AVI (Audio Video Interleave) is a file format defined by Microsoft. It is the most common format for audio/video data on PCs. AVI files can have one or more video streamsand one or more audio streams. The video and audio streams can be compressed using various compressors (MCMP, JPEG, MCMW, MJ2K, H263, H264, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, MPEG-4,Vorbis, MP3, AC3, AAC, and many others). Each compressed file needs a decompressor to be played or converted. This means that even though two files have the same extension they may not be similar. You might be able to play one AVI file because you have its decompressors, but you might not be able to play another because you do not have its decompressors. Or you might have the audio decompressor but not the video decompressor--in which case, you would hear the audio, but not the video. You need to have both the audio and video decompressors to play back both streams.

Also known as a decoder , this is a module or algorithm to decompress data.

Also known as a decompressor, this is a module or algorithm to decompress data.

WMV (Windows Media Video) is a file format developed by Microsoft. WMV files have audio and video streams. The video and audio streams can be compressed using various compressors (MCMP, JPEG, MCMW, MJ2K, H263, H264, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, Vorbis, MP3, AC3, AAC,and many others). If you cannot play the file then you do not have the codec to decompress the file. If you cannot play the file, then the file cannot be converted.

A COmpressor combined with a DECompressor, or encoder and a decoder, which allows you to both compress and decompress that same data.

Also known as compressor, this is a module or algorithm to compress data. Playing that data back requires a decompressor, or decoder.

The WAVE file format is used to store digital audio data in raw form and is a standard CD quality audio format that requires a large amount of memory (10 MB for 1 minute).

OGG is the name of Xiph.org's container format for audio, video, and metadata. Its default audio compressor is called Vorbis. Vorbis compression offers better quality than MP3 and yields a higher compression ratio. Ogg Vorbis is different from other formats because it is an open standard, open, and unpatented. OGG files can have oneor more video streams and one or more audio streams. The video and audio streams can be compressed using various compressors (MCMP, JPEG, MCMW, MJ2K, H263, H264,MPEG-2, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, Vorbis, MP3, AC3, AAC and many others). Each compressed file will need a decompressor to be played or converted. This means that even though two files have the same extension they may not be similar. You might be able to play one OGG file because you have its decompressors, but you might not be able to play another because you do not have its decompressors. Or you might have the audio decompressor but not the video decompressor-- in such a case, you would hear the audio, but not the video. You need to have both the audio and video decompressors to play back both streams.

[Flash Version 6 format files have the extension .FLV. They use the FLV multiplexer, H.263 video compression and MP3 audio compression]

[Flash Version 9 format files have the extension .MP4 or .F4V. They are also called "Flash HD" files and they use the ISO multiplexer, H.264 video compression and AAC audio compression]

MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) formats have the extension .mpg or .mpeg. MPEG files can have one or more video streams and one or more audio streams. The video streams are compressed using MPEG-2 compression scheme. The audio streams are compressed using the MPEG audio or AC3 compression scheme. Each compressed file needs a decompressor to be played or converted. This means that just because two files have the same extension they may not be similar. If you have an MPEG-2 video decoder you will be able todecode most MPEG-2 videos but since MPEG files can contains two types of audio, you may not be able to play all MPEG files unless you have both AC3 and MPEG audio decoders.

The ISO base media file format is defined in the ISO/IEC 14496-12 specification. It should NOT be confused with the ISO disk image used for CD and DVD images. The ISO base media file format is used in a variety of popular file formats: MP4, 3GPP, QuickTime, Flash HD (H.264), AVC.

Introduction

Show in webframe

This help file provides API platform information for:

LEADTOOLS Media Foundation software development toolkits (SDKs)
LEADTOOLS Media Foundation software development toolkit add-ons, plug-ins, and modules.

LEADTOOLS Media Foundation SDK

The LEADTOOLS Media Foundation SDK is designed to provide developers with a full range of tools required to create professional, high-quality multimedia applications. With it you can add multimedia functionality such as Capture, Play, and Convert, as well as the latest Media Foundation filters and multimedia file support . You can load many common file formats, such as WAV, AVI, WMA, WMV, MPEG-2, OGG, FLV, MKV and others. You can convert to common media foundation file formats, such as WMV, MPEG-4, and LEADTOOLS MKV.

The LEADTOOLS toolkit is flexible and gives you full control over the input, middle and output samples:

Input: Provide your own samples to the conversion / playback, instead of converting a source file.
Middle: Access each sample being converted for additional processing (see the Callback C++ demo for an example).
Output: Get each output sample and store it as needed.

Input data can come from the following sources:

A media file
A stream
The application, one sample at a time
A Media Foundation Transform created manually by the application.

Data can be output to the following targets:

A media file
A stream
The application, one sample at a time
A Media Foundation Transform created manually by the application.

The input streams can be very different (MPEG-2 Transport over UDP, TCP/IP, or RTSP server feeding RTP packets, http stream, etc), but as far as your application is concerned, all you have to do is set the stream URL as the source and the toolkit handles the rest. The output is handled in the same way: set the output to a URL and the toolkit will take care of streaming the data.

The LEADTOOLS Media Foundation toolkit setup installs media sources, processors/transforms, codecs/compressors, and sinks. These filters are included with the LEADTOOLS Media Foundation SDK. In addition, these filters can be licensed on an a la carte basis. For more information regarding licensing, refer to the Multimedia Licensing Help.

Key Features

Media Foundation Filters

Product Demonstrations

Requirements

Environments

Feature Diagrams

Key Features

The LEADTOOLS Media Foundation API provides dynamic link library (DLL) functions that can perform the following tasks:

Media Foundation Capture:
Create applications that can capture from a wide variety of capture devices: native DirectShow and Media Foundation devices, HDTV, Video for Windows (VFW) devices or the computer screen.
Capture audio or video data to a file.

Media Foundation Playback:
Create applications that can play all formats supported by windows media foundation using the simple-to-use LEADTOOLS playback control.
Play an audio, video or multimedia sample.
Play an audio, video or multimedia file.
Add optional processors during playback for real time processing such as deinterlacing, text overlay, rotating, etc..
Media Foundation Conversion:
Add features to your application so your users can convert to and from AVI, Windows Media content, WAVE for output
Convert an audio, video or multimedia file to another type of file.
Convert using LEADTOOLS processors or your own 3rd party processors.
Get and modify each video frame during conversion or allow the processor to modify the entire video.
Automatically correct timestamps to produce correct output files. Converting files requires dealing with many types of files and video/audio codecs. Some of these files or codecs produce bad timestamps, LEADTOOLS can automatically handle this to produce correct output files.

Media Foundation File Formats
Add support for loading the most popular multimedia formats (AVI , WMV , WAV , MP3, OGG , FLV , F4V (Flash HD) , MPEG-2 Program and Transport streams, MPG , ISO (MP4, 3GPP, AAC, AVC, MOV) , PSP thumbnail.
Add support for converting files to the WMV, MPEG-4, or LEADTOOLS MKV formats.

Media Foundation Compression
Add support to your applications for compressing individual samples with any available Media Foundation filters.
Specify which target video and/or audio formats to use or let the toolkit suggest target video and/or audio formats appropriate for the desired file format.
Design your own target format by picking a sink and target video and/or audio format(s).
Media Foundation Processing:
Use the LEAD Video callback transform to use any of the 200+ LEADTOOLS image processing functions to process movies during playback, conversion or capture.

For more information, see the Feature Diagrams below.

Product Demonstrations

Nearly 15 example programs and executable demos are included in all LEADTOOLS products. The executable demos provide a quick and easy way to evaluate the Multimedia features and performance. Examples include:

Audio Video Play demo (player.exe)
Audio Video Capture demo (capture.exe)
Audio Video Convert demo (convert.exe)
Video Callback demo (Callback.exe)

Look for these executables in the different Bin subdirectories of the root installation directory for LEADTOOLS (for example, C:\LEADTOOLS 17.5\Bin\CDLL\Win32).

Audio/Video Codecs and Media Foundation Filters

The Media Foundation SDK includes release versions of many LEAD Audio/Video Codecs and filters. Click here for a complete list.

Also included are evaluation versions of the other LEAD Audio/Video Codecs and Filters. Click herefor a complete list. For pricing on these Media Foundation filter client licenses, contact Sales@LEADTOOLS.com.

Requirements

LEADTOOLS Media Foundation API features require a number of files that you must include when you build your application.

Environments

LEADTOOLS Media Foundation comes in both Win32 and x64 editions. For more information, refer to Supported Platforms / Operating Systems.

Feature Diagrams

Capture to file:

Play a file:

Convert a file to a file: