Codec Mappings

A Codec Mapping is a set of attributes to identify, name, and contextualize the format and characteristics of encoded data that can be contained within Matroska Clusters.

Each TrackEntry used within Matroska MUST reference a defined Codec Mapping using the CodecID to identify and describe the format of the encoded data in its associated Clusters. This CodecID is a unique registered identifier that represents the encoding stored within the Track. Certain encodings MAY also require some form of codec initialization to provide its decoder with context and technical metadata.

The intention behind this list is not to list all existing audio and video codecs, but rather to list those codecs that are currently supported in Matroska and therefore need a well defined CodecID so that all developers supporting Matroska will use the same CodecID. If you feel we missed support for a very important codec, please tell us on our development mailing list (cellar at ietf.org).

Defining Matroska Codec Support

Support for a codec is defined in Matroska with the following values.

Codec ID

Each codec supported for storage in Matroska MUST have a unique CodecID. Each CodecID MUST be prefixed with the string from the following table according to the associated type of the codec. All characters of a Codec ID Prefix MUST be capital letters (A-Z) except for the last character of a Codec ID Prefix which MUST be an underscore (“_”).

Codec Type	Codec ID Prefix
Video	“V_”
Audio	“A_”
Subtitle	“S_”
Button	“B_”

Each CodecID MUST include a Major Codec ID immediately following the Codec ID Prefix. A Major Codec ID MAY be followed by an OPTIONAL Codec ID Suffix to communicate a refinement of the Major Codec ID. If a Codec ID Suffix is used, then the CodecID MUST include a forward slash (“/”) as a separator between the Major Codec ID and the Codec ID Suffix. The Major Codec ID MUST be composed of only capital letters (A-Z) and numbers (0-9). The Codec ID Suffix MUST be composed of only capital letters (A-Z), numbers (0-9), underscore (“_”), and forward slash (“/”).

The following table provides examples of valid Codec IDs and their components:

Codec ID Prefix	Major Codec ID	Separator	Codec ID Suffix	Codec ID
A_	AAC	/	MPEG2/LC/SBR	A_AAC/MPEG2/LC/SBR
V_	MPEG4	/	ISO/ASP	V_MPEG4/ISO/ASP
V_	MPEG1			V_MPEG1

Codec Name

Each encoding supported for storage in Matroska MUST have a Codec Name. The Codec Name provides a readable label for the encoding.

Description

An optional description for the encoding. This value is only intended for human consumption.

Initialization

Each encoding supported for storage in Matroska MUST have a defined Initialization. The Initialization MUST describe the storage of data necessary to initialize the decoder, which MUST be stored within the CodecPrivate element. When the Initialization is updated within a track, then that updated Initialization data MUST be written into the CodecState element of the first Cluster to require it. If the encoding does not require any form of Initialization, then none MUST be used to define the Initialization and the CodecPrivate element SHOULD NOT be written and MUST be ignored.

Codec BlockAdditions

Additional data that contextualizes or supplements a Block can be stored within the BlockAdditional element of a BlockMore element. This BlockAdditional data MAY be passed to the associated decoder along with the content of the Block element. Each BlockAdditional is coupled with a BlockAddID that identifies the kind of data it contains. The following table defines the meanings of BlockAddID values.

BlockAddID Value	Definition
0	Invalid.
1	Indicates that the context of the `BlockAdditional` data is defined by the corresponding `Codec Mapping`.
2 or greater	`BlockAddID` values of 2 and greater are mapped to the `BlockAddIDValue` of the `BlockAdditionMapping` of the associated `Track`.

The values of BlockAddID that are 2 of greater have no semantic meaning, but simply associate the BlockMore element with a BlockAdditionMapping of the associated Track. See (#block-additional-mapping) on Block Additional Mappings for more information.

The following XML depicts the nested elements of a BlockGroup element with an example of BlockAdditions:

<BlockGroup>
  <Block>{Binary data of a VP9 video frame in YUV}</Block>
  <BlockAdditions>
    <BlockMore>
      <BlockAddID>1</BlockAddID>
      <BlockAdditional>
        {alpha channel encoding to supplement the VP9 frame}
      </BlockAdditional>
    </BlockMore>
  </BlockAdditions>
</BlockGroup>

Citation

Documentation of the associated normative and informative references for the codec is RECOMMENDED.

Superseded By

When a Superseded By is set, the specified CodecID value MUST be used instead of the CodecID it’s defined for.

Recommendations for the Creation of New Codec Mappings

Creators of new Codec Mappings to be used in the context of Matroska:

SHOULD assume that all Codec Mappings they create might become standardized, public, commonly deployed, or usable across multiple implementations.
SHOULD employ meaningful values for CodecID and Codec Name that they have reason to believe are currently unused.
SHOULD NOT prefix their CodecID with “X_” or similar constructs.

These recommendations are based on [@!RFC6648, section 3].

Video Codec Mappings

All codecs described in this section MUST have a TrackType ([@!RFC9559, section 5.1.4.1.3]) value of “1” for video. The track using these codecs MUST contain a Video element – EBML Path \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video.

Most video codec contain meta information about the data they contain, like encoded width and height, chroma subsampling, etc. Whenever possible these information inside the codec SHOULD be extracted and repeated at the Matroska level with the appropriate element(s) inside the \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video and \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry elements. These values MUST be valid for the whole Segment.

V_AV1

Codec ID: V_AV1

Codec Name: Alliance for Open Media AV1 Video codec

Description: Only one Sequence Header OBU, as defined in section 6.4 of [@!AV1], is supported per Matroska Segment. Each Block contains one Temporal Unit containing one or more OBUs. Each OBU stored in the Block MUST contain its header and its payload. The OBUs in the Block follow the Low Overhead Bitstream Format syntax. They MUST have the obu_has_size_field set to 1 except for the last OBU in the frame, for which obu_has_size_field MAY be set to 0, in which case it is assumed to fill the remainder of the frame. A SimpleBlock MUST NOT be marked as a Keyframe if it doesn’t contain a Frame OBU. A SimpleBlock MUST NOT be marked as a Keyframe if the first Frame OBU doesn’t have a frame_type of KEY_FRAME. A SimpleBlock MUST NOT be marked as a Keyframe if it doesn’t contains a Sequence Header OBU. A Block inside a BlockGroup MUST use ReferenceBlock elements if the first Frame OBU in the Block has a frame_type other than KEY_FRAME. A Block inside a BlockGroup MUST use ReferenceBlock elements if the Block doesn’t contain a Sequence Header OBU. A Block with frame_header_obu where the frame_type is INTRA_ONLY_FRAME MUST use a ReferenceBlock with a value of 0 to reference itself.

Initialization: The CodecPrivate consists of the AV1CodecConfigurationRecord described in section 2.3 of [@!AV1-ISOBMFF].

PixelWidth: MUST be max_frame_width_minus_1+1 of the Sequence Header OBU.

PixelHeight: MUST be max_frame_height_minus_1+1 of the Sequence Header OBU.

V_AVS2

Codec ID: V_AVS2

Codec Name: AVS2-P2/IEEE.1857.4

Description: Individual pictures of AVS2-P2 stored as described in the second part of [@!IEEE.1857-4].

Initialization: none.

V_AVS3

Codec ID: V_AVS3

Codec Name: AVS3-P2/IEEE.1857.10

Description: Individual pictures of AVS3-P2 stored as described in the second part of [@!IEEE.1857-10].

Initialization: none.

V_CAVS

Codec ID: V_CAVS

Codec Name: AVS1-P2, JiZhun profile

Description: Individual pictures of AVS1-P2 stored as described in [@!IEEE.1857-3].

V_DIRAC

Codec ID: V_DIRAC

Codec Name: BBC Dirac

Description: A video codec developed by the BBC [@Dirac]. The Intra-only version of Dirac, also known as Dirac Pro, resulted in SMPTE VC-2 [@ST.2042-1]. Each Matroska frame corresponds to a Sequence as defined in [@!Dirac].

V_FFV1

Codec ID: V_FFV1

Codec Name: FF Video Codec 1

Description: FFV1 is a lossless intra-frame video encoding format designed to efficiently compress video data in a variety of pixel formats. Compared to uncompressed video, FFV1 offers storage compression, frame fixity, and self-description, which makes FFV1 useful as a preservation or intermediate video format. [@!RFC9043]

Initialization: For FFV1 versions 0 or 1, CodecPrivate SHOULD NOT be written. For FFV1 version 3 or greater, the CodecPrivate MUST contain the FFV1 Configuration Record structure, as defined in [@!RFC9043, section 4.3], and no other data.

V_MJPEG

Codec ID: V_MJPEG

Codec Name: Motion JPEG

Description: Motion JPEG is a video compression format in which each video frame or interlaced field is compressed separately as a [@!JPEG] image.

V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC

Codec ID: V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC

Codec Name: HEVC/H.265

Description: Individual pictures (which could be a frame, a field, or 2 fields having the same timestamp) of HEVC/H.265 stored as described in [@!ISO.14496-15].

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a HEVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!ISO.14496-15].

V_MPEGI/ISO/VVC

Codec ID: V_MPEGI/ISO/VVC

Codec Name: VVC/H.266

Description: Individual pictures (which could be a frame, a field, or 2 fields having the same timestamp) of VVC/H.266 stored as described in [@!ISO.14496-15].

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a VVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!ISO.14496-15].

V_MPEG1

Codec ID: V_MPEG1

Codec Name: MPEG 1

Description: Frames corresponds to a Video Sequence as defined in [@!ISO.11172-2].

Initialization: none

V_MPEG2

Codec ID: V_MPEG2

Codec Name: MPEG 2

Description: Frames corresponds to a Video Sequence as defined in [@!ISO.13818-2].

Initialization: none

V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC

Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC

Codec Name: AVC/H.264

Description: Individual pictures (which could be a frame, a field, or 2 fields having the same timestamp) of AVC/H.264 stored as described in [@!ISO.14496-15].

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a AVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!ISO.14496-15]. For legacy reasons, because Block Additional Mappings are preferred; see (#block-addition-mappings), the AVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure MAY be followed by an extension block beginning with a 4-byte extension block size field in big-endian byte order which is the size of the extension block minus 4 (excluding the size of the extension block size field) and a 4-byte field corresponding to a BlockAddIDType of “mvcC” followed by a content corresponding to the content of BlockAddIDExtraData for mvcC; see (#mvcc).

V_MPEG4/ISO/AP

Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AP

Codec Name: MPEG4 ISO advanced profile

Description: Stream was created via improved codec API (UCI) or transmuxed from MP4, not simply transmuxed from AVI. Note there are differences how b-frames are handled in these original streams, when being compared to a VfW created stream, as here there are no dummy frames inserted, the frame order is exactly the same as the coding order, same as in MP4 streams.

Initialization: none

V_MPEG4/ISO/ASP

Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/ASP

Codec Name: MPEG4 ISO advanced simple profile (DivX5, XviD, FFMPEG)

Initialization: none

V_MPEG4/ISO/SP

Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/SP

Codec Name: MPEG4 ISO simple profile (DivX4)

Description: Stream was created via improved codec API (UCI) or even transmuxed from AVI (no b-frames in Simple Profile), frame order is coding order.

Initialization: none

V_MPEG4/MS/V3

Codec ID: V_MPEG4/MS/V3

Codec Name: Microsoft MPEG4 V3

Description: Microsoft MPEG4 V3 and derivates, means DivX3, Angelpotion, SMR, etc.; stream was created using VfW codec or transmuxed from AVI; note that V1/V2 are covered in VfW compatibility mode.

Initialization: none

V_MS/VFW/FOURCC

Codec ID: V_MS/VFW/FOURCC

Codec Name: Microsoft Video Codec Manager (VCM)

Description: The CodecPrivate contains the VCM structure BITMAPINFOHEADER including the extra private bytes, as defined in [@!BITMAPINFOHEADER]. The data are stored in little-endian format (like on IA32 machines). Where is the Huffman table stored in HuffYUV, not AVISTREAMINFO ??? And the FourCC, not in AVISTREAMINFO.fccHandler ???

Initialization: CodecPrivate contains the VCM structure BITMAPINFOHEADER including the extra private bytes, as defined by Microsoft in [@!BITMAPINFOHEADER].

V_QUICKTIME

Codec ID: V_QUICKTIME

Codec Name: Video taken from QuickTime files

Description: Several codecs as stored in QuickTime (e.g., Sorenson or Cinepak).

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains all additional data that is stored in the ‘stsd’ (sample description) atom in the QuickTime file after the mandatory video descriptor structure (starting with the size and FourCC fields). For an explanation of the QuickTime file format read [@!QTFF].

V_PRORES

Codec ID: V_PRORES

Codec Name: Apple ProRes

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the FourCC as found in MP4 movies:

ap4x: ProRes 4444 XQ
ap4h: ProRes 4444
apch: ProRes 422 High Quality
apcn: ProRes 422 Standard Definition
apcs: ProRes 422 LT
apco: ProRes 422 Proxy
aprh: ProRes RAW High Quality
aprn: ProRes RAW Standard Definition

ProRes is defined as [@!SMPTE-RDD36].

V_REAL/RV10

Codec ID: V_REAL/RV10

Codec Name: RealVideo 1.0 aka RealVideo 5

Description: Individual slices from the Real container are combined into a single frame.

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a real_video_props_t structure in big-endian byte order as found in [@!librmff].

V_REAL/RV20

Codec ID: V_REAL/RV20

Codec Name: RealVideo G2 and RealVideo G2+SVT

Description: Individual slices from the Real container are combined into a single frame.

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a real_video_props_t structure in big-endian byte order as found in [@!librmff].

V_REAL/RV30

Codec ID: V_REAL/RV30

Codec Name: RealVideo 8

Description: Individual slices from the Real container are combined into a single frame.

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a real_video_props_t structure in big-endian byte order as found in [@!librmff].

V_REAL/RV40

Codec ID: V_REAL/RV40

Codec Name: rv40 : RealVideo 9

Description: Individual slices from the Real container are combined into a single frame.

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains a real_video_props_t structure in big-endian byte order as found in [@!librmff].

V_THEORA

Codec ID: V_THEORA

Codec Name: Theora

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the first three Theora packets in order. The lengths of the packets precedes them. The actual layout is:

Byte 1: number of distinct packets #p minus one inside the CodecPrivate block. This MUST be “2” for current (as of 2016-07-08) Theora headers.
Bytes 2..n: lengths of the first #p packets, coded in Xiph-style lacing. The length of the last packet is the length of the CodecPrivate block minus the lengths coded in these bytes minus one.
Bytes n+1..: The Theora identification header, followed by the commend header followed by the codec setup header. Those are described in the [@!Theora].

V_UNCOMPRESSED

Codec ID: V_UNCOMPRESSED

Codec Name: Video, raw uncompressed video frames

Description: All details about the used color specs and bit depth are to be put/read from the TrackEntry\Video\UncompressedFourCC elements.

Initialization: none

V_VP8

Codec ID: V_VP8

Codec Name: VP8 Codec format

Description: VP8 is an open and royalty free video compression format developed by Google and created by On2 Technologies as a successor to VP7. [@!RFC6386]

Codec BlockAdditions: A single-channel encoding of an alpha channel MAY be stored in BlockAdditions. The BlockAddId of the BlockMore containing these data MUST be 1.

Initialization: none

V_VP9

Codec ID: V_VP9

Codec Name: VP9 Codec format

Description: VP9 is an open and royalty free video compression format developed by Google as a successor to VP8. [@!VP9]

Codec BlockAdditions: A single-channel encoding of an alpha channel MAY be stored in BlockAdditions. The BlockAddId of the BlockMore containing these data MUST be 1.

Initialization: The CodecPrivate SHOULD contain a list of specific VP9 codec features as described in the “VP9 Codec Feature Metadata” section of [@!WebMContainer]. This piece of data helps to select a decoder on playback, but as many muxers don’t provide the CodecPrivate for “V_VP9” it’s not a hard requirement. It is possible for the decoder to reconstruct the “VP9 Codec Feature Metadata” from the first frame in case the CodecPrivate is not present.

Note that the format differs from the VPCodecConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@VP-ISOBMFF].

Audio Codec Mappings

All codecs described in this section MUST have a TrackType ([@!RFC9559, section 5.1.4.1.3]) value of “2” for audio. The track using these codecs MUST contain an Audio element – EBML Path \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio.

Most audio codec contain meta information about the data they contain, like encoded sampling frequency, channel count, etc. Whenever possible these information inside the codec SHOULD be extracted and repeated at the Matroska level with the appropriate element(s) inside the \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Audio and \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry elements. These values MUST be valid for the whole Segment.

A_AAC/MPEG2/LC

Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG2/LC

Codec Name: Low Complexity

Description: Channel number and sample rate have to be read from the corresponding audio element. Audio stream is stripped from ADTS headers and normal Matroska frame based muxing scheme is applied. AAC audio always uses wFormatTag 0xFF.

Initialization: none

A_AAC/MPEG2/LC/SBR

Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG2/LC/SBR

Codec Name: Low Complexity with Spectral Band Replication

Initialization: none

A_AAC/MPEG2/MAIN

Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG2/MAIN

Codec Name: MPEG2 Main Profile

Initialization: none

A_AAC/MPEG2/SSR

Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG2/SSR

Codec Name: Scalable Sampling Rate

Initialization: none

A_AAC/MPEG4/LC

Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/LC

Codec Name: Low Complexity

Initialization: none

A_AAC/MPEG4/LC/SBR

Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/LC/SBR

Codec Name: Low Complexity with Spectral Band Replication

Initialization: none

A_AAC/MPEG4/LTP

Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/LTP

Codec Name: Long Term Prediction

Initialization: none

A_AAC/MPEG4/MAIN

Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/MAIN

Codec Name: MPEG4 Main Profile

Initialization: none

A_AAC/MPEG4/SSR

Codec ID: A_AAC/MPEG4/SSR

Codec Name: Scalable Sampling Rate

Initialization: none

A_AC3

Codec ID: A_AC3

Codec Name: Dolby Digital / AC-3

Description: Individual frames of AC-3 syncframe() stored as described in [@!ATSC.A52] or [@!ETSI.TS102-366] when the value of the bsid field defined in Section 5.4.2.1 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] is 10 or below. Corresponding ACM wFormatTag : 0x2000 ; channel number have to be read from the corresponding audio element

A_AC3/BSID9

Codec ID: A_AC3/BSID9

Codec Name: Dolby Digital / AC-3

Description: Individual frames of AC-3 syncframe() stored as described in [@!ATSC.A52] or [@!ETSI.TS102-366] when the value of the bsid field defined in Section 5.4.2.1 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] is 9. Note that the value 9 in the bsid field is not standard but it is defacto used for dividing the sampling rate defined in Section 5.4.1.3 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] by 2.

Using this Codec ID is NOT RECOMMENDED as many Matroska Players don’t support it. The generic A_AC3 Codec ID should be used instead as it supports a bsid of 9 as well.

Initialization: none

A_AC3/BSID10

Codec ID: A_AC3/BSID10

Codec Name: Dolby Digital / AC-3

Description: Individual frames of AC-3 syncframe() stored as described in [@!ATSC.A52] or [@!ETSI.TS102-366] when the value of the bsid field defined in Section 5.4.2.1 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] is 10. Note that the value 10 in the bsid field is not standard but it is defacto used for dividing the sampling rate defined in Section 5.4.1.3 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section 4.4.2.1 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] by 4.

Using this Codec ID is NOT RECOMMENDED as many Matroska Players don’t support it. The generic A_AC3 Codec ID should be used instead as it supports a bsid of 10 as well.

Initialization: none

A_ALAC

Codec ID: A_ALAC

Codec Name: ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec)

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains ALAC’s magic cookie (both the codec specific configuration as well as the optional channel layout information). Its format is described in the “Magic Cookie” defined in [@!ALAC].

A_ATRAC/AT1

Codec ID: A_ATRAC/AT1

Codec Name: Sony ATRAC1 Codec

Description: The original ATRAC codec by Sony, mainly used in MiniDisc platforms. The core technical details on ATRAC1 can be found in [@?AtracAES]. An example encoder/decoder can be found at [@?atracdenc].

Initialization: None

A_DTS

Codec ID: A_DTS

Codec Name: Digital Theatre System

Description: Supports DTS, DTS-ES, DTS-96/26, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio. It corresponds to the base codec defined in [@!ETSI.TS102-114]. The CodecPrivate is void. Corresponding ACM wFormatTag : 0x2001

Initialization: none

A_DTS/EXPRESS

Codec ID: A_DTS/EXPRESS

Codec Name: Digital Theatre System Express

Description: DTS Express (a.k.a. LBR) audio streams. It corresponds to the LBR extension of the DTS codec defined in section 9 of [@!ETSI.TS102-114]. The CodecPrivate is void. Corresponding ACM wFormatTag : 0x2001

Initialization: none

A_DTS/LOSSLESS

Codec ID: A_DTS/LOSSLESS

Codec Name: Digital Theatre System Lossless

Description: DTS Lossless audio that does not have a core substream. It corresponds to the Lossless extension (XLL) of the DTS codec defined in section 8 of [@!ETSI.TS102-114]. The CodecPrivate is void. Corresponding ACM wFormatTag : 0x2001

Initialization: none

A_EAC3

Codec ID: A_EAC3

Codec Name: Dolby Digital Plus / E-AC-3

Description: Individual frames of E-AC-3 syncframe() stored as described in [@!ATSC.A52] or [@!ETSI.TS102-366] when the value of the bsid field defined in Annex E Section 2.1 of [@!ATSC.A52] or Section E.1.3.1.6 of [@!ETSI.TS102-366] is 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16.

A_FLAC

Codec ID: A_FLAC

Codec Name: FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains all the header/metadata packets before the first data packet as defined in [@!I-D.ietf-cellar-flac]. These include the first header packet containing only the word fLaC as well as all metadata packets.

A_MLP

Codec ID: A_MLP

Codec Name: Meridian Lossless Packing / MLP

Description: A lossless audio codec used in DVD-Audio discs. The format is similar to Dolby TrueHD ((#a-truehd)) but with less channels.

A_MPC

Codec ID: A_MPC

Codec Name: MPC (musepack) SV8

Description: The main developer for musepack has requested that we wait until the SV8 framing has been fully defined for musepack before defining how to store it in Matroska.

A_MPEG/L1

Codec ID: A_MPEG/L1

Codec Name: MPEG Audio 1, 2 Layer I

Description: Frames corresponds to Audio Frames of a Layer I bitstream as defined in [@!ISO.11172-3]. Corresponding ACM wFormatTag : 0x0050

Initialization: none

A_MPEG/L2

Codec ID: A_MPEG/L2

Codec Name: MPEG Audio 1, 2 Layer II

Description: Frames corresponds to Audio Frames of a Layer II bitstream as defined in [@!ISO.11172-3]. Corresponding ACM wFormatTag : 0x0050

Initialization: none

A_MPEG/L3

Codec ID: A_MPEG/L3

Codec Name: MPEG Audio 1, 2, 2.5 Layer III

Description: Frames corresponds to Audio Frames of a Layer III bitstream as defined in [@!ISO.11172-3]. Corresponding ACM wFormatTag : 0x0055

Initialization: none

A_MS/ACM

Codec ID: A_MS/ACM

Codec Name: Microsoft Audio Codec Manager (ACM)

Description: The data are stored in little-endian format (like on IA32 machines).

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the [@!WAVEFORMATEX] structure including the extra format information bytes. The structure is stored without packing or padding bytes. A WORD corresponds to a signed 2 octets integer, DWORD corresponds to a signed 4 octets integer. The extra format information are appended after the WAVEFORMATEX octets.

A_REAL/14_4

Codec ID: A_REAL/14_4

Codec Name: Real Audio 1

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains either the “real_audio_v4_props_t” or the “real_audio_v5_props_t” structure (differentiated by their “version” field; big-endian byte order) as found in [librmff].

A_REAL/28_8

Codec ID: A_REAL/28_8

Codec Name: Real Audio 2

A_REAL/ATRC

Codec ID: A_REAL/ATRC

Codec Name: Sony Atrac3 Codec

A_REAL/COOK

Codec ID: A_REAL/COOK

Codec Name: Real Audio Cook Codec (codename: Gecko)

A_REAL/RALF

Codec ID: A_REAL/RALF

Codec Name: Real Audio Lossless Format

A_REAL/SIPR

Codec ID: A_REAL/SIPR

Codec Name: Sipro Voice Codec

A_OPUS

Codec ID: A_OPUS

Codec Name: Opus interactive speech and audio codec

Description: The OPUS audio codec defined by [@!RFC6716] using a similar encapsulation as the Ogg Encapsulation [@!RFC7845].

Initialization: The track CodecPrivate MUST be present and contain the Identification Header defined in [@!RFC7845, section 5.1].

Channels: The track Channels element value MUST be the “Output Channel Count” value of the Identification Header.

SamplingFrequency: The track SamplingFrequency element value MUST be the “Input Sample Rate” value of the Identification Header.

CodecDelay: The track CodecDelay element MUST be present and set to the “Pre-skip” value of the Identification Header translated to Matroska Ticks. The “Pre-skip” value is in samples at 48,000 Hz. The formula to get the CodecDelay is:

CodecDelay = pre-skip * 1,000,000,000 / 48,000.

SeekPreRoll: The track SeekPreRoll element SHOULD be present and set to 80,000,000 – 80 ms in Matroska Ticks – in order to ensure that the output audio is correct by the time it reaches the seek target.

A_PCM/FLOAT/IEEE

Codec ID: A_PCM/FLOAT/IEEE

Codec Name: Floating-Point, IEEE compatible

Description: The audio bit depth MUST be read and set from the BitDepth element (32 bit in most cases). The floats are stored as defined in [@!IEEE.754] and in little-endian order. Corresponding ACM wFormatTag : 0x0003

Initialization: none

A_PCM/INT/BIG

Codec ID: A_PCM/INT/BIG

Codec Name: PCM Integer Big Endian

Description: The audio bit depth MUST be read and set from the BitDepth element. Audio samples MUST be considered as signed values, except if the audio bit depth is 8 which MUST be interpreted as unsigned values. Corresponding ACM wFormatTag : ???

Initialization: none

A_PCM/INT/LIT

Codec ID: A_PCM/INT/LIT

Codec Name: PCM Integer Little Endian

Initialization: none

A_QUICKTIME

Codec ID: A_QUICKTIME

Codec Name: Audio taken from QuickTime files

Description: Several codecs as stored in QuickTime (e.g., QDesign Music v1 or v2).

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains all additional data that is stored in the ‘stsd’ (sample description) atom in the QuickTime file after the mandatory sound descriptor structure (starting with the size and FourCC fields). For an explanation of the QuickTime file format read [@!QTFF].

A_QUICKTIME/QDMC

Codec ID: A_QUICKTIME/QDMC

Codec Name: QDesign Music

Description:

Superseded By: A_QUICKTIME

A_QUICKTIME/QDM2

Codec ID: A_QUICKTIME/QDM2

Codec Name: QDesign Music v2

Description:

Superseded By: A_QUICKTIME

A_TRUEHD

Codec ID: A_TRUEHD

Codec Name: Dolby TrueHD

Description: Lossless audio codec from Dolby. Each Matroska frame corresponds to a single Access Unit as defined in [@!TRUEHD].

A_TTA1

Codec ID: A_TTA1

Codec Name: The True Audio lossless audio compressor

Description: The format is described in [@!TTA] Each frame is kept intact, including the CRC32. The header and seektable are dropped. SamplingFrequency, Channels and BitDepth are used in the TrackEntry. wFormatTag = 0x77A1

Initialization: none

A_VORBIS

Codec ID: A_VORBIS

Codec Name: Vorbis

Initialization: The CodecPrivate contains the first three Vorbis packet in order. The lengths of the packets precedes them. The actual layout is:

Byte 1: number of distinct packets #p minus one inside the CodecPrivate block. This MUST be “2” for current (as of 2016-07-08) Vorbis headers.
Bytes 2..n: lengths of the first #p packets, coded in Xiph-style lacing. The length of the last packet is the length of the CodecPrivate block minus the lengths coded in these bytes minus one.
Bytes n+1..: The “Identification Header” as defined in Section 4.2.2 of [@!VORBIS], followed by the “Comment Header” as defined in Section 5 of [@!VORBIS], followed by the “Setup Header” as defined in Section 4.2.4 of [@!VORBIS].

A_WAVPACK4

Codec ID: A_WAVPACK4

Codec Name: WavPack lossless audio compressor

Description: The Wavpack packets consist of a block defined in [@!WAVPACK] with the “ckID” and “ckSize” fields stripped. For multi-track (> 2 tracks) a frame consists of many packets. For more details, check the WavPack muxing description.

Codec BlockAdditions: For hybrid A_WAVPACK4 encodings (that include a lossy encoding with a supplemental correction to produce a lossless encoding), the correction part is stored in BlockAdditional. The BlockAddId of the BlockMore containing these data MUST be 1.

Initialization: none

Subtitle Codec Mappings

All codecs described in this section MUST have a TrackType ([@!RFC9559, section 5.1.4.1.3]) value of “17” for subtitles.

Subtitle codec often contain meta information about the data they contain, like expected output dimension, language, etc. Whenever possible these information inside the codec SHOULD be extracted and repeated at the Matroska level with the appropriate element(s) inside the \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry\Video and \Segment\Tracks\TrackEntry elements. These values MUST be valid for the whole Segment.

S_ARIBSUB

Codec ID: S_ARIBSUB

Codec Name: ARIB STD-B24 subtitles

Description: This is the textual subtitle format used in the ISDB/ARIB broadcasting standard. For more information see (#arib-isdb-subtitles) on ARIB (ISDB) subtitles.

S_DVBSUB

Codec ID: S_DVBSUB

Codec Name: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) subtitles

Description: This is the graphical subtitle format used in the Digital Video Broadcasting standard. For more information see (#digital-video-broadcasting-dvb-subtitles) on Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB).

S_HDMV/PGS

Codec ID: S_HDMV/PGS

Codec Name: HDMV presentation graphics subtitles (PGS)

Description: This is the graphical subtitle format used on Blu-rays. For more information, see (#hdmv-text-subtitles) on HDMV text presentation.

S_HDMV/TEXTST

Codec ID: S_HDMV/TEXTST

Codec Name: HDMV text subtitles

Description: This is the textual subtitle format used on Blu-rays. For more information, see (#hdmv-presentation-graphics-subtitles) on HDMV graphics presentation.

S_KATE

Codec ID: S_KATE

Codec Name: Karaoke And Text Encapsulation

Description: A subtitle format developed for ogg. The mapping for Matroska is described on the “Matroska mapping” section of [@!OggKate]. Kate headers are stored in the CodecPrivate as xiph-laced packets. The length of the last packet isn’t encoded, it is deduced from the sizes of the other packets and the total size of the CodecPrivate.

S_IMAGE/BMP

Codec ID: S_IMAGE/BMP

Codec Name: Bitmap

Description: Basic image based subtitle format; The subtitles are stored as images, like in the DVD [@?DVD-Video]. The timestamp in the block header of Matroska indicates the start display time, the duration is set with the BlockDuration element. The full data for the subtitle bitmap is stored in the Block’s data section.

S_TEXT/ASS

Codec ID: S_TEXT/ASS

Codec Name: Advanced SubStation Alpha Format

Description: Each event is stored in its own Block. For more information see (#ssa-ass-subtitles) on SSA/ASS.

This codec ID MUST be used when “ScriptType: v4.00+” or “[V4+ Styles]” sections are found in the original SSA script.

The codec MAY also be found with the Codec ID S_ASS, but using that value is NOT RECOMMENDED.

Initialization: The “[Script Info]” and “[V4 Styles]” sections are stored in the CodecPrivate.

S_TEXT/ASCII

Codec ID: S_TEXT/ASCII

Codec Name: ASCII Plain Text

Description: Basic text subtitles with only ASCII characters allowed.

S_TEXT/SSA

Codec ID: S_TEXT/SSA

Codec Name: SubStation Alpha Format

Description: Each event is stored in its own Block. For more information see (#ssa-ass-subtitles) on SSA/ASS.

This codec ID MUST NOT be used when “ScriptType: v4.00+” or “[V4+ Styles]” sections are found in the original SSA script.

The codec MAY also be found with the Codec ID S_SSA, but using that value is NOT RECOMMENDED.

Initialization: The “[Script Info]” and “[V4+ Styles]” sections are stored in the CodecPrivate.

S_TEXT/USF

Codec ID: S_TEXT/USF

Codec Name: Universal Subtitle Format

Description: An XML based subtitle format. Each BlockGroup contains XML data from a “subtitle” XML element as defined in section 3.4 of [@!USF], without the “subtitle” element itself and with the start, stop duration mapped to the BlockGroup timestamp and BlockDuration element. The “image” XML elements are turned into Matroska attachements and replaced in the stream with their attachment filename.

Initialization: The CodecPrivate element MAY be present. If present it MAY contains “metadata”, “styles” and “effects” XML elements usable in the whole stream inside a parent “USFSubtitles” XML parent element, similar to the “USFSubtitles” element of a standalone USF file but without the “subtitles” XML element.

S_TEXT/UTF8

Codec ID: S_TEXT/UTF8

Codec Name: UTF-8 Plain Text

Description: Basic text subtitles. For more information see (#subtitles) on Subtitles.

S_TEXT/WEBVTT

Codec ID: S_TEXT/WEBVTT

Codec Name: Web Video Text Tracks Format (WebVTT)

Description: Advanced text subtitles. For more information see (#webvtt) on WebVTT.

S_VOBSUB

Codec ID: S_VOBSUB

Codec Name: VobSub subtitles

Description: The same subtitle format used on DVDs [@?DVD-Video]. Supported is only format version 7 and newer. VobSubs consist of two files, the .idx containing information, and the .sub, containing the actual data. The .idx file is stripped of all empty lines, of all comments and of lines beginning with alt: or langidx:. The line beginning with id: SHOULD be transformed into the appropriate Matroska track language element and is discarded. All remaining lines but the ones containing timestamps and file positions are put into the CodecPrivate element.

For each line containing the timestamp and file position data is read from the appropriate position in the .sub file. This data consists of a MPEG program stream which in turn contains SPU packets. The MPEG program stream data is discarded, and each SPU packet is put into one Matroska frame.

Button Codec Mappings

All codecs described in this section MUST have a TrackType ([@!RFC9559, section 5.1.4.1.3]) value of “18” for buttons.

B_VOBBTN

Codec ID: B_VOBBTN

Codec Name: VobBtn Buttons

Description: Based on MPEG/VOB PCI packets. The frame contains a header consisting of the string “butonDVD” followed by the width and height in pixels (16-bit unsigned integer each) and 4 reserved bytes. The rest is a full PCI packet described in [@!DVD-Info.PCI].

Block Addition Mappings

Registered BlockAddIDType are:

Use BlockAddIDValue

Block type identifier: 0

Block type name: Use BlockAddIDValue

Description: This value indicates that the actual type is stored in BlockAddIDValue instead. This value is expected to be used when it is important to have a strong compatibility with players or derived formats not supporting BlockAdditionMapping but using BlockAdditions with an unknown BlockAddIDValue, and SHOULD NOT be used if it is possible to use another value.

Opaque Data

Block type identifier: 1

Block type name: Opaque data

Description: the BlockAdditional data is interpreted as opaque additional data passed to the codec with the Block data. BlockAddIDValue MUST be 1.

ITU T.35 Metadata

Block type identifier: 4

Block type name: ITU T.35 metadata

Description: the BlockAdditional data is interpreted as ITU T.35 metadata, as defined by [@?ITU-T.35] terminal codes. BlockAddIDValue MUST be 4.

avcE

Block type identifier: 0x61766345

Block type name: Dolby Vision enhancement-layer AVC configuration

Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as the Dolby Vision enhancement-layer AVC configuration box as described in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF]. This extension MUST NOT be used if CodecID is not V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC.

hvcE

Block type identifier: 0x68766345

Block type name: Dolby Vision enhancement-layer HEVC configuration

Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as the Dolby Vision enhancement-layer HEVC configuration as described in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF]. This extension MUST NOT be used if CodecID is not V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC.

dvcC

Block type identifier: 0x64766343

Block type name: Dolby Vision configuration dvcC

Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as DOVIDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF], for Dolby Vision profiles 0 to 7 included.

dvvC

Block type identifier: 0x64767643

Block type name: Dolby Vision configuration dvvC

Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as DOVIDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF], for Dolby Vision profiles 8 to 10 included and 20.

dvwC

Block type identifier: 0x64767743

Block type name: Dolby Vision configuration dvwC

Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as DOVIDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!DolbyVision-ISOBMFF], for Dolby Vision profiles 11 to 19 included.

mvcC

Block type identifier: 0x6D766343

Block type name: MVC configuration

Description: the BlockAddIDExtraData data is interpreted as MVCDecoderConfigurationRecord structure, as defined in [@!ISO.14496-15]. This extension MUST NOT be used if CodecID is not V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC.

Main Menu

Codec Mappings

Defining Matroska Codec Support

Codec ID

Codec Name

Description

Initialization

Codec BlockAdditions

Citation

Superseded By

Recommendations for the Creation of New Codec Mappings

Video Codec Mappings

V_AV1

V_AVS2

V_AVS3

V_CAVS

V_DIRAC

V_FFV1

V_MJPEG

V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC

V_MPEGI/ISO/VVC

V_MPEG1

V_MPEG2

V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC

V_MPEG4/ISO/AP

V_MPEG4/ISO/ASP

V_MPEG4/ISO/SP

V_MPEG4/MS/V3

V_MS/VFW/FOURCC

V_QUICKTIME

V_PRORES

V_REAL/RV10

V_REAL/RV20

V_REAL/RV30

V_REAL/RV40

V_THEORA

V_UNCOMPRESSED

V_VP8

V_VP9

Audio Codec Mappings

A_AAC/MPEG2/LC

A_AAC/MPEG2/LC/SBR

A_AAC/MPEG2/MAIN

A_AAC/MPEG2/SSR

A_AAC/MPEG4/LC

A_AAC/MPEG4/LC/SBR

A_AAC/MPEG4/LTP

A_AAC/MPEG4/MAIN

A_AAC/MPEG4/SSR

A_AC3

A_AC3/BSID9

A_AC3/BSID10

A_ALAC

A_ATRAC/AT1

A_DTS

A_DTS/EXPRESS

A_DTS/LOSSLESS

A_EAC3

A_FLAC

A_MLP

A_MPC

A_MPEG/L1

A_MPEG/L2

A_MPEG/L3

A_MS/ACM

A_REAL/14_4

A_REAL/28_8

A_REAL/ATRC

A_REAL/COOK

A_REAL/RALF

A_REAL/SIPR

A_OPUS

A_PCM/FLOAT/IEEE

A_PCM/INT/BIG

A_PCM/INT/LIT

A_QUICKTIME

A_QUICKTIME/QDMC

A_QUICKTIME/QDM2

A_TRUEHD

A_TTA1