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<refentry id="gst-launch-1">

<refmeta><refentrytitle>gst-launch</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum>

<refmiscinfo class="date">12 Nov 2007</refmiscinfo>

<refmiscinfo class="sectdesc">&man1;</refmiscinfo>

<refmiscinfo class="software">&release;</refmiscinfo>

<refmiscinfo class="arch">generic</refmiscinfo>

<refmiscinfo class="copyright">&suncopy;</refmiscinfo>

</refmeta>

<indexterm><primary>gst-launch</primary></indexterm><indexterm><primary>

build and run a GStreamer pipeline</primary></indexterm>

<refnamediv id="gst-launch-1-name"><refname>gst-launch</refname>

<refpurpose>build and run a GStreamer pipeline</refpurpose>

</refnamediv>

<refsynopsisdiv id="gst-launch-1-synp"><title>&synp-tt;</title>

<cmdsynopsis><command>&cmd;</command><arg choice="opt"><option>-exclude=<replaceable>

type</replaceable>,<replaceable>type2</replaceable>,<replaceable>...</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="opt"><option>-no-fault</option></arg>

<arg choice="opt"><option>-messages</option></arg>

<arg choice="opt"><option>output=<replaceable>file</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="opt"><option>-tags</option></arg><arg choice="opt"><option>-trace

</option></arg><arg choice="opt"><option>-verbose</option></arg>

<arg choice="opt"><option>-version</option></arg>

<arg choice="opt"><option

role="nodash"><replaceable>gst-std-options</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="plain"><option role="nodash"><replaceable>pipeline-description</replaceable></option></arg>

</cmdsynopsis></refsynopsisdiv>

<refsect1 id="gst-launch-1-desc"><title>&desc-tt;</title>

<para><command>&cmd;</command> builds and runs basic GStreamer pipelines.

</para>

<para>In simple form, a <replaceable>pipeline-description</replaceable> is

a list of elements separated by exclamation marks (!). Properties can be

appended to elements, in the form

<replaceable>property</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable>.</para>

<para>For a complete description of possible values for

<replaceable>pipeline-description</replaceable>, see the section Pipeline

Description below or consult the GStreamer documentation.</para>

<para>Please note that <command>gst-launch</command> is primarily a debugging

tool for developers and users. You should not build applications on top of it.

For applications, use the gst_parse_launch() function of the GStreamer API as

an easy way to construct pipelines from pipeline descriptions.

</para>

</refsect1>

<refsect1 id="gst-launch-1-opts"><title>&opts-tt;</title>

<para>The following options are supported by <command>&cmd;</command>:</para>

<variablelist termlength="wide">

<varlistentry><term><option>X</option>, <option>-exclude=<replaceable>type1</replaceable>,<replaceable>type2</replaceable>,<replaceable>...</replaceable></option></term>

<listitem><para>

Do not output status information of specified <replaceable>type</replaceable>.</para>

</listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry><term><option>m</option>, <option>-messages</option></term>

<listitem><para>

Output messages posted on the pipeline's bus.

</listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry><term><option>f</option>, <option>-no-fault</option></term>

<listitem><para>

Do not install a fault handler.</para>

</listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry><term><option>o</option>, <option>output-=<replaceable>file</replaceable></option></term>

<listitem><para>

Save XML representation of pipeline to <replaceable>file</replaceable>, then exit.</para>

</listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry><term><option>t</option>, <option>-tags</option></term>

<listitem><para>

Output tags, also known as metadata.</para>

</listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry><term><option>T</option>, <option>-trace</option></term>

<listitem><para>

Print memory allocation trace, if enabled at compile time.</para>

</listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry><term><option>v</option>, <option>-verbose</option></term>

<listitem><para>

Output status information and property notifications.</para>

</listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry><term><option>-version</option></term>

<listitem><para>

Print GStreamer version number.</para>

</listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry><term><option role="nodash"><replaceable>gst-std-options</replaceable></option></term>

<listitem><para>Standard options available for use with most GStreamer applications. See

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gst-std-options</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>

for more information.</para>

</listitem></varlistentry>

</variablelist></refsect1>

<refsect1 id="gst-launch-1-exde"><title>&exde-tt;</title>

<refsect2 id="gst-launch-1-exde-pipedesc">

<title>Pipeline Description</title>

<para>

A pipeline consists <replaceable>elements</replaceable> and

<replaceable>links</replaceable>. <replaceable>elements</replaceable>

can be put into <replaceable>bins</replaceable> of different sorts.

<replaceable>elements</replaceable>, <replaceable>links</replaceable>

and <replaceable>bins</replaceable> can be specified in a pipeline

description in any order.

</para>

<refsect3 id="gst-launch-1-exde-pipedesc-elements">

<title>Elements</title>

<para>

<screen><userinput><replaceable>elementtype</replaceable> [<replaceable>property1</replaceable> ...]</userinput></screen></para>

<para>Creates an element of type <replaceable>elementtype</replaceable> and sets the <replaceable>properties</replaceable>.</para>

</refsect3>

<refsect3 id="gst-launch-1-exde-pipedesc-properties">

<title>Properties</title>

<para>

<screen><userinput><replaceable>property</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable> ...</userinput></screen></para>

<para>

Sets the property to the specified value. You can use

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gst-inspect</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>

to find out about properties and allowed values of different elements.

</para>

<para>Enumeration properties can be set by name, nick or value.</para>

</refsect3>

<refsect3 id="gst-launch-1-exde-pipedesc-bins">

<title>Bins</title>

<para><screen><userinput>[<replaceable>bintype</replaceable>.] ( [<replaceable>property1</replaceable> ...] <replaceable>pipeline-description</replaceable> )</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Specifies that a bin of type <replaceable>bintype</replaceable>

is created and the given properties are set. Every element between the braces

is put into the bin. Please note the dot that has to be used

after the <replaceable>bintype</replaceable>. You will almost never need this

functionality, it is only really useful for applications using

the gst_launch_parse() API with 'bin' as bintype. That way

it is possible to build partial pipelines instead of a

full-fledged top-level pipeline.

</para>

</refsect3>

<refsect3 id="gst-launch-1-exde-pipedesc-links">

<title>Links</title>

<para><screen><userinput>

[[<replaceable>srcelement</replaceable>].[<replaceable>pad1</replaceable>,...]] ! [[<replaceable>

sinkelement</replaceable>].[<replaceable>pad1</replaceable>,...]]

[[<replaceable>srcelement</replaceable>].[<replaceable>pad1</replaceable>,...]] ! <replaceable>

caps</replaceable> !

[[<replaceable>sinkelement</replaceable>].[<replaceable>pad1</replaceable>,...]]

</userinput></screen></para>

<para>

Links the element with name <replaceable>srcelement</replaceable> to the element with

name <replaceable>sinkelement</replaceable>, using the caps specified in <replaceable>caps</replaceable> as a

filter. Names can be set on elements with the name property.

If the name is omitted, the element that was specified directly

in front of or after the link is used. This works across bins.

If a padname is given, the link is done with these pads. If no pad

names are given all possibilities are tried and a matching pad is used.

If multiple padnames are given, both sides must have the same

number of pads specified and multiple links are done in the given order.

So the simplest link is a simple exclamation mark, that

links the element to the left of it to the element right of it.

</para>

</refsect3>

<refsect3 id="gst-launch-1-exde-pipedesc-links">

<title>Caps</title>

<para>

<screen><userinput><replaceable>mimetype</replaceable> [, <replaceable>property</replaceable>[, <replaceable>property</replaceable> ...]]] [; <replaceable>caps</replaceable>[; <replaceable>caps</replaceable> ...]]</userinput></screen></para>

<para>

Creates a capability with the given mimetype and optionally

with given properties. The mimetype can be escaped using "

or '. If you want to chain caps, you can add more caps in

the same format afterwards.

</para>

</refsect3>

<refsect3 id="gst-launch-1-exde-pipedesc-links">

<title>Properties</title>

<para><screen><userinput><replaceable>name</replaceable>[:<replaceable>type</replaceable>]=<replaceable>value</replaceable>

in lists and ranges: [<replaceable>type</replaceable>=]<replaceable>value</replaceable></userinput></screen></para>

<para>

Sets the requested property in capabilities. The name is an

alphanumeric value and the type can have the following

case-insensitive values:

</para>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem>i or int for integer values or ranges</listitem>

<listitem>f or float for float values or ranges</listitem>

<listitem>4 or fourcc for FOURCC values</listitem>

<listitem>b, bool, or boolean for boolean values</listitem>

<listitem>s, str, or string for strings</listitem>

<listitem>l or list for lists</listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<para>

If no type was given, the following order is tried: integer,

float, boolean, string.

Integer values must be parsable by strtol(), floats by

strtod(). FOURCC values may either be integers or strings.

Boolean values are (case insensitive) yes, no, true or false

and may like strings be escaped with " or '.

<screen>

Ranges are in this format: [ <replaceable>property</replaceable>, <replaceable>property</replaceable> ]

Lists use this format: ( <replaceable>property</replaceable> [, <replaceable>property</replaceable> ...] )

</screen>

</para>

</refsect3>

</refsect2>

<refsect2 id="gst-launch-1-exde-control">

<title>Pipeline Control</title>

<para>

A pipeline can be controlled by signals. SIGUSR2 will stop

the pipeline (GST_STATE_NULL); SIGUSR1 will put it back to

play (GST_STATE_PLAYING). By default, the pipeline will

start in the playing state.

There are currently no signals defined to go into the ready

or pause (GST_STATE_READY and GST_STATE_PAUSED) state explicitly.

</para>

</refsect2>

</refsect1>

<refsect1 id="gst-launch-1-exam"><title>&exam-tt;</title>

<para>The examples below assume that you have the correct plugins available.

In general, "sunaudiosink" can be substituted with another audio output plugin

such as "esdsink", "alsasink", "osxaudiosink", or "artsdsink". Likewise, "xvimagesink" can

be substituted with "ximagesink", "sdlvideosink", "osxvideosink", or "aasink".

Keep in mind though that different sinks might accept different formats and even the

same sink might accept different formats on different machines, so you might

need to add converter elements like audioconvert and audioresample (for audio)

or ffmpegcolorspace (for video) in front of the sink to make things work.

</para>

<example role="example">

<title>Audio Playback</title>

<para>Play the WAV music file "music.wav":

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch filesrc location=music.wav ! wavparse ! sunaudiosink</userinput></screen></para>

<para>Play the mp3 music file "music.mp3":

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch filesrc location=music.mp3 ! flump3dec ! sunaudiosink</userinput></screen></para>

<para>Play the Ogg Vorbis file "music.ogg":

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch filesrc location=music.ogg ! oggdemux ! vorbisdec ! audioconvert ! sunaudiosink</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Play an mp3 file or an http stream using GNOME-VFS:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch gnomevfssrc location=music.mp3 ! flump3dec ! sunaudiosink</userinput></screen>

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch gnomevfssrc location=<literal>http://domain.com/music.mp3</literal> ! flump3dec ! sunaudiosink</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Use GNOME-VFS to play an mp3 file located on an SMB server:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch gnomevfssrc location=smb://computer/music.mp3 ! flump3dec ! sunaudiosink</userinput></screen>

</para>

</example>

<example role="example">

<title>Video Playback</title>

<para>Play an Ogg video file:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch filesrc location=video.ogg ! oggdemux ! theoradec ! ffmpegcolorspace ! xvimagesink</screen>

</para>

</example>

<example role="example">

<title>Format Conversion</title>

<para>Convert an mp3 music file to the Ogg Vorbis format:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch filesrc location=music.mp3 ! flump3dec ! audioconvert ! vorbisenc ! oggmux ! filesink location=music.ogg</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Convert an mp3 music file to the FLAC format:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch filesrc location=music.mp3 ! flump3dec ! audioconvert ! flacenc ! filesink location=test.flac</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Convert a .WAV file to the Ogg Vorbis format:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch filesrc location=music.wav ! wavparse ! audioconvert ! vorbisenc ! oggmux ! filesink location=music.ogg</userinput></screen>

</para>

</example>

<example role="example">

<title>Recording Audio</title>

<para>Record sound from your audio input and encode it into an Ogg file:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch sunaudiosrc ! audioconvert ! vorbisenc ! oggmux ! filesink location=music.ogg</userinput></screen>

</para>

</example>

<example role="example">

<title>Compact Disk (CDDA)</title>

<para>Play track number 3 from compact disc:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch cddasrc track=3 ! sunaudiosink </userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Play track number 5 from compact disc:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch cdda://5 ! sunaudiosink </userinput></screen>

</para>

</example>

<example role="example">

<title>Diagnostic</title>

<para>Generate a null stream and ignore it:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch fakesrc ! fakesink</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Generate a pure tone to test the audio output:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch audiotestsrc ! sunaudiosink</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Generate a familiar test pattern to test the video output:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch videotestsrc ! xvimagesink</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Generate a familiar test pattern to test the video output:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch videotestsrc ! ximagesink</userinput></screen>

</para>

</example>

<example role="example">

<title>Automatic Linking</title>

<para>You can use the decodebin element to automatically select the right

elements to get a working pipeline.</para>

<para>Play any supported audio format:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch filesrc location=musicfile ! decodebin ! sunaudiosink</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Play any supported video format with video and audio output. Threads are used

automatically.

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch filesrc location=videofile ! decodebin name=decoder decoder. ! queue ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! osssink decoder. ! ffmpegcolorspace ! xvimagesink</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>To make this even easier, you can use the playbin element:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch playbin uri=<literal>file:///home/joe/foo.avi</literal></userinput></screen>

</para>

</example>

<example role="example">

<title>Filtered Connections</title>

<para>These examples show how to use filtered capabilities.</para>

<para>Show a test image and use the YUY2 or YV12 video format for this:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch videotestsrc ! video/x-raw-yuv,format=urcc)YUY2;video/x-raw-yuv,format=urcc)YV12 ! xvimagesink</userinput></screen>

</para>

<para>Record audio and write it to a .wav file. Force usage of signed

16 to 32 bit samples and a sample rate between 32kHz and 64KHz:

<screen>example% <userinput>gst-launch sunaudiosrc ! 'audio/x-raw-int,rate=[32000,64000],width=[16,32],depth={16,24,32},signed=(boolean)true' ! wavenc ! filesink location=recording.wav</userinput></screen>

</para>

</example>

</refsect1>

<refsect1 id="gst-launch-1-file"><title>&file-tt;</title>

<para>The following files are used by this application:</para>

<variablelist termlength="wholeline">

<varlistentry>

<term><filename>/usr/bin/&cmd;</filename></term>

<listitem><para>

Executable to build and run a GStreamer pipeline.

</para></listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term><filename>/usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/</filename></term>

<listitem><para>

GStreamer system plugin directory.

</para></listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term><filename>~/gstreamer-0.10/plugins</filename></term>

<listitem><para>

GStreamer user-specific plugin directory.

</para></listitem></varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term><filename>~/gstreamer-0.10/registry-*.xml</filename></term>

<listitem><para>

GStreamer plugin registry for user.

</para></listitem></varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</refsect1>

<refsect1 id="gst-launch-1-attr"><title>&attr-tt;</title>

<para>See <olink targetdocent="REFMAN5" localinfo="attributes-5"><citerefentry>

<refentrytitle>attributes</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry></olink>

for descriptions of the following attributes:</para>

<informaltable frame="all">

<tgroup cols="2" colsep="1" rowsep="1"><colspec colname="COLSPEC0" colwidth="1*">

<colspec colname="COLSPEC1" colwidth="1*">

<thead>

<row><entry align="center" valign="middle">ATTRIBUTE TYPE</entry><entry align="center"

valign="middle">ATTRIBUTE VALUE</entry></row>

</thead>

<tbody>

<row><entry><para>Availability</para></entry><entry><para>library/audio/gstreamer

</para></entry></row>

<row><entry colname="COLSPEC0"><para>Interface stability</para></entry><entry

colname="COLSPEC1"><para>Volatile</para></entry></row>

</tbody>

</tgroup>

</informaltable>

</refsect1>

<refsect1 id="gst-launch-1-also"><title>&also-tt;</title>

<para>

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gst-feedback</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gst-inspect</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gst-typefind</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gst-xmlinspect</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gst-xmllaunch</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gstreamer-properties</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>libgstreamer-0.10</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>attributes</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,

<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gst-std-options</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry></para>

</refsect1>

<refsect1 id="gst-launch-1-note"><title>&note-tt;</title>

<para>Original man page written by the GStreamer team at <literal>http://www.gstreamer.net/</literal>.

</para>

<para>Updated by Brian Cameron, Sun Microsystems Inc., 2004, 2006, 2007.</para>

</refsect1>

</refentry>