Category Archives: WebVTT

GPAC, HTML5, MP4, video, WebVTT

Using WebVTT to carry media streams

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Some of you may know the WebVTT format as a subtitling format. But WebVTT can also be used to carry video-synchronized metadata, i.e. any data that is not meant to be displayed, as is (or at all), but that should be processed at a given time in the video by some JavaScript code in the HTML page.

In this post, I describe the results of the modifications I made to MP4Box to export any MP4 tracks in WebVTT, including audio or video data. The idea here is not to replace the MP4 file format by WebVTT because WebVTT was not meant for that and is not really good at that (for one it is a textual format). The idea is more to provide a (temporary) way for people to experiment with JavaScript decoders for their data. You can already start using MP4Box to test but this work is still preliminary and is subject to changes.

Continue reading Using WebVTT to carry media streams →

DASH, GPAC, SVG, WebVTT

WebVTT, MP4 files, DASH and GPAC

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In a previous post, I described how to package and manipulate WebVTT content in MP4 files according to the latest ISO standard using MP4Box. Basic import of WebVTT or SRT file is as follows:

MP4Box -add file1.vtt:lang=en subtitle1.mp4

or

MP4Box -add file2.srt:FMT=VTT:lang=en subtitle2.mp4

and then, the basic usage to create DASH subtitle segments of 10 seconds:

MP4Box -dash 10000 subtitle.mp4:role=subtitle video.mp4

It is now possible to play these MP4 files with the GPAC players (on all supported platforms: Win, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS). So, try it out and let me know if it has bugs. You can for instance test this file or its DASH version.

MP4Client http://download.tsi.telecom-paristech.fr/gpac/webvtt/counter-vtt.mp4
MP4Client http://download.tsi.telecom-paristech.fr/gpac/webvtt/dash/counter-subtitles.mpd

This post describes some details on how the rendering was achieved.

[slideshare id=24802693&doc=m30301-reportonwebvttimplementation-130731093103-phpapp01]

Continue reading WebVTT, MP4 files, DASH and GPAC →

GPAC, MPEG, WebVTT

WebVTT in MP4

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As you probably know from my previous posts, MPEG is standardizing a way to deliver WebVTT files as streams (or tracks) in the ISO Base Media File Format (e.g. MP4 files). The standard is still at draft stage but I recently added VTT-in-MP4 support to GPAC (no playback support yet), as reported in the contribution below. Not that this support might change in the future depending on how the draft standard progresses, in particular in response to some comments we’ve made, as reported in the contribution referenced in this post. Continue reading WebVTT in MP4 →

DASH, Streaming, WebVTT

Live streaming over HTTP of video and subtitles (cont’d)

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Here are the slides describing the demo I gave during the ACM MMSys 2013 conference, in Oslo, February 2013. It is an update of the demo I gave during the MPEG meeting in Shanghai, October 2012. Source code should be published soon in GPAC and if I can, I’ll set up a running live server (or, if not possible, I’ll put a video of the demo). Stay tuned.

[slideshare id=16861694&doc=mmsys-2013-demo-130301085551-phpapp01]

and the paper:

[textimport http://biblio.telecom-paristech.fr/cgi-bin/ws/biblio.cgi?author=cyril+concolato&type=inproceedings&etat=published&lang=en&dept=tsi&year=2012-&id=13223]

DASH, GPAC, HTML5, MPEG, Multimedia, Streaming, Synchronization, WebVTT

Live streaming of video and subtitles using DASH

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This post contains the presentation made at the MPEG meeting in Shanghai, China, in October 2012, related to the input contribution M26906. The presentation gives the details about the demonstration made during the meeting. This demonstration showed the use of the Google Chrome browser to display synchronized video and subtitles, using the Media Source Extension draft specification and the WebVTT subtitle format. The video and DASH content was prepared using GPAC MP4Box tool.

[slideshare id=15636451&doc=m26906-livestreamingofvideoandsubtitleswithdash-121214045244-phpapp01]

HTML5, Streaming, WebVTT

WebVTT streaming

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WebVTT is a new subtilting format that is becoming popular amongst browser implementors. Chrome (v23), Opera (v12.5), IE 10 already support it and soon Firefox will too. As opposed to previous formats for subtitles such as DVB subtitles or 3GPP Timed Text, it is being defined by the WHATWG/W3C primarily for the Web. However, the Web being almost ubiquitous, Web technologies now have to be usable in different delivery environment, not only in download and play mode. In particular, just like all the previous subtitle formats, WebVTT has to be also streamable, and for instance usable the context of Dynamic Streaming over HTTP (DASH).  This post is about my experiments on this topic. For those who don’t want to read the whole post, in summary, it seems possible to generate WebVTT streams, with good random access properties, that can be delivered in chunks and be processed by standard browsers. Continue reading WebVTT streaming →