This document describes FFV1, a lossless video encoding format. The design of FFV1 considers the storage of image characteristics, data fixity, and the optimized use of encoding time and storage requirements. FFV1 is designed to support a wide range of lossless video applications such as long-term audiovisual preservation, scientific imaging, screen recording, and other video encoding scenarios that seek to avoid the generational loss of lossy video encodings.
This document defines version 0, 1 and 3 of FFV1. The distinctions of the versions are provided throughout the document, but in summary:{V3}
-
Version 0 of FFV1 was the original implementation of FFV1 and has been in non-experimental use since April 14, 2006 [@?FFV1_V0].{V3}
-
Version 1 of FFV1 adds support of more video bit depths and has been in use since April 24, 2009 [@?FFV1_V1].{V3}
-
Version 2 of FFV1 only existed in experimental form and is not described by this document, but is available as a LyX file at https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFV1/blob/8ad772b6d61c3dd8b0171979a2cd9f11924d5532/ffv1.lyx.{V3}
-
Version 3 of FFV1 adds several features such as increased description of the characteristics of the encoding images and embedded CRC data to support fixity verification of the encoding. Version 3 has been in non-experimental use since August 17, 2013 [@?FFV1_V3].{V3}
This document defines a version 4 of FFV1. Prior versions of FFV1 are defined within [@?I-D.ietf-cellar-ffv1].{V4}
This document assumes familiarity with mathematical and coding concepts such as Range coding [@?range-coding] and YCbCr color spaces [@?YCbCr].
This specification describes the valid bitstream and how to decode such valid bitstream. Bitstreams not conforming to this specification or how they are handled is outside this specification. A decoder could reject every invalid bitstream or attempt to perform error concealment or re-download or use a redundant copy of the invalid part or any other action it deems appropriate.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [@!RFC2119] [@!RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
Container
: Format that encapsulates Frames (see (#frame)) and (when required) a Configuration Record
into a bitstream.
Sample
: The smallest addressable representation of a color component or a luma component in a Frame. Examples of Sample are Luma (Y), Blue-difference Chroma (Cb), Red-difference Chroma (Cr), Transparency, Red, Green, and Blue.
Symbol
: A value stored in the bitstream, which is defined and decoded through one of the methods described in [@tablePseudoCodeSymbols].
Line
: A discrete component of a static image composed of Samples that represent a specific quantification of Samples of that image.
Plane
: A discrete component of a static image composed of Lines that represent a specific quantification of Lines of that image.
Pixel
: The smallest addressable representation of a color in a Frame. It is composed of one or more Samples.
ESC
: An ESCape Symbol to indicate that the Symbol to be stored is too large for normal storage and that an alternate storage method is used.
MSB
: Most Significant Bit, the bit that can cause the largest change in magnitude of the Symbol.
VLC
: Variable Length Code, a code that maps source symbols to a variable number of bits.
RGB
: A reference to the method of storing the value of a Pixel by using three numeric values that represent Red, Green, and Blue.
YCbCr
: A reference to the method of storing the value of a Pixel by using three numeric values that represent the luma of the Pixel (Y) and the chroma of the Pixel (Cb and Cr). YCbCr word is used for historical reasons and currently references any color space relying on 1 luma Sample and 2 chroma Samples, e.g. YCbCr, YCgCo or ICtCp. The exact meaning of the three numeric values is unspecified.
TBA
: To Be Announced. Used in reference to the development of future iterations of the FFV1 specification. {V4}
The FFV1 bitstream is described in this document using pseudo-code. Note that the pseudo-code is used for clarity in order to illustrate the structure of FFV1 and not intended to specify any particular implementation. The pseudo-code used is based upon the C programming language [@!ISO.9899.1990] and uses its if/else
, while
and for
keywords as well as functions defined within this document.
In some instances, pseudo-code is presented in a two-column format such as shown in [@figurePseudoCode]. In this form the type
column provides a Symbol as defined in [@tablePseudoCodeSymbols] that defines the storage of the data referenced in that same line of pseudo-code.
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
ExamplePseudoCode( ) { |
value | ur
} |
Figure: A depiction of type-labelled pseudo-code used within this document. {#figurePseudoCode}
Note: the operators and the order of precedence are the same as used in the C programming language [@!ISO.9899.2018], with the exception of >>
(removal of implementation defined behavior) and ^
(power instead of XOR) operators which are re-defined within this section.
a + b
means a plus b.
a - b
means a minus b.
-a
means negation of a.
a * b
means a multiplied by b.
a / b
means a divided by b.
a ^ b
means a raised to the b-th power.
a & b
means bit-wise "and" of a and b.
a | b
means bit-wise "or" of a and b.
a >> b
means arithmetic right shift of two’s complement integer representation of a by b binary digits. This is equivalent to dividing a by 2, b times, with rounding toward negative infinity.
a << b
means arithmetic left shift of two’s complement integer representation of a by b binary digits.
a = b
means a is assigned b.
a++
is equivalent to a is assigned a + 1.
a--
is equivalent to a is assigned a - 1.
a += b
is equivalent to a is assigned a + b.
a -= b
is equivalent to a is assigned a - b.
a *= b
is equivalent to a is assigned a * b.
a > b
is true when a is greater than b.
a >= b
is true when a is greater than or equal to b.
a < b
is true when a is less than b.
a <= b
is true when a is less than or equal b.
a == b
is true when a is equal to b.
a != b
is true when a is not equal to b.
a && b
is true when both a is true and b is true.
a || b
is true when either a is true or b is true.
!a
is true when a is not true.
a ? b : c
if a is true, then b, otherwise c.
floor(a)
means the largest integer less than or equal to a.
ceil(a)
means the smallest integer greater than or equal to a.
sign(a)
extracts the sign of a number, i.e. if a < 0 then -1, else if a > 0 then 1, else 0.
abs(a)
means the absolute value of a, i.e. abs(a)
= sign(a) * a
.
log2(a)
means the base-two logarithm of a.
min(a,b)
means the smaller of two values a and b.
max(a,b)
means the larger of two values a and b.
median(a,b,c)
means the numerical middle value in a data set of a, b, and c, i.e. a+b+c-min(a,b,c)-max(a,b,c).
A <== B
means B implies A.
A <==> B
means A <== B , B <== A.
ab means the b-th value of a sequence of a
ab,c means the 'b,c'-th value of a sequence of a
When order of precedence is not indicated explicitly by use of parentheses, operations are evaluated in the following order (from top to bottom, operations of same precedence being evaluated from left to right). This order of operations is based on the order of operations used in Standard C.
a++, a--
!a, -a
a ^ b
a * b, a / b, a % b
a + b, a - b
a << b, a >> b
a < b, a <= b, a > b, a >= b
a == b, a != b
a & b
a | b
a && b
a || b
a ? b : c
a = b, a += b, a -= b, a *= b
a...b
means any value from a to b, inclusive.
NumBytes
is a non-negative integer that expresses the size in 8-bit octets of a particular FFV1 Configuration Record
or Frame
. FFV1 relies on its Container to store the NumBytes
values; see (#mapping-ffv1-into-containers).
remaining_bits_in_bitstream( NumBytes )
means the count of remaining bits after the pointer in that Configuration Record
or Frame
. It is computed from the NumBytes
value multiplied by 8 minus the count of bits of that Configuration Record
or Frame
already read by the bitstream parser.
remaining_symbols_in_syntax( )
is true as long as the RangeCoder has not consumed all the given input bytes.
byte_aligned( )
is true if remaining_bits_in_bitstream( NumBytes )
is a multiple of 8, otherwise false.
get_bits( i )
is the action to read the next i
bits in the bitstream, from most significant bit to least significant bit, and to return the corresponding value. The pointer is increased by i
.
For each Slice
(as described in (#slice)) of a Frame, the Planes, Lines, and Samples are coded in an order determined by the color space (see (#color-spaces)). Each Sample is predicted by the median predictor as described in (#median-predictor) from other Samples within the same Plane and the difference is stored using the method described in (#coding-of-the-sample-difference).
A border is assumed for each coded Slice
for the purpose of the median predictor and context according to the following rules:
- one column of Samples to the left of the coded slice is assumed as identical to the Samples of the leftmost column of the coded slice shifted down by one row. The value of the topmost Sample of the column of Samples to the left of the coded slice is assumed to be
0
- one column of Samples to the right of the coded slice is assumed as identical to the Samples of the rightmost column of the coded slice
- an additional column of Samples to the left of the coded slice and two rows of Samples above the coded slice are assumed to be
0
[@figureAssumedBorder] depicts a slice of 9 Samples a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i
in a 3x3 arrangement along with its assumed border.
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | | | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| 0 | 0 | | a | b | c | | c |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| 0 | a | | d | e | f | | f |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| 0 | d | | g | h | i | | i |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Figure: A depiction of FFV1's assumed border for a set example Samples. {#figureAssumedBorder}
Relative to any Sample X
, six other relatively positioned Samples from the coded Samples and presumed border are identified according to the labels used in [@figureRelativeSampleNames]. The labels for these relatively positioned Samples are used within the median predictor and context.
+---+---+---+---+
| | | T | |
+---+---+---+---+
| |tl | t |tr |
+---+---+---+---+
| L | l | X | |
+---+---+---+---+
Figure: A depiction of how relatively positioned Samples are referenced within this document. {#figureRelativeSampleNames}
The labels for these relative Samples are made of the first letters of the words Top, Left and Right.
The prediction for any Sample value at position X
may be computed based upon the relative neighboring values of l
, t
, and tl
via this equation:
median(l, t, l + t - tl)
Note, this prediction template is also used in [@ISO.14495-1.1999] and [@HuffYUV].
Exception for the median predictor:
if colorspace_type == 0 && bits_per_raw_sample == 16 && ( coder_type == 1 || coder_type == 2 )
(see (#colorspace-type), (#bits-per-raw-sample) and (#colorspace-type)), the following median predictor MUST be used:
median(left16s, top16s, left16s + top16s - diag16s)
where:
left16s = l >= 32768 ? ( l - 65536 ) : l
top16s = t >= 32768 ? ( t - 65536 ) : t
diag16s = tl >= 32768 ? ( tl - 65536 ) : tl
Background: a two's complement 16-bit signed integer was used for storing Sample values in all known implementations of FFV1 bitstream. So in some circumstances, the most significant bit was wrongly interpreted (used as a sign bit instead of the 16th bit of an unsigned integer). Note that when the issue was discovered, the only configuration of all known implementations being impacted is 16-bit YCbCr with no Pixel transformation with Range Coder coder, as other potentially impacted configurations (e.g. 15/16-bit JPEG2000-RCT with Range Coder coder, or 16-bit content with Golomb Rice coder) were implemented nowhere [@!ISO.15444-1.2016]. In the meanwhile, 16-bit JPEG2000-RCT with Range Coder coder was implemented without this issue in one implementation and validated by one conformance checker. It is expected (to be confirmed) to remove this exception for the median predictor in the next version of the FFV1 bitstream.
The FFV1 bitstream contains one or more Quantization Table Sets. Each Quantization Table Set contains exactly 5 Quantization Tables with each Quantization Table corresponding to one of the five Quantized Sample Differences. For each Quantization Table, both the number of quantization steps and their distribution are stored in the FFV1 bitstream; each Quantization Table has exactly 256 entries, and the 8 least significant bits of the Quantized Sample Difference are used as index:
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:quantizationtablesets.svg=$$Q_{j}[k]=quant\tables[i][j][k\&255]$$ AART:Q(j)[k] = quant_tables[i][j][k&255]
In this formula, i
is the Quantization Table Set index, j
is the Quantized Table index, k
the Quantized Sample Difference.
Relative to any Sample X
, the Quantized Sample Differences L-l
, l-tl
, tl-t
, T-t
, and t-tr
are used as context:
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:context.svg=$$context=Q_{0}[l-tl]+Q_{1}[tl-t]+Q_{2}[t-tr]+Q_{3}[L-l]+Q_{4}[T-t]$$ AART:context = Q_(0)[l - tl] + AART: Q_(1)[tl - t] + AART: Q_(2)[t - tr] + AART: Q_(3)[L - l] + AART: Q_(4)[T - t]
If context >= 0
then context
is used and the difference between the Sample and its predicted value is encoded as is, else -context
is used and the difference between the Sample and its predicted value is encoded with a flipped sign.
For each Plane of each slice, a Quantization Table Set is selected from an index:
- For Y Plane,
quant_table_set_index[ 0 ]
index is used - For Cb and Cr Planes,
quant_table_set_index[ 1 ]
index is used - For extra Plane,
quant_table_set_index[ (version <= 3 || chroma_planes) ? 2 : 1 ]
index is used
Background: in first implementations of FFV1 bitstream, the index for Cb and Cr Planes was stored even if it is not used (chroma_planes set to 0), this index is kept for version
<= 3 in order to keep compatibility with FFV1 bitstreams in the wild.
FFV1 supports several color spaces. The count of allowed coded planes and the meaning of the extra Plane are determined by the selected color space.
The FFV1 bitstream interleaves data in an order determined by the color space. In YCbCr for each Plane, each Line is coded from top to bottom and for each Line, each Sample is coded from left to right. In JPEG2000-RCT for each Line from top to bottom, each Plane is coded and for each Plane, each Sample is encoded from left to right.
This color space allows 1 to 4 Planes.
The Cb and Cr Planes are optional, but if used then MUST be used together. Omitting the Cb and Cr Planes codes the frames in grayscale without color data.
An optional transparency Plane can be used to code transparency data.
An FFV1 Frame using YCbCr MUST use one of the following arrangements:
- Y
- Y, Transparency
- Y, Cb, Cr
- Y, Cb, Cr, Transparency
The Y Plane MUST be coded first. If the Cb and Cr Planes are used then they MUST be coded after the Y Plane. If a transparency Plane is used, then it MUST be coded last.
This color space allows 3 or 4 Planes.
An optional transparency Plane can be used to code transparency data.
JPEG2000-RCT is a Reversible Color Transform that codes RGB (red, green, blue) Planes losslessly in a modified YCbCr color space [@!ISO.15444-1.2016]. Reversible Pixel transformations between YCbCr and RGB use the following formulae.
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:rgb1.svg=$$\\begin{array}{ccccccc}Cb & = & b - g \\\ Cr & = & r - g \\\ Y & = & g + ( Cb + Cr)>>2 \\\ g & = & Y - ( Cb + Cr ) >> 2 \\\ r & = & Cr + g \\\ b & = & Cb + g \\end{array}$$ AART:Cb = b - g AART:Cr = r - g AART:Y = g + (Cb + Cr) >> 2 AART:g = Y - (Cb + Cr) >> 2 AART:r = Cr + g AART:b = Cb + g
Exception for the JPEG2000-RCT conversion: if bits_per_raw_sample
is between 9 and 15 inclusive and extra_plane
is 0, the following formulae for reversible conversions between YCbCr and RGB MUST be used instead of the ones above:
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:rgb2.svg=$$\\begin{array}{ccccccc}Cb & = & g - b \\\ Cr & = & r - b \\\ Y & = & b + (Cb + Cr)>>2 \\\ b & = & Y - (Cb + Cr)>>2 \\\ r & = & Cr + b \\\ g & = & Cb + b \\end{array}$$ AART:Cb = g - b AART:Cr = r - b AART:Y = b +(Cb + Cr) >> 2 AART:b = Y -(Cb + Cr) >> 2 AART:r = Cr + b AART:g = Cb + b
Background: At the time of this writing, in all known implementations of FFV1 bitstream, when bits_per_raw_sample
was between 9 and 15 inclusive and extra_plane
is 0, GBR Planes were used as BGR Planes during both encoding and decoding. In the meanwhile, 16-bit JPEG2000-RCT was implemented without this issue in one implementation and validated by one conformance checker. Methods to address this exception for the transform are under consideration for the next version of the FFV1 bitstream.
Cb and Cr are positively offset by 1 << bits_per_raw_sample
after the conversion from RGB to the modified YCbCr and are negatively offseted by the same value before the conversion from the modified YCbCr to RGB, in order to have only non-negative values after the conversion.
When FFV1 uses the JPEG2000-RCT, the horizontal Lines are interleaved to improve caching efficiency since it is most likely that the JPEG2000-RCT will immediately be converted to RGB during decoding. The interleaved coding order is also Y, then Cb, then Cr, and then, if used, transparency.
As an example, a Frame that is two Pixels wide and two Pixels high, could comprise the following structure:
+------------------------+------------------------+
| Pixel(1,1) | Pixel(2,1) |
| Y(1,1) Cb(1,1) Cr(1,1) | Y(2,1) Cb(2,1) Cr(2,1) |
+------------------------+------------------------+
| Pixel(1,2) | Pixel(2,2) |
| Y(1,2) Cb(1,2) Cr(1,2) | Y(2,2) Cb(2,2) Cr(2,2) |
+------------------------+------------------------+
In JPEG2000-RCT, the coding order would be left to right and then top to bottom, with values interleaved by Lines and stored in this order:
Y(1,1) Y(2,1) Cb(1,1) Cb(2,1) Cr(1,1) Cr(2,1) Y(1,2) Y(2,2) Cb(1,2) Cb(2,2) Cr(1,2) Cr(2,2)
Instead of coding the n+1 bits of the Sample Difference with Huffman or Range coding (or n+2 bits, in the case of JPEG2000-RCT), only the n (or n+1, in the case of JPEG2000-RCT) least significant bits are used, since this is sufficient to recover the original Sample. In the equation below, the term "bits" represents bits_per_raw_sample + 1
for JPEG2000-RCT or bits_per_raw_sample
otherwise:
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:samplediff.svg=$$coder\_input=[(sample\_difference+2^{bits-1})\&(2^{bits}-1)]-2^{bits-1}$$ AART:coder_input = [(sample_difference + 2 ^ (bits - 1)) & AART: (2 ^ bits - 1)] - 2 ^ (bits - 1) Figure: Description of the coding of the Sample Difference in the bitstream. {#figureSampleDifference}
Early experimental versions of FFV1 used the CABAC Arithmetic coder from H.264 as defined in [@ISO.14496-10.2014] but due to the uncertain patent/royalty situation, as well as its slightly worse performance, CABAC was replaced by a Range coder based on an algorithm defined by G. Nigel and N. Martin in 1979 [@?range-coding].
To encode binary digits efficiently a Range coder is used. Ci is the i-th Context. Bi is the i-th byte of the bytestream. bi is the i-th Range coded binary value, S0,\ i is the i-th initial state. The length of the bytestream encoding n binary symbols is jn bytes.
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:rangebinaryvalues1.svg=$$r_{i}=\\lfloor\\frac{R_{i}S_{i,C_{i}}}{2^{8}}\\rfloor$$ AART:r_(i) = floor( ( R_(i) * S_(i, C_(i)) ) / 2 ^ 8 )
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:rangebinaryvalues2.svg=$$\\begin{array}{ccccccccc} S_{i+1,C_{i}}=zero\state{S_{i,C_{i}}} & \\wedge & l_{i}=L_{i} & \\wedge & t_{i}=R_{i}-r_{i} & \\Longleftarrow & b_{i}=0 & \\Longleftrightarrow & L_{i}<R_{i}-r_{i} \\\ S_{i+1,C_{i}}=one\state{S_{i,C_{i}}} & \\wedge & l_{i}=L_{i}-R_{i}+r_{i} & \\wedge & t_{i}=r_{i} & \\Longleftarrow & b_{i}=1 & \\Longleftrightarrow & L_{i}\\geq R_{i}-r_{i} \\end{array}$$ AART:S_(i + 1, C_(i)) = zero_state_(S_(i, C_(i))) AND AART: l_(i) = L_(i) AND AART: t_(i) = R_(i) - r_(i) <== AART: b_(i) = 0 <==> AART: L_(i) < R_(i) - r_(i) AART: AART:S_(i + 1, C_(i)) = one_state_(S_(i, C_(i))) AND AART: l_(i) = L_(i) - R_(i) + r_(i) AND AART: t_(i) = r_(i) <== AART: b_(i) = 1 <==> AART: L_(i) >= R_(i) - r_(i)
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:rangebinaryvalues3.svg=$$\\begin{array}{ccc}S_{i+1,k}=S_{i,k} & \\Longleftarrow & C_{i} \\neq k\\end{array}$$ AART:S_(i + 1, k) = S_(i, k) <== C_(i) != k
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:rangebinaryvalues4.svg=$$\\begin{array}{ccccccc} R_{i+1}=2^{8}t_{i} & \\wedge & L_{i+1}=2^{8}l_{i}+B_{j_{i}} & \\wedge & j_{i+1}=j_{i}+1 & \\Longleftarrow & t_{i}<2^{8}\\\ R_{i+1}=t_{i} & \\wedge & L_{i+1}=l_{i} & \\wedge & j_{i+1}=j_{i} & \\Longleftarrow & t_{i}\\geq2^{8}\\end{array}$$ AART:R_(i + 1) = 2 ^ 8 * t_(i) AND AART:L_(i + 1) = 2 ^ 8 * l_(i) + B_(j_(i)) AND AART:j_(i + 1) = j_(i) + 1 <== AART:t_(i) < 2 ^ 8 AART: AART:R_(i + 1) = t_(i) AND AART:L_(i + 1) = l_(i) AND AART:j_(i + 1) = j_(i) <== AART:t_(i) >= 2 ^ 8
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:rangebinaryvalues5.svg=$$R_{0}=65280$$ AART:R_(0) = 65280
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:rangebinaryvalues6.svg=$$L_{0}=2^{8}B_{0}+B_{1}$$ AART:L_(0) = 2 ^ 8 * B_(0) + B_(1)
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:rangebinaryvalues7.svg=$$j_{0}=2$$ AART:j_(0) = 2
The range coder can be used in three modes.
-
In
Open mode
when decoding, every Symbol the reader attempts to read is available. In this mode arbitrary data can have been appended without affecting the range coder output. This mode is not used in FFV1. -
In
Closed mode
the length in bytes of the bytestream is provided to the range decoder. Bytes beyond the length are read as 0 by the range decoder. This is generally one byte shorter than the open mode. -
In
Sentinel mode
the exact length in bytes is not known and thus the range decoder MAY read into the data that follows the range coded bytestream by one byte. InSentinel mode
, the end of the range coded bytestream is a binary Symbol with state 129, which value SHALL be discarded. After reading this Symbol, the range decoder will have read one byte beyond the end of the range coded bytestream. This way the byte position of the end can be determined. Bytestreams written inSentinel mode
can be read inClosed mode
if the length can be determined, in this case the last (sentinel) Symbol will be read non-corrupted and be of value 0.
Above describes the range decoding. Encoding is defined as any process which produces a decodable bytestream.
There are three places where range coder termination is needed in FFV1.
First is in the Configuration Record
, in this case the size of the range coded bytestream is known and handled as Closed mode
.
Second is the switch from the Slice Header
which is range coded to Golomb coded slices as Sentinel mode
.
Third is the end of range coded Slices which need to terminate before the CRC at their end. This can be handled as Sentinel mode
or as Closed mode
if the CRC position has been determined.
To encode scalar integers, it would be possible to encode each bit separately and use the past bits as context. However that would mean 255 contexts per 8-bit Symbol that is not only a waste of memory but also requires more past data to reach a reasonably good estimate of the probabilities. Alternatively assuming a Laplacian distribution and only dealing with its variance and mean (as in Huffman coding) would also be possible, however, for maximum flexibility and simplicity, the chosen method uses a single Symbol to encode if a number is 0, and if not, encodes the number using its exponent, mantissa and sign. The exact contexts used are best described by [@figureRangeNonBinaryValueExample].
int get_symbol(RangeCoder *c, uint8_t *state, int is_signed) {
if (get_rac(c, state + 0) {
return 0;
}
int e = 0;
while (get_rac(c, state + 1 + min(e, 9)) { //1..10
e++;
}
int a = 1;
for (int i = e - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
a = a * 2 + get_rac(c, state + 22 + min(i, 9)); // 22..31
}
if (!is_signed) {
return a;
}
if (get_rac(c, state + 11 + min(e, 10))) { //11..21
return -a;
} else {
return a;
}
}
Figure: A pseudo-code description of the contexts of Range Non Binary Values. {#figureRangeNonBinaryValueExample}
get_symbol
is used for the read out of sample_difference
indicated in [@figureSampleDifference].
get_rac
returns a boolean, computed from the bytestream as described in (#range-binary-values).
When keyframe
(see (#frame)) value is 1, all Range coder state variables are set to their initial state.
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:statetransitiontable1.svg=$$one\state{i}=default\state\transition{i}+state\transition\delta{i}$$ AART:one_state(i) = AART: default_state_transition(i) + state_transition_delta_(i)
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:statetransitiontable2.svg=$$zero\state{i}=256-one\state{256-i}$$ AART:zero_state_(i) = 256 - one_state_(256-i)
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,
28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42,
43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 56, 57,
58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73,
74, 75, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88,
89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99,100,101,102,103,
104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,114,115,116,117,118,
119,120,121,122,123,124,125,126,127,128,129,130,131,132,133,133,
134,135,136,137,138,139,140,141,142,143,144,145,146,147,148,149,
150,151,152,152,153,154,155,156,157,158,159,160,161,162,163,164,
165,166,167,168,169,170,171,171,172,173,174,175,176,177,178,179,
180,181,182,183,184,185,186,187,188,189,190,190,191,192,194,194,
195,196,197,198,199,200,201,202,202,204,205,206,207,208,209,209,
210,211,212,213,215,215,216,217,218,219,220,220,222,223,224,225,
226,227,227,229,229,230,231,232,234,234,235,236,237,238,239,240,
241,242,243,244,245,246,247,248,248, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
The alternative state transition table has been built using iterative minimization of frame sizes and generally performs better than the default. To use it, the coder_type
(see (#coder-type)) MUST be set to 2 and the difference to the default MUST be stored in the Parameters
, see (#parameters). The reference implementation of FFV1 in FFmpeg uses [@figureAltStateTransition] by default at the time of this writing when Range coding is used.
0, 10, 10, 10, 10, 16, 16, 16, 28, 16, 16, 29, 42, 49, 20, 49,
59, 25, 26, 26, 27, 31, 33, 33, 33, 34, 34, 37, 67, 38, 39, 39,
40, 40, 41, 79, 43, 44, 45, 45, 48, 48, 64, 50, 51, 52, 88, 52,
53, 74, 55, 57, 58, 58, 74, 60,101, 61, 62, 84, 66, 66, 68, 69,
87, 82, 71, 97, 73, 73, 82, 75,111, 77, 94, 78, 87, 81, 83, 97,
85, 83, 94, 86, 99, 89, 90, 99,111, 92, 93,134, 95, 98,105, 98,
105,110,102,108,102,118,103,106,106,113,109,112,114,112,116,125,
115,116,117,117,126,119,125,121,121,123,145,124,126,131,127,129,
165,130,132,138,133,135,145,136,137,139,146,141,143,142,144,148,
147,155,151,149,151,150,152,157,153,154,156,168,158,162,161,160,
172,163,169,164,166,184,167,170,177,174,171,173,182,176,180,178,
175,189,179,181,186,183,192,185,200,187,191,188,190,197,193,196,
197,194,195,196,198,202,199,201,210,203,207,204,205,206,208,214,
209,211,221,212,213,215,224,216,217,218,219,220,222,228,223,225,
226,224,227,229,240,230,231,232,233,234,235,236,238,239,237,242,
241,243,242,244,245,246,247,248,249,250,251,252,252,253,254,255,
Figure: Alternative state transition table for Range coding. {#figureAltStateTransition}
The end of the bitstream of the Frame is padded with 0-bits until the bitstream contains a multiple of 8 bits.
This coding mode uses Golomb Rice codes. The VLC is split into two parts. The prefix stores the most significant bits and the suffix stores the k least significant bits or stores the whole number in the ESC case.
int get_ur_golomb(k) {
for (prefix = 0; prefix < 12; prefix++) {
if (get_bits(1)) {
return get_bits(k) + (prefix << k);
}
}
return get_bits(bits) + 11;
}
Figure: A pseudo-code description of the read of an unsigned integer in Golomb Rice mode.
int get_sr_golomb(k) {
v = get_ur_golomb(k);
if (v & 1) return - (v >> 1) - 1;
else return (v >> 1);
}
Figure: A pseudo-code description of the read of a signed integer in Golomb Rice mode.
bits | value |
---|---|
1 | 0 |
01 | 1 |
... | ... |
0000 0000 01 | 9 |
0000 0000 001 | 10 |
0000 0000 0001 | 11 |
0000 0000 0000 | ESC |
non ESC | the k least significant bits MSB first |
ESC | the value - 11, in MSB first order |
ESC MUST NOT be used if the value can be coded as non ESC.
k | bits | value |
---|---|---|
0 | 1 |
0 |
0 | 001 |
2 |
2 | 1 00 |
0 |
2 | 1 10 |
2 |
2 | 01 01 |
5 |
any | 000000000000 10000000 |
139 |
Run mode is entered when the context is 0 and left as soon as a non-0 difference is found. The level is identical to the predicted one. The run and the first different level are coded.
The run value is encoded in two parts. The prefix part stores the more significant part of the run as well as adjusting the run_index
that determines the number of bits in the less significant part of the run. The second part of the value stores the less significant part of the run as it is. The run_index
is reset for each Plane and slice to 0.
log2_run[41] = {
0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1,
2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3,
4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7,
8, 9,10,11,12,13,14,15,
16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,
24,
};
if (run_count == 0 && run_mode == 1) {
if (get_bits(1)) {
run_count = 1 << log2_run[run_index];
if (x + run_count <= w) {
run_index++;
}
} else {
if (log2_run[run_index]) {
run_count = get_bits(log2_run[run_index]);
} else {
run_count = 0;
}
if (run_index) {
run_index--;
}
run_mode = 2;
}
}
The log2_run
array is also used within [@ISO.14495-1.1999].
sign_extend
is the function of increasing the number of bits of an input binary number in twos complement signed number representation while preserving the input number's sign (positive/negative) and value, in order to fit in the output bit width. It MAY be computed with:
sign_extend(input_number, input_bits) {
negative_bias = 1 << (input_bits - 1);
bits_mask = negative_bias - 1;
output_number = input_number & bits_mask; // Remove negative bit
is_negative = input_number & negative_bias; // Test negative bit
if (is_negative)
output_number -= negative_bias;
return output_number
}
Each difference is coded with the per context mean prediction removed and a per context value for k.
get_vlc_symbol(state) {
i = state->count;
k = 0;
while (i < state->error_sum) {
k++;
i += i;
}
v = get_sr_golomb(k);
if (2 * state->drift < -state->count) {
v = -1 - v;
}
ret = sign_extend(v + state->bias, bits);
state->error_sum += abs(v);
state->drift += v;
if (state->count == 128) {
state->count >>= 1;
state->drift >>= 1;
state->error_sum >>= 1;
}
state->count++;
if (state->drift <= -state->count) {
state->bias = max(state->bias - 1, -128);
state->drift = max(state->drift + state->count,
-state->count + 1);
} else if (state->drift > 0) {
state->bias = min(state->bias + 1, 127);
state->drift = min(state->drift - state->count, 0);
}
return ret;
}
Level coding is identical to the normal difference coding with the exception that the 0 value is removed as it cannot occur:
diff = get_vlc_symbol(context_state);
if (diff >= 0) {
diff++;
}
Note, this is different from JPEG-LS, which doesn’t use prediction in run mode and uses a different encoding and context model for the last difference. On a small set of test Samples the use of prediction slightly improved the compression rate.
When keyframe
(see (#frame)) value is 1, all coder state variables are set to their initial state.
drift = 0;
error_sum = 4;
bias = 0;
count = 1;
An FFV1 bitstream is composed of a series of one or more Frames and (when required) a Configuration Record
.
Within the following sub-sections, pseudo-code is used, as described in (#pseudo-code), to explain the structure of each FFV1 bitstream component. [@tablePseudoCodeSymbols] lists symbols used to annotate that pseudo-code in order to define the storage of the data referenced in that line of pseudo-code.
Symbol | Definition |
---|---|
u(n) | unsigned big endian integer Symbol using n bits |
sg | Golomb Rice coded signed scalar Symbol coded with the method described in (#golomb-rice-mode) |
br | Range coded Boolean (1-bit) Symbol with the method described in (#range-binary-values) |
ur | Range coded unsigned scalar Symbol coded with the method described in (#range-non-binary-values) |
sr | Range coded signed scalar Symbol coded with the method described in (#range-non-binary-values) |
sd | Sample difference Symbol coded with the method described in (#coding-of-the-sample-difference) |
Table: Definition of pseudo-code symbols for this document. {#tablePseudoCodeSymbols} |
The following MUST be provided by external means during initialization of the decoder:
frame_pixel_width
is defined as Frame width in Pixels.
frame_pixel_height
is defined as Frame height in Pixels.
Default values at the decoder initialization phase:
ConfigurationRecordIsPresent
is set to 0.
The Quantization Table Sets are stored by storing the number of equal entries -1 of the first half of the table (represented as len - 1
in the pseudo-code below) using the method described in (#range-non-binary-values). The second half doesn’t need to be stored as it is identical to the first with flipped sign. scale
and len_count[ i ][ j ]
are temporary values used for the computing of context_count[ i ]
and are not used outside Quantization Table Set pseudo-code.
Example:
Table: 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 2 -2 -2 -2 -1 -1 -1 -1 0
Stored values: 1, 3, 1
QuantizationTableSet
has its own initial states, all set to 128.
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
QuantizationTableSet( i ) { |
scale = 1 |
for (j = 0; j < MAX_CONTEXT_INPUTS; j++) { |
QuantizationTable( i, j, scale ) |
scale *= 2 * len_count[ i ][ j ] - 1 |
} |
context_count[ i ] = ceil( scale / 2 ) |
} |
MAX_CONTEXT_INPUTS
is 5.
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
QuantizationTable(i, j, scale) { |
v = 0 |
for (k = 0; k < 128;) { |
len - 1 | ur
for (n = 0; n < len; n++) { |
quant_tables[ i ][ j ][ k ] = scale * v |
k++ |
} |
v++ |
} |
for (k = 1; k < 128; k++) { |
quant_tables[ i ][ j ][ 256 - k ] = \ |
-quant_tables[ i ][ j ][ k ] |
} |
quant_tables[ i ][ j ][ 128 ] = \ |
-quant_tables[ i ][ j ][ 127 ] |
len_count[ i ][ j ] = v |
} |
quant_tables[ i ][ j ][ k ]
indicates the quantification table value of the Quantized Sample Difference k
of the Quantization Table j
of the Set Quantization Table Set i
.
context_count[ i ]
indicates the count of contexts for Quantization Table Set i
. context_count[ i ]
MUST be less than or equal to 32768.
The Parameters
section contains significant characteristics about the decoding configuration used for all instances of Frame (in FFV1 version 0 and 1) or the whole FFV1 bitstream (other versions), including the stream version, color configuration, and quantization tables. [@figureBitstream] describes the contents of the bitstream.
Parameters
has its own initial states, all set to 128.
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
Parameters( ) { |
version | ur
if (version >= 3) { |
micro_version | ur
} |
coder_type | ur
if (coder_type > 1) { |
for (i = 1; i < 256; i++) { |
state_transition_delta[ i ] | sr
} |
} |
colorspace_type | ur
if (version >= 1) { |
bits_per_raw_sample | ur
} |
chroma_planes | br
log2_h_chroma_subsample | ur
log2_v_chroma_subsample | ur
extra_plane | br
if (version >= 3) { |
num_h_slices - 1 | ur
num_v_slices - 1 | ur
quant_table_set_count | ur
} |
for (i = 0; i < quant_table_set_count; i++) { |
QuantizationTableSet( i ) |
} |
if (version >= 3) { |
for (i = 0; i < quant_table_set_count; i++) { |
states_coded | br
if (states_coded) { |
for (j = 0; j < context_count[ i ]; j++) { |
for (k = 0; k < CONTEXT_SIZE; k++) { |
initial_state_delta[ i ][ j ][ k ] | sr
} |
} |
} |
} |
ec | ur
intra | ur
} |
} |
Figure: A pseudo-code description of the bitstream contents. {#figureBitstream}
CONTEXT_SIZE is 32.
version
specifies the version of the FFV1 bitstream.
Each version is incompatible with other versions: decoders SHOULD reject FFV1 bitstreams due to an unknown version.
Decoders SHOULD reject FFV1 bitstreams with version <= 1 && ConfigurationRecordIsPresent == 1.
Decoders SHOULD reject FFV1 bitstreams with version >= 3 && ConfigurationRecordIsPresent == 0.
value | version |
---|---|
0 | FFV1 version 0 |
1 | FFV1 version 1 |
2 | reserved* |
3 | FFV1 version 3 |
4 | FFV1 version 4 |
Other | reserved for future use |
* Version 2 was experimental and this document does not describe it.
micro_version
specifies the micro-version of the FFV1 bitstream.
After a version is considered stable (a micro-version value is assigned to be the first stable variant of a specific version), each new micro-version after this first stable variant is compatible with the previous micro-version: decoders SHOULD NOT reject FFV1 bitstreams due to an unknown micro-version equal or above the micro-version considered as stable.
Meaning of micro_version
for version
3:
value | micro_version |
---|---|
0...3 | reserved* |
4 | first stable variant |
Other | reserved for future use |
Table: The definitions for micro_version values for FFV1 version 3. |
* development versions may be incompatible with the stable variants.
Meaning of micro_version
for version
4 (note: at the time of writing of this specification, version 4 is not considered stable so the first stable micro_version
value is to be announced in the future):{V4}
|value | micro_version |{V4}
|--------|:------------------------|{V4}
|0...TBA | reserved* |{V4}
|TBA | first stable variant |{V4}
|Other | reserved for future use |{V4}
Table: The definitions for micro_version
values for FFV1 version 4.{V4}
* development versions which may be incompatible with the stable variants.{V4}
coder_type
specifies the coder used.
value | coder used |
---|---|
0 | Golomb Rice |
1 | Range Coder with default state transition table |
2 | Range Coder with custom state transition table |
Other | reserved for future use |
Restrictions:
If coder_type
is 0, then bits_per_raw_sample
SHOULD NOT be > 8.
Background: At the time of this writing, there is no known implementation of FFV1 bitstream supporting Golomb Rice algorithm with bits_per_raw_sample
greater than 8, and Range Coder is prefered.
state_transition_delta
specifies the Range coder custom state transition table.
If state_transition_delta
is not present in the FFV1 bitstream, all Range coder custom state transition table elements are assumed to be 0.
colorspace_type
specifies the color space encoded, the pixel transformation used by the encoder, the extra plane content, as well as interleave method.
value | color space encoded | pixel transformation | extra plane content | interleave method |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | YCbCr | None | Transparency | Plane then Line |
1 | RGB | JPEG2000-RCT | Transparency | Line then Plane |
Other | reserved for future use | reserved for future use | reserved for future use | reserved for future use |
FFV1 bitstreams with colorspace_type
== 1 && (chroma_planes
!= 1 || log2_h_chroma_subsample
!= 0 || log2_v_chroma_subsample
!= 0) are not part of this specification.
chroma_planes
indicates if chroma (color) Planes are present.
value | presence |
---|---|
0 | chroma Planes are not present |
1 | chroma Planes are present |
bits_per_raw_sample
indicates the number of bits for each Sample. Inferred to be 8 if not present.
value | bits for each sample |
---|---|
0 | reserved* |
Other | the actual bits for each Sample |
* Encoders MUST NOT store bits_per_raw_sample
= 0.
Decoders SHOULD accept and interpret bits_per_raw_sample
= 0 as 8.
log2_h_chroma_subsample
indicates the subsample factor, stored in powers to which the number 2 is raised, between luma and chroma width (chroma_width = 2 ^ -log2_h_chroma_subsample * luma_width
).
log2_v_chroma_subsample
indicates the subsample factor, stored in powers to which the number 2 is raised, between luma and chroma height (chroma_height = 2 ^ -log2_v_chroma_subsample * luma_height
).
extra_plane
indicates if an extra Plane is present.
value | presence |
---|---|
0 | extra Plane is not present |
1 | extra Plane is present |
num_h_slices
indicates the number of horizontal elements of the slice raster.
Inferred to be 1 if not present.
num_v_slices
indicates the number of vertical elements of the slice raster.
Inferred to be 1 if not present.
quant_table_set_count
indicates the number of Quantization Table Sets. quant_table_set_count
MUST be less than or equal to 8.
Inferred to be 1 if not present.
MUST NOT be 0.
states_coded
indicates if the respective Quantization Table Set has the initial states coded.
Inferred to be 0 if not present.
value | initial states |
---|---|
0 | initial states are not present and are assumed to be all 128 |
1 | initial states are present |
initial_state_delta[ i ][ j ][ k ]
indicates the initial Range coder state, it is encoded using k
as context index and
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:initialstatedelta1.svg=pred = j ? initial_states[ i ][j - 1][ k ] : 128 AART:pred = j ? initial_states[ i ][j - 1][ k ] : 128
SVGI:!--- SVGI: SVGI:!--- SVGC:initialstatedelta2.svg=initial_state[ i ][ j ][ k ] = ( pred + initial_state_delta[ i ][ j ][ k ] ) & 255 AART:initial_state[ i ][ j ][ k ] = AART: ( pred + initial_state_delta[ i ][ j ][ k ] ) & 255
ec
indicates the error detection/correction type.
value | error detection/correction type |
---|---|
0 | 32-bit CRC in ConfigurationRecord |
1 | 32-bit CRC in Slice and ConfigurationRecord |
Other | reserved for future use |
intra
indicates the constraint on keyframe
in each instance of Frame.
Inferred to be 0 if not present.
value | relationship |
---|---|
0 | keyframe can be 0 or 1 (non keyframes or keyframes) |
1 | keyframe MUST be 1 (keyframes only) |
Other | reserved for future use |
In the case of a FFV1 bitstream with version >= 3
, a Configuration Record
is stored in the underlying Container as described in (#mapping-ffv1-into-containers). It contains the Parameters
used for all instances of Frame. The size of the Configuration Record
, NumBytes
, is supplied by the underlying Container.
pseudo-code | type
-----------------------------------------------------------|-----
ConfigurationRecord( NumBytes ) { |
ConfigurationRecordIsPresent = 1 |
Parameters( ) |
while (remaining_symbols_in_syntax(NumBytes - 4)) { |
reserved_for_future_use | br/ur/sr
} |
configuration_record_crc_parity | u(32)
} |
reserved_for_future_use
is a placeholder for future updates of this specification.
Encoders conforming to this version of this specification SHALL NOT write reserved_for_future_use
.
Decoders conforming to this version of this specification SHALL ignore reserved_for_future_use
.
configuration_record_crc_parity
32 bits that are chosen so that the Configuration Record
as a whole has a CRC remainder of 0.
This is equivalent to storing the CRC remainder in the 32-bit parity.
The CRC generator polynomial used is described in (#slice-crc-parity).
This Configuration Record
can be placed in any file format supporting Configuration Records
, fitting as much as possible with how the file format uses to store Configuration Records
. The Configuration Record
storage place and NumBytes
are currently defined and supported by this version of this specification for the following formats:
The Configuration Record
extends the stream format chunk ("AVI ", "hdlr", "strl", "strf") with the ConfigurationRecord bitstream.
See [@AVI] for more information about chunks.
NumBytes
is defined as the size, in bytes, of the strf chunk indicated in the chunk header minus the size of the stream format structure.
The Configuration Record
extends the sample description box ("moov", "trak", "mdia", "minf", "stbl", "stsd") with a "glbl" box that contains the ConfigurationRecord bitstream. See [@ISO.14496-12.2015] for more information about boxes.
NumBytes
is defined as the size, in bytes, of the "glbl" box indicated in the box header minus the size of the box header.
The codec_specific_data
element (in stream_header
packet) contains the ConfigurationRecord bitstream. See [@NUT] for more information about elements.
NumBytes
is defined as the size, in bytes, of the codec_specific_data
element as indicated in the "length" field of codec_specific_data
.
FFV1 SHOULD use V_FFV1
as the Matroska Codec ID
. For FFV1 versions 2 or less, the Matroska CodecPrivate
Element SHOULD NOT be used. For FFV1 versions 3 or greater, the Matroska CodecPrivate
Element MUST contain the FFV1 Configuration Record
structure and no other data. See [@!Matroska] for more information about elements.
NumBytes
is defined as the Element Data Size
of the CodecPrivate
Element.
A Frame is an encoded representation of a complete static image. The whole Frame is provided by the underlaying container.
A Frame consists of the keyframe
field, Parameters
(if version
<= 1), and a sequence of independent slices. The pseudo-code below describes the contents of a Frame.
keyframe
field has its own initial state, set to 128.
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
Frame( NumBytes ) { |
keyframe | br
if (keyframe && !ConfigurationRecordIsPresent { |
Parameters( ) |
} |
while (remaining_bits_in_bitstream( NumBytes )) { |
Slice( ) |
} |
} |
Architecture overview of slices in a Frame:
first slice header |
first slice content |
first slice footer |
--------------------------------------------------------------- |
second slice header |
second slice content |
second slice footer |
--------------------------------------------------------------- |
... |
--------------------------------------------------------------- |
last slice header |
last slice content |
last slice footer |
A Slice
is an independent spatial sub-section of a Frame that is encoded separately from another region of the same Frame. The use of more than one Slice
per Frame can be useful for taking advantage of the opportunities of multithreaded encoding and decoding.
A Slice
consists of a Slice Header
(when relevant), a Slice Content
, and a Slice Footer
(when relevant). The pseudo-code below describes the contents of a Slice
.
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
Slice( ) { |
if (version >= 3) { |
SliceHeader( ) |
} |
SliceContent( ) |
if (coder_type == 0) { |
while (!byte_aligned()) { |
padding | u(1)
} |
} |
if (version <= 1) { |
while (remaining_bits_in_bitstream( NumBytes ) != 0) {|
reserved | u(1)
} |
} |
if (version >= 3) { |
SliceFooter( ) |
} |
} |
padding
specifies a bit without any significance and used only for byte alignment.
MUST be 0.
reserved
specifies a bit without any significance in this revision of the specification and may have a significance in a later revision of this specification.
Encoders SHOULD NOT fill reserved
.
Decoders SHOULD ignore reserved
.
A Slice Header
provides information about the decoding configuration of the Slice
, such as its spatial position, size, and aspect ratio. The pseudo-code below describes the contents of the Slice Header
.
Slice Header
has its own initial states, all set to 128.
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
SliceHeader( ) { |
slice_x | ur
slice_y | ur
slice_width - 1 | ur
slice_height - 1 | ur
for (i = 0; i < quant_table_set_index_count; i++) { |
quant_table_set_index[ i ] | ur
} |
picture_structure | ur
sar_num | ur
sar_den | ur
if (version >= 4) { | {V4}
reset_contexts | br{V4}
slice_coding_mode | ur{V4}
} | {V4}
} |
slice_x
indicates the x position on the slice raster formed by num_h_slices.
Inferred to be 0 if not present.
slice_y
indicates the y position on the slice raster formed by num_v_slices.
Inferred to be 0 if not present.
slice_width
indicates the width on the slice raster formed by num_h_slices.
Inferred to be 1 if not present.
slice_height
indicates the height on the slice raster formed by num_v_slices.
Inferred to be 1 if not present.
quant_table_set_index_count
is defined as:
1 + ( ( chroma_planes || version <= 3 ) ? 1 : 0 )
+ ( extra_plane ? 1 : 0 )
quant_table_set_index
indicates the Quantization Table Set index to select the Quantization Table Set and the initial states for the Slice Content
.
Inferred to be 0 if not present.
picture_structure
specifies the temporal and spatial relationship of each Line of the Frame.
Inferred to be 0 if not present.
value | picture structure used |
---|---|
0 | unknown |
1 | top field first |
2 | bottom field first |
3 | progressive |
Other | reserved for future use |
sar_num
specifies the Sample aspect ratio numerator.
Inferred to be 0 if not present.
A value of 0 means that aspect ratio is unknown.
Encoders MUST write 0 if Sample aspect ratio is unknown.
If sar_den
is 0, decoders SHOULD ignore the encoded value and consider that sar_num
is 0.
sar_den
specifies the Sample aspect ratio denominator.
Inferred to be 0 if not present.
A value of 0 means that aspect ratio is unknown.
Encoders MUST write 0 if Sample aspect ratio is unknown.
If sar_num
is 0, decoders SHOULD ignore the encoded value and consider that sar_den
is 0.
reset_contexts
indicates if slice contexts MUST be reset.{V4}
{V4}
Inferred to be 0 if not present.{V4}
slice_coding_mode
indicates the slice coding mode.{V4}
{V4}
Inferred to be 0 if not present.{V4}
|value | slice coding mode |{V4} |-------|:-----------------------------|{V4} | 0 | Range Coding or Golomb Rice |{V4} | 1 | raw PCM |{V4} | Other | reserved for future use |{V4}
A Slice Content
contains all Line elements part of the Slice
.
Depending on the configuration, Line elements are ordered by Plane then by row (YCbCr) or by row then by Plane (RGB).
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
SliceContent( ) { |
if (colorspace_type == 0) { |
for (p = 0; p < primary_color_count; p++) { |
for (y = 0; y < plane_pixel_height[ p ]; y++) { |
Line( p, y ) |
} |
} |
} else if (colorspace_type == 1) { |
for (y = 0; y < slice_pixel_height; y++) { |
for (p = 0; p < primary_color_count; p++) { |
Line( p, y ) |
} |
} |
} |
} |
primary_color_count
is defined as:
1 + ( chroma_planes ? 2 : 0 ) + ( extra_plane ? 1 : 0 )
plane_pixel_height[ p ]
is the height in Pixels of Plane p of the Slice
. It is defined as:
chroma_planes == 1 && (p == 1 || p == 2)
? ceil(slice_pixel_height / (1 << log2_v_chroma_subsample))
: slice_pixel_height
slice_pixel_height
is the height in pixels of the slice. It is defined as:
floor(
( slice_y + slice_height )
* slice_pixel_height
/ num_v_slices
) - slice_pixel_y.
slice_pixel_y
is the slice vertical position in pixels. It is defined as:
floor( slice_y * frame_pixel_height / num_v_slices )
A Line is a list of the sample differences (relative to the predictor) of primary color components. The pseudo-code below describes the contents of the Line.
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
Line( p, y ) { |
if (colorspace_type == 0) { |
for (x = 0; x < plane_pixel_width[ p ]; x++) { |
sample_difference[ p ][ y ][ x ] | sd
} |
} else if (colorspace_type == 1) { |
for (x = 0; x < slice_pixel_width; x++) { |
sample_difference[ p ][ y ][ x ] | sd
} |
} |
} |
plane_pixel_width[ p ]
is the width in Pixels of Plane p of the Slice
. It is defined as:
chroma\_planes == 1 && (p == 1 || p == 2)
? ceil( slice_pixel_width / (1 << log2_h_chroma_subsample) )
: slice_pixel_width.
slice_pixel_width
is the width in Pixels of the slice. It is defined as:
floor(
( slice_x + slice_width )
* slice_pixel_width
/ num_h_slices
) - slice_pixel_x
slice_pixel_x
is the slice horizontal position in Pixels. It is defined as:
floor( slice_x * frame_pixel_width / num_h_slices )
sample_difference[ p ][ y ][ x ]
is the sample difference for Sample at Plane p
, y position y
, and x position x
. The Sample value is computed based on median predictor and context described in (#samples).
A Slice Footer
provides information about slice size and (optionally) parity. The pseudo-code below describes the contents of the Slice Footer
.
Note: Slice Footer
is always byte aligned.
pseudo-code | type
--------------------------------------------------------------|-----
SliceFooter( ) { |
slice_size | u(24)
if (ec) { |
error_status | u(8)
slice_crc_parity | u(32)
} |
} |
slice_size
indicates the size of the slice in bytes.
Note: this allows finding the start of slices before previous slices have been fully decoded, and allows parallel decoding as well as error resilience.
error_status
specifies the error status.
value | error status |
---|---|
0 | no error |
1 | slice contains a correctable error |
2 | slice contains a uncorrectable error |
Other | reserved for future use |
slice_crc_parity
32 bits that are chosen so that the slice as a whole has a crc remainder of 0.
This is equivalent to storing the crc remainder in the 32-bit parity.
The CRC generator polynomial used is the standard IEEE CRC polynomial (0x104C11DB7), with initial value 0, without pre-inversion and without post-inversion.
To ensure that fast multithreaded decoding is possible, starting with version 3 and if frame_pixel_width * frame_pixel_height
is more than 101376, slice_width * slice_height
MUST be less or equal to num_h_slices * num_v_slices / 4
.
Note: 101376 is the frame size in Pixels of a 352x288 frame also known as CIF ("Common Intermediate Format") frame size format.
For each Frame, each position in the slice raster MUST be filled by one and only one slice of the Frame (no missing slice position, no slice overlapping).
For each Frame with keyframe
value of 0, each slice MUST have the same value of slice_x
, slice_y
, slice_width
, slice_height
as a slice in the previous Frame.{V3}
For each Frame with keyframe
value of 0, each slice MUST have the same value of slice_x
, slice_y
, slice_width
, slice_height
as a slice in the previous Frame, except if reset_contexts
is 1.{V4}
Like any other codec, (such as [@!RFC6716]), FFV1 should not be used with insecure ciphers or cipher-modes that are vulnerable to known plaintext attacks. Some of the header bits as well as the padding are easily predictable.
Implementations of the FFV1 codec need to take appropriate security considerations into account, as outlined in [@!RFC4732]. It is extremely important for the decoder to be robust against malicious payloads. Malicious payloads MUST NOT cause the decoder to overrun its allocated memory or to take an excessive amount of resources to decode. The same applies to the encoder, even though problems in encoders are typically rarer. Malicious video streams MUST NOT cause the encoder to misbehave because this would allow an attacker to attack transcoding gateways. A frequent security problem in image and video codecs is failure to check for integer overflows. An example is allocating frame_pixel_width * frame_pixel_height
in Pixel count computations without considering that the multiplication result may have overflowed the arithmetic types range.
The range coder could, if implemented naively, read one byte over the end. The implementation MUST ensure that no read outside allocated and initialized memory occurs.
None of the content carried in FFV1 is intended to be executable.
The reference implementation [@REFIMPL] contains no known buffer overflow or cases where a specially crafted packet or video segment could cause a significant increase in CPU load.
The reference implementation [@REFIMPL] was validated in the following conditions:
- Sending the decoder valid packets generated by the reference encoder and verifying that the decoder's output matches the encoder's input.
- Sending the decoder packets generated by the reference encoder and then subjected to random corruption.
- Sending the decoder random packets that are not FFV1.
In all of the conditions above, the decoder and encoder was run inside the [@VALGRIND] memory debugger as well as clangs address sanitizer [@Address-Sanitizer], which track reads and writes to invalid memory regions as well as the use of uninitialized memory. There were no errors reported on any of the tested conditions.
This registration is done using the template defined in [@!RFC6838] and following [@!RFC4855].
Type name: video
Subtype name: FFV1
Required parameters: None.
Optional parameters: These parameters are used to signal the capabilities of a receiver implementation. These parameters MUST NOT be used for any other purpose.
-
version
: Theversion
of the FFV1 encoding as defined by (#version). -
micro_version
: Themicro_version
of the FFV1 encoding as defined by (#micro-version). -
coder_type
: Thecoder_type
of the FFV1 encoding as defined by (#coder-type). -
colorspace_type
: Thecolorspace_type
of the FFV1 encoding as defined by (#colorspace-type). -
bits_per_raw_sample
: Thebits_per_raw_sample
of the FFV1 encoding as defined by (#bits-per-raw-sample). -
max_slices
: The value ofmax_slices
is an integer indicating the maximum count of slices with a frames of the FFV1 encoding.
Encoding considerations: This media type is defined for encapsulation in several audiovisual container formats and contains binary data; see (#mapping-ffv1-into-containers). This media type is framed binary data; see Section 4.8 of [@!RFC6838].
Security considerations: See (#security-considerations) of this document.
Interoperability considerations: None.
Published specification: RFC XXXX.
[RFC Editor: Upon publication as an RFC, please replace "XXXX" with the number assigned to this document and remove this note.]
Applications which use this media type: Any application that requires the transport of lossless video can use this media type. Some examples are, but not limited to screen recording, scientific imaging, and digital video preservation.
Fragment identifier considerations: N/A.
Additional information: None.
Person & email address to contact for further information: Michael Niedermayer [email protected]
Intended usage: COMMON
Restrictions on usage: None.
Author: Dave Rice [email protected]
Change controller: IETF cellar working group delegated from the IESG.
The IANA is requested to register the following values:
- Media type registration as described in (#media-type-definition).
See https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFV1/commits/master
[RFC Editor: Please remove this Changelog section prior to publication.]