ISOBMFF

C++ Library for ISO/IEC 14496-12 - ISO Base Media File Format (QuickTime, MPEG-4, HEIF, etc)

About

ISOBMFF is a cross-platform C++ library for reading/parsing files in the ISO Base Media File Format (ISO/IEC 14496-12).

The ISO Base Media File Format is a container format, used by many file types, including:

• QuickTime (.mov)
• MPEG-4 (.m4v, .m4a, etc)
• 3GP (.3g2)
• HEIF/HEIC (.heif, .heic, etc)
• ... and many others

Support for editing/writing files is not available at the moment, but the library has been designed for this goal in mind, so writing support will eventually become available.

ISO Base Media File Format

ISO base media file format (ISO/IEC 14496-12 - MPEG-4 Part 12) defines a general structure for time-based multimedia files such as video and audio.
It is designed as a flexible, extensible format that facilitates interchange, management, editing and presentation of the media.
The presentation may be local, or via a network or other stream delivery mechanism.
The file format is designed to be independent of any particular network protocol while enabling support for them in general.
It is used as the basis for other media file formats (e.g. container formats MP4 and 3GP).

Source: Wikipedia

Building

Fetch the submodules

After you have cloned the ISOBMFF project, you will need to fetch the submodules that are defined in the .gitmodules file.

git submodule update --init --recursive

macOS

An Xcode project is provided for convenience, containing the following targets:

• ISOBMFF: The main cross-platform C++ library.
• ISOBMFF-Dump: A cross-platform command-line utility for dumping files.

Note that you can also build the library with make, on the command line.

Windows

An VisualStudio solution is provided for convenience, containing the following targets:

• ISOBMFF Static v142: A static library built with the V142 toolset (VS 2019)
• ISOBMFF Static v143: A static library built with the V143 toolset (VS 2022)
• ISOBMFF DLL v142: A dynamic library (DLL) built with the V142 toolset (VS 2019)
• ISOBMFF DLL v143: A dynamic library (DLL) built with the V143 toolset (VS 2022)
• ISOBMFF-Dump: A cross-platform command-line utility for dumping files.

Linux/Unix

The library can be build with make, on the command line.

Library Usage

Parsing is done with the ISOBMFF::Parser class:

ISOBMFF::Parser parser;

try
{
    parser.Parse( "path/to/some/file" );
}
catch( ... )
{}

When the parser is done, an instance of ISOBMFF::File can be retrieved:

std::shared_ptr< ISOBMFF::File > file = parser.GetFile();

Boxes can then be retrieved the following way, from the file:

std::shared_ptr< ISOBMFF::Box > box = file->GetBox( "ftyp" );

If the box does not exist, it will return nullptr.

A typed box can be retrieved the following way:

std::shared_ptr< ISOBMFF::FTYP > ftyp = file->GetTypedBox< ISOBMFF::FTYP >( "ftyp" );

Here, nullptr will be returned if the box does not exist, or is not of the correct type.

Container boxes acts just the same:

std::shared_ptr< ISOBMFF::ContainerBox > moov = file->GetTypedBox< ISOBMFF::ContainerBox >( "moov" );
std::shared_ptr< ISOBMFF::MVHD         > mvhd = moov->GetTypedBox< ISOBMFF::MVHD         >( "mvhd" );

The parser also supports custom boxes:

parser.RegisterBox( "abcd", [ = ]() -> std::shared_ptr< CustomBox > { return std::make_shared< CustomBox >(); } );

It will then create an instance of CustomBox when encountering an abcd box somewhere in the file.

The custom class needs at least to inherit from Box:

class CustomBox: public ISOBMFF::Box
{
    public:
        
        CustomBox(): Box( "abcd" )
        {}
        
        void CustomBox::ReadData( Parser & parser, BinaryStream & stream )
        {
            /* Read box data here... */
        }
        
        std::vector< std::pair< std::string, std::string > > CustomBox::GetDisplayableProperties() const
        {
            /* Returns box properties, to support output... */
            return {};
        }
};

License

ISOBMFF is released under the terms of the MIT License.

Repository Infos

Owner:          DigiDNA
Web:            www.digidna.net
Blog:           imazing.com/blog
Twitter:        @DigiDNA
GitHub:         github.com/DigiDNA