jammy (1) mkvextract.1.gz

Provided by: mkvtoolnix_65.0.0-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       mkvextract - extract tracks from Matroska files into other files

SYNOPSIS

       mkvextract {source-filename} {mode1} [options] [extraction-spec1] [mode2] [options] [extraction-spec2]
                  [...]

DESCRIPTION

       This program extracts specific parts from a Matroska file to other useful formats. The first argument is
       the name of the source file which must be a Matroska file.

       All other arguments either switch to a certain extraction mode, change options for the currently active
       mode or specify what to extract into which file. Multiple modes can be used in the same invocation of
       mkvextract allowing the extraction of multiple things in a single pass. Most options can only be used in
       certain modes with a few options applying to all modes.

       Currently supported is the extraction of tracks, tags, attachments, chapters, CUE sheets, timestamps and
       cues.

   Common options
       The following options are available in all modes and only described once in this section.

       -f, --parse-fully
           Sets 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.

       --flush-on-close
           Tells the program to flush all data cached in memory to storage when closing files opened for
           writing. This can be used to prevent data loss on power outages or to circumvent certain problems in
           the operating system or drivers. The downside is that multiplexing will take longer as mkvmerge will
           wait until all data has been written to the storage before exiting. See issues #2469 and #2480 on the
           MKVToolNix bug tracker for in-depth discussions on the pros and cons.

       --ui-language code
           Forces the translations for the language code to be used (e.g. 'de_DE' for the German translations).
           Entering 'list' as the code will cause the program to output a list of available translations.

       --abort-on-warnings
           Tells the program to abort after the first warning is emitted. The program's exit code will be 1.

       --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.

       --gui-mode
           Turns on GUI mode. In this mode specially-formatted lines may be output that can tell a controlling
           GUI what's happening. These messages follow the format '#GUI#message'. The message may be followed by
           key/value pairs as in '#GUI#message#key1=value1#key2=value2...'. Neither the messages nor the keys
           are ever translated and always output in English.

       -v, --verbose
           Be verbose and show all the important Matroska elements as they're read.

       -h, --help
           Show usage information and exit.

       -V, --version
           Show version information and exit.

       @options-file.json
           Reads additional command line arguments from the file options-file. For a full explanation on the
           supported formats for such files see the section called "Option files" in the mkvmerge(1) man page.

   Track extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract source-filename tracks [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-set
           Sets 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 input.mkv tracks 0:video.h264 2:output-two-vobsub-tracks.idx 3:output-two-vobsub-tracks.idx

   Attachments extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract source-filename attachments [options] AID1:outname1 [AID2:outname2 ...]

       AID:outname
           Causes 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 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 source-filename chapters [options] output-filename.xml

       -s, --simple
           Exports 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.

       --simple-language language
           If the simple format is enabled then mkvextract(1) will only output a single entry for each chapter
           atom encountered even if a chapter atom contains more than one chapter name. By default mkvextract(1)
           will use the first chapter name found for each atom regardless of its language.

           Using this option allows the user to determine which chapter names are output if atoms contain more
           than one chapter name. The language parameter must be an ISO 639-1 or ISO 639-2 code.

       The chapters are written to specified output file. By default the XML format understood by mkvmerge(1) is
       used. If no chapters are found in the file, the output file is not created.

   Tags extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract source-filename tags [options] output-filename.xml

       The tags are written to specified output file in the XML format understood by mkvmerge(1). If no tags are
       found in the file, the output file is not created.

   Cue sheet extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract source-filename cuesheet [options] output-filename.cue

       The cue sheet is written to specified output file. If no chapters or tags are found in the file, the
       output file is not created.

   Timestamp extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract source-filename timestamps_v2 [options] TID1:dest-filename1 [TID2:dest-filename2 ...]

       TID:outname
           Causes extraction of the timestamps 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 input.mkv timestamps_v2 1:ts-track1.txt 2:ts-track2.txt

   Cues extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract source-filename cues [options] TID1:dest-filename1 [TID2:dest-filename2 ...]

       TID:dest-filename
           Causes extraction of the cues 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 and not the numbers contained in the CueTrack element.

       The format output is a simple text format: one line per CuePoint element with key=value pairs. If an
       optional element is not present in a CuePoint (e.g.  CueDuration) then a dash will be output as the
       value.

       Example:

           timestamp=00:00:13.305000000 duration=- cluster_position=757741 relative_position=11

       The possible keys are:

       timestamp
           The cue point's timestamp with nanosecond precision. The format is HH:MM:SS.nnnnnnnnn. This element
           is always set.

       duration
           The cue point's duration with nanosecond precision. The format is HH:MM:SS.nnnnnnnnn.

       cluster_position
           The absolute position in bytes inside the Matroska file where the cluster containing the referenced
           element starts.

               Note
               Inside the Matroska file the CueClusterPosition is relative to the segment's data start offset.
               The value output by mkvextract(1)'s cue extraction mode, however, contains that offset already
               and is an absolute offset from the beginning of the file.

       relative_position
           The relative position in bytes inside the cluster where the BlockGroup or SimpleBlock element the cue
           point refers to starts.

               Note
               Inside the Matroska file the CueRelativePosition is relative to the cluster's data start offset.
               The value output by mkvextract(1)'s cue extraction mode, however, is relative to the cluster's
               ID. The absolute position inside the file can be calculated by adding cluster_position and
               relative_position.

       Example:

           $ mkvextract input.mkv cues 1:cues-track1.txt 2:cues-track2.txt

EXAMPLES

       Extracting both chapters and tags in their respective XML formats at the same time:

           $ mkvextract movie.mkv chapters movie-chapters.xml tags movie-tags.xml

       Extracting a couple of tracks and their respective timestamps at the same time:

           $ mkvextract "Another Movie.mkv" tracks 0:video.h265 "1:main audio.aac" "2:director's comments.aac" timestamps_v2 "0:timestamps video.txt" "1:timestamps main audio.txt" "2:timestamps director's comments.txt"

       Extracting chapters in the Ogg/OGM format and re-encoding a text subtitle track to another character set:

           $ mkvextract "My Movie.mkv" chapters --simple "My Chapters.txt" tracks -c MS-ANSI "2:My Subtitles.srt"

TEXT FILES AND CHARACTER SET CONVERSIONS

       For an in-depth discussion about how all tools in the MKVToolNix suite handle character set conversions,
       input/output encoding, command line encoding and console encoding please see the identically-named
       section in the mkvmerge(1) man page.

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:

       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_AC3, A_EAC3
           These will be extracted to raw AC-3 files.

       A_ALAC
           ALAC tracks are written to CAF files.

       A_DTS
           These will be extracted to raw DTS files.

       A_FLAC
           FLAC tracks are written to raw FLAC files.

       A_MPEG/L2
           MPEG-1 Audio Layer II streams will be extracted to raw MP2 files.

       A_MPEG/L3
           These will be extracted to raw MP3 files.

       A_OPUS
           Opus tracks are written to OggOpus files.

       A_PCM/INT/LIT, A_PCM/INT/BIG
           Raw PCM data will be written to a WAV file. Big-endian integer data will be converted to
           little-endian data in the process.

       A_REAL/*
           RealAudio tracks are written to RealMedia files.

       A_TRUEHD, A_MLP
           These will be extracted to raw TrueHD/MLP files.

       A_TTA1
           TrueAudio tracks are written to TTA files. Please note that due to Matroska's limited timestamp
           precision the extracted file's header will be different regarding two fields: data_length (the total
           number of samples in the file) and the CRC.

       A_VORBIS
           Vorbis audio will be written into an OggVorbis file.

       A_WAVPACK4
           WavPack tracks are written to WV files.

       S_HDMV/PGS
           PGS subtitles will be written as SUP files.

       S_HDMV/TEXTST
           TextST subtitles will be written as a special file format invented for mkvmerge(1) and mkvextract(1).

       S_KATE
           Kate streams will be written within an Ogg container.

       S_TEXT/SSA, S_TEXT/ASS, S_SSA, S_ASS
           SSA and ASS text subtitles will be written as SSA/ASS files respectively.

       S_TEXT/UTF8, S_TEXT/ASCII
           Simple text subtitles will be written as SRT files.

       S_VOBSUB
           VobSub subtitles will be written as SUB files along with the respective index files, as IDX files.

       S_TEXT/USF
           USF text subtitles will be written as USF files.

       S_TEXT/WEBVTT
           WebVTT text subtitles will be written as WebVTT files.

       V_MPEG1, V_MPEG2
           MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video tracks will be written as MPEG elementary streams.

       V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
           H.264 / AVC video tracks are written to H.264 elementary streams which can be processed further with
           e.g.  MP4Box from the GPAC package.

       V_MPEG4/ISO/HEVC
           H.265 / HEVC video tracks are written to H.265 elementary streams which can be processed further with
           e.g.  MP4Box from the GPAC package.

       V_MS/VFW/FOURCC
           Fixed FPS video tracks with this CodecID are written to AVI files.

       V_REAL/*
           RealVideo tracks are written to RealMedia files.

       V_THEORA
           Theora streams will be written within an Ogg container

       V_VP8, V_VP9
           VP8 / VP9 tracks are written to IVF files.

       Tags
           Tags are converted to a XML format. This format is the same that mkvmerge(1) supports for reading
           tags.

       Attachments
           Attachments are written to the 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.

       Timestamps
           Timestamps are first sorted and then output as a timestamp 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

       mkvextract(1) exits with one of three exit codes:

       •   0 -- This exit code 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.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       mkvextract(1) uses the default variables that determine the system's locale (e.g.  LANG and the LC_*
       family). Additional variables:

       MKVEXTRACT_DEBUG, MKVTOOLNIX_DEBUG and its short form MTX_DEBUG
           The content is treated as if it had been passed via the --debug option.

       MKVEXTRACT_ENGAGE, MKVTOOLNIX_ENGAGE and its short form MTX_ENGAGE
           The content is treated as if it had been passed via the --engage option.

SEE ALSO

       mkvmerge(1), mkvinfo(1), mkvpropedit(1), mkvtoolnix-gui(1)

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
           https://mkvtoolnix.download/