decode/unpack mkv/mp4/avi/mov etc.

[lthasenhod]

Hi All,

I have a toons of different media files in all kind of "containers", with all kinds of codecs etc. inside, that i want to convert to a specific container with a specific codec etc.

my question(s) how do i see what format a h264/x265 or similar are inside, what it was when it was a raw format ? same goes for audio, perhaps a pointer to a site explaining would also be great.

my idea is "decode/unpack" my media files to the RAW format and then encode the RAW to the new format that i wish to use, this goes both for video and audio

the output should be something like a MKV container using x264 with the most compatible level like high@4.1 and ac3 2ch or 5.1ch, but im open for suggestions.

i want to have a setup ready before encode/decode/transcode so i dont have to start over again and again.

Kind Regards,
lthasenhod

[pandy]

Use ffmpeg:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/356314-How-to-batch-convert-multiplex-any-files-with-ffmpeg

[lthasenhod]

Hi All,

Maybe i was unlcear, here is what i want to accomplish.

1. extract all streams from a given file (mp4,mkv,avi,mov etc.) into a subfolder
- all streams including video,audio,cue,subtitles etc.
2. when all streams are extracted then unpack/decode them into their raw format
3. then encode them into the codec that i wish
4. last put them into a mkv file

[sneaker]

my question(s) how do i see what format a h264/x265 or similar are inside, what it was when it was a raw format ? same goes for audio, perhaps a pointer to a site explaining would also be great.

MediaInfo will tell you about all the formats details.

Maybe i was unlcear, here is what i want to accomplish.

1. extract all streams from a given file (mp4,mkv,avi,mov etc.) into a subfolder
- all streams including video,audio,cue,subtitles etc.
2. when all streams are extracted then unpack/decode them into their raw format
3. then encode them into the codec that i wish
4. last put them into a mkv file

Raw video and to some extent audio is huge. It is unpractical to break up the containers into uncompressed streams for every track. It will take time, stress and fill up your HDD. Usually people will work more or less directly on the containers. E.g. using ffmpeg as mentioned by pandy. There are many tools, some of them GUIs to ffmpeg (like Xmedia Recode) or software like VidCoder, HandBrake etc. I suggest you try one of them instead of following your vague idea of breaking up the containers into "raw" files.

[lthasenhod]

Hi All,

Thanks for the answers, but i still want to accomplish the task in that way, i do have extremly large raid arrays to cover whatever need this might be, can it be done ?

[awgie]

Hi All,

Maybe i was unlcear, here is what i want to accomplish.

1. extract all streams from a given file (mp4,mkv,avi,mov etc.) into a subfolder
- all streams including video,audio,cue,subtitles etc.
2. when all streams are extracted then unpack/decode them into their raw format
3. then encode them into the codec that i wish
4. last put them into a mkv file

When you say "decode them into their raw format", it sounds like you want to reverse the encoding process that made them what they are. For example, if someone had taken an MPEG2 video and encoded it as an h264 video in an MP4 container, it sounds like you are wanting to turn it back into its original MPEG2 stream.

If that is indeed your objective, then no, it is not possible. When a video is encoded into a given format, it is not merely compressed, it is converted. The only way you can possibly get the original stream is if you already have the original stream.

First, a video file doesn't tell you what - if anything - it used to be. It could have been encoded once or ten times. It could have started as an MPEG2 or as a Quick Time MOV. It may have been resized, cropped, etc. There's simply no way to know. (The same goes for the other streams as well.)

Second, you cannot reverse encode a video, even if you do know what it used to be. You can re-encode it using the best quality possible from whatever it is now into the codec you choose, but you can't go backwards. To put it another way, you can't un-fry an egg.

[lthasenhod]

Hi All,

I do know i can not "uncode/decode" them, i just want to "encode" them so they are in a lossless format, but i lack the knowledge of what formats are lossless etc. that is why i asked if someone know where i could get information about the entire process, maybe something like import them into a video editor, i presume its lossless inside the editor, until i chose to save them in some kind of format that encode them lossy, or am i mistaken ?, what format does companies use when transfering lossless both in audio and video ?

Kind Regards.

[hello_hello]

The problem is, any lossless format will result in very, very large files. Therefore the best "lossless" format is actually the original files, unless they're of a codec type a particular editing program can't open and you therefore you need to convert them to a lossless intermediate format first.

Unless you're actually editing, most container types (AVI, MP4 etc) can be opened with MKVToolNixGUI and their contents remuxed as an MKV without re-encoding. If you want to convert your files to a common type of audio and video there's plenty of programs that'll do it without having to extract the raw streams first.

You can open all the file types you mentioned with VirtualDub and the ffmpeg input driver plugin (or VirtualDub can open AVIs withut it). The plugin always decodes so the output has to be save in another format, whether it be lossy, lossless, or lossless and uncompressed. Some commonly used lossless codecs.
https://www.videohelp.com/software/Lagarith-Lossless-Video-Codec
https://www.videohelp.com/software/MagicYUV
https://www.videohelp.com/software/HuffYUV
With a codec such as the above installed, you'd open a file, select the codec under compression in the Video menu, configure it if need be, and save the output to a lossless AVI. It can output the audio as lossless wave file.

Converting to a lossless format first is generally pointless unless you need an intermediate file for some reason, otherwise it's easy enough to open files such as MP4, MKV and AVI and convert them to a common format directly. Handbrake might be a good choice.

MKVCleaver and gMKVExtractGUI can extract raw streams from MKVs. There's MP4Box for MP4s.

[awgie]

Yeah, what he ^^^ said.