The interpretation of the
binary data depends on the BlockAddIDType value and the
corresponding Block Additional Mapping.
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8.1.4.1.20. Name Element
name: Name
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Name
id: 0x536E
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: A human-readable track name.
8.1.4.1.21. Language Element
name: Language
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Language
id: 0x22B59C
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: eng
type: string
definition: Specifies the language of the track in the Matroska
languages form; see Section 6 on language codes. This Element
MUST be ignored if the LanguageIETF Element is used in the same
TrackEntry.
8.1.4.1.22. LanguageIETF Element
name: LanguageIETF
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\LanguageIETF
id: 0x22B59D
maxOccurs: 1
type: string
minver: 4
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definition: Specifies the language of the track according to [BCP47]
and using the IANA Language Subtag Registry [IANALangRegistry].
If this Element is used, then any Language Elements used in the
same TrackEntry MUST be ignored.
8.1.4.1.23. CodecID Element
name: CodecID
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\CodecID
id: 0x86
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: string
definition: An ID corresponding to the codec, see [MatroskaCodec]
for more info.
8.1.4.1.24. CodecPrivate Element
name: CodecPrivate
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\CodecPrivate
id: 0x63A2
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: Private data only known to the codec.
8.1.4.1.25. CodecName Element
name: CodecName
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\CodecName
id: 0x258688
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
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definition: A human-readable string specifying the codec.
8.1.4.1.26. AttachmentLink Element
name: AttachmentLink
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\AttachmentLink
id: 0x7446
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
maxver: 3
definition: The UID of an attachment that is used by this codec.
8.1.4.1.27. TrackOverlay Element
name: TrackOverlay
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackOverlay
id: 0x6FAB
type: uinteger
definition: Specify that this track is an overlay track for the
Track specified (in the u-integer). That means when this track
has a gap, see Section 26.3.1 on SilentTracks, the overlay track
SHOULD be used instead. The order of multiple TrackOverlay
matters, the first one is the one that SHOULD be used. If not
found it SHOULD be the second, etc.
8.1.4.1.28. CodecDelay Element
name: CodecDelay
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\CodecDelay
id: 0x56AA
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
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minver: 4
definition: CodecDelay is The codec-built-in delay in nanoseconds.
This value MUST be subtracted from each block timestamp in order
to get the actual timestamp. The value SHOULD be small so the
muxing of tracks with the same actual timestamp are in the same
Cluster.
8.1.4.1.29. SeekPreRoll Element
name: SeekPreRoll
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\SeekPreRoll
id: 0x56BB
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: After a discontinuity, SeekPreRoll is the duration in
nanoseconds of the data the decoder MUST decode before the decoded
data is valid.
8.1.4.1.30. TrackTranslate Element
name: TrackTranslate
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackTranslate
id: 0x6624
type: master
definition: The track identification for the given Chapter Codec.
8.1.4.1.30.1. TrackTranslateEditionUID Element
name: TrackTranslateEditionUID
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackTranslate\TrackTranslateEditio
nUID
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id: 0x66FC
type: uinteger
definition: Specify an edition UID on which this translation
applies. When not specified, it means for all editions found in
the Segment.
8.1.4.1.30.2. TrackTranslateCodec Element
name: TrackTranslateCodec
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackTranslate\TrackTranslateCodec
id: 0x66BF
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: The chapter codec; see Section 8.1.7.1.4.15.
restrictions:
+=======+=================+
| value | label |
+=======+=================+
| 0 | Matroska Script |
+-------+-----------------+
| 1 | DVD-menu |
+-------+-----------------+
Table 4:
TrackTranslateCodec
values
8.1.4.1.30.3. TrackTranslateTrackID Element
name: TrackTranslateTrackID
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackTranslate\TrackTranslateTrackI
D
id: 0x66A5
minOccurs: 1
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maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: The binary value used to represent this track in the
chapter codec data. The format depends on the ChapProcessCodecID
used; see Section 8.1.7.1.4.15.
8.1.4.1.31. Video Element
name: Video
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video
id: 0xE0
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Video settings.
8.1.4.1.31.1. FlagInterlaced Element
name: FlagInterlaced
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\FlagInterlaced
id: 0x9A
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
minver: 2
definition: Specify whether the video frames in this track are
interlaced or not.
defined values:
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+=======+==============+==========================+
| value | label | definition |
+=======+==============+==========================+
| 0 | undetermined | Unknown status.This |
| | | value SHOULD be avoided. |
+-------+--------------+--------------------------+
| 1 | interlaced | Interlaced frames. |
+-------+--------------+--------------------------+
| 2 | progressive | No interlacing. |
+-------+--------------+--------------------------+
Table 5: FlagInterlaced values
8.1.4.1.31.2. FieldOrder Element
name: FieldOrder
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\FieldOrder
id: 0x9D
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 2
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Specify the field ordering of video frames in this
track.
usage notes: If FlagInterlaced is not set to 1, this Element MUST be
ignored.
defined values:
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+===============+==============+====================================+
| value | label | definition |
+===============+==============+====================================+
| 0 | progressive | Interlaced frames.This |
| | | value SHOULD be avoided, |
| | | setting FlagInterlaced |
| | | to 2 is sufficient. |
+---------------+--------------+------------------------------------+
| 1 | tff | Top field displayed |
| | | first. Top field stored |
| | | first. |
+---------------+--------------+------------------------------------+
| 2 | undetermined | Unknown field order.This |
| | | value SHOULD be avoided. |
+---------------+--------------+------------------------------------+
| 6 | bff | Bottom field displayed |
| | | first. Bottom field |
| | | stored first. |
+---------------+--------------+------------------------------------+
| 9 | bff(swapped) | Top field displayed |
| | | first. Fields are |
| | | interleaved in storage |
+---------------+--------------+------------------------------------+
| with the top | | |
| line of the | | |
| top field | | |
| stored first. | | |
+---------------+--------------+------------------------------------+
| 14 | tff(swapped) | Bottom field displayed |
| | | first. Fields are |
| | | interleaved in storage |
+---------------+--------------+------------------------------------+
| with the top | | |
| line of the | | |
| top field | | |
| stored first. | | |
+---------------+--------------+------------------------------------+
Table 6: FieldOrder values
8.1.4.1.31.3. StereoMode Element
name: StereoMode
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\StereoMode
id: 0x53B8
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minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
minver: 3
definition: Stereo-3D video mode. There are some more details in
Section 20.10.
restrictions:
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+=======+===================================================+
| value | label |
+=======+===================================================+
| 0 | mono |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 1 | side by side (left eye first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 2 | top - bottom (right eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 3 | top - bottom (left eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 4 | checkboard (right eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 5 | checkboard (left eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 6 | row interleaved (right eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 7 | row interleaved (left eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 8 | column interleaved (right eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 9 | column interleaved (left eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 10 | anaglyph (cyan/red) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 11 | side by side (right eye first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 12 | anaglyph (green/magenta) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 13 | both eyes laced in one Block (left eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 14 | both eyes laced in one Block (right eye is first) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
Table 7: StereoMode values
8.1.4.1.31.4. AlphaMode Element
name: AlphaMode
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\AlphaMode
id: 0x53C0
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
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type: uinteger
minver: 3
definition: Alpha Video Mode. Presence of this Element indicates
that the BlockAdditional Element could contain Alpha data.
8.1.4.1.31.5. PixelWidth Element
name: PixelWidth
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\PixelWidth
id: 0xB0
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: Width of the encoded video frames in pixels.
8.1.4.1.31.6. PixelHeight Element
name: PixelHeight
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\PixelHeight
id: 0xBA
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: Height of the encoded video frames in pixels.
8.1.4.1.31.7. PixelCropBottom Element
name: PixelCropBottom
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\PixelCropBottom
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id: 0x54AA
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: The number of video pixels to remove at the bottom of
the image.
8.1.4.1.31.8. PixelCropTop Element
name: PixelCropTop
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\PixelCropTop
id: 0x54BB
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: The number of video pixels to remove at the top of the
image.
8.1.4.1.31.9. PixelCropLeft Element
name: PixelCropLeft
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\PixelCropLeft
id: 0x54CC
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: The number of video pixels to remove on the left of the
image.
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8.1.4.1.31.10. PixelCropRight Element
name: PixelCropRight
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\PixelCropRight
id: 0x54DD
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: The number of video pixels to remove on the right of the
image.
8.1.4.1.31.11. DisplayWidth Element
name: DisplayWidth
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\DisplayWidth
id: 0x54B0
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
default: see implementation notes
type: uinteger
definition: Width of the video frames to display. Applies to the
video frame after cropping (PixelCrop* Elements).
notes:
+===========+=================================================+
| attribute | note |
+===========+=================================================+
| default | If the DisplayUnit of the same TrackEntry is 0, |
| | then the default value for DisplayWidth is |
| | equal toPixelWidth - PixelCropLeft - |
| | PixelCropRight, else there is no default value. |
+-----------+-------------------------------------------------+
Table 8: DisplayWidth implementation notes
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8.1.4.1.31.12. DisplayHeight Element
name: DisplayHeight
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\DisplayHeight
id: 0x54BA
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
default: see implementation notes
type: uinteger
definition: Height of the video frames to display. Applies to the
video frame after cropping (PixelCrop* Elements).
notes:
+===========+==================================================+
| attribute | note |
+===========+==================================================+
| default | If the DisplayUnit of the same TrackEntry is 0, |
| | then the default value for DisplayHeight is |
| | equal toPixelHeight - PixelCropTop - |
| | PixelCropBottom, else there is no default value. |
+-----------+--------------------------------------------------+
Table 9: DisplayHeight implementation notes
8.1.4.1.31.13. DisplayUnit Element
name: DisplayUnit
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\DisplayUnit
id: 0x54B2
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
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definition: How DisplayWidth & DisplayHeight are interpreted.
restrictions:
+=======+======================+
| value | label |
+=======+======================+
| 0 | pixels |
+-------+----------------------+
| 1 | centimeters |
+-------+----------------------+
| 2 | inches |
+-------+----------------------+
| 3 | display aspect ratio |
+-------+----------------------+
| 4 | unknown |
+-------+----------------------+
Table 10: DisplayUnit values
8.1.4.1.31.14. ColourSpace Element
name: ColourSpace
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\ColourSpace
id: 0x2EB524
minOccurs: see implementation notes
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: Specify the pixel format used for the Track's data as a
FourCC. This value is similar in scope to the biCompression value
of AVI's BITMAPINFOHEADER.
notes:
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+===========+============================================+
| attribute | note |
+===========+============================================+
| minOccurs | ColourSpace MUST be set (minOccurs=1) in |
| | TrackEntry, when the CodecID Element of |
| | the TrackEntry is set to "V_UNCOMPRESSED". |
+-----------+--------------------------------------------+
Table 11: ColourSpace implementation notes
8.1.4.1.31.15. Colour Element
name: Colour
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour
id: 0x55B0
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
minver: 4
definition: Settings describing the colour format.
8.1.4.1.31.16. MatrixCoefficients Element
name: MatrixCoefficients
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MatrixCoefficients
id: 0x55B1
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 2
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The Matrix Coefficients of the video used to derive luma
and chroma values from red, green, and blue color primaries. For
clarity, the value and meanings for MatrixCoefficients are adopted
from Table 4 of ISO/IEC 23001-8:2016 or ITU-T H.273.
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restrictions:
+=======+=======================================+
| value | label |
+=======+=======================================+
| 0 | Identity |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 1 | ITU-R BT.709 |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 2 | unspecified |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 3 | reserved |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 4 | US FCC 73.682 |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 5 | ITU-R BT.470BG |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 6 | SMPTE 170M |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 7 | SMPTE 240M |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 8 | YCoCg |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 9 | BT2020 Non-constant Luminance |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 10 | BT2020 Constant Luminance |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 11 | SMPTE ST 2085 |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 12 | Chroma-derived Non-constant Luminance |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 13 | Chroma-derived Constant Luminance |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 14 | ITU-R BT.2100-0 |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
Table 12: MatrixCoefficients values
8.1.4.1.31.17. BitsPerChannel Element
name: BitsPerChannel
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\BitsPerChannel
id: 0x55B2
maxOccurs: 1
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default: 0
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Number of decoded bits per channel. A value of 0
indicates that the BitsPerChannel is unspecified.
8.1.4.1.31.18. ChromaSubsamplingHorz Element
name: ChromaSubsamplingHorz
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\ChromaSubsamplingHorz
id: 0x55B3
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The amount of pixels to remove in the Cr and Cb channels
for every pixel not removed horizontally. Example: For video with
4:2:0 chroma subsampling, the ChromaSubsamplingHorz SHOULD be set
to 1.
8.1.4.1.31.19. ChromaSubsamplingVert Element
name: ChromaSubsamplingVert
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\ChromaSubsamplingVert
id: 0x55B4
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The amount of pixels to remove in the Cr and Cb channels
for every pixel not removed vertically. Example: For video with
4:2:0 chroma subsampling, the ChromaSubsamplingVert SHOULD be set
to 1.
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8.1.4.1.31.20. CbSubsamplingHorz Element
name: CbSubsamplingHorz
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\CbSubsamplingHorz
id: 0x55B5
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The amount of pixels to remove in the Cb channel for
every pixel not removed horizontally. This is additive with
ChromaSubsamplingHorz. Example: For video with 4:2:1 chroma
subsampling, the ChromaSubsamplingHorz SHOULD be set to 1 and
CbSubsamplingHorz SHOULD be set to 1.
8.1.4.1.31.21. CbSubsamplingVert Element
name: CbSubsamplingVert
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\CbSubsamplingVert
id: 0x55B6
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The amount of pixels to remove in the Cb channel for
every pixel not removed vertically. This is additive with
ChromaSubsamplingVert.
8.1.4.1.31.22. ChromaSitingHorz Element
name: ChromaSitingHorz
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\ChromaSitingHorz
id: 0x55B7
minOccurs: 1
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maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: How chroma is subsampled horizontally.
restrictions:
+=======+=================+
| value | label |
+=======+=================+
| 0 | unspecified |
+-------+-----------------+
| 1 | left collocated |
+-------+-----------------+
| 2 | half |
+-------+-----------------+
Table 13:
ChromaSitingHorz values
8.1.4.1.31.23. ChromaSitingVert Element
name: ChromaSitingVert
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\ChromaSitingVert
id: 0x55B8
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: How chroma is subsampled vertically.
restrictions:
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+=======+================+
| value | label |
+=======+================+
| 0 | unspecified |
+-------+----------------+
| 1 | top collocated |
+-------+----------------+
| 2 | half |
+-------+----------------+
Table 14:
ChromaSitingVert
values
8.1.4.1.31.24. Range Element
name: Range
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\Range
id: 0x55B9
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Clipping of the color ranges.
restrictions:
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+=======+=========================================================+
| value | label |
+=======+=========================================================+
| 0 | unspecified |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| 1 | broadcast range |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| 2 | full range (no clipping) |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| 3 | defined by MatrixCoefficients / TransferCharacteristics |
+-------+---------------------------------------------------------+
Table 15: Range values
8.1.4.1.31.25. TransferCharacteristics Element
name: TransferCharacteristics
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\TransferCharacteristic
s
id: 0x55BA
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 2
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The transfer characteristics of the video. For clarity,
the value and meanings for TransferCharacteristics are adopted
from Table 3 of ISO/IEC 23091-4 or ITU-T H.273.
restrictions:
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+=======+=======================================+
| value | label |
+=======+=======================================+
| 0 | reserved |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 1 | ITU-R BT.709 |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 2 | unspecified |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 3 | reserved |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 4 | Gamma 2.2 curve - BT.470M |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 5 | Gamma 2.8 curve - BT.470BG |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 6 | SMPTE 170M |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 7 | SMPTE 240M |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 8 | Linear |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 9 | Log |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 10 | Log Sqrt |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 11 | IEC 61966-2-4 |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 12 | ITU-R BT.1361 Extended Colour Gamut |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 13 | IEC 61966-2-1 |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 14 | ITU-R BT.2020 10 bit |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 15 | ITU-R BT.2020 12 bit |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 16 | ITU-R BT.2100 Perceptual Quantization |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 17 | SMPTE ST 428-1 |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
| 18 | ARIB STD-B67 (HLG) |
+-------+---------------------------------------+
Table 16: TransferCharacteristics values
8.1.4.1.31.26. Primaries Element
name: Primaries
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path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\Primaries
id: 0x55BB
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 2
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The colour primaries of the video. For clarity, the
value and meanings for Primaries are adopted from Table 2 of ISO/
IEC 23091-4 or ITU-T H.273.
restrictions:
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+=======+========================================+
| value | label |
+=======+========================================+
| 0 | reserved |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 1 | ITU-R BT.709 |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 2 | unspecified |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 3 | reserved |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 4 | ITU-R BT.470M |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 5 | ITU-R BT.470BG - BT.601 625 |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 6 | ITU-R BT.601 525 - SMPTE 170M |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 7 | SMPTE 240M |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 8 | FILM |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 9 | ITU-R BT.2020 |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 10 | SMPTE ST 428-1 |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 11 | SMPTE RP 432-2 |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 12 | SMPTE EG 432-2 |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| 22 | EBU Tech. 3213-E - JEDEC P22 phosphors |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
Table 17: Primaries values
8.1.4.1.31.27. MaxCLL Element
name: MaxCLL
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MaxCLL
id: 0x55BC
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
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definition: Maximum brightness of a single pixel (Maximum Content
Light Level) in candelas per square meter (cd/m^2).
8.1.4.1.31.28. MaxFALL Element
name: MaxFALL
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MaxFALL
id: 0x55BD
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Maximum brightness of a single full frame (Maximum
Frame-Average Light Level) in candelas per square meter (cd/m^2).
8.1.4.1.31.29. MasteringMetadata Element
name: MasteringMetadata
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata
id: 0x55D0
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
minver: 4
definition: SMPTE 2086 mastering data.
8.1.4.1.31.30. PrimaryRChromaticityX Element
name: PrimaryRChromaticityX
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Prim
aryRChromaticityX
id: 0x55D1
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
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type: float
minver: 4
definition: Red X chromaticity coordinate, as defined by CIE 1931.
8.1.4.1.31.31. PrimaryRChromaticityY Element
name: PrimaryRChromaticityY
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Prim
aryRChromaticityY
id: 0x55D2
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: float
minver: 4
definition: Red Y chromaticity coordinate, as defined by CIE 1931.
8.1.4.1.31.32. PrimaryGChromaticityX Element
name: PrimaryGChromaticityX
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Prim
aryGChromaticityX
id: 0x55D3
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: float
minver: 4
definition: Green X chromaticity coordinate, as defined by CIE 1931.
8.1.4.1.31.33. PrimaryGChromaticityY Element
name: PrimaryGChromaticityY
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path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Prim
aryGChromaticityY
id: 0x55D4
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: float
minver: 4
definition: Green Y chromaticity coordinate, as defined by CIE 1931.
8.1.4.1.31.34. PrimaryBChromaticityX Element
name: PrimaryBChromaticityX
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Prim
aryBChromaticityX
id: 0x55D5
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: float
minver: 4
definition: Blue X chromaticity coordinate, as defined by CIE 1931.
8.1.4.1.31.35. PrimaryBChromaticityY Element
name: PrimaryBChromaticityY
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Prim
aryBChromaticityY
id: 0x55D6
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: float
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minver: 4
definition: Blue Y chromaticity coordinate, as defined by CIE 1931.
8.1.4.1.31.36. WhitePointChromaticityX Element
name: WhitePointChromaticityX
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Whit
ePointChromaticityX
id: 0x55D7
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: float
minver: 4
definition: White X chromaticity coordinate, as defined by CIE 1931.
8.1.4.1.31.37. WhitePointChromaticityY Element
name: WhitePointChromaticityY
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Whit
ePointChromaticityY
id: 0x55D8
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
type: float
minver: 4
definition: White Y chromaticity coordinate, as defined by CIE 1931.
8.1.4.1.31.38. LuminanceMax Element
name: LuminanceMax
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Lumi
nanceMax
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id: 0x55D9
maxOccurs: 1
range: >= 0x0p+0
type: float
minver: 4
definition: Maximum luminance. Represented in candelas per square
meter (cd/m^2).
8.1.4.1.31.39. LuminanceMin Element
name: LuminanceMin
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Colour\MasteringMetadata\Lumi
nanceMin
id: 0x55DA
maxOccurs: 1
range: >= 0x0p+0
type: float
minver: 4
definition: Minimum luminance. Represented in candelas per square
meter (cd/m^2).
8.1.4.1.31.40. Projection Element
name: Projection
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Projection
id: 0x7670
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
minver: 4
definition: Describes the video projection details. Used to render
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spherical and VR videos.
8.1.4.1.31.41. ProjectionType Element
name: ProjectionType
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Projection\ProjectionType
id: 0x7671
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: Describes the projection used for this video track.
restrictions:
+=======+=================+
| value | label |
+=======+=================+
| 0 | rectangular |
+-------+-----------------+
| 1 | equirectangular |
+-------+-----------------+
| 2 | cubemap |
+-------+-----------------+
| 3 | mesh |
+-------+-----------------+
Table 18:
ProjectionType values
8.1.4.1.31.42. ProjectionPrivate Element
name: ProjectionPrivate
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Projection\ProjectionPrivate
id: 0x7672
maxOccurs: 1
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type: binary
minver: 4
definition: Private data that only applies to a specific projection.
* If ProjectionType equals 0 (Rectangular), then this element must
not be present.
* If ProjectionType equals 1 (Equirectangular), then this element
must be present and contain the same binary data that would be
stored inside an ISOBMFF Equirectangular Projection Box ('equi').
* If ProjectionType equals 2 (Cubemap), then this element must be
present and contain the same binary data that would be stored
inside an ISOBMFF Cubemap Projection Box ('cbmp').
* If ProjectionType equals 3 (Mesh), then this element must be
present and contain the same binary data that would be stored
inside an ISOBMFF Mesh Projection Box ('mshp').
usage notes: ISOBMFF box size and fourcc fields are not included in
the binary data, but the FullBox version and flag fields are.
This is to avoid redundant framing information while preserving
versioning and semantics between the two container formats.
8.1.4.1.31.43. ProjectionPoseYaw Element
name: ProjectionPoseYaw
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Projection\ProjectionPoseYaw
id: 0x7673
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0x0p+0
type: float
minver: 4
definition: Specifies a yaw rotation to the projection.
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Value represents a clockwise rotation, in degrees, around the up
vector. This rotation must be applied before any ProjectionPosePitch
or ProjectionPoseRoll rotations. The value of this field should be
in the -180 to 180 degree range.
8.1.4.1.31.44. ProjectionPosePitch Element
name: ProjectionPosePitch
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Projection\ProjectionPosePitc
h
id: 0x7674
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0x0p+0
type: float
minver: 4
definition: Specifies a pitch rotation to the projection.
Value represents a counter-clockwise rotation, in degrees, around the
right vector. This rotation must be applied after the
ProjectionPoseYaw rotation and before the ProjectionPoseRoll
rotation. The value of this field should be in the -90 to 90 degree
range.
8.1.4.1.31.45. ProjectionPoseRoll Element
name: ProjectionPoseRoll
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\Projection\ProjectionPoseRoll
id: 0x7675
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0x0p+0
type: float
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minver: 4
definition: Specifies a roll rotation to the projection.
Value represents a counter-clockwise rotation, in degrees, around the
forward vector. This rotation must be applied after the
ProjectionPoseYaw and ProjectionPosePitch rotations. The value of
this field should be in the -180 to 180 degree range.
8.1.4.1.32. Audio Element
name: Audio
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio
id: 0xE1
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Audio settings.
8.1.4.1.32.1. SamplingFrequency Element
name: SamplingFrequency
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio\SamplingFrequency
id: 0xB5
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: > 0x0p+0
default: 0x1.f4p+12
type: float
definition: Sampling frequency in Hz.
8.1.4.1.32.2. OutputSamplingFrequency Element
name: OutputSamplingFrequency
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio\OutputSamplingFrequency
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id: 0x78B5
maxOccurs: 1
range: > 0x0p+0
default: see implementation notes
type: float
definition: Real output sampling frequency in Hz (used for SBR
techniques).
notes:
+===========+======================================================+
| attribute | note |
+===========+======================================================+
| default | The default value for OutputSamplingFrequency of the |
| | same TrackEntry is equal to the SamplingFrequency. |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------+
Table 19: OutputSamplingFrequency implementation notes
8.1.4.1.32.3. Channels Element
name: Channels
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio\Channels
id: 0x9F
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
default: 1
type: uinteger
definition: Numbers of channels in the track.
8.1.4.1.32.4. BitDepth Element
name: BitDepth
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path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio\BitDepth
id: 0x6264
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: Bits per sample, mostly used for PCM.
8.1.4.1.33. TrackOperation Element
name: TrackOperation
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackOperation
id: 0xE2
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
minver: 3
definition: Operation that needs to be applied on tracks to create
this virtual track. For more details look at Section 20.8.
8.1.4.1.33.1. TrackCombinePlanes Element
name: TrackCombinePlanes
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackOperation\TrackCombinePlanes
id: 0xE3
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
minver: 3
definition: Contains the list of all video plane tracks that need to
be combined to create this 3D track
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8.1.4.1.33.2. TrackPlane Element
name: TrackPlane
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackOperation\TrackCombinePlanes\T
rackPlane
id: 0xE4
minOccurs: 1
type: master
minver: 3
definition: Contains a video plane track that need to be combined to
create this 3D track
8.1.4.1.33.3. TrackPlaneUID Element
name: TrackPlaneUID
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackOperation\TrackCombinePlanes\T
rackPlane\TrackPlaneUID
id: 0xE5
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
minver: 3
definition: The trackUID number of the track representing the plane.
8.1.4.1.33.4. TrackPlaneType Element
name: TrackPlaneType
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackOperation\TrackCombinePlanes\T
rackPlane\TrackPlaneType
id: 0xE6
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minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 3
definition: The kind of plane this track corresponds to.
restrictions:
+=======+============+
| value | label |
+=======+============+
| 0 | left eye |
+-------+------------+
| 1 | right eye |
+-------+------------+
| 2 | background |
+-------+------------+
Table 20:
TrackPlaneType values
8.1.4.1.33.5. TrackJoinBlocks Element
name: TrackJoinBlocks
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackOperation\TrackJoinBlocks
id: 0xE9
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
minver: 3
definition: Contains the list of all tracks whose Blocks need to be
combined to create this virtual track
8.1.4.1.33.6. TrackJoinUID Element
name: TrackJoinUID
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackOperation\TrackJoinBlocks\Trac
kJoinUID
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id: 0xED
minOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
minver: 3
definition: The trackUID number of a track whose blocks are used to
create this virtual track.
8.1.4.1.34. ContentEncodings Element
name: ContentEncodings
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings
id: 0x6D80
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Settings for several content encoding mechanisms like
compression or encryption.
8.1.4.1.34.1. ContentEncoding Element
name: ContentEncoding
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding
id: 0x6240
minOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Settings for one content encoding like compression or
encryption.
8.1.4.1.34.2. ContentEncodingOrder Element
name: ContentEncodingOrder
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
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ntentEncodingOrder
id: 0x5031
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: Tells when this modification was used during encoding/
muxing starting with 0 and counting upwards. The decoder/demuxer
has to start with the highest order number it finds and work its
way down. This value has to be unique over all
ContentEncodingOrder Elements in the TrackEntry that contains this
ContentEncodingOrder element.
8.1.4.1.34.3. ContentEncodingScope Element
name: ContentEncodingScope
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncodingScope
id: 0x5032
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 1
type: uinteger
definition: A bit field that describes which Elements have been
modified in this way. Values (big-endian) can be OR'ed.
restrictions:
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+=======+===============================================+
| value | label |
+=======+===============================================+
| 1 | All frame contents, excluding lacing data |
+-------+-----------------------------------------------+
| 2 | The track's private data |
+-------+-----------------------------------------------+
| 4 | The next ContentEncoding (next |
| | ContentEncodingOrder. Either the data inside |
| | ContentCompression and/or ContentEncryption) |
+-------+-----------------------------------------------+
Table 21: ContentEncodingScope values
8.1.4.1.34.4. ContentEncodingType Element
name: ContentEncodingType
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncodingType
id: 0x5033
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: A value describing what kind of transformation is
applied.
restrictions:
+=======+=============+
| value | label |
+=======+=============+
| 0 | Compression |
+-------+-------------+
| 1 | Encryption |
+-------+-------------+
Table 22:
ContentEncodingType
values
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8.1.4.1.34.5. ContentCompression Element
name: ContentCompression
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentCompression
id: 0x5034
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Settings describing the compression used. This Element
MUST be present if the value of ContentEncodingType is 0 and
absent otherwise. Each block MUST be decompressable even if no
previous block is available in order not to prevent seeking.
8.1.4.1.34.6. ContentCompAlgo Element
name: ContentCompAlgo
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentCompression\ContentCompAlgo
id: 0x4254
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: The compression algorithm used.
defined values:
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+=======+===========+======================================+
| value | label | definition |
+=======+===========+======================================+
| 0 | zlib | zlib compression [RFC1950]. |
+-------+-----------+--------------------------------------+
| 1 | bzlib | bzip2 compression [BZIP2]. |
+-------+-----------+--------------------------------------+
| 2 | lzo1x | Lempel– (U+2013)Ziv– |
| | | (U+2013)Oberhumer compression [LZO]. |
+-------+-----------+--------------------------------------+
| 3 | Header | Octets in ContentCompSettings |
| | Stripping | (Section 8.1.4.1.34.7) have been |
| | | stripped from each frame. |
+-------+-----------+--------------------------------------+
Table 23: ContentCompAlgo values
8.1.4.1.34.7. ContentCompSettings Element
name: ContentCompSettings
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentCompression\ContentCompSettings
id: 0x4255
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: Settings that might be needed by the decompressor. For
Header Stripping (ContentCompAlgo=3), the bytes that were removed
from the beginning of each frames of the track.
8.1.4.1.34.8. ContentEncryption Element
name: ContentEncryption
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncryption
id: 0x5035
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Settings describing the encryption used. This Element
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MUST be present if the value of ContentEncodingType is 1
(encryption) and MUST be ignored otherwise.
8.1.4.1.34.9. ContentEncAlgo Element
name: ContentEncAlgo
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncryption\ContentEncAlgo
id: 0x47E1
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: The encryption algorithm used. The value "0" means that
the contents have not been encrypted.
defined values:
+=======+===============+============================+
| value | label | definition |
+=======+===============+============================+
| 0 | Not encrypted | |
+-------+---------------+----------------------------+
| 1 | DES | Data Encryption Standard |
| | | (DES) [FIPS.46-3]. |
+-------+---------------+----------------------------+
| 2 | 3DES | Triple Data Encryption |
| | | Algorithm [RFC1851]. |
+-------+---------------+----------------------------+
| 3 | Twofish | Twofish Encryption |
| | | Algorithm [Twofish]. |
+-------+---------------+----------------------------+
| 4 | Blowfish | Blowfish Encryption |
| | | Algorithm [Blowfish]. |
+-------+---------------+----------------------------+
| 5 | AES | Advanced Encryption |
| | | Standard (AES) [FIPS.197]. |
+-------+---------------+----------------------------+
Table 24: ContentEncAlgo values
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8.1.4.1.34.10. ContentEncKeyID Element
name: ContentEncKeyID
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncryption\ContentEncKeyID
id: 0x47E2
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: For public key algorithms this is the ID of the public
key the the data was encrypted with.
8.1.4.1.34.11. ContentEncAESSettings Element
name: ContentEncAESSettings
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncryption\ContentEncAESSettings
id: 0x47E7
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
minver: 4
definition: Settings describing the encryption algorithm used. If
ContentEncAlgo != 5 this MUST be ignored.
8.1.4.1.34.12. AESSettingsCipherMode Element
name: AESSettingsCipherMode
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncryption\ContentEncAESSettings\AESSettingsCipherMode
id: 0x47E8
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
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minver: 4
definition: The AES cipher mode used in the encryption.
restrictions:
+=======+==================================================+
| value | label |
+=======+==================================================+
| 1 | AES-CTR / Counter, NIST SP 800-38A |
+-------+--------------------------------------------------+
| 2 | AES-CBC / Cipher Block Chaining, NIST SP 800-38A |
+-------+--------------------------------------------------+
Table 25: AESSettingsCipherMode values
8.1.5. Cues Element
name: Cues
path: \Segment\Cues
id: 0x1C53BB6B
minOccurs: see implementation notes
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: A Top-Level Element to speed seeking access. All
entries are local to the Segment.
notes:
+===========+====================================================+
| attribute | note |
+===========+====================================================+
| minOccurs | This Element SHOULD be set when the Segment is not |
| | transmitted as a live stream (see #livestreaming). |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------+
Table 26: Cues implementation notes
8.1.5.1. CuePoint Element
name: CuePoint
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path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint
id: 0xBB
minOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Contains all information relative to a seek point in the
Segment.
8.1.5.1.1. CueTime Element
name: CueTime
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTime
id: 0xB3
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: Absolute timestamp according to the Segment time base.
8.1.5.1.2. CueTrackPositions Element
name: CueTrackPositions
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions
id: 0xB7
minOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Contain positions for different tracks corresponding to
the timestamp.
8.1.5.1.2.1. CueTrack Element
name: CueTrack
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueTrack
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id: 0xF7
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: The track for which a position is given.
8.1.5.1.2.2. CueClusterPosition Element
name: CueClusterPosition
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueClusterPosition
id: 0xF1
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: The Segment Position of the Cluster containing the
associated Block.
8.1.5.1.2.3. CueRelativePosition Element
name: CueRelativePosition
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueRelativePosition
id: 0xF0
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The relative position inside the Cluster of the
referenced SimpleBlock or BlockGroup with 0 being the first
possible position for an Element inside that Cluster.
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8.1.5.1.2.4. CueDuration Element
name: CueDuration
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueDuration
id: 0xB2
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 4
definition: The duration of the block according to the Segment time
base. If missing the track's DefaultDuration does not apply and
no duration information is available in terms of the cues.
8.1.5.1.2.5. CueBlockNumber Element
name: CueBlockNumber
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueBlockNumber
id: 0x5378
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: Number of the Block in the specified Cluster.
8.1.5.1.2.6. CueCodecState Element
name: CueCodecState
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueCodecState
id: 0xEA
maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
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minver: 2
definition: The Segment Position of the Codec State corresponding to
this Cue Element. 0 means that the data is taken from the initial
Track Entry.
8.1.5.1.2.7. CueReference Element
name: CueReference
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueReference
id: 0xDB
type: master
minver: 2
definition: The Clusters containing the referenced Blocks.
8.1.5.1.2.8. CueRefTime Element
name: CueRefTime
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueReference\CueRefTi
me
id: 0x96
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
minver: 2
definition: Timestamp of the referenced Block.
8.1.6. Attachments Element
name: Attachments
path: \Segment\Attachments
id: 0x1941A469
maxOccurs: 1
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type: master
definition: Contain attached files.
8.1.6.1. AttachedFile Element
name: AttachedFile
path: \Segment\Attachments\AttachedFile
id: 0x61A7
minOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: An attached file.
8.1.6.1.1. FileDescription Element
name: FileDescription
path: \Segment\Attachments\AttachedFile\FileDescription
id: 0x467E
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: A human-friendly name for the attached file.
8.1.6.1.2. FileName Element
name: FileName
path: \Segment\Attachments\AttachedFile\FileName
id: 0x466E
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: Filename of the attached file.
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8.1.6.1.3. FileMimeType Element
name: FileMimeType
path: \Segment\Attachments\AttachedFile\FileMimeType
id: 0x4660
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: string
definition: MIME type of the file.
8.1.6.1.4. FileData Element
name: FileData
path: \Segment\Attachments\AttachedFile\FileData
id: 0x465C
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: The data of the file.
8.1.6.1.5. FileUID Element
name: FileUID
path: \Segment\Attachments\AttachedFile\FileUID
id: 0x46AE
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
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definition: Unique ID representing the file, as random as possible.
8.1.7. Chapters Element
name: Chapters
path: \Segment\Chapters
id: 0x1043A770
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
recurring: 1
definition: A system to define basic menus and partition data. For
more detailed information, look at the Chapters explanation in
Section 22.
8.1.7.1. EditionEntry Element
name: EditionEntry
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry
id: 0x45B9
minOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Contains all information about a Segment edition.
8.1.7.1.1. EditionUID Element
name: EditionUID
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\EditionUID
id: 0x45BC
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
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definition: A unique ID to identify the edition. It's useful for
tagging an edition.
8.1.7.1.2. EditionFlagDefault Element
name: EditionFlagDefault
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\EditionFlagDefault
id: 0x45DB
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: Set to 1 if the edition SHOULD be used as the default
one.
8.1.7.1.3. EditionFlagOrdered Element
name: EditionFlagOrdered
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\EditionFlagOrdered
id: 0x45DD
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: Set to 1 if the chapters can be defined multiple times
and the order to play them is enforced; see Section 22.1.3.
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8.1.7.1.4. ChapterAtom Element
name: ChapterAtom
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom
id: 0xB6
minOccurs: 1
type: master
recursive: 1
definition: Contains the atom information to use as the chapter atom
(apply to all tracks).
8.1.7.1.4.1. ChapterUID Element
name: ChapterUID
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterUID
id: 0x73C4
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: A unique ID to identify the Chapter.
8.1.7.1.4.2. ChapterStringUID Element
name: ChapterStringUID
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterStringUID
id: 0x5654
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
minver: 3
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definition: A unique string ID to identify the Chapter. Use for
WebVTT cue identifier storage [WebVTT].
8.1.7.1.4.3. ChapterTimeStart Element
name: ChapterTimeStart
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterTimeStart
id: 0x91
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: Timestamp of the start of Chapter (not scaled).
8.1.7.1.4.4. ChapterTimeEnd Element
name: ChapterTimeEnd
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterTimeEnd
id: 0x92
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: Timestamp of the end of Chapter (timestamp excluded, not
scaled). The value MUST be strictly greater than the
ChapterTimeStart of the same ChapterAtom.
usage notes: If the Edition is an ordered edition, see
Section 22.1.3, then this Element is REQUIRED.
8.1.7.1.4.5. ChapterFlagHidden Element
name: ChapterFlagHidden
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterFlagHidden
id: 0x98
minOccurs: 1
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maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: Set to 1 if a chapter is hidden. Hidden chapters it
SHOULD NOT be available to the user interface (but still to
Control Tracks; see Section 22.2.3 on Chapter flags).
8.1.7.1.4.6. ChapterSegmentUID Element
name: ChapterSegmentUID
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterSegmentUID
id: 0x6E67
minOccurs: see implementation notes
maxOccurs: 1
range: >0
type: binary
definition: The SegmentUID of another Segment to play during this
chapter.
notes:
+===========+=============================================+
| attribute | note |
+===========+=============================================+
| minOccurs | ChapterSegmentUID MUST be set (minOccurs=1) |
| | if ChapterSegmentEditionUID is used; see |
| | Section 19.2 on medium-linking Segments. |
+-----------+---------------------------------------------+
Table 27: ChapterSegmentUID implementation notes
8.1.7.1.4.7. ChapterSegmentEditionUID Element
name: ChapterSegmentEditionUID
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterSegmentEdit
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ionUID
id: 0x6EBC
maxOccurs: 1
range: not 0
type: uinteger
definition: The EditionUID to play from the Segment linked in
ChapterSegmentUID. If ChapterSegmentEditionUID is undeclared,
then no Edition of the linked Segment is used; see Section 19.2 on
medium-linking Segments.
8.1.7.1.4.8. ChapterPhysicalEquiv Element
name: ChapterPhysicalEquiv
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterPhysicalEqu
iv
id: 0x63C3
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: Specify the physical equivalent of this ChapterAtom like
"DVD" (60) or "SIDE" (50); see Section 22.4 for a complete list of
values.
8.1.7.1.4.9. ChapterDisplay Element
name: ChapterDisplay
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterDisplay
id: 0x80
type: master
definition: Contains all possible strings to use for the chapter
display.
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8.1.7.1.4.10. ChapString Element
name: ChapString
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterDisplay\Cha
pString
id: 0x85
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: Contains the string to use as the chapter atom.
8.1.7.1.4.11. ChapLanguage Element
name: ChapLanguage
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterDisplay\Cha
pLanguage
id: 0x437C
minOccurs: 1
default: eng
type: string
definition: A language corresponding to the string, in the
bibliographic ISO-639-2 form [ISO639-2]. This Element MUST be
ignored if a ChapLanguageIETF Element is used within the same
ChapterDisplay Element.
8.1.7.1.4.12. ChapLanguageIETF Element
name: ChapLanguageIETF
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterDisplay\Cha
pLanguageIETF
id: 0x437D
type: string
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minver: 4
definition: Specifies a language corresponding to the ChapString in
the format defined in [BCP47] and using the IANA Language Subtag
Registry [IANALangRegistry]. If a ChapLanguageIETF Element is
used, then any ChapLanguage and ChapCountry Elements used in the
same ChapterDisplay MUST be ignored.
8.1.7.1.4.13. ChapCountry Element
name: ChapCountry
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapterDisplay\Cha
pCountry
id: 0x437E
type: string
definition: A country corresponding to the string, using the same 2
octets country-codes as in Internet domains [IANADomains] based on
[ISO3166-1] alpha-2 codes. This Element MUST be ignored if a
ChapLanguageIETF Element is used within the same ChapterDisplay
Element.
8.1.7.1.4.14. ChapProcess Element
name: ChapProcess
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapProcess
id: 0x6944
type: master
definition: Contains all the commands associated to the Atom.
8.1.7.1.4.15. ChapProcessCodecID Element
name: ChapProcessCodecID
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapProcess\ChapPr
ocessCodecID
id: 0x6955
minOccurs: 1
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maxOccurs: 1
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: Contains the type of the codec used for the processing.
A value of 0 means native Matroska processing (to be defined), a
value of 1 means the DVD command set is used; see Section 22.3 on
DVD menus. More codec IDs can be added later.
8.1.7.1.4.16. ChapProcessPrivate Element
name: ChapProcessPrivate
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapProcess\ChapPr
ocessPrivate
id: 0x450D
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: Some optional data attached to the ChapProcessCodecID
information. For ChapProcessCodecID = 1, it is the "DVD level"
equivalent; see Section 22.3 on DVD menus.
8.1.7.1.4.17. ChapProcessCommand Element
name: ChapProcessCommand
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapProcess\ChapPr
ocessCommand
id: 0x6911
type: master
definition: Contains all the commands associated to the Atom.
8.1.7.1.4.18. ChapProcessTime Element
name: ChapProcessTime
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapProcess\ChapPr
ocessCommand\ChapProcessTime
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id: 0x6922
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: uinteger
definition: Defines when the process command SHOULD be handled
restrictions:
+=======+===============================+
| value | label |
+=======+===============================+
| 0 | during the whole chapter |
+-------+-------------------------------+
| 1 | before starting playback |
+-------+-------------------------------+
| 2 | after playback of the chapter |
+-------+-------------------------------+
Table 28: ChapProcessTime values
8.1.7.1.4.19. ChapProcessData Element
name: ChapProcessData
path: \Segment\Chapters\EditionEntry\+ChapterAtom\ChapProcess\ChapPr
ocessCommand\ChapProcessData
id: 0x6933
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: Contains the command information. The data SHOULD be
interpreted depending on the ChapProcessCodecID value. For
ChapProcessCodecID = 1, the data correspond to the binary DVD cell
pre/post commands; see Section 22.3 on DVD menus.
8.1.8. Tags Element
name: Tags
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path: \Segment\Tags
id: 0x1254C367
type: master
definition: Element containing metadata describing Tracks, Editions,
Chapters, Attachments, or the Segment as a whole. A list of valid
tags can be found in [MatroskaTags].
8.1.8.1. Tag Element
name: Tag
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag
id: 0x7373
minOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: A single metadata descriptor.
8.1.8.1.1. Targets Element
name: Targets
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\Targets
id: 0x63C0
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: master
definition: Specifies which other elements the metadata represented
by the Tag applies to. If empty or not present, then the Tag
describes everything in the Segment.
8.1.8.1.1.1. TargetTypeValue Element
name: TargetTypeValue
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\Targets\TargetTypeValue
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id: 0x68CA
maxOccurs: 1
default: 50
type: uinteger
definition: A number to indicate the logical level of the target.
defined values:
+=======+==========================+================================+
| value | label | definition |
+=======+==========================+================================+
| 70 | COLLECTION | The highest hierarchical level |
| | | that tags can describe. |
+-------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+
| 60 | EDITION / ISSUE / | A list of lower levels grouped |
| | VOLUME / OPUS / | together. |
| | SEASON / SEQUEL | |
+-------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+
| 50 | ALBUM / OPERA / | The most common grouping level |
| | CONCERT / MOVIE / | of music and video (equals to |
| | EPISODE / CONCERT | an episode for TV series). |
+-------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+
| 40 | PART / SESSION | When an album or episode has |
| | | different logical parts. |
+-------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+
| 30 | TRACK / SONG / | The common parts of an album |
| | CHAPTER | or movie. |
+-------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+
| 20 | SUBTRACK / PART / | Corresponds to parts of a |
| | MOVEMENT / SCENE | track for audio (like a |
| | | movement). |
+-------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+
| 10 | SHOT | The lowest hierarchy found in |
| | | music or movies. |
+-------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+
Table 29: TargetTypeValue values
8.1.8.1.1.2. TargetType Element
name: TargetType
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\Targets\TargetType
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id: 0x63CA
maxOccurs: 1
type: string
definition: An informational string that can be used to display the
logical level of the target like "ALBUM", "TRACK", "MOVIE",
"CHAPTER", etc ; see Section 6.4 of [MatroskaTags].
restrictions:
+============+============+
| value | label |
+============+============+
| COLLECTION | COLLECTION |
+------------+------------+
| EDITION | EDITION |
+------------+------------+
| ISSUE | ISSUE |
+------------+------------+
| VOLUME | VOLUME |
+------------+------------+
| OPUS | OPUS |
+------------+------------+
| SEASON | SEASON |
+------------+------------+
| SEQUEL | SEQUEL |
+------------+------------+
| ALBUM | ALBUM |
+------------+------------+
| OPERA | OPERA |
+------------+------------+
| CONCERT | CONCERT |
+------------+------------+
| MOVIE | MOVIE |
+------------+------------+
| EPISODE | EPISODE |
+------------+------------+
| PART | PART |
+------------+------------+
| SESSION | SESSION |
+------------+------------+
| TRACK | TRACK |
+------------+------------+
| SONG | SONG |
+------------+------------+
| CHAPTER | CHAPTER |
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+------------+------------+
| SUBTRACK | SUBTRACK |
+------------+------------+
| PART | PART |
+------------+------------+
| MOVEMENT | MOVEMENT |
+------------+------------+
| SCENE | SCENE |
+------------+------------+
| SHOT | SHOT |
+------------+------------+
Table 30: TargetType values
8.1.8.1.1.3. TagTrackUID Element
name: TagTrackUID
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\Targets\TagTrackUID
id: 0x63C5
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: A unique ID to identify the Track(s) the tags belong to.
usage notes: If the value is 0 at this level, the tags apply to all
tracks in the Segment. If set to any other value, it MUST match
the TrackUID value of a track found in this Segment.
8.1.8.1.1.4. TagEditionUID Element
name: TagEditionUID
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\Targets\TagEditionUID
id: 0x63C9
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: A unique ID to identify the EditionEntry(s) the tags
belong to.
usage notes: If the value is 0 at this level, the tags apply to all
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editions in the Segment. If set to any other value, it MUST match
the EditionUID value of an edition found in this Segment.
8.1.8.1.1.5. TagChapterUID Element
name: TagChapterUID
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\Targets\TagChapterUID
id: 0x63C4
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: A unique ID to identify the Chapter(s) the tags belong
to.
usage notes: If the value is 0 at this level, the tags apply to all
chapters in the Segment. If set to any other value, it MUST match
the ChapterUID value of a chapter found in this Segment.
8.1.8.1.1.6. TagAttachmentUID Element
name: TagAttachmentUID
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\Targets\TagAttachmentUID
id: 0x63C6
default: 0
type: uinteger
definition: A unique ID to identify the Attachment(s) the tags
belong to.
usage notes: If the value is 0 at this level, the tags apply to all
the attachments in the Segment. If set to any other value, it
MUST match the FileUID value of an attachment found in this
Segment.
8.1.8.1.2. SimpleTag Element
name: SimpleTag
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\+SimpleTag
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id: 0x67C8
minOccurs: 1
type: master
recursive: 1
definition: Contains general information about the target.
8.1.8.1.2.1. TagName Element
name: TagName
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\+SimpleTag\TagName
id: 0x45A3
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: The name of the Tag that is going to be stored.
8.1.8.1.2.2. TagLanguage Element
name: TagLanguage
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\+SimpleTag\TagLanguage
id: 0x447A
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
default: und
type: string
definition: Specifies the language of the tag specified, in the
Matroska languages form; see Section 6 on language codes. This
Element MUST be ignored if the TagLanguageIETF Element is used
within the same SimpleTag Element.
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8.1.8.1.2.3. TagLanguageIETF Element
name: TagLanguageIETF
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\+SimpleTag\TagLanguageIETF
id: 0x447B
maxOccurs: 1
type: string
minver: 4
definition: Specifies the language used in the TagString according
to [BCP47] and using the IANA Language Subtag Registry
[IANALangRegistry]. If this Element is used, then any TagLanguage
Elements used in the same SimpleTag MUST be ignored.
8.1.8.1.2.4. TagDefault Element
name: TagDefault
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\+SimpleTag\TagDefault
id: 0x4484
minOccurs: 1
maxOccurs: 1
range: 0-1
default: 1
type: uinteger
definition: A boolean value to indicate if this is the default/
original language to use for the given tag.
8.1.8.1.2.5. TagString Element
name: TagString
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\+SimpleTag\TagString
id: 0x4487
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maxOccurs: 1
type: utf-8
definition: The value of the Tag.
8.1.8.1.2.6. TagBinary Element
name: TagBinary
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\+SimpleTag\TagBinary
id: 0x4485
maxOccurs: 1
type: binary
definition: The values of the Tag, if it is binary. Note that this
cannot be used in the same SimpleTag as TagString.
9. Matroska Element Ordering
Except for the EBML Header and the CRC-32 Element, the EBML
specification does not require any particular storage order for
Elements. The Matroska specification however defines mandates and
recommendations for ordering certain Elements in order to facilitate
better playback, seeking, and editing efficiency. This section
describes and offers rationale for ordering requirements and
recommendations for Matroska.
9.1. Top-Level Elements
The Info Element is the only REQUIRED Top-Level Element in a Matroska
file. To be playable, Matroska MUST also contain at least one Tracks
Element and Cluster Element. The first Info Element and the first
Tracks Element MUST either be stored before the first Cluster Element
or both SHALL be referenced by a SeekHead Element occurring before
the first Cluster Element.
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It is possible to edit a Matroska file after it has been created.
For example, chapters, tags, or attachments can be added. When new
Top-Level Elements are added to a Matroska file, the SeekHead
Element(s) MUST be updated so that the SeekHead Element(s) itemize
the identity and position of all Top-Level Elements. Editing,
removing, or adding Elements to a Matroska file often requires that
some existing Elements be voided or extended; therefore, it is
RECOMMENDED to use Void Elements as padding in between Top-Level
Elements.
9.2. CRC-32
As noted by the EBML specification, if a CRC-32 Element is used, then
the CRC-32 Element MUST be the first ordered Element within its
Parent Element. The Matroska specification recommends that CRC-32
Elements SHOULD NOT be used as an immediate Child Element of the
Segment Element; however all Top-Level Elements of an EBML Document
SHOULD include a CRC-32 Element as a Child Element.
9.3. SeekHead
If used, the first SeekHead Element SHOULD be the first non-CRC-32
Child Element of the Segment Element. If a second SeekHead Element
is used, then the first SeekHead Element MUST reference the identity
and position of the second SeekHead. Additionally, the second
SeekHead Element MUST only reference Cluster Elements and not any
other Top-Level Element already contained within the first SeekHead
Element. The second SeekHead Element MAY be stored in any order
relative to the other Top-Level Elements. Whether one or two
SeekHead Element(s) are used, the SeekHead Element(s) MUST
collectively reference the identity and position of all Top-Level
Elements except for the first SeekHead Element.
It is RECOMMENDED that the first SeekHead Element be followed by a
Void Element to allow for the SeekHead Element to be expanded to
cover new Top-Level Elements that could be added to the Matroska
file, such as Tags, Chapters, and Attachments Elements.
9.4. Cues (index)
The Cues Element is RECOMMENDED to optimize seeking access in
Matroska. It is programmatically simpler to add the Cues Element
after all Cluster Elements have been written because this does not
require a prediction of how much space to reserve before writing the
Cluster Elements. However, storing the Cues Element before the
Cluster Elements can provide some seeking advantages. If the Cues
Element is present, then it SHOULD either be stored before the first
Cluster Element or be referenced by a SeekHead Element.
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9.5. Info
The first Info Element SHOULD occur before the first Tracks Element
and first Cluster Element except when referenced by a SeekHead
Element.
9.6. Chapters Element
The Chapters Element SHOULD be placed before the Cluster Element(s).
The Chapters Element can be used during playback even if the user
does not need to seek. It immediately gives the user information
about what section is being read and what other sections are
available. In the case of Ordered Chapters it is RECOMMENDED to
evaluate the logical linking even before playing. The Chapters
Element SHOULD be placed before the first Tracks Element and after
the first Info Element.
9.7. Attachments
The Attachments Element is not intended to be used by default when
playing the file, but could contain information relevant to the
content, such as cover art or fonts. Cover art is useful even before
the file is played and fonts could be needed before playback starts
for initialization of subtitles. The Attachments Element MAY be
placed before the first Cluster Element; however if the Attachments
Element is likely to be edited, then it SHOULD be placed after the
last Cluster Element.
9.8. Tags
The Tags Element is most subject to changes after the file was
originally created. For easier editing, the Tags Element SHOULD be
placed at the end of the Segment Element, even after the Attachments
Element. On the other hand, it is inconvenient to have to seek in
the Segment for tags, especially for network streams. So it's better
if the Tags Element is found early in the stream. When editing the
Tags Element, the original Tags Element at the beginning can be
overwritten with a Void Element and a new Tags Element written at the
end of the Segment Element. The file size will only marginally
change.
9.9. Optimum layout from a muxer
* SeekHead
* Info
* Tracks
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* Chapters
* Attachments
* Tags
* Clusters
* Cues
9.10. Optimum layout after editing tags
* SeekHead
* Info
* Tracks
* Chapters
* Attachments
* Void
* Clusters
* Cues
* Tags
9.11. Optimum layout with Cues at the front
* SeekHead
* Info
* Tracks
* Chapters
* Attachments
* Tags
* Cues
* Clusters
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9.12. Cluster Timestamp
The Timestamp Element MUST occur as in storage order before any
SimpleBlock, BlockGroup, or EncryptedBlock, within the Cluster
Element.
10. Unknown elements
Matroska is based upon the principle that a reading application does
not have to support 100% of the specifications in order to be able to
play the file. A Matroska file therefore contains version indicators
that tell a reading application what to expect.
It is possible and valid to have the version fields indicate that the
file contains Matroska Elements from a higher specification version
number while signaling that a reading application MUST only support a
lower version number properly in order to play it back (possibly with
a reduced feature set). For example, a reading application
supporting at least Matroska version V reading a file whose
DocTypeReadVersion field is equal to or lower than V MUST skip
Matroska/EBML Elements it encounters but does not know about if that
unknown element fits into the size constraints set by the current
Parent Element.
11. DefaultDecodedFieldDuration
The DefaultDecodedFieldDuration Element can signal to the displaying
application how often fields of a video sequence will be available
for displaying. It can be used for both interlaced and progressive
content. If the video sequence is signaled as interlaced, then the
period between two successive fields at the output of the decoding
process equals DefaultDecodedFieldDuration.
For video sequences signaled as progressive, it is twice the value of
DefaultDecodedFieldDuration.
These values are valid at the end of the decoding process before
post-processing (such as deinterlacing or inverse telecine) is
applied.
Examples:
* Blu-ray movie: 1000000000ns/(48/1.001) = 20854167ns
* PAL broadcast/DVD: 1000000000ns/(50/1.000) = 20000000ns
* N/ATSC broadcast: 1000000000ns/(60/1.001) = 16683333ns
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* hard-telecined DVD: 1000000000ns/(60/1.001) = 16683333ns (60
encoded interlaced fields per second)
* soft-telecined DVD: 1000000000ns/(60/1.001) = 16683333ns (48
encoded interlaced fields per second, with "repeat_first_field =
1")
12. Block Structure
Bit 0 is the most significant bit.
Frames using references SHOULD be stored in "coding order". That
means the references first, and then the frames referencing them. A
consequence is that timestamps might not be consecutive. But a frame
with a past timestamp MUST reference a frame already known, otherwise
it's considered bad/void.
12.1. Block Header
+========+========+=============================================+
| Offset | Player | Description |
+========+========+=============================================+
| 0x00+ | MUST | Track Number (Track Entry). It is coded in |
| | | EBML like form (1 octet if the value is < |
| | | 0x80, 2 if < 0x4000, etc) (most significant |
| | | bits set to increase the range). |
+--------+--------+---------------------------------------------+
| 0x01+ | MUST | Timestamp (relative to Cluster timestamp, |
| | | signed int16) |
+--------+--------+---------------------------------------------+
Table 31: Block Header base parts
12.2. Block Header Flags
+========+=====+========+====================================+
| Offset | Bit | Player | Description |
+========+=====+========+====================================+
| 0x03+ | 0-3 | - | Reserved, set to 0 |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------+
| 0x03+ | 4 | - | Invisible, the codec SHOULD decode |
| | | | this frame but not display it |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------+
| 0x03+ | 5-6 | MUST | Lacing |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------+
| | | | * 00 : no lacing |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------+
| | | | * 01 : Xiph lacing |
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+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------+
| | | | * 11 : EBML lacing |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------+
| | | | * 10 : fixed-size lacing |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------+
| 0x03+ | 7 | - | not used |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------+
Table 32: Block Header flags part
12.3. Lacing
Lacing is a mechanism to save space when storing data. It is
typically used for small blocks of data (referred to as frames in
Matroska). There are 3 types of lacing:
1. Xiph, inspired by what is found in the Ogg container
2. EBML, which is the same with sizes coded differently
3. fixed-size, where the size is not coded
For example, a user wants to store 3 frames of the same track. The
first frame is 800 octets long, the second is 500 octets long and the
third is 1000 octets long. As these data are small, they can be
stored in a lace to save space. They will then be stored in the same
block as follows:
12.3.1. Xiph lacing
* Block head (with lacing bits set to 01)
* Lacing head: Number of frames in the lace -1 -- i.e. 2 (the 800
and 500 octets one)
* Lacing sizes: only the 2 first ones will be coded, 800 gives
255;255;255;35, 500 gives 255;245. The size of the last frame is
deduced from the total size of the Block.
* Data in frame 1
* Data in frame 2
* Data in frame 3
A frame with a size multiple of 255 is coded with a 0 at the end of
the size -- for example, 765 is coded 255;255;255;0.
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12.3.2. EBML lacing
In this case, the size is not coded as blocks of 255 bytes, but as a
difference with the previous size and this size is coded as in EBML.
The first size in the lace is unsigned as in EBML. The others use a
range shifting to get a sign on each value:
+==========================+=======================================+
| Bit Representation | Value |
+==========================+=======================================+
| 1xxx xxxx | value -(2^6-1) to 2^6-1 (ie 0 to |
| | 2^7-2 minus 2^6-1, half of the range) |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| 01xx xxxx xxxx xxxx | value -(2^13-1) to 2^13-1 |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| 001x xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx | value -(2^20-1) to 2^20-1 |
| xxxx | |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| 0001 xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx | value -(2^27-1) to 2^27-1 |
| xxxx xxxx xxxx | |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| 0000 1xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx | value -(2^34-1) to 2^34-1 |
| xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx | |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| 0000 01xx xxxx xxxx xxxx | value -(2^41-1) to 2^41-1 |
| xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx | |
| xxxx xxxx | |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| 0000 001x xxxx xxxx xxxx | value -(2^48-1) to 2^48-1 |
| xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx | |
| xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx | |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------+
Table 33: EBML Lacing bits usage
* Block head (with lacing bits set to 11)
* Lacing head: Number of frames in the lace -1 -- i.e. 2 (the 800
and 500 octets one)
* Lacing sizes: only the 2 first ones will be coded, 800 gives 0x320
0x4000 = 0x4320, 500 is coded as -300 : - 0x12C + 0x1FFF + 0x4000
= 0x5ED3. The size of the last frame is deduced from the total
size of the Block.
* Data in frame 1
* Data in frame 2
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* Data in frame 3
12.3.3. Fixed-size lacing
In this case, only the number of frames in the lace is saved, the
size of each frame is deduced from the total size of the Block. For
example, for 3 frames of 800 octets each:
* Block head (with lacing bits set to 10)
* Lacing head: Number of frames in the lace -1 -- i.e. 2
* Data in frame 1
* Data in frame 2
* Data in frame 3
12.4. SimpleBlock Structure
The SimpleBlock is inspired by the Block structure; see Section 12.
The main differences are the added Keyframe flag and Discardable
flag. Otherwise everything is the same.
Bit 0 is the most significant bit.
Frames using references SHOULD be stored in "coding order". That
means the references first, and then the frames referencing them. A
consequence is that timestamps might not be consecutive. But a frame
with a past timestamp MUST reference a frame already known, otherwise
it's considered bad/void.
12.4.1. SimpleBlock Header
+========+========+=============================================+
| Offset | Player | Description |
+========+========+=============================================+
| 0x00+ | MUST | Track Number (Track Entry). It is coded in |
| | | EBML like form (1 octet if the value is < |
| | | 0x80, 2 if < 0x4000, etc) (most significant |
| | | bits set to increase the range). |
+--------+--------+---------------------------------------------+
| 0x01+ | MUST | Timestamp (relative to Cluster timestamp, |
| | | signed int16) |
+--------+--------+---------------------------------------------+
Table 34: SimpleBlock Header base parts
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12.4.2. SimpleBlock Header Flags
+========+=====+========+==========================================+
| Offset | Bit | Player | Description |
+========+=====+========+==========================================+
| 0x03+ | 0 | - | Keyframe, set when the Block contains |
| | | | only keyframes |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------------+
| 0x03+ | 1-3 | - | Reserved, set to 0 |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------------+
| 0x03+ | 4 | - | Invisible, the codec SHOULD decode this |
| | | | frame but not display it |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------------+
| 0x03+ | 5-6 | MUST | Lacing |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------------+
| | | | * 00 : no lacing |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------------+
| | | | * 01 : Xiph lacing |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------------+
| | | | * 11 : EBML lacing |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------------+
| | | | * 10 : fixed-size lacing |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------------+
| 0x03+ | 7 | - | Discardable, the frames of the Block can |
| | | | be discarded during playing if needed |
+--------+-----+--------+------------------------------------------+
Table 35: SimpleBlock Header flags part
12.4.3. Laced Data
When lacing bit is set.
+========+========+=============================================+
| Offset | Player | Description |
+========+========+=============================================+
| 0x00 | MUST | Number of frames in the lace-1 (uint8) |
+--------+--------+---------------------------------------------+
| 0x01 / | MUST | Lace-coded size of each frame of the lace, |
| 0xXX | | except for the last one (multiple uint8). |
| | | *This is not used with Fixed-size lacing as |
| | | it is calculated automatically from (total |
| | | size of lace) / (number of frames in lace). |
+--------+--------+---------------------------------------------+
Table 36: Lace sizes coded in the Block
For (possibly) Laced Data
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+========+========+==========================+
| Offset | Player | Description |
+========+========+==========================+
| 0x00 | MUST | Consecutive laced frames |
+--------+--------+--------------------------+
Table 37: Lace data after lace sizes
13. Timestamps
Historically timestamps in Matroska were mistakenly called timecodes.
The Timestamp Element was called Timecode, the TimestampScale Element
was called TimecodeScale, the TrackTimestampScale Element was called
TrackTimecodeScale and the ReferenceTimestamp Element was called
ReferenceTimeCode.
13.1. Timestamp Types
* Absolute Timestamp = Block+Cluster
* Relative Timestamp = Block
* Scaled Timestamp = Block+Cluster
* Raw Timestamp = (Block+Cluster)*TimestampScale*TrackTimestampScale
13.2. Block Timestamps
The Block Element's timestamp MUST be a signed integer that
represents the Raw Timestamp relative to the Cluster's Timestamp
Element, multiplied by the TimestampScale Element. See Section 13.4
for more information.
The Block Element's timestamp MUST be represented by a 16bit signed
integer (sint16). The Block's timestamp has a range of -32768 to
+32767 units. When using the default value of the TimestampScale
Element, each integer represents 1ms. The maximum time span of Block
Elements in a Cluster using the default TimestampScale Element of 1ms
is 65536ms.
If a Cluster's Timestamp Element is set to zero, it is possible to
have Block Elements with a negative Raw Timestamp. Block Elements
with a negative Raw Timestamp are not valid.
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13.3. Raw Timestamp
The exact time of an object SHOULD be represented in nanoseconds. To
find out a Block's Raw Timestamp, you need the Block's Timestamp
Element, the Cluster's Timestamp Element, and the TimestampScale
Element.
13.4. TimestampScale
The TimestampScale Element is used to calculate the Raw Timestamp of
a Block. The timestamp is obtained by adding the Block's timestamp
to the Cluster's Timestamp Element, and then multiplying that result
by the TimestampScale. The result will be the Block's Raw Timestamp
in nanoseconds. The formula for this would look like:
(a + b) * c
a = `Block`'s Timestamp
b = `Cluster`'s Timestamp
c = `TimestampScale`
For example, assume a Cluster's Timestamp has a value of 564264, the
Block has a Timestamp of 1233, and the TimestampScale Element is the
default of 1000000.
(1233 + 564264) * 1000000 = 565497000000
So, the Block in this example has a specific time of 565497000000 in
nanoseconds. In milliseconds this would be 565497ms.
13.5. TimestampScale Rounding
Because the default value of TimestampScale is 1000000, which makes
each integer in the Cluster and Block Timestamp Elements equal 1ms,
this is the most commonly used. When dealing with audio, this causes
inaccuracy when seeking. When the audio is combined with video, this
is not an issue. For most cases, the the synch of audio to video
does not need to be more than 1ms accurate. This becomes obvious
when one considers that sound will take 2-3ms to travel a single
meter, so distance from your speakers will have a greater effect on
audio/visual synch than this.
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However, when dealing with audio-only files, seeking accuracy can
become critical. For instance, when storing a whole CD in a single
track, a user will want to be able to seek to the exact sample that a
song begins at. If seeking a few sample ahead or behind, a crack or
pop may result as a few odd samples are rendered. Also, when
performing precise editing, it may be very useful to have the audio
accuracy down to a single sample.
When storing timestamps for an audio stream, the TimestampScale
Element SHOULD have an accuracy of at least that of the audio sample
rate, otherwise there are rounding errors that prevent users from
knowing the precise location of a sample. Here's how a program has
to round each timestamp in order to be able to recreate the sample
number accurately.
Let's assume that the application has an audio track with a sample
rate of 44100. As written above the TimestampScale MUST have at
least the accuracy of the sample rate itself: 1000000000 / 44100 =
22675.7369614512. This value MUST always be truncated. Otherwise
the accuracy will not suffice. So in this example the application
will use 22675 for the TimestampScale. The application could even
use some lower value like 22674, which would allow it to be a little
bit imprecise about the original timestamps. But more about that in
a minute.
Next the application wants to write sample number 52340 and
calculates the timestamp. This is easy. In order to calculate the
Raw Timestamp in ns all it has to do is calculate Raw Timestamp =
round(1000000000 * sample_number / sample_rate). Rounding at this
stage is very important! The application might skip it if it choses
a slightly smaller value for the TimestampScale factor instead of the
truncated one like shown above. Otherwise it has to round or the
results won't be reversible. For our example we get Raw Timestamp =
round(1000000000 * 52340 / 44100) = round(1186848072.56236) =
1186848073.
The next step is to calculate the Absolute Timestamp - that is the
timestamp that will be stored in the Matroska file. Here the
application has to divide the Raw Timestamp from the previous
paragraph by the TimestampScale factor and round the result: Absolute
Timestamp = round(Raw Timestamp / TimestampScale_factor), which will
result in the following for our example: Absolute Timestamp =
round(1186848073 / 22675) = round(52341.7011245866) = 52342. This
number is the one the application has to write to the file.
Now our file is complete, and we want to play it back with another
application. Its task is to find out which sample the first
application wrote into the file. So it starts reading the Matroska
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file and finds the TimestampScale factor 22675 and the audio sample
rate 44100. Later it finds a data block with the Absolute Timestamp
of 52342. But how does it get the sample number from these numbers?
First it has to calculate the Raw Timestamp of the block it has just
read. Here's no rounding involved, just an integer multiplication:
Raw Timestamp = Absolute Timestamp * TimestampScale_factor. In our
example: Raw Timestamp = 52342 * 22675 = 1186854850.
The conversion from the Raw Timestamp to the sample number again
requires rounding: sample_number = round(Raw Timestamp * sample_rate
/ 1000000000). In our example: sample_number = round(1186854850 *
44100 / 1000000000) = round(52340.298885) = 52340. This is exactly
the sample number that the previous program started with.
Some general notes for a program:
1. Always calculate the timestamps / sample numbers with floating
point numbers of at least 64bit precision (called 'double' in
most modern programming languages). If you're calculating with
integers, then make sure they're 64bit long, too.
2. Always round if you divide. Always! If you don't you'll end up
with situations in which you have a timestamp in the Matroska
file that does not correspond to the sample number that it
started with. Using a slightly lower timestamp scale factor can
help here in that it removes the need for proper rounding in the
conversion from sample number to Raw Timestamp.
13.6. TrackTimestampScale
The TrackTimestampScale Element is used align tracks that would
otherwise be played at different speeds. An example of this would be
if you have a film that was originally recorded at 24fps video. When
playing this back through a PAL broadcasting system, it is standard
to speed up the film to 25fps to match the 25fps display speed of the
PAL broadcasting standard. However, when broadcasting the video
through NTSC, it is typical to leave the film at its original speed.
If you wanted to make a single file where there was one video stream,
and an audio stream used from the PAL broadcast, as well as an audio
stream used from the NTSC broadcast, you would have the problem that
the PAL audio stream would be 1/24th faster than the NTSC audio
stream, quickly leading to problems. It is possible to stretch out
the PAL audio track and re-encode it at a slower speed, however when
dealing with lossy audio codecs, this often results in a loss of
audio quality and/or larger file sizes.
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This is the type of problem that TrackTimestampScale was designed to
fix. Using it, the video can be played back at a speed that will
synch with either the NTSC or the PAL audio stream, depending on
which is being used for playback. To continue the above example:
Track 1: Video
Track 2: NTSC Audio
Track 3: PAL Audio
Because the NTSC track is at the original speed, it will used as the
default value of 1.0 for its TrackTimestampScale. The video will
also be aligned to the NTSC track with the default value of 1.0.
The TrackTimestampScale value to use for the PAL track would be
calculated by determining how much faster the PAL track is than the
NTSC track. In this case, because we know the video for the NTSC
audio is being played back at 24fps and the video for the PAL audio
is being played back at 25fps, the calculation would be:
25/24 is almost 1.04166666666666666667
When writing a file that uses a non-default TrackTimestampScale, the
values of the Block's timestamp are whatever they would be when
normally storing the track with a default value for the
TrackTimestampScale. However, the data is interleaved a little
differently. Data SHOULD be interleaved by its Raw Timestamp, see
Section 13.3, in the order handed back from the encoder. The Raw
Timestamp of a Block from a track using TrackTimestampScale is
calculated using:
(Block's Timestamp + Cluster's Timestamp) * TimestampScale *
TrackTimestampScale
So, a Block from the PAL track above that had a Scaled Timestamp, see
Section 13.1, of 100 seconds would have a Raw Timestamp of
104.66666667 seconds, and so would be stored in that part of the
file.
When playing back a track using the TrackTimestampScale, if the track
is being played by itself, there is no need to scale it. From the
above example, when playing the Video with the NTSC Audio, neither
are scaled. However, when playing back the Video with the PAL Audio,
the timestamps from the PAL Audio track are scaled using the
TrackTimestampScale, resulting in the video playing back in synch
with the audio.
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It would be possible for a Matroska Player to also adjust the audio's
samplerate at the same time as adjusting the timestamps if you wanted
to play the two audio streams synchronously. It would also be
possible to adjust the video to match the audio's speed. However,
for playback, the selected track(s) timestamps SHOULD be adjusted if
they need to be scaled.
While the above example deals specifically with audio tracks, this
element can be used to align video, audio, subtitles, or any other
type of track contained in a Matroska file.
14. Encryption
Encryption in Matroska is designed in a very generic style to allow
people to implement whatever form of encryption is best for them. It
is possible to use the encryption framework in Matroska as a type of
DRM (Digital Rights Management).
Because encryption occurs within the Block Element, it is possible to
manipulate encrypted streams without decrypting them. The streams
could potentially be copied, deleted, cut, appended, or any number of
other possible editing techniques without decryption. The data can
be used without having to expose it or go through the decrypting
process.
Encryption can also be layered within Matroska. This means that two
completely different types of encryption can be used, requiring two
separate keys to be able to decrypt a stream.
Encryption information is stored in the ContentEncodings Element
under the ContentEncryption Element.
15. Image Presentation
15.1. Cropping
The PixelCrop Elements (PixelCropTop, PixelCropBottom,
PixelCropRight, and PixelCropLeft) indicate when, and by how much,
encoded videos frames SHOULD be cropped for display. These Elements
allow edges of the frame that are not intended for display, such as
the sprockets of a full-frame film scan or the VANC area of a
digitized analog videotape, to be stored but hidden. PixelCropTop
and PixelCropBottom store an integer of how many rows of pixels
SHOULD be cropped from the top and bottom of the image
(respectively). PixelCropLeft and PixelCropRight store an integer of
how many columns of pixels SHOULD be cropped from the left and right
of the image (respectively). For example, a pillar-boxed video that
stores a 1440x1080 visual image within the center of a padded
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1920x1080 encoded image MAY set both PixelCropLeft and PixelCropRight
to "240", so that a Matroska Player SHOULD crop off 240 columns of
pixels from the left and right of the encoded image to present the
image with the pillar-boxes hidden.
15.2. Rotation
The ProjectionPoseRoll Element (see Section 8.1.4.1.31.45) can be
used to indicate that the image from the associated video track
SHOULD be rotated for presentation. For instance, the following
representation of the Projection Element Section 8.1.4.1.31.40) and
the ProjectionPoseRoll Element represents a video track where the
image SHOULD be presentation with a 90 degree counter-clockwise
rotation.
90
Figure 11: Rotation example.
16. Matroska versioning
The EBML Header of each Matroska document informs the reading
application on what version of Matroska to expect. The Elements
within EBML Header with jurisdiction over this information are
DocTypeVersion and DocTypeReadVersion.
DocTypeVersion MUST be equal to or greater than the highest Matroska
version number of any Element present in the Matroska file. For
example, a file using the SimpleBlock Element MUST have a
DocTypeVersion equal to or greater than 2. A file containing
CueRelativePosition Elements MUST have a DocTypeVersion equal to or
greater than 4.
The DocTypeReadVersion MUST contain the minimum version number that a
reading application can minimally support in order to play the file
back -- optionally with a reduced feature set. For example, if a
file contains only Elements of version 2 or lower except for
CueRelativePosition (which is a version 4 Matroska Element), then
DocTypeReadVersion SHOULD still be set to 2 and not 4 because
evaluating CueRelativePosition is not necessary for standard playback
-- it makes seeking more precise if used.
DocTypeVersion MUST always be equal to or greater than
DocTypeReadVersion.
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A reading application supporting Matroska version V MUST NOT refuse
to read an application with DocReadTypeVersion equal to or lower than
V even if DocTypeVersion is greater than V. See also the note about
Unknown Elements in Section 10.
17. MIME Types
There is no IETF endorsed MIME type for Matroska files. These
definitions can be used:
* .mka : Matroska audio audio/x-matroska
* .mkv : Matroska video video/x-matroska
* .mk3d : Matroska 3D video video/x-matroska-3d
18. Segment Position
The Segment Position of an Element refers to the position of the
first octet of the Element ID of that Element, measured in octets,
from the beginning of the Element Data section of the containing
Segment Element. In other words, the Segment Position of an Element
is the distance in octets from the beginning of its containing
Segment Element minus the size of the Element ID and Element Data
Size of that Segment Element. The Segment Position of the first
Child Element of the Segment Element is 0. An Element which is not
stored within a Segment Element, such as the Elements of the EBML
Header, do not have a Segment Position.
18.1. Segment Position Exception
Elements that are defined to store a Segment Position MAY define
reserved values to indicate a special meaning.
18.2. Example of Segment Position
This table presents an example of Segment Position by showing a
hexadecimal representation of a very small Matroska file with labels
to show the offsets in octets. The file contains a Segment Element
with an Element ID of "0x18538067" and a MuxingApp Element with an
Element ID of "0x4D80".
0 1 2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
0 |1A|45|DF|A3|8B|42|82|88|6D|61|74|72|6F|73|6B|61|18|53|80|67|
20 |93|15|49|A9|66|8E|4D|80|84|69|65|74|66|57|41|84|69|65|74|66|
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In the above example, the Element ID of the Segment Element is stored
at offset 16, the Element Data Size of the Segment Element is stored
at offset 20, and the Element Data of the Segment Element is stored
at offset 21.
The MuxingApp Element is stored at offset 26. Since the Segment
Position of an Element is calculated by subtracting the position of
the Element Data of the containing Segment Element from the position
of that Element, the Segment Position of MuxingApp Element in the
above example is '26 - 21' or '5'.
19. Linked Segments
Matroska provides several methods to link two or many Segment
Elements together to create a Linked Segment. A Linked Segment is a
set of multiple Segments related together into a single presentation
by using Hard Linking, Medium Linking, or Soft Linking. All Segments
within a Linked Segment MUST utilize the same track numbers and
timescale. All Segments within a Linked Segment MUST be stored
within the same directory. All Segments within a Linked Segment MUST
store a SegmentUID.
19.1. Hard Linking
Hard Linking (also called splitting) is the process of creating a
Linked Segment by relating multiple Segment Elements using the
NextUID and PrevUID Elements. Within a Linked Segment, the
timestamps of each Segment MUST follow consecutively in linking
order. With Hard Linking, the chapters of any Segment within the
Linked Segment MUST only reference the current Segment. With Hard
Linking, the NextUID and PrevUID MUST reference the respective
SegmentUID values of the next and previous Segments. The first
Segment of a Linked Segment SHOULD have a NextUID Element and MUST
NOT have a PrevUID Element. The last Segment of a Linked Segment
SHOULD have a PrevUID Element and MUST NOT have a NextUID Element.
The middle Segments of a Linked Segment SHOULD have both a NextUID
Element and a PrevUID Element.
In a chain of Linked Segments the NextUID always takes precedence
over the PrevUID. So if SegmentA has a NextUID to SegmentB and
SegmentB has a PrevUID to SegmentC, the link to use is SegmentA to
SegmentB. If SegmentB has a PrevUID to SegmentA but SegmentA has no
NextUID, then the Matroska Player MAY consider these two Segments
linked as SegmentA followed by SegmentB.
As an example, three Segments can be Hard Linked as a Linked Segment
through cross-referencing each other with SegmentUID, PrevUID, and
NextUID, as in this table.
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+==========+==================+==================+==================+
|file name | SegmentUID | PrevUID | NextUID |
+==========+==================+==================+==================+
|start.mkv | 71000c23cd310998 | n/a | a77b3598941cb803 |
| | 53fbc94dd984a5dd | | eac0fcdafe44fac9 |
+----------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
|middle.mkv| a77b3598941cb803 | 71000c23cd310998 | 6c92285fa6d3e827 |
| | eac0fcdafe44fac9 | 53fbc94dd984a5dd | b198d120ea3ac674 |
+----------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
|end.mkv | 6c92285fa6d3e827 | a77b3598941cb803 | n/a |
| | b198d120ea3ac674 | eac0fcdafe44fac9 | |
+----------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
Table 38: Usual Hard Linking UIDs
An other example where only the NextUID Element is used.
+============+==================+=========+==================+
| file name | SegmentUID | PrevUID | NextUID |
+============+==================+=========+==================+
| start.mkv | 71000c23cd310998 | n/a | a77b3598941cb803 |
| | 53fbc94dd984a5dd | | eac0fcdafe44fac9 |
+------------+------------------+---------+------------------+
| middle.mkv | a77b3598941cb803 | n/a | 6c92285fa6d3e827 |
| | eac0fcdafe44fac9 | | b198d120ea3ac674 |
+------------+------------------+---------+------------------+
| end.mkv | 6c92285fa6d3e827 | n/a | n/a |
| | b198d120ea3ac674 | | |
+------------+------------------+---------+------------------+
Table 39: Hard Linking without PrevUID
A next example where only the PrevUID Element is used.
+============+==================+==================+=========+
| file name | SegmentUID | PrevUID | NextUID |
+============+==================+==================+=========+
| start.mkv | 71000c23cd310998 | n/a | n/a |
| | 53fbc94dd984a5dd | | |
+------------+------------------+------------------+---------+
| middle.mkv | a77b3598941cb803 | 71000c23cd310998 | n/a |
| | eac0fcdafe44fac9 | 53fbc94dd984a5dd | |
+------------+------------------+------------------+---------+
| end.mkv | 6c92285fa6d3e827 | a77b3598941cb803 | n/a |
| | b198d120ea3ac674 | eac0fcdafe44fac9 | |
+------------+------------------+------------------+---------+
Table 40: Hard Linking without NextUID
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In this example only the middle.mkv is using the PrevUID and NextUID
Elements.
+==========+==================+==================+==================+
|file name | SegmentUID | PrevUID | NextUID |
+==========+==================+==================+==================+
|start.mkv | 71000c23cd310998 | n/a | n/a |
| | 53fbc94dd984a5dd | | |
+----------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
|middle.mkv| a77b3598941cb803 | 71000c23cd310998 | 6c92285fa6d3e827 |
| | eac0fcdafe44fac9 | 53fbc94dd984a5dd | b198d120ea3ac674 |
+----------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
|end.mkv | 6c92285fa6d3e827 | n/a | n/a |
| | b198d120ea3ac674 | | |
+----------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
Table 41: Hard Linking with mixed UID links
19.2. Medium Linking
Medium Linking creates relationships between Segments using Ordered
Chapters and the ChapterSegmentUID Element. A Segment Edition with
Ordered Chapters MAY contain Chapter elements that reference
timestamp ranges from other Segments. The Segment referenced by the
Ordered Chapter via the ChapterSegmentUID Element SHOULD be played as
part of a Linked Segment. The timestamps of Segment content
referenced by Ordered Chapters MUST be adjusted according to the
cumulative duration of the the previous Ordered Chapters.
As an example a file named intro.mkv could have a SegmentUID of
"0xb16a58609fc7e60653a60c984fc11ead". Another file called
program.mkv could use a Chapter Edition that contains two Ordered
Chapters. The first chapter references the Segment of intro.mkv with
the use of a ChapterSegmentUID, ChapterSegmentEditionUID,
ChapterTimeStart, and optionally a ChapterTimeEnd element. The
second chapter references content within the Segment of program.mkv.
A Matroska Player SHOULD recognize the Linked Segment created by the
use of ChapterSegmentUID in an enabled Edition and present the
reference content of the two Segments together.
The ChapterSegmentUID is a binary value and the base element to set
up a Linked Chapter in 2 variations: the Linked-Duration linking and
the Linked-Edition linking. For both variations, the following 3
conditions MUST be met:
1. The EditionFlagOrdered Flag MUST be true.
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2. The ChapterSegmentUID MUST NOT be the SegmentUID of its own
Segment.
3. The linked Segments MUST BE in the same folder.
19.2.1. Variation 1: Linked-Duration
Two more conditions MUST be met:
1. ChapterTimeStart and ChapterTimeEnd timestamps MUST be in the
range of the linked Segment duration.
2. ChapterSegmentEditionUID MUST NOT be set.
A Matroska Player MUST play the content of the linked Segment from
the ChapterTimeStart until ChapterTimeEnd timestamp.
19.2.2. Variation 2: Linked-Edition
When the ChapterSegmentEditionUID is set to a valid EditionUID from
the linked Segment. A Matroska Player MUST play these linked
Edition.
19.3. Soft Linking
Soft Linking is used by codec chapters. They can reference another
Segment and jump to that Segment. The way the Segments are described
are internal to the chapter codec and unknown to the Matroska level.
But there are Elements within the Info Element (such as
ChapterTranslate) that can translate a value representing a Segment
in the chapter codec and to the current SegmentUID. All Segments
that could be used in a Linked Segment in this way SHOULD be marked
as members of the same family via the SegmentFamily Element, so that
the Matroska Player can quickly switch from one to the other.
20. Track Flags
20.1. Default flag
The "default track" flag is a hint for a Matroska Player indicating
that a given track SHOULD be eligible to be automatically selected as
the default track for a given language. If no tracks in a given
language have the default track flag set, then all tracks in that
language are eligible for automatic selection. This can be used to
indicate that a track provides "regular service" suitable for users
with default settings, as opposed to specialized services, such as
commentary, hearing-impaired captions, or descriptive audio.
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The Matroska Player MAY override the "default track" flag for any
reason, including user preferences to prefer tracks providing
accessibility services.
20.2. Forced flag
The "forced" flag tells the Matroska Player that it SHOULD display
this subtitle track, even if user preferences usually would not call
for any subtitles to be displayed alongside the current selected
audio track. This can be used to indicate that a track contains
translations of onscreen text, or of dialogue spoken in a different
language than the track's primary one.
20.3. Hearing-impaired flag
The "hearing impaired" flag tells the Matroska Player that it SHOULD
prefer this track when selecting a default track for a hearing-
impaired user, and that it MAY prefer to select a different track
when selecting a default track for a non-hearing-impaired user.
20.4. Visual-impaired flag
The "visual impaired" flag tells the Matroska Player that it SHOULD
prefer this track when selecting a default track for a visually-
impaired user, and that it MAY prefer to select a different track
when selecting a default track for a non-visually-impaired user.
20.5. Descriptions flag
The "descriptions" flag tells the Matroska Player that this track is
suitable to play via a text-to-speech system for a visually-impaired
user, and that it SHOULD NOT automatically select this track when
selecting a default track for a non-visually-impaired user.
20.6. Original flag
The "original" flag tells the Matroska Player that this track is in
the original language, and that it SHOULD prefer it if configured to
prefer original-language tracks of this track's type.
20.7. Commentary flag
The "commentary" flag tells the Matroska Player that this track
contains commentary on the content.
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20.8. Track Operation
TrackOperation allows combining multiple tracks to make a virtual
one. It uses two separate system to combine tracks. One to create a
3D "composition" (left/right/background planes) and one to simplify
join two tracks together to make a single track.
A track created with TrackOperation is a proper track with a UID and
all its flags. However the codec ID is meaningless because each
"sub" track needs to be decoded by its own decoder before the
"operation" is applied. The Cues Elements corresponding to such a
virtual track SHOULD be the sum of the Cues Elements for each of the
tracks it's composed of (when the Cues are defined per track).
In the case of TrackJoinBlocks, the Block Elements (from BlockGroup
and SimpleBlock) of all the tracks SHOULD be used as if they were
defined for this new virtual Track. When two Block Elements have
overlapping start or end timestamps, it's up to the underlying system
to either drop some of these frames or render them the way they
overlap. This situation SHOULD be avoided when creating such tracks
as you can never be sure of the end result on different platforms.
20.9. Overlay Track
Overlay tracks SHOULD be rendered in the same channel as the track
its linked to. When content is found in such a track, it SHOULD be
played on the rendering channel instead of the original track.
20.10. Multi-planar and 3D videos
There are two different ways to compress 3D videos: have each eye
track in a separate track and have one track have both eyes combined
inside (which is more efficient, compression-wise). Matroska
supports both ways.
For the single track variant, there is the StereoMode Element, which
defines how planes are assembled in the track (mono or left-right
combined). Odd values of StereoMode means the left plane comes first
for more convenient reading. The pixel count of the track
(PixelWidth/PixelHeight) is the raw amount of pixels, for example
3840x1080 for full HD side by side, and the DisplayWidth/
DisplayHeight in pixels is the amount of pixels for one plane
(1920x1080 for that full HD stream). Old stereo 3D were displayed
using anaglyph (cyan and red colors separated). For compatibility
with such movies, there is a value of the StereoMode that corresponds
to AnaGlyph.
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There is also a "packed" mode (values 13 and 14) which consists of
packing two frames together in a Block using lacing. The first frame
is the left eye and the other frame is the right eye (or vice versa).
The frames SHOULD be decoded in that order and are possibly dependent
on each other (P and B frames).
For separate tracks, Matroska needs to define exactly which track
does what. TrackOperation with TrackCombinePlanes do that. For more
details look at Section 20.8 on how TrackOperation works.
The 3D support is still in infancy and may evolve to support more
features.
The StereoMode used to be part of Matroska v2 but it didn't meet the
requirement for multiple tracks. There was also a bug in libmatroska
prior to 0.9.0 that would save/read it as 0x53B9 instead of 0x53B8.
Matroska Readers may support these legacy files by checking Matroska
v2 or 0x53B9. The older values were 0: mono, 1: right eye, 2: left
eye, 3: both eyes.
21. Default track selection
This section provides some example sets of Tracks and hypothetical
user settings, along with indications of which ones a similarly-
configured Matroska Player SHOULD automatically select for playback
by default in such a situation. A player MAY provide additional
settings with more detailed controls for more nuanced scenarios.
These examples are provided as guidelines to illustrate the intended
usages of the various supported Track flags, and their expected
behaviors.
Track names are shown in English for illustrative purposes; actual
files may have titles in the language of each track, or provide
titles in multiple languages.
21.1. Audio Selection
Example track set:
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+===+=====+====+======+========+=======+================+===========+
|No.|Type |Lang|Layout|Original|Default|Other flags |Name |
+===+=====+====+======+========+=======+================+===========+
|1 |Video|und |N/A |N/A |N/A |None | |
+---+-----+----+------+--------+-------+----------------+-----------+
|2 |Audio|eng |5.1 |1 |1 |None | |
+---+-----+----+------+--------+-------+----------------+-----------+
|3 |Audio|eng |2.0 |1 |1 |None | |
+---+-----+----+------+--------+-------+----------------+-----------+
|4 |Audio|eng |2.0 |1 |0 |Visual-impaired |Descriptive|
| | | | | | | |audio |
+---+-----+----+------+--------+-------+----------------+-----------+
|5 |Audio|esp |5.1 |0 |1 |None | |
+---+-----+----+------+--------+-------+----------------+-----------+
|6 |Audio|esp |2.0 |0 |0 |Visual-impaired |Descriptive|
| | | | | | | |audio |
+---+-----+----+------+--------+-------+----------------+-----------+
|7 |Audio|eng |2.0 |1 |0 |Commentary |Director's |
| | | | | | | |Commentary |
+---+-----+----+------+--------+-------+----------------+-----------+
|8 |Audio|eng |2.0 |1 |0 |None |Karaoke |
+---+-----+----+------+--------+-------+----------------+-----------+
Table 42: Audio Tracks for default selection
Here we have a file with 7 audio tracks, of which 5 are in English
and 2 are in Spanish.
The English tracks all have the Original flag, indicating that
English is the original content language.
Generally the player will first consider the track languages: if the
player has an option to prefer original-language audio and the user
has enabled it, then it should prefer one of the Original-flagged
tracks. If configured to specifically prefer audio tracks in English
or Spanish, the player should select one of the tracks in the
corresponding language. The player may also wish to prefer an
Original-flagged track if no tracks matching any of the user's
explicitly-preferred languages are available.
Two of the tracks have the Visual-impaired flag. If the player has
been configured to prefer such tracks, it should select one;
otherwise, it should avoid them if possible.
If selecting an English track, when other settings have left multiple
possible options, it may be useful to exclude the tracks that lack
the Default flag: here, one provides descriptive service for the
visually impaired (which has its own flag and may be automatically
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selected by user configuration, but is unsuitable for users with
default-configured players), one is a commentary track (which has its
own flag, which the player may or may not have specialized handling
for), and the last contains karaoke versions of the music that plays
during the film, which is an unusual specialized audio service that
Matroska has no built-in support for indicating, so it's indicated in
the track name instead. By not setting the Default flag on these
specialized tracks, the file's author hints that they should not be
automatically selected by a default-configured player.
Having narrowed its choices down, our example player now may have to
select between tracks 2 and 3. The only difference between these
tracks is their channel layouts: 2 is 5.1 surround, while 3 is
stereo. If the player is aware that the output device is a pair of
headphones or stereo speakers, it may wish to prefer the stereo mix
automatically. On the other hand, if it knows that the device is a
surround system, it may wish to prefer the surround mix.
If the player finishes analyzing all of the available audio tracks
and finds that multiple seem equally and maximally preferable, it
SHOULD default to the first of the group.
21.2. Subtitle selection
Example track set:
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+===+===========+====+=========+=======+======+==========+==========+
|No.| Type |Lang|Original |Default|Forced| Other | Name |
| | | | | | | flags | |
+===+===========+====+=========+=======+======+==========+==========+
|1 | Video |und |N/A |N/A |N/A | None | |
+---+-----------+----+---------+-------+------+----------+----------+
|2 | Audio |fra |1 |1 |N/A | None | |
+---+-----------+----+---------+-------+------+----------+----------+
|3 | Audio |por |0 |1 |N/A | None | |
+---+-----------+----+---------+-------+------+----------+----------+
|4 | Subtitles |fra |1 |1 |0 | None | |
+---+-----------+----+---------+-------+------+----------+----------+
|5 | Subtitles |fra |1 |0 |0 | Hearing- | Captions |
| | | | | | | impaired | for the |
| | | | | | | | hearing- |
| | | | | | | | impaired |
+---+-----------+----+---------+-------+------+----------+----------+
|6 | Subtitles |por |0 |1 |0 | None | |
+---+-----------+----+---------+-------+------+----------+----------+
|7 | Subtitles |por |0 |0 |1 | None | Signs |
+---+-----------+----+---------+-------+------+----------+----------+
|8 | Subtitles |por |0 |0 |0 | Hearing- | SDH |
| | | | | | | impaired | |
+---+-----------+----+---------+-------+------+----------+----------+
Table 43: Subtitle Tracks for default selection
Here we have 2 audio tracks and 5 subtitle tracks. As we can see,
French is the original language.
We'll start by discussing the case where the user prefers French (or
Original-language) audio (or has explicitly selected the French audio
track), and also prefers French subtitles.
In this case, if the player isn't configured to display captions when
the audio matches their preferred subtitle languages, the player
doesn't need to select a subtitle track at all.
If the user _has_ indicated that they want captions to be displayed,
the selection simply comes down to whether Hearing-impaired subtitles
are preferred.
The situation for a user who prefers Portuguese subtitles starts out
somewhat analogous. If they select the original French audio (either
by explicit audio language preference, preference for Original-
language tracks, or by explicitly selecting that track), then the
selection once again comes down to the hearing-impaired preference.
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However, the case where the Portuguese audio track is selected has an
important catch: a Forced track in Portuguese is present. This may
contain translations of onscreen text from the video track, or of
portions of the audio that are not translated (music, for instance).
This means that even if the user's preferences wouldn't normally call
for captions here, the Forced track should be selected nonetheless,
rather than selecting no track at all. On the other hand, if the
user's preferences _do_ call for captions, the non-Forced tracks
should be preferred, as the Forced track will not contain captioning
for the dialogue.
22. Chapters
The Matroska Chapters system can have multiple Editions and each
Edition can consist of Simple Chapters where a chapter start time is
used as marker in the timeline only. An Edition can be more complex
with Ordered Chapters where a chapter end time stamp is additionally
used or much more complex with Linked Chapters. The Matroska
Chapters system can also have a menu structure, borrowed from the DVD
menu system, or have it's own Native Matroska menu structure.
22.1. EditionEntry
The EditionEntry is also called an Edition. An Edition contains a
set of Edition flags and MUST contain at least one ChapterAtom
Element. Chapters are always inside an Edition (or a Chapter itself
part of an Edition). Multiple Editions are allowed. Some of these
Editions MAY be ordered and others not.
22.1.1. EditionFlagDefault
Only one Edition SHOULD have an EditionFlagDefault flag set to true.
22.1.2. Default Edition
The Default Edition is the Edition that a Matroska Player SHOULD use
for playback by default.
The first Edition with the EditionFlagDefault flag set to true is the
Default Edition.
When all EditionFlagDefault flags are set to false, then the first
Edition is the Default Edition.
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+===========+=============+=================+
| Edition | FlagDefault | Default Edition |
+===========+=============+=================+
| Edition 1 | true | X |
+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
| Edition 2 | true | |
+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
| Edition 3 | true | |
+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
Table 44: Default edition, all default
+===========+=============+=================+
| Edition | FlagDefault | Default Edition |
+===========+=============+=================+
| Edition 1 | false | X |
+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
| Edition 2 | false | |
+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
| Edition 3 | false | |
+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
Table 45: Default edition, no default
+===========+=============+=================+
| Edition | FlagDefault | Default Edition |
+===========+=============+=================+
| Edition 1 | false | |
+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
| Edition 2 | true | X |
+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
| Edition 3 | false | |
+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
Table 46: Default edition, with default
22.1.3. EditionFlagOrdered
The EditionFlagOrdered Flag is a significant feature as it enables an
Edition of Ordered Chapters which defines and arranges a virtual
timeline rather than simply labeling points within the timeline. For
example, with Editions of Ordered Chapters a single Matroska file can
present multiple edits of a film without duplicating content.
Alternatively, if a videotape is digitized in full, one Ordered
Edition could present the full content (including colorbars,
countdown, slate, a feature presentation, and black frames), while
another Edition of Ordered Chapters can use Chapters that only mark
the intended presentation with the colorbars and other ancillary
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visual information excluded. If an Edition of Ordered Chapters is
enabled, then the Matroska Player MUST play those Chapters in their
stored order from the timestamp marked in the ChapterTimeStart
Element to the timestamp marked in to ChapterTimeEnd Element.
If the EditionFlagOrdered Flag is set to false, Simple Chapters are
used and only the ChapterTimeStart of a Chapter is used as chapter
mark to jump to the predefined point in the timeline. With Simple
Chapters, a Matroska Player MUST ignore certain Chapter Elements.
All these elements are now informational only.
The following list shows the different Chapter elements only found in
Ordered Chapters.
+======================================+
| Ordered Chapter elements |
+======================================+
| ChapterAtom/ChapterSegmentUID |
+--------------------------------------+
| ChapterAtom/ChapterSegmentEditionUID |
+--------------------------------------+
| ChapterAtom/ChapterTrack |
+--------------------------------------+
| ChapterAtom/ChapProcess |
+--------------------------------------+
| Info/SegmentFamily |
+--------------------------------------+
| Info/ChapterTranslate |
+--------------------------------------+
| TrackEntry/TrackTranslate |
+--------------------------------------+
Table 47: elements only found in
ordered chapters
Furthermore there are other EBML Elements which could be used if the
EditionFlagOrdered flag is set to true.
22.1.3.1. Ordered-Edition and Matroska Segment-Linking
* Hard Linking: Ordered-Chapters supersedes the Hard Linking.
* Soft Linking: In this complex system Ordered Chapters are REQUIRED
and a Chapter CODEC MUST interpret the ChapProcess of all
chapters.
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* Medium Linking: Ordered Chapters are used in a normal way and can
be combined with the ChapterSegmentUID element which establishes a
link to another Segment.
See Section 19 on the Linked Segments for more information about Hard
Linking, Soft Linking, and Medium Linking.
22.2. ChapterAtom
The ChapterAtom is also called a Chapter. A Chapter element can be
used recursively. Such a child Chapter is called Nested Chapter.
22.2.1. ChapterTimeStart
The timestamp of the start of Chapter with nanosecond accuracy, not
scaled by TimestampScale. For Simple Chapters this is the position
of the chapter markers in the timeline.
22.2.2. ChapterTimeEnd
The timestamp of the end of Chapter with nanosecond accuracy, not
scaled by TimestampScale. The timestamp defined by the
ChapterTimeEnd is not part of the Chapter. A Matroska Player
calculates the duration of this Chapter using the difference between
the ChapterTimeEnd and ChapterTimeStart. The end timestamp MUST be
strictly greater than the start timestamp.
+===========+=================+===============+===============+
| Chapter | Start timestamp | End timestamp | Duration |
+===========+=================+===============+===============+
| Chapter 1 | 0 | 1000000000 | 1000000000 |
+-----------+-----------------+---------------+---------------+
| Chapter 2 | 1000000000 | 5000000000 | 4000000000 |
+-----------+-----------------+---------------+---------------+
| Chapter 3 | 6000000000 | 6000000000 | Invalid (0) |
+-----------+-----------------+---------------+---------------+
| Chapter 4 | 9000000000 | 8000000000 | Invalid |
| | | | (-1000000000) |
+-----------+-----------------+---------------+---------------+
Table 48: ChapterTimeEnd usage possibilities
22.2.3. ChapterFlagHidden
Each Chapter ChapterFlagHidden flag works independently from parent
chapters. A Nested Chapter with ChapterFlagHidden flag set to false
remains visible even if the Parent Chapter ChapterFlagHidden flag is
set to true.
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+==========================+===================+=========+
| Chapter + Nested Chapter | ChapterFlagHidden | visible |
+==========================+===================+=========+
| Chapter 1 | false | yes |
+--------------------------+-------------------+---------+
| Nested Chapter 1.1 | false | yes |
+--------------------------+-------------------+---------+
| Nested Chapter 1.2 | true | no |
+--------------------------+-------------------+---------+
| Chapter 2 | true | no |
+--------------------------+-------------------+---------+
| Nested Chapter 2.1 | false | yes |
+--------------------------+-------------------+---------+
| Nested Chapter 2.2 | true | no |
+--------------------------+-------------------+---------+
Table 49: ChapterFlagHidden nested visibility
22.3. Menu features
The menu features are handled like a chapter codec. That means each
codec has a type, some private data and some data in the chapters.
The type of the menu system is defined by the ChapProcessCodecID
parameter. For now, only 2 values are supported : 0 matroska script,
1 menu borrowed from the DVD. The private data depend on the type of
menu system (stored in ChapProcessPrivate), idem for the data in the
chapters (stored in ChapProcessData).
The menu system, as well a Chapter Codecs in general, can do actions
on the Matroska Player like jumping to another Chapter or Edition,
selecting different tracks and possibly more. The scope of all the
possibilities of Chapter Codecs is not covered in this document as it
depends on the Chapter Codec features and its integration in a
Matroska Player.
22.4. Physical Types
Each level can have different meanings for audio and video. The
ORIGINAL_MEDIUM tag can be used to specify a string for
ChapterPhysicalEquiv = 60. Here is the list of possible levels for
both audio and video:
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+=======+=======================+=============+=====================+
| Value | Audio | Video | Comment |
+=======+=======================+=============+=====================+
| 70 | SET / PACKAGE | SET / | the collection of |
| | | PACKAGE | different media |
+-------+-----------------------+-------------+---------------------+
| 60 | CD / 12" / 10" / 7" / | DVD / VHS | the physical medium |
| | TAPE / MINIDISC / DAT | / | like a CD or a DVD |
| | | LASERDISC | |
+-------+-----------------------+-------------+---------------------+
| 50 | SIDE | SIDE | when the original |
| | | | medium (LP/DVD) has |
| | | | different sides |
+-------+-----------------------+-------------+---------------------+
| 40 | - | LAYER | another physical |
| | | | level on DVDs |
+-------+-----------------------+-------------+---------------------+
| 30 | SESSION | SESSION | as found on CDs and |
| | | | DVDs |
+-------+-----------------------+-------------+---------------------+
| 20 | TRACK | - | as found on audio |
| | | | CDs |
+-------+-----------------------+-------------+---------------------+
| 10 | INDEX | - | the first logical |
| | | | level of the side/ |
| | | | medium |
+-------+-----------------------+-------------+---------------------+
Table 50: ChapterPhysicalEquiv meaning per track type
22.5. Chapter Examples
22.5.1. Example 1 : basic chaptering
In this example a movie is split in different chapters. It could
also just be an audio file (album) on which each track corresponds to
a chapter.
* 00000ms - 05000ms : Intro
* 05000ms - 25000ms : Before the crime
* 25000ms - 27500ms : The crime
* 27500ms - 38000ms : The killer arrested
* 38000ms - 43000ms : Credits
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This would translate in the following matroska form :
16603393396715046047
1193046
0
5000000000
Intro
2311527
5000000000
25000000000
Before the crime
Avant le crime
fra
3430008
25000000000
27500000000
The crime
Le crime
fra
4548489
27500000000
38000000000
After the crime
Après le crime
fra
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5666960
38000000000
43000000000
Credits
Générique
fra
Figure 12: Basic Chapters Example.
22.5.2. Example 2 : nested chapters
In this example an (existing) album is split into different chapters,
and one of them contain another splitting.
22.5.2.1. The Micronauts "Bleep To Bleep"
* 00:00 - 12:28 : Baby Wants To Bleep/Rock
- 00:00 - 04:38 : Baby wants to bleep (pt.1)
- 04:38 - 07:12 : Baby wants to rock
- 07:12 - 10:33 : Baby wants to bleep (pt.2)
- 10:33 - 12:28 : Baby wants to bleep (pt.3)
* 12:30 - 19:38 : Bleeper_O+2
* 19:40 - 22:20 : Baby wants to bleep (pt.4)
* 22:22 - 25:18 : Bleep to bleep
* 25:20 - 33:35 : Baby wants to bleep (k)
* 33:37 - 44:28 : Bleeper
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1281690858003401414
1
0
748000000
Baby wants to Bleep/Rock
2
0
278000000
Baby wants to bleep (pt.1)
3
278000000
432000000
Baby wants to rock
4
432000000
633000000
Baby wants to bleep (pt.2)
5
633000000
748000000
Baby wants to bleep (pt.3)
6
750000000
1178500000
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Bleeper_O+2
7
1180500000
1340000000
Baby wants to bleep (pt.4)
8
1342000000
1518000000
Bleep to bleep
9
1520000000
2015000000
Baby wants to bleep (k)
10
2017000000
2668000000
Bleeper
Figure 13: Nested Chapters Example.
23. Attachments
Matroska supports storage of related files and data in the
Attachments Element (a Top-Level Element). Attachment Elements can
be used to store related cover art, font files, transcripts, reports,
error recovery files, picture, or text-based annotations, copies of
specifications, or other ancillary files related to the Segment.
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Matroska Readers MUST NOT execute files stored as Attachment
Elements.
23.1. Cover Art
This section defines a set of guidelines for the storage of cover art
in Matroska files. A Matroska Reader MAY use embedded cover art to
display a representational still-image depiction of the multimedia
contents of the Matroska file.
Only JPEG and PNG image formats SHOULD be used for cover art
pictures.
There can be two different covers for a movie/album: a portrait style
(e.g., a DVD case) and a landscape style (e.g., a wide banner ad).
There can be two versions of the same cover, the normal cover and the
small cover. The dimension of the normal cover SHOULD be 600 pixels
on the smallest side -- for example, 960x600 for landscape, 600x800
for portrait, or 600x600 for square. The dimension of the small
cover SHOULD be 120 pixels on the smallest side -- for example,
192x120 or 120x160.
Versions of cover art can be differentiated by the filename, which is
stored in the FileName Element. The default filename of the normal
cover in square or portrait mode is cover.(jpg|png). When stored,
the normal cover SHOULD be the first Attachment in storage order.
The small cover SHOULD be prefixed with "small_", such as
small_cover.(jpg|png). The landscape variant SHOULD be suffixed with
"_land", such as cover_land.(jpg|png). The filenames are case
sensitive.
The following table provides examples of file names for cover art in
Attachments.
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+======================+===================+=================+
| FileName | Image Orientation | Pixel Length of |
| | | Smallest Side |
+======================+===================+=================+
| cover.jpg | Portrait or | 600 |
| | square | |
+----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| small_cover.png | Portrait or | 120 |
| | square | |
+----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| cover_land.png | Landscape | 600 |
+----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| small_cover_land.jpg | Landscape | 120 |
+----------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
Table 51: Cover Art Filenames
24. Cues
The Cues Element provides an index of certain Cluster Elements to
allow for optimized seeking to absolute timestamps within the
Segment. The Cues Element contains one or many CuePoint Elements
which each MUST reference an absolute timestamp (via the CueTime
Element), a Track (via the CueTrack Element), and a Segment Position
(via the CueClusterPosition Element). Additional non-mandated
Elements are part of the CuePoint Element such as CueDuration,
CueRelativePosition, CueCodecState and others which provide any
Matroska Reader with additional information to use in the
optimization of seeking performance.
24.1. Recommendations
The following recommendations are provided to optimize Matroska
performance.
* Unless Matroska is used as a live stream, it SHOULD contain a Cues
Element.
* For each video track, each keyframe SHOULD be referenced by a
CuePoint Element.
* It is RECOMMENDED to not reference non-keyframes of video tracks
in Cues unless it references a Cluster Element which contains a
CodecState Element but no keyframes.
* For each subtitle track present, each subtitle frame SHOULD be
referenced by a CuePoint Element with a CueDuration Element.
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* References to audio tracks MAY be skipped in CuePoint Elements if
a video track is present. When included the CuePoint Elements
SHOULD reference audio keyframes at most once every 500
milliseconds.
* If the referenced frame is not stored within the first
SimpleBlock, or first BlockGroup within its Cluster Element, then
the CueRelativePosition Element SHOULD be written to reference
where in the Cluster the reference frame is stored.
* If a CuePoint Element references Cluster Element that includes a
CodecState Element, then that CuePoint Element MUST use a
CueCodecState Element.
* CuePoint Elements SHOULD be numerically sorted in storage order by
the value of the CueTime Element.
25. Matroska Streaming
In Matroska, there are two kinds of streaming: file access and
livestreaming.
25.1. File Access
File access can simply be reading a file located on your computer,
but also includes accessing a file from an HTTP (web) server or CIFS
(Windows share) server. These protocols are usually safe from
reading errors and seeking in the stream is possible. However, when
a file is stored far away or on a slow server, seeking can be an
expensive operation and SHOULD be avoided. The following guidelines,
when followed, help reduce the number of seeking operations for
regular playback and also have the playback start quickly without a
lot of data needed to read first (like a Cues Element, Attachment
Element or SeekHead Element).
Matroska, having a small overhead, is well suited for storing music/
videos on file servers without a big impact on the bandwidth used.
Matroska does not require the index to be loaded before playing,
which allows playback to start very quickly. The index can be loaded
only when seeking is requested the first time.
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25.2. Livestreaming
Livestreaming is the equivalent of television broadcasting on the
internet. There are 2 families of servers for livestreaming: RTP/
RTSP and HTTP. Matroska is not meant to be used over RTP. RTP
already has timing and channel mechanisms that would be wasted if
doubled in Matroska. Additionally, having the same information at
the RTP and Matroska level would be a source of confusion if they do
not match. Livestreaming of Matroska over HTTP (or any other plain
protocol based on TCP) is possible.
A live Matroska stream is different from a file because it usually
has no known end (only ending when the client disconnects). For
this, all bits of the "size" portion of the Segment Element MUST be
set to 1. Another option is to concatenate Segment Elements with
known sizes, one after the other. This solution allows a change of
codec/resolution between each segment. For example, this allows for
a switch between 4:3 and 16:9 in a television program.
When Segment Elements are continuous, certain Elements, like
MetaSeek, Cues, Chapters, and Attachments, MUST NOT be used.
It is possible for a Matroska Player to detect that a stream is not
seekable. If the stream has neither a MetaSeek list or a Cues list
at the beginning of the stream, it SHOULD be considered non-seekable.
Even though it is possible to seek blindly forward in the stream, it
is NOT RECOMMENDED.
In the context of live radio or web TV, it is possible to "tag" the
content while it is playing. The Tags Element can be placed between
Clusters each time it is necessary. In that case, the new Tags
Element MUST reset the previously encountered Tags Elements and use
the new values instead.
26. IANA Considerations
26.1. Matroska Element IDs Registry
26.2. ChapterCodecID Registry
26.3. Historic Deprecated Element IDs Registry
As Matroska evolved since 2002 many parts that were considered for
use in the format were never used and often incorrectly designed.
Many of the elements that were then defined are not found in any
known files but were part of public specs. DivX also had a few
custom elements that were designed for custom features.
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We list these elements that have a known ID that SHOULD NOT be reused
to avoid colliding with existing files.
26.3.1. SilentTracks Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\SilentTracks
id: 0x5854
type: master
definition: The list of tracks that are not used in that part of the
stream. It is useful when using overlay tracks on seeking or to
decide what track to use.
26.3.2. SilentTrackNumber Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\SilentTracks\SilentTrackNumber
id: 0x58D7
type: uinteger
definition: One of the track number that are not used from now on in
the stream. It could change later if not specified as silent in a
further Cluster.
26.3.3. BlockVirtual Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\BlockVirtual
id: 0xA2
type: binary
definition: A Block with no data. It MUST be stored in the stream
at the place the real Block would be in display order.
26.3.4. ReferenceVirtual Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\ReferenceVirtual
id: 0xFD
type: integer
definition: The Segment Position of the data that would otherwise be
in position of the virtual block.
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26.3.5. FrameNumber Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\Slices\TimeSlice\FrameNumber
id: 0xCD
type: uinteger
definition: The number of the frame to generate from this lace with
this delay (allow you to generate many frames from the same Block/
Frame).
26.3.6. BlockAdditionID Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\Slices\TimeSlice\BlockAdditionID
id: 0xCB
type: uinteger
definition: The ID of the BlockAdditional Element (0 is the main
Block).
26.3.7. Delay Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\Slices\TimeSlice\Delay
id: 0xCE
type: uinteger
definition: The (scaled) delay to apply to the Element.
26.3.8. SliceDuration Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\Slices\TimeSlice\SliceDuration
id: 0xCF
type: uinteger
definition: The (scaled) duration to apply to the Element.
26.3.9. ReferenceFrame Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\ReferenceFrame
id: 0xC8
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type: master
definition: Contains information about the last reference frame.
See [DivXTrickTrack].
26.3.10. ReferenceOffset Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\ReferenceFrame\ReferenceOffset
id: 0xC9
type: uinteger
definition: The relative offset, in bytes, from the previous
BlockGroup element for this Smooth FF/RW video track to the
containing BlockGroup element. See [DivXTrickTrack].
26.3.11. ReferenceTimestamp Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\BlockGroup\ReferenceFrame\ReferenceTimestamp
id: 0xCA
type: uinteger
definition: The timecode of the BlockGroup pointed to by
ReferenceOffset. See [DivXTrickTrack].
26.3.12. EncryptedBlock Element
path: \Segment\Cluster\EncryptedBlock
id: 0xAF
type: binary
definition: Similar to SimpleBlock, see Section 12.4, but the data
inside the Block are Transformed (encrypt and/or signed).
26.3.13. TrackOffset Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrackOffset
id: 0x537F
type: integer
definition: A value to add to the Block's Timestamp. This can be
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used to adjust the playback offset of a track.
26.3.14. CodecSettings Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\CodecSettings
id: 0x3A9697
type: utf-8
definition: A string describing the encoding setting used.
26.3.15. CodecInfoURL Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\CodecInfoURL
id: 0x3B4040
type: string
definition: A URL to find information about the codec used.
26.3.16. CodecDownloadURL Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\CodecDownloadURL
id: 0x26B240
type: string
definition: A URL to download about the codec used.
26.3.17. CodecDecodeAll Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\CodecDecodeAll
id: 0xAA
type: uinteger
definition: Set to 1 if the codec can decode potentially damaged
data.
26.3.18. OldStereoMode Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\OldStereoMode
id: 0x53B9
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type: uinteger
definition: DEPRECATED, DO NOT USE. Bogus StereoMode value used in
old versions of libmatroska.
26.3.19. AspectRatioType Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\AspectRatioType
id: 0x54B3
type: uinteger
definition: Specify the possible modifications to the aspect ratio.
26.3.20. GammaValue Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\GammaValue
id: 0x2FB523
type: float
definition: Gamma Value.
26.3.21. FrameRate Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video\FrameRate
id: 0x2383E3
type: float
definition: Number of frames per second. This value is
Informational only. It is intended for constant frame rate
streams, and SHOULD NOT be used for a variable frame rate
TrackEntry.
26.3.22. ChannelPositions Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio\ChannelPositions
id: 0x7D7B
type: binary
definition: Table of horizontal angles for each successive channel.
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26.3.23. TrickTrackUID Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrickTrackUID
id: 0xC0
type: uinteger
definition: The TrackUID of the Smooth FF/RW video in the paired
EBML structure corresponding to this video track. See
[DivXTrickTrack].
26.3.24. TrickTrackSegmentUID Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrickTrackSegmentUID
id: 0xC1
type: binary
definition: The SegmentUID of the Segment containing the track
identified by TrickTrackUID. See [DivXTrickTrack].
26.3.25. TrickTrackFlag Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrickTrackFlag
id: 0xC6
type: uinteger
definition: Set to 1 if this video track is a Smooth FF/RW track.
If set to 1, MasterTrackUID and MasterTrackSegUID should must be
present and BlockGroups for this track must contain ReferenceFrame
structures. Otherwise, TrickTrackUID and TrickTrackSegUID must be
present if this track has a corresponding Smooth FF/RW track. See
[DivXTrickTrack].
26.3.26. TrickMasterTrackUID Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrickMasterTrackUID
id: 0xC7
type: uinteger
definition: The TrackUID of the video track in the paired EBML
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structure that corresponds to this Smooth FF/RW track. See
[DivXTrickTrack].
26.3.27. TrickMasterTrackSegmentUID Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\TrickMasterTrackSegmentUID
id: 0xC4
type: binary
definition: The SegmentUID of the Segment containing the track
identified by MasterTrackUID. See [DivXTrickTrack].
26.3.28. ContentSignature Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncryption\ContentSignature
id: 0x47E3
type: binary
definition: A cryptographic signature of the contents.
26.3.29. ContentSigKeyID Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncryption\ContentSigKeyID
id: 0x47E4
type: binary
definition: This is the ID of the private key the data was signed
with.
26.3.30. ContentSigAlgo Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncryption\ContentSigAlgo
id: 0x47E5
type: uinteger
definition: The algorithm used for the signature.
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26.3.31. ContentSigHashAlgo Element
path: \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\ContentEncodings\ContentEncoding\Co
ntentEncryption\ContentSigHashAlgo
id: 0x47E6
type: uinteger
definition: The hash algorithm used for the signature.
26.3.32. CueRefCluster Element
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueReference\CueRefCl
uster
id: 0x97
type: uinteger
definition: The Segment Position of the Cluster containing the
referenced Block.
26.3.33. CueRefNumber Element
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueReference\CueRefNu
mber
id: 0x535F
type: uinteger
definition: Number of the referenced Block of Track X in the
specified Cluster.
26.3.34. CueRefCodecState Element
path: \Segment\Cues\CuePoint\CueTrackPositions\CueReference\CueRefCo
decState
id: 0xEB
type: uinteger
definition: The Segment Position of the Codec State corresponding to
this referenced Element. 0 means that the data is taken from the
initial Track Entry.
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26.3.35. FileReferral Element
path: \Segment\Attachments\AttachedFile\FileReferral
id: 0x4675
type: binary
definition: A binary value that a track/codec can refer to when the
attachment is needed.
26.3.36. FileUsedStartTime Element
path: \Segment\Attachments\AttachedFile\FileUsedStartTime
id: 0x4661
type: uinteger
definition: The timecode at which this optimized font attachment
comes into context, based on the Segment TimecodeScale. This
element is reserved for future use and if written must be the
segment start time. See [DivXWorldFonts].
26.3.37. FileUsedEndTime Element
path: \Segment\Attachments\AttachedFile\FileUsedEndTime
id: 0x4662
type: uinteger
definition: The timecode at which this optimized font attachment
goes out of context, based on the Segment TimecodeScale. This
element is reserved for future use and if written must be the
segment end time. See [DivXWorldFonts].
26.3.38. TagDefaultBogus Element
path: \Segment\Tags\Tag\+SimpleTag\TagDefaultBogus
id: 0x44B4
type: uinteger
definition: A variant of the TagDefault element with a bogus Element
ID; see Section 8.1.8.1.2.4.
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27. Normative References
[BCP47] Phillips, A., Ed. and M. Davis, Ed., "Tags for Identifying
Languages", DOI 10.17487/RFC5646, September 2009,
.
[Blowfish] Schneier, B., "The Blowfish Encryption Algorithm", 1993,
.
[BZIP2] Seward, J., "bzip2", 18 July 1996,
.
[FIPS.197] US National Institute of Standards and Technology,
"Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)",
DOI 10.6028/NIST.FIPS.197, 26 November 2001,
.
[FIPS.46-3]
US National Institute of Standards and Technology, "Data
Encryption Standard (DES)", FIPS PUB 46, 25 October 1999,
.
[IANADomains]
"IANA Root Zone Database",
.
[IANALangRegistry]
"IANA Language Subtag Registry", 28 February 2013,
.
[ISO3166-1]
International Organization for Standardization, "Codes for
the representation of names of countries and their
subdivisions -- Part 1: Country code", ISO 3166-1:2020,
August 2020, .
[ISO639-2] United States Library Of Congress, "Codes for the
Representation of Names of Languages", ISO 639-2:1998, 21
December 2017, .
[LZO] Tarreau, W., Rodgman, R., and M. Oberhumer,
"Lempel–Ziv–Oberhumer compression", 30 October 2018,
.
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[MatroskaCodec]
Lhomme, S., Bunkus, M., and D. Rice, "Media Container
Codec Specifications", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
draft-ietf-cellar-codec-06, 12 April 2021,
.
[MatroskaTags]
Lhomme, S., Bunkus, M., and D. Rice, "Matroska Media
Container Tag Specifications", Work in Progress, Internet-
Draft, draft-ietf-cellar-tags-06, 12 April 2021,
.
[RFC1851] Karn, P., Metzger, P., and W. Simpson, "The ESP Triple DES
Transform", RFC 1851, DOI 10.17487/RFC1851, September
1995, .
[RFC1950] Deutsch, P. and J-L. Gailly, "ZLIB Compressed Data Format
Specification version 3.3", RFC 1950,
DOI 10.17487/RFC1950, May 1996,
.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, .
[RFC8794] Lhomme, S., Rice, D., and M. Bunkus, "Extensible Binary
Meta Language", RFC 8794, DOI 10.17487/RFC8794, July 2020,
.
[Twofish] Schneier, B., Kelsey, J., Whiting, D., Wagner, D., Hall,
C., and N. Ferguson, "Twofish: A 128-Bit Block Cipher", 15
June 1998, .
[WebVTT] Pieters, S., Pfeiffer, S., Ed., Jägenstedt, P., and I.
Hickson, "WebVTT Cue Identifier", 4 April 2019,
.
28. Informative References
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[DivXTrickTrack]
"DivX Trick Track Extensions", 14 December 2010,
.
[DivXWorldFonts]
"DivX World Fonts Extensions", 14 December 2010,
.
[MCF] "Media Container Format", 17 July 2002,
.
Authors' Addresses
Steve Lhomme
Email: slhomme@matroska.org
Moritz Bunkus
Email: moritz@bunkus.org
Dave Rice
Email: dave@dericed.com
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