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MKVEXTRACT(1) | User Commands | MKVEXTRACT(1) |
NAME¶
mkvextract - extract tracks from Matroska(TM) files into other filesSYNOPSIS¶
mkvextract
{mode} {source-filename} [options] [extraction-spec]
DESCRIPTION¶
This program extracts specific parts from a Matroska(TM) file to other useful formats. The first argument, mode, tells mkvextract(1) what to extract. Currently supported is the extraction of tracks, tags, attachments, chapters, CUE sheets and timecodes. The second argument is the name of the source file. It must be a Matroska(TM) file. All following arguments are options and extraction specifications; both of which depend on the selected mode.Common options¶
The following options are available in all modes and only described once in this section. -f, --parse-fullySets the parse mode to 'full'. The default
mode does not parse the whole file but uses the meta seek elements for
locating the required elements of a source file. In 99% of all cases this is
enough. But for files that do not contain meta seek elements or which are
damaged the user might have to use this mode. A full scan of a file can take a
couple of minutes while a fast scan only takes seconds.
--command-line-charset character-set
Sets the character set to convert strings
given on the command line from. It defaults to the character set given by
system's current locale.
--output-charset character-set
Sets the character set to which strings are
converted that are to be output. It defaults to the character set given by
system's current locale.
-r, --redirect-output file-name
Writes all messages to the file
file-name instead of to the console. While this can be done easily with
output redirection there are cases in which this option is needed: when the
terminal reinterprets the output before writing it to a file. The character
set set with --output-charset is honored.
--ui-language code
Forces the translations for the language
code to be used (e.g. 'de_DE' for the German translations). It is
preferable to use the environment variables LANG, LC_MESSAGES
and LC_ALL though. Entering 'list' as the code will cause
mkvextract(1) to output a list of available translations.
--debug topic
Turn on debugging for a specific feature. This
option is only useful for developers.
--engage feature
Turn on experimental features. A list of
available features can be requested with mkvextract --engage list.
These features are not meant to be used in normal situations.
-v, --verbose
Be verbose and show all the important
Matroska(TM) elements as they're read.
-h, --help
Show usage information and exit.
-V, --version
Show version information and exit.
--check-for-updates
Checks online for new releases by downloading
the URL http://mkvtoolnix-releases.bunkus.org/latest-release.xml. Four lines
will be output in key=value style: the URL from where the information was
retrieved (key version_check_url), the currently running version (key
running_version), the latest release's version (key available_version) and the
download URL (key download_url).
Afterwards the program exists with an exit code of 0 if no newer release is
available, with 1 if a newer release is available and with 2 if an error
occured (e.g. if the update information could not be retrieved).
This option is only available if the program was built with support for
libcurl.
@options-file
Reads additional command line arguments from
the file options-file. Lines whose first non-whitespace character is a
hash mark ('#') are treated as comments and ignored. White spaces at the start
and end of a line will be stripped. Each line must contain exactly one option.
Several chars can be escaped, e.g. if you need to start a non-comment line with
'#'. The rules are described in the section about escaping text.
The command line ' mkvextract tracks source.mkv --raw 1:destination.raw'
could be converted into the following option file:
# Extract a track from source.mkv tracks source.mkv # Output the track as raw data. --raw 1:destination.raw
Track extraction mode¶
Syntax: mkvextract tracks source-filename [ options] TID1:dest-filename1 [ TID2:dest-filename2 ...] The following command line options are available for each track in the 'tracks' extraction mode. They have to appear in front of the track specification (see below) they should be applied to. -c character-setSets the character set to convert the next
text subtitle track to. Only valid if the next track ID targets a text
subtitle track. It defaults to UTF-8.
--blockadd level
Keep only the BlockAdditions up to this level.
The default is to keep all levels. This option only affects certain kinds of
codecs like WAVPACK4.
--cuesheet
Causes mkvextract(1) to extract a CUE
sheet from the chapter information and tag data for the following track into a
file whose name is the track's output name with '.cue' appended to it.
--raw
Extracts the raw data into a file without any
container data around it. Unlike the --fullraw flag this flag does not
cause the contents of the CodecPrivate element to be written to the file. This
mode works with all CodecIDs, even the ones that mkvextract(1) doesn't
support otherwise, but the resulting files might not be usable.
--fullraw
Extracts the raw data into a file without any
container data around it. The contents of the CodecPrivate element will be
written to the file first if the track contains such a header element. This
mode works with all CodecIDs, even the ones that mkvextract(1) doesn't
support otherwise, but the resulting files might not be usable.
TID:outname
Causes extraction of the track with the ID
TID into the file outname if such a track exists in the source
file. This option can be given multiple times. The track IDs are the same as
the ones output by mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option.
Each output name should be used only once. The exception are RealAudio and
RealVideo tracks. If you use the same name for different tracks then those
tracks will be saved in the same file. Example:
$ mkvextract tracks input.mkv 1:output-two-tracks.rm 2:output-two-tracks.rm
Tags extraction mode¶
Syntax: mkvextract tags source-filename [ options] The extracted tags are written to the console unless the output is redirected (see the section about output redirection for details).Attachments extraction mode¶
Syntax: mkvextract attachments source-filename [ options] AID1:outname1 [ AID2:outname2 ...] AID:outnameCauses extraction of the attachment with the
ID AID into the file outname if such an attachment exists in the
source file. If the outname is left empty then the name of the
attachment inside the source Matroska(TM) file is used instead. This option
can be given multiple times. The attachment IDs are the same as the ones
output by mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option.
Chapters extraction mode¶
Syntax: mkvextract chapters source-filename [ options] -s, --simpleExports the chapter information in the simple
format used in the OGM tools (CHAPTER01=..., CHAPTER01NAME=...). In this mode
some information has to be discarded. Default is to output the chapters in XML
format.
The extracted chapters are written to the console unless the output is
redirected (see the section about output redirection for details).
Cue sheet extraction mode¶
Syntax: mkvextract cuesheet source-filename [ options] The extracted cue sheet is written to the console unless the output is redirected (see the section about output redirection for details).Timecode extraction mode¶
Syntax: mkvextract timecodes_v2 source-filename [ options] TID1:dest-filename1 [ TID2:dest-filename2 ...] The extracted timecodes are written to the console unless the output is redirected (see the section about output redirection for details). TID:outnameCauses extraction of the timecodes for the
track with the ID TID into the file outname if such a track
exists in the source file. This option can be given multiple times. The track
IDs are the same as the ones output by mkvmerge(1)'s --identify
option.
Example:
$ mkvextract timecodes_v2 input.mkv 1:tc-track1.txt 2:tc-track2.txt
OUTPUT REDIRECTION¶
Several extraction modes cause mkvextract(1) to write the extracted data to the console. There are generally two ways of writing this data into a file: one provided by the shell and one provided by mkvextract(1) itself. The shell's builtin redirection mechanism is used by appending '> output-filename.ext' to the command line. Example:$ mkvextract tags source.mkv > tags.xml
$ mkvextract tags source.mkv --redirect-output tags.xml
OUTPUT FILE FORMATS¶
The decision about the output format is based on the track type, not on the extension used for the output file name. The following track types are supported at the moment: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVCFixed FPS video tracks with this CodecID are
written to AVI files.
V_REAL/*
These will be extracted to raw MP3 and AC3
files.
A_PCM/INT/LIT
Raw PCM data will be written to a WAV
file.
A_AAC/MPEG2/*, A_AAC/MPEG4/*, A_AAC
All AAC files will be written into an AAC file
with ADTS headers before each packet. The ADTS headers will not contain the
deprecated emphasis field.
A_VORBIS
Vorbis audio will be written into an
OggVorbis(TM) file.
A_REAL/*
Simple text subtitles will be written as SRT
files.
S_TEXT/SSA, S_TEXT/ASS
Tags are converted to a XML format. This
format is the same that mkvmerge(1) supports for reading tags.
Attachments
Attachments are written to they output file as
they are. No conversion whatsoever is done.
Chapters
Chapters are converted to a XML format. This
format is the same that mkvmerge(1) supports for reading chapters.
Alternatively a stripped-down version can be output in the simple OGM style
format.
Timecodes
Timecodes are first sorted and then output as
a timecode v2 format compliant file ready to be fed to mkvmerge(1). The
extraction to other formats (v1, v3 and v4) is not supported.
EXIT CODES¶
•
0 -- This exit codes means that extraction has completed
successfully.
•
1 -- In this case mkvextract(1) has output at least one warning,
but extraction did continue. A warning is prefixed with the text 'Warning:'.
Depending on the issues involved the resulting files might be ok or not. The
user is urged to check both the warning and the resulting files.
•
2 -- This exit code is used after an error occurred. mkvextract(1)
aborts right after outputting the error message. Error messages range from
wrong command line arguments over read/write errors to broken files.
ESCAPING SPECIAL CHARS IN TEXT¶
There are a few places in which special characters in text must or should be escaped. The rules for escaping are simple: each character that needs escaping is replaced with a backslash followed by another character. The rules are: ' ' (a space) becomes '\s', '"' (double quotes) becomes '\2', ':' becomes '\c', '#' becomes '\h' and '\' (a single backslash) itself becomes '\\'.ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶
The content is treated as if it had been
passed via the --debug option.
MKVTOOLNIX_ENGAGE and its short form MTX_ENGAGE
The content is treated as if it had been
passed via the --engage option.
MKVTOOLNIX_OPTIONS and its short form MTX_OPTIONS
The content is split on white space. The
resulting partial strings are treated as if it had been passed as command line
options. If you need to pass special characters (e.g. spaces) then you have to
escape them (see the section about escaping special characters in text).
SEE ALSO¶
WWW¶
The latest version can always be found at the MKVToolNix homepage[1].AUTHOR¶
Moritz Bunkus <moritz@bunkus.org>Developer
NOTES¶
- 1.
- the MKVToolNix homepage
2012-05-27 | MKVToolNix 5.6.0 |