OpenH264

OpenH264 is a codec library which supports H.264 encoding and decoding. It is suitable for use in real time applications such as WebRTC. See http://www.openh264.org/ for more details.

Encoder Features

• Constrained Baseline Profile up to Level 5.2 (4096x2304)
• Arbitrary resolution, not constrained to multiples of 16x16
• Rate control with adaptive quantization, or constant quantization
• Slice options: 1 slice per frame, N slices per frame, N macroblocks per slice, or N bytes per slice
• Multiple threads automatically used for multiple slices
• Temporal scalability up to 4 layers in a dyadic hierarchy
• Spatial simulcast up to 4 resolutions from a single input
• Long Term Reference (LTR) frames
• Memory Management Control Operation (MMCO)
• Reference picture list modification
• Single reference frame for inter prediction
• Multiple reference frames when using LTR and/or 3-4 temporal layers
• Periodic and on-demand Instantaneous Decoder Refresh (IDR) frame insertion
• Dynamic changes to bit rate, frame rate, and resolution
• Annex B byte stream output
• YUV 4:2:0 planar input

Decoder Features

• Constrained Baseline Profile up to Level 5.2 (4096x2304)
• Arbitrary resolution, not constrained to multiples of 16x16
• Single thread for all slices
• Long Term Reference (LTR) frames
• Memory Management Control Operation (MMCO)
• Reference picture list modification
• Multiple reference frames when specified in Sequence Parameter Set (SPS)
• Annex B byte stream input
• YUV 4:2:0 planar output

OS Support

• Windows 64-bit and 32-bit
• Mac OS X 64-bit and 32-bit
• Linux 64-bit and 32-bit
• Android 32-bit (initial release does not include this target, will follow soon)
• iOS 64-bit and 32-bit (not supported yet, may be added in the future)

Processor Support

• Intel x86 optionally with MMX/SSE (no AVX yet, help is welcome)
• ARMv7 optionally with NEON (initial release does not include this target, will follow later)
• Any architecture using C/C++ fallback functions

Building the Library

NASM needed to be installed for assembly code: workable version 2.07 or above, nasm can downloaded from http://www.nasm.us/

For Windows Builds

Windows Visual Studio 2008/2010/2012 projects are available: : build the decoder via the Visual Studio projects in codec/build/win32/dec : build the encoder via the Visual Studio projects in codec/build/win32/enc : build the encoder shared library via the Visual Studio projects in processing/build/win32/

The command line programs will be bin/win32/decConsoled.exe and bin/win32/encConsole.exe.

Windows batch files also exist for building: : Visual Studio 2008 use testbin/AutoBuild_Windows_VS2008.bat : Visual Studio 2010 use testbin/AutoBuild_Windows_VS2010.bat : Visual Studio 2012 use testbin/AutoBuild_Windows_VS2012.bat

For Other Platforms

From the main project directory: 'make' for 32bit builds 'make ENABLE64BIT=Yes' for 64bit builds

The command line programs h264enc and h264dec will appear in the main project directory.

A shell script to run the command-line apps is in testbin/CmdLineExample.sh

Usage information can be found in testbin/CmdLineReadMe

Using the Source

codec - encoder, decoder, console (test app), build (makefile, vcproj) processing - raw pixel processing (used by encoder) build - scripts for Makefile build system. test - GTest unittest files. testbin - autobuild scripts, test app config files, yuv test files bin - binaries for library and test app

Known Issues

See the issue tracker on https://github.com/cisco/openh264/issues

• Encoder errors when resolution exceeds 3840x2160
• Encoder errors when compressed frame size exceeds half uncompressed size
• Decoder errors when compressed frame size exceeds 1MB

License

BSD, see LICENSE file for details.