Containers

Generic

class av.container.Container

Bases: object

options

container_options

stream_options

metadata_encoding

metadata_errors

open_timeout

read_timeout

Flags

av.container.Container.flags

class av.container.Flags

Wraps AVFormatContext.flags.

Container Attribute	Flags Name	Flag Value	Meaning in FFmpeg
gen_pts	GENPTS	0x1	Generate missing pts even if it requires parsing future frames.
ign_idx	IGNIDX	0x2	Ignore index.
non_block	NONBLOCK	0x4	Do not block when reading packets from input.
ign_dts	IGNDTS	0x8	Ignore DTS on frames that contain both DTS & PTS.
no_fill_in	NOFILLIN	0x10	Do not infer any values from other values, just return what is stored in the container.
no_parse	NOPARSE	0x20	Do not use AVParsers, you also must set AVFMT_FLAG_NOFILLIN as the fillin code works on frames and no parsing -> no frames. Also seeking to frames can not work if parsing to find frame boundaries has been disabled.
no_buffer	NOBUFFER	0x40	Do not buffer frames when possible.
custom_io	CUSTOM_IO	0x80	The caller has supplied a custom AVIOContext, don’t avio_close() it.
discard_corrupt	DISCARD_CORRUPT	0x100	Discard frames marked corrupted.
flush_packets	FLUSH_PACKETS	0x200	Flush the AVIOContext every packet.
bit_exact	BITEXACT	0x400	When muxing, try to avoid writing any random/volatile data to the output. This includes any random IDs, real-time timestamps/dates, muxer version, etc. This flag is mainly intended for testing.
sort_dts	SORT_DTS	0x10000	Try to interleave outputted packets by dts (using this flag can slow demuxing down).
priv_opt	PRIV_OPT	0x20000	Enable use of private options by delaying codec open (this could be made default once all code is converted).
fast_seek	FAST_SEEK	0x80000	Enable fast, but inaccurate seeks for some formats.
shortest	SHORTEST	0x100000	Stop muxing when the shortest stream stops.
auto_bsf	AUTO_BSF	0x200000	Add bitstream filters as requested by the muxer.

Input Containers

class av.container.InputContainer

Bases: av.container.core.Container

bit_rate

close()

decode(streams=None, video=None, audio=None, subtitles=None, data=None)

Yields a series of Frame from the given set of streams:

for frame in container.decode():
    # Do something with `frame`.

See also

StreamContainer.get() for the interpretation of the arguments.

demux(streams=None, video=None, audio=None, subtitles=None, data=None)

Yields a series of Packet from the given set of Stream:

for packet in container.demux():
    # Do something with `packet`, often:
    for frame in packet.decode():
        # Do something with `frame`.

See also

StreamContainer.get() for the interpretation of the arguments.

Note

The last packets are dummy packets that when decoded will flush the buffers.

duration

seek(offset, *, backward=True, any_frame=False, stream=None)

Seek to a (key)frame nearsest to the given timestamp.

Parameters

• offset (int) – Time to seek to, expressed in``stream.time_base`` if stream is given, otherwise in av.time_base.

• backward (bool) – If there is not a (key)frame at the given offset, look backwards for it.

• any_frame (bool) – Seek to any frame, not just a keyframe.

• stream (Stream) – The stream who’s time_base the offset is in.

• unsupported_frame_offset (bool) – offset is a frame index instead of a time; not supported by any known format.

• unsupported_byte_offset (bool) – offset is a byte location in the file; not supported by any known format.

After seeking, packets that you demux should correspond (roughly) to the position you requested.

In most cases, the defaults of backwards = True and any_frame = False are the best course of action, followed by you demuxing/decoding to the position that you want. This is becase to properly decode video frames you need to start from the previous keyframe.

See also

avformat_seek_file for discussion of the flags.

size

start_time

Output Containers

class av.container.OutputContainer

Bases: av.container.core.Container

add_stream(codec_name, rate=None)

Create a new stream, and return it.

Parameters

• codec_name (str) – The name of a codec.

• rate – The frame rate for video, and sample rate for audio. Examples for video include 24, 23.976, and Fraction(30000,1001). Examples for audio include 48000 and 44100.

Returns

The new Stream.

close()

mux(packets)

mux_one(Packet packet)

start_encoding()

Write the file header! Called automatically.

Formats

class av.format.ContainerFormat

Bases: object

Descriptor of a container format.

Parameters

• name (str) – The name of the format.

• mode (str) – 'r' or 'w' for input and output formats; defaults to None which will grab either.

ContainerFormat.name

ContainerFormat.long_name

ContainerFormat.options

ContainerFormat.input

An input-only view of this format.

ContainerFormat.output

An output-only view of this format.

ContainerFormat.is_input

ContainerFormat.is_output

ContainerFormat.extensions

Flags

ContainerFormat.flags

class av.format.Flags

Bases: av.enum.EnumFlag

ContainerFormat Attribute	Flags Name	Flag Value	Meaning in FFmpeg
no_file	NOFILE	0x1	-
need_number	NEEDNUMBER	0x2	Needs ‘%d’ in filename.
show_ids	SHOW_IDS	0x8	Show format stream IDs numbers.
global_header	GLOBALHEADER	0x40	Format wants global header.
no_timestamps	NOTIMESTAMPS	0x80	Format does not need / have any timestamps.
generic_index	GENERIC_INDEX	0x100	Use generic index building code.
ts_discont	TS_DISCONT	0x200	Format allows timestamp discontinuities. Note, muxers always require valid (monotone) timestamps
variable_fps	VARIABLE_FPS	0x400	Format allows variable fps.
no_dimensions	NODIMENSIONS	0x800	Format does not need width/height
no_streams	NOSTREAMS	0x1000	Format does not require any streams
no_bin_search	NOBINSEARCH	0x2000	Format does not allow to fall back on binary search via read_timestamp
no_gen_search	NOGENSEARCH	0x4000	Format does not allow to fall back on generic search
no_byte_seek	NO_BYTE_SEEK	0x8000	Format does not allow seeking by bytes
allow_flush	ALLOW_FLUSH	0x10000	Format allows flushing. If not set, the muxer will not receive a NULL packet in the write_packet function.
ts_nonstrict	TS_NONSTRICT	0x20000	Format does not require strictly increasing timestamps, but they must still be monotonic.
ts_negative	TS_NEGATIVE	0x40000	Format allows muxing negative timestamps. If not set the timestamp will be shifted in av_write_frame and av_interleaved_write_frame so they start from 0. The user or muxer can override this through AVFormatContext.avoid_negative_ts
seek_to_pts	SEEK_TO_PTS	0x4000000	Seeking is based on PTS