Matroska

This article is about the file format. For other uses, see Matryoshka (disambiguation).

Matroska

Filename extension	.mkv .mk3d .mka .mks
Internet media type	video/x-matroska audio/x-matroska
Developed by	matroska.org
Type of format	Container format
Container for	Multimedia
Open format?	Yes

The Matroska Multimedia Container is an open standard free container format, a file format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks in one file.^[1] It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows. Matroska is similar in concept to other containers like AVI, MP4 or Advanced Systems Format (ASF), but is entirely open in specification, with implementations consisting mostly of open source software. Matroska file types are .MKV for video (with subtitles and audio), .MK3D^[2] for stereoscopic video, .MKA for audio-only files and .MKS for subtitles only.

Matroska is an English word derived from the Russian word Matryoshka (Russian: матрёшка [mɐˈtrʲoʂkə]), which means nesting doll (the common Russian cylindrical-shaped doll within a doll, also known as a babushka doll). This is a play on the container (media within a form of media/doll within a doll) aspect of the matryoshka as it is a container for visual and audio data. The loose transliteration may be confusing to Russian speakers, as the Russian word matroska (Russian: матроска) actually refers to a sailor suit.

History

The project was announced on 6 December 2002^[3] as a fork of the Multimedia Container Format (MCF), after disagreements between MCF lead developer Lasse Kärkkäinen and soon-to-be Matroska founder Steve Lhomme about the use of the Extensible Binary Meta Language (EBML) instead of a binary format.^{[citation needed]} This coincided with a long coding break by the MCF's lead developer, during which most of the community quickly migrated to the new project.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, it was announced that the WebM audio/video format would be based on a profile of the Matroska container format together with VP8 video and Vorbis audio.^[4]

Goals

The use of EBML provides extensibility for future format changes. The Matroska team have openly expressed some of their long term goals on Doom9.org and hydrogenaudio.org.

Thus, the following are "goals",^[5] not necessarily existing features, of Matroska:

• creating a modern, flexible, extensible, cross-platform multimedia container format;
• developing robust streaming support;
• developing a menu system similar to that of DVDs based on EBML (this feature seems to have been abandoned);^{[citation needed]}
• developing a set of tools for the creation and editing of Matroska files;
• developing libraries that can be used to allow developers to add Matroska support to their applications;
• working with hardware manufacturers to include Matroska support in embedded multimedia devices;
• working to provide native Matroska support in various operating systems and hardware platforms.

Software support

A range of software has native Matroska support. Those include media players such as MPlayer, VLC, ALLPlayer, foobar2000 and PowerDVD and media centers such as Plex, Boxee, PS3 Media Server and XBMC, and the web browser Google Chrome. A number of software tools such as HandBrake and Pinnacle Studio also support Matroska.

Hardware support

A number of companies produce hardware such as Blu-ray players and media centres that support the Matroska container including Asus ^[6], OPPO Digital^[7], Panasonic,^[8], LG ^[9], Samsung, Sharp and Western Digital.

License

CoreCodec owns the copyrights and trademarks for the Matroska specification, but the specifications are open to everybody. The Matroska project is an open standard which is free to use and the technical specifications are available for private and commercial use. The Matroska development team licenses its libraries under the LGPL, with parsing and playback libraries available under BSD licenses.^[5]

See also

Free software portal

• Combined Community Codec Pack
• Comparison of container formats
• Open source codecs and containers
• SubStation Alpha (SSA/ASS Subtitles)

References

1. ^ Matroska Format Specifications, Matroska.org.
2. ^ See FAQ. "What file extensions does Matroska use?" http://www.matroska.org/technical/guides/faq/index.html
3. ^ "Matroska: Older Archives". http://www.matroska.org/news/archives2.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009. 
4. ^ Frequently Asked Questions, the WebM project
5. ^ ^{a b} http://www.matroska.org/technical/whatis/index.html
6. ^ ASUS Digital Media Player
7. ^ Oppodigital.com OPPO BDP-83 Blue-ray Disc Player
8. ^ Gizmodo.com, Samsung's 2009 HDTV Lineup Leaked
9. ^ Asia.cnet.com How to select the right LG HDTV

External links

• Official website