GStreamer(1) General Commands Manual GStreamer(1)
NAME
gst-launch-1.0 - build and run a GStreamer pipeline
SYNOPSIS
gst-launch-1.0 [OPTION...] PIPELINE-DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
gst-launch-1.0 is a tool that builds and runs basic GStreamer pipe-
lines.
In simple form, a PIPELINE-DESCRIPTION is a list of elements separated
by exclamation marks (!). Properties may be appended to elements, in
the form property=value. A "preset" can also be set using the @pre-
set=<preset name> syntax.
For a complete description of possible PIPELINE-DESCRIPTIONS see the
section pipeline description below or consult the GStreamer documenta-
tion.
Please note that gst-launch-1.0 is primarily a debugging tool for de-
velopers 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.
OPTIONS
gst-launch-1.0 accepts the following options:
--help Print help synopsis and available FLAGS
-v, --verbose
Output status information and property notifications
-q, --quiet
Do not print any progress information
-m, --messages
Output messages posted on the pipeline's bus
-t, --tags
Output tags (also known as metadata)
-e, --eos-on-shutdown
Force an EOS event on sources before shutting the pipeline
down. This is useful to make sure muxers create readable files
when a muxing pipeline is shut down forcefully via Control-C.
-i, --index
Gather and print index statistics. This is mostly useful for
playback or recording pipelines.
-f, --no-fault
Do not install a fault handler
-T, --trace
Print memory allocation traces. The feature must be enabled at
compile time to work.
--no-position
Do not print current position of pipeline. If this option is
unspecified, the position will be printed when stdout is a TTY.
To enable printing position when stdout is not a TTY, use
"force-position" option.
--force-position
Allow printing current position of pipeline even if stdout is
not a TTY. This option has no effect if the "no-position" op-
tion is specified.
GSTREAMER OPTIONS
gst-launch-1.0 also accepts the following options that are com-
mon to all GStreamer applications:
--gst-version
Prints the version string of the GStreamer core library.
--gst-fatal-warnings
Causes GStreamer to abort if a warning message occurs. This is
equivalent to setting the environment variable G_DEBUG to 'fa-
tal_warnings' (see the section environment variables below for
further information).
--gst-debug=STRING
A comma separated list of category_name:level pairs to specify
debugging levels for each category. Level is in the range 0-9
where 0 will show no messages, and 9 will show all messages.
The wildcard * can be used to match category names. Note that
the order of categories and levels is important, wildcards at
the end may override levels set earlier. The log levels are:
1=ERROR, 2=WARNING, 3=FIXME, 4=INFO, 5=DEBUG, 6=LOG, 7=TRACE,
9=MEMDUMP. Since GStreamer 1.2 one can also use the debug level
names, e.g. --gst-debug=*sink:LOG. A full description of the
various debug levels can be found in the GStreamer core library
API documentation, in the "Running GStreamer Applications" sec-
tion.
Use --gst-debug-help to show category names
Example: GST_CAT:5,GST_ELEMENT_*:3,oggdemux:5
--gst-debug-level=LEVEL
Sets the threshold for printing debugging messages. A higher
level will print more messages. The useful range is 0-9, with
the default being 0. Level 6 (LOG level) will show all informa-
tion that is usually required for debugging purposes. Higher
levels are only useful in very specific cases. See above for
the full list of levels.
--gst-debug-no-color
GStreamer normally prints debugging messages so that the mes-
sages are color-coded when printed to a terminal that handles
ANSI escape sequences. Using this option causes GStreamer to
print messages without color. Setting the GST_DEBUG_NO_COLOR
environment variable will achieve the same thing.
--gst-debug-color-mode
GStreamer normally prints debugging messages so that the mes-
sages are color-coded when printed to a terminal that handles
ANSI escape sequences (on *nix), or uses W32 console API to
color the messages printed into a console (on W32). Using this
option causes GStreamer to print messages without color ('off'
or 'disable'), print messages with default colors ('on' or
'auto'), or print messages using ANSI escape sequences for col-
oring ('unix'). Setting the GST_DEBUG_COLOR_MODE environment
variable will achieve the same thing.
--gst-debug-disable
Disables debugging.
--gst-debug-help
Prints a list of available debug categories and their default
debugging level.
--gst-plugin-spew
GStreamer info flags to set Enable printout of errors while
loading GStreamer plugins
--gst-plugin-path=PATH
Add directories separated with ':' to the plugin search path
--gst-plugin-load=PLUGINS
Preload plugins specified in a comma-separated list. Another
way to specify plugins to preload is to use the environment
variable GST_PLUGIN_PATH
PIPELINE DESCRIPTION
A pipeline consists elements and links. Elements can be put into bins
of different sorts. Elements, links and bins can be specified in a
pipeline description in any order.
Elements
ELEMENTTYPE [PROPERTY1 ...]
Creates an element of type ELEMENTTYPE and sets the PROPERTIES.
Properties
PROPERTY=VALUE ...
Sets the property to the specified value. You can use gst-in-
spect-1.0(1) to find out about properties and allowed values of differ-
ent elements.
Enumeration properties can be set by name, nick or value.
Presets
@preset=<preset name> ...
Sets the preset on the element. you can use gst-inspect-1.0(1) to find
out what presets are available for a specific element.
Bins
[BINTYPE.] ( [PROPERTY1 ...] PIPELINE-DESCRIPTION )
Specifies that a bin of type BINTYPE is created and the given proper-
ties are set. Every element between the braces is put into the bin.
Please note the dot that has to be used after the BINTYPE. You will al-
most never need this functionality, it is only really useful for appli-
cations 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.
Links
[[SRCELEMENT].[PAD1,...]] ! [[SINKELEMENT].[PAD1,...]] [[SRCELE-
MENT].[PAD1,...]] ! CAPS ! [[SINKELEMENT].[PAD1,...]] [[SRCELE-
MENT].[PAD1,...]] : [[SINKELEMENT].[PAD1,...]] [[SRCELE-
MENT].[PAD1,...]] : CAPS : [[SINKELEMENT].[PAD1,...]]
Links the element with name SRCELEMENT to the element with name
SINKELEMENT, using the caps specified in CAPS 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 ele-
ment to the left of it to the element right of it.
Linking using the : operator attempts to link all possible pads between
the elements
Caps
MEDIATYPE [, PROPERTY[, PROPERTY ...]]] [; CAPS[; CAPS ...]]
Creates a capability with the given media type and optionally with
given properties. The media type can be escaped using " or '. If you
want to chain caps, you can add more caps in the same format after-
wards.
Properties
NAME=[(TYPE)]VALUE
in lists and ranges: [(TYPE)]VALUE
Sets the requested property in capabilities. The name is an alphanu-
meric value and the type can have the following case-insensitive val-
ues:
- i or int for integer values or ranges
- f or float for float values or ranges
- b, bool or boolean for boolean values
- s, str or string for strings
- fraction for fractions (framerate, pixel-aspect-ratio)
- l or list for lists
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 in-
sensitive) yes, no, true or false and may like strings be escaped with
" or '.
Ranges are in this format: [ VALUE, VALUE ]
Lists use this format: { VALUE [, VALUE ...] }
PIPELINE EXAMPLES
The examples below assume that you have the correct plug-ins available.
In general, "pulsesink" can be substituted with another audio output
plug-in such as "alsasink" or "osxaudiosink" Likewise, "xvimagesink"
can be substituted with "ximagesink", "glimagesink", or "osxvideosink".
Keep in mind though that different sinks might accept different formats
and even the same sink might accept different formats on different ma-
chines, so you might need to add converter elements like audioconvert
and audioresample (for audio) or videoconvert (for video) in front of
the sink to make things work.
Audio playback
Play the mp3 music file "music.mp3" using a libmpg123-based plug-in and
output to an Pulseaudio device
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=music.mp3 ! mpegaudioparse !
mpg123audiodec ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! pulsesink
Play an Ogg Vorbis format file
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=music.ogg ! oggdemux ! vorbis-
dec ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! pulsesink
Play an mp3 file or an http stream using GIO
gst-launch-1.0 giosrc location=music.mp3 ! mpegaudioparse !
mpg123audiodec ! audioconvert ! pulsesink
gst-launch-1.0 giosrc location=http://domain.com/music.mp3 !
mpegaudioparse ! mpg123audiodec ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! puls-
esink
Use GIO to play an mp3 file located on an SMB server
gst-launch-1.0 giosrc location=smb://computer/music.mp3 ! mpe-
gaudioparse ! mpg123audiodec ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! pulsesink
Format conversion
Convert an mp3 music file to an Ogg Vorbis file
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=music.mp3 ! mpegaudioparse !
mpg123audiodec ! audioconvert ! vorbisenc ! oggmux ! filesink loca-
tion=music.ogg
Convert to the FLAC format
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=music.mp3 ! mpegaudioparse !
mpg123audiodec ! audioconvert ! flacenc ! filesink location=test.flac
Other
Plays a .WAV file that contains raw audio data (PCM).
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=music.wav ! wavparse ! audio-
convert ! audioresample ! pulsesink
Convert a .WAV file containing raw audio data into an Ogg Vorbis or mp3
file
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=music.wav ! wavparse ! audio-
convert ! vorbisenc ! oggmux ! filesink location=music.ogg
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=music.wav ! wavparse ! audio-
convert ! lamemp3enc ! filesink location=music.mp3
Rips all tracks from compact disc and convert them into a single mp3
file
gst-launch-1.0 cdparanoiasrc mode=continuous ! audioconvert !
lamemp3enc ! mpegaudioparse ! id3v2mux ! filesink location=cd.mp3
Rips track 5 from the CD and converts it into a single mp3 file
gst-launch-1.0 cdparanoiasrc track=5 ! audioconvert !
lamemp3enc ! mpegaudioparse ! id3v2mux ! filesink location=track5.mp3
Using gst-inspect-1.0(1), it is possible to discover settings like the
above for cdparanoiasrc that will tell it to rip the entire cd or only
tracks of it. Alternatively, you can use an URI and gst-launch-1.0
will find an element (such as cdparanoia) that supports that protocol
for you, e.g.:
gst-launch-1.0 cdda://5 ! lamemp3enc vbr=new vbr-quality=6 !
filesink location=track5.mp3
Records sound from your audio input and encodes it into an ogg file
gst-launch-1.0 pulsesrc ! audioconvert ! vorbisenc ! oggmux !
filesink location=input.ogg
Video
Display only the video portion of an MPEG-1 video file, outputting to
an X display window
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=JB_FF9_TheGravityOfLove.mpg !
dvddemux ! mpegvideoparse ! mpeg2dec ! xvimagesink
Display the video portion of a .vob file (used on DVDs), outputting to
an SDL window
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=/flflfj.vob ! dvddemux !
mpegvideoparse ! mpeg2dec ! sdlvideosink
Play both video and audio portions of an MPEG movie
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=movie.mpg ! dvddemux name=de-
muxer demuxer. ! queue ! mpegvideoparse ! mpeg2dec ! sdlvideosink de-
muxer. ! queue ! mpegaudioparse ! mpg123audiodec ! audioconvert ! au-
dioresample ! pulsesink
Play an AVI movie with an external text subtitle stream
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=movie.mpg ! mpegdemux name=de-
muxer demuxer. ! queue ! mpegvideoparse ! mpeg2dec ! videoconvert !
sdlvideosink demuxer. ! queue ! mpegaudioparse ! mpg123audiodec ! au-
dioconvert ! audioresample ! pulsesink
This example also shows how to refer to specific pads by name if an el-
ement (here: textoverlay) has multiple sink or source pads.
gst-launch-1.0 textoverlay name=overlay ! videoconvert !
videoscale ! autovideosink filesrc location=movie.avi ! decodebin !
videoconvert ! overlay.video_sink filesrc location=movie.srt ! sub-
parse ! overlay.text_sink
Play an AVI movie with an external text subtitle stream using playbin
gst-launch-1.0 playbin uri=file:///path/to/movie.avi sub-
uri=file:///path/to/movie.srt
Network streaming
Stream video using RTP and network elements.
This command would be run on the transmitter
gst-launch-1.0 v4l2src ! video/x-raw,width=128,height=96,for-
mat=UYVY ! videoconvert ! ffenc_h263 ! video/x-h263 ! rtph263ppay pt=96
! udpsink host=192.168.1.1 port=5000
Use this command on the receiver
gst-launch-1.0 udpsrc port=5000 ! application/x-rtp,
clock-rate=90000,payload=96 ! rtph263pdepay queue-delay=0 ! ffdec_h263
! xvimagesink
Diagnostic
Generate a null stream and ignore it (and print out details).
gst-launch-1.0 -v fakesrc num-buffers=16 ! fakesink
Generate a pure sine tone to test the audio output
gst-launch-1.0 audiotestsrc ! audioconvert ! audioresample !
pulsesink
Generate a familiar test pattern to test the video output
gst-launch-1.0 videotestsrc ! xvimagesink
gst-launch-1.0 videotestsrc ! ximagesink
Automatic linking
You can use the decodebin element to automatically select the right el-
ements to get a working pipeline.
Play any supported audio format
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=musicfile ! decodebin ! audio-
convert ! audioresample ! pulsesink
Play any supported video format with video and audio output. Threads
are used automatically. To make this even easier, you can use the play-
bin element:
gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=videofile ! decodebin name=de-
coder decoder. ! queue ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! pulsesink de-
coder. ! videoconvert ! xvimagesink
gst-launch-1.0 playbin uri=file:///home/joe/foo.avi
Filtered connections
These examples show you how to use filtered caps.
Show a test image and use the YUY2 or YV12 video format for this.
gst-launch-1.0 videotestsrc ! 'video/x-raw,for-
mat=YUY2;video/x-raw,format=YV12' ! xvimagesink
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.
gst-launch-1.0 pulsesrc ! 'audio/x-raw,rate=[32000,64000],for-
mat={S16LE,S24LE,S32LE}' ! wavenc ! filesink location=recording.wav
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
GST_DEBUG
Comma-separated list of debug categories and levels (e.g.
GST_DEBUG=totem:4,typefind:5). '*' is allowed as a wildcard as
part of debug category names (e.g. GST_DEBUG=*sink:6,*audio*:6).
Since 1.2.0 it is also possible to specify the log level by name
(1=ERROR, 2=WARN, 3=FIXME, 4=INFO, 5=DEBUG, 6=LOG, 7=TRACE,
9=MEMDUMP) (e.g. GST_DEBUG=*audio*:LOG)
GST_DEBUG_NO_COLOR
When this environment variable is set, coloured debug output is
disabled.
GST_DEBUG_DUMP_DOT_DIR
When set to a filesystem path, store 'dot' files of pipeline
graphs there. These can then later be converted into an image
using the 'dot' utility from the graphviz set of tools, like
this: dot foo.dot -Tsvg -o foo.svg (png or jpg are also possible
as output format). There is also a utility called 'xdot' which
allows you to view the .dot file directly without converting it
first.
When the pipeline changes state through NULL to PLAYING and back
to NULL, a dot file is generated on each state change. To write
a snapshot of the pipeline state, send a SIGHUP to the process.
GST_REGISTRY
Path of the plugin registry file. Default is
~/.cache/gstreamer-1.0/registry-CPU.bin where CPU is the ma-
chine/cpu type GStreamer was compiled for, e.g. 'i486', 'i686',
'x86-64', 'ppc', etc. (check the output of "uname -i" and "uname
-m" for details).
GST_REGISTRY_UPDATE
Set to "no" to force GStreamer to assume that no plugins have
changed, been added or been removed. This will make GStreamer
skip the initial check whether a rebuild of the registry cache
is required or not. This may be useful in embedded environments
where the installed plugins never change. Do not use this option
in any other setup.
GST_PLUGIN_PATH
Specifies a list of directories to scan for additional plugins.
These take precedence over the system plugins.
GST_PLUGIN_SYSTEM_PATH
Specifies a list of plugins that are always loaded by default.
If not set, this defaults to the system-installed path, and the
plugins installed in the user's home directory
GST_DEBUG_FILE
Set this variable to a file path to redirect all GStreamer debug
messages to this file. If left unset, debug messages with be
output unto the standard error.
ORC_CODE
Useful Orc environment variable. Set ORC_CODE=debug to enable
debuggers such as gdb to create useful backtraces from Orc-gen-
erated code. Set ORC_CODE=backup or ORC_CODE=emulate if you
suspect Orc's SIMD code generator is producing incorrect code.
(Quite a few important GStreamer plugins like videotestsrc, au-
dioconvert or audioresample use Orc).
G_DEBUG
Useful GLib environment variable. Set G_DEBUG=fatal_warnings to
make GStreamer programs abort when a critical warning such as an
assertion failure occurs. This is useful if you want to find out
which part of the code caused that warning to be triggered and
under what circumstances. Simply set G_DEBUG as mentioned above
and run the program in gdb (or let it core dump). Then get a
stack trace in the usual way.
FILES
~/.cache/gstreamer-1.0/registry-*.bin
The plugin cache; can be deleted at any time, will be re-cre-
ated automatically when it does not exist yet or plugins
change. Based on XDG_CACHE_DIR, so may be in a different loca-
tion than the one suggested.
SEE ALSO
gst-inspect-1.0(1), gst-launch-1.0(1),
AUTHOR
The GStreamer team at http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/
May 2007 GStreamer(1)
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