MKVEXTRACT(1)                    User Commands                   MKVEXTRACT(1)



NAME
       mkvextract - extract tracks from Matroska(TM) files into other files

SYNOPSIS
       mkvextract {mode} {source-filename} [options] [extraction-spec]

DESCRIPTION
       This program extracts specific parts from a Matroska(TM) file to other
       useful formats. The first argument, mode, tells mkvextract(1) what to
       extract. Currently supported is the extraction of tracks, tags,
       attachments, chapters, CUE sheets and timecodes. The second argument is
       the name of the source file. It must be a Matroska(TM) file. All
       following arguments are options and extraction specifications; both of
       which depend on the selected mode.

   Common options
       The following options are available in all modes and only described
       once in this section.

       -f, --parse-fully
           Sets the parse mode to 'full'. The default mode does not parse the
           whole file but uses the meta seek elements for locating the
           required elements of a source file. In 99% of all cases this is
           enough. But for files that do not contain meta seek elements or
           which are damaged the user might have to use this mode. A full scan
           of a file can take a couple of minutes while a fast scan only takes
           seconds.

       --command-line-charset character-set
           Sets the character set to convert strings given on the command line
           from. It defaults to the character set given by system's current
           locale.

       --output-charset character-set
           Sets the character set to which strings are converted that are to
           be output. It defaults to the character set given by system's
           current locale.

       -r, --redirect-output file-name
           Writes all messages to the file file-name instead of to the
           console. While this can be done easily with output redirection
           there are cases in which this option is needed: when the terminal
           reinterprets the output before writing it to a file. The character
           set set with --output-charset is honored.

       --ui-language code
           Forces the translations for the language code to be used (e.g.
           'de_DE' for the German translations). It is preferable to use the
           environment variables LANG, LC_MESSAGES and LC_ALL though. Entering
           'list' as the code will cause mkvextract(1) to output a list of
           available translations.

       -v, --verbose
           Be verbose and show all the important Matroska(TM) elements as
           they're read.

       -h, --help
           Show usage information and exit.

       -V, --version
           Show version information and exit.

       @options-file
           Reads additional command line arguments from the file options-file.
           Lines whose first non-whitespace character is a hash mark ('#') are
           treated as comments and ignored. White spaces at the start and end
           of a line will be stripped. Each line must contain exactly one
           option. There is no meta character escaping.

           The command line 'mkvextract tracks source.mkv --raw
           1:destination.raw' could be converted into the following option
           file:

               # Extract a track from source.mkv
               tracks
               source.mkv
               # Output the track as raw data.
               --raw
               1:destination.raw


   Track extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract tracks source-filename [options] TID1:dest-filename1
       [TID2:dest-filename2 ...]

       The following command line options are available for each track in the
       'tracks' extraction mode. They have to appear in front of the track
       specification (see below) they should be applied to.

       -c character-set
           Sets the character set to convert the next text subtitle track to.
           Only valid if the next track ID targets a text subtitle track. It
           defaults to UTF-8.

       --blockadd level
           Keep only the BlockAdditions up to this level. The default is to
           keep all levels. This option only affects certain kinds of codecs
           like WAVPACK4.

       --cuesheet
           Causes mkvextract(1) to extract a CUE sheet from the chapter
           information and tag data for the following track into a file whose
           name is the track's output name with '.cue' appended to it.

       --raw
           Extracts the raw data into a file without any container data around
           it. Unlike the --fullraw flag this flag does not cause the contents
           of the CodecPrivate element to be written to the file. This mode
           works with all CodecIDs, even the ones that mkvextract(1) doesn't
           support otherwise, but the resulting files might not be usable.

       --fullraw
           Extracts the raw data into a file without any container data around
           it. The contents of the CodecPrivate element will be written to the
           file first if the track contains such a header element. This mode
           works with all CodecIDs, even the ones that mkvextract(1) doesn't
           support otherwise, but the resulting files might not be usable.

       TID:outname
           Causes extraction of the track with the ID TID into the file
           outname if such a track exists in the source file. This option can
           be given multiple times. The track IDs are the same as the ones
           output by mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option.

           Each output name should be used only once. The exception are
           RealAudio and RealVideo tracks. If you use the same name for
           different tracks then those tracks will be saved in the same file.
           Example:

               $ mkvextract tracks input.mkv 1:output-two-tracks.rm 2:output-two-tracks.rm


   Tags extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract tags source-filename [options]

       The extracted tags are written to the console unless the output is
       redirected (see the section about output redirection for details).

   Attachments extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract attachments source-filename [options] AID1:outname1
       [AID2:outname2 ...]

       AID:outname
           Causes extraction of the attachment with the ID AID into the file
           outname if such an attachment exists in the source file. If the
           outname is left empty then the name of the attachment inside the
           source Matroska(TM) file is used instead. This option can be given
           multiple times. The attachment IDs are the same as the ones output
           by mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option.

   Chapters extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract chapters source-filename [options]

       -s, --simple
           Exports the chapter information in the simple format used in the
           OGM tools (CHAPTER01=..., CHAPTER01NAME=...). In this mode some
           information has to be discarded. Default is to output the chapters
           in XML format.

       The extracted chapters are written to the console unless the output is
       redirected (see the section about output redirection for details).

   Cue sheet extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract cuesheet source-filename [options]

       The extracted cue sheet is written to the console unless the output is
       redirected (see the section about output redirection for details).

   Timecode extraction mode
       Syntax: mkvextract timecodes_v2 source-filename [options]

       The extracted timecodes are written to the console unless the output is
       redirected (see the section about output redirection for details).

OUTPUT REDIRECTION
       Several extraction modes cause mkvextract(1) to write the extracted
       data to the console. There are generally two ways of writing this data
       into a file: one provided by the shell and one provided by
       mkvextract(1) itself.

       The shell's builtin redirection mechanism is used by appending '>
       output-filename.ext' to the command line. Example:

           $ mkvextract tags source.mkv > tags.xml


       mkvextract(1)'s own redirection is invoked with the --redirect-output
       option. Example:

           $ mkvextract tags source.mkv --redirect-output tags.xml


           Note
           On Windows you should probably use the --redirect-output option
           because cmd.exe sometimes interpretes special characters before
           they're written into the output file resulting in broken output.

OUTPUT FILE FORMATS
       The decision about the output format is based on the track type, not on
       the extension used for the output file name. The following track types
       are supported at the moment:

       V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC

           H.264 / AVC video tracks are written to H.264 elementary streams
           which can be processed further with e.g.  MP4Box(TM) from the
           GPAC(TM) package.

       V_MS/VFW/FOURCC
           Fixed FPS video tracks with this CodecID are written to AVI files.

       V_REAL/*

           RealVideo(TM) tracks are written to RealMedia(TM) files.

       A_MPEG/L3, A_AC3
           These will be extracted to raw MP3 and AC3 files.

       A_PCM/INT/LIT
           Raw PCM data will be written to a WAV file.

       A_AAC/MPEG2/*, A_AAC/MPEG4/*, A_AAC
           All AAC files will be written into an AAC file with ADTS headers
           before each packet. The ADTS headers will not contain the
           deprecated emphasis field.

       A_VORBIS
           Vorbis audio will be written into an OggVorbis(TM) file.

       A_REAL/*

           RealAudio(TM) tracks are written to RealMedia(TM) files.

       A_TTA1

           TrueAudio(TM) tracks are written to TTA files. Please note that due
           to Matroska(TM)'s limited timecode precision the extracted file's
           header will be different regarding two fields: data_length (the
           total number of samples in the file) and the CRC.

       S_TEXT/UTF8
           Simple text subtitles will be written as SRT files.

       S_TEXT/SSA, S_TEXT/ASS

           SSA and ASS text subtitles will be written as SSA/ASS files
           respectively.

       S_KATE

           Kate(TM) streams will be written within an Ogg(TM) container.

       Tags
           Tags are converted to a XML format. This format is the same that
           mkvmerge(1) supports for reading tags.

       Attachments
           Attachments are written to they output file as they are. No
           conversion whatsoever is done.

       Chapters
           Chapters are converted to a XML format. This format is the same
           that mkvmerge(1) supports for reading chapters. Alternatively a
           stripped-down version can be output in the simple OGM style format.

       Timecodes
           Timecodes are first sorted and then output as a timecode v2 format
           compliant file ready to be fed to mkvmerge(1). The extraction to
           other formats (v1, v3 and v4) is not supported.

EXIT CODES
       mkvextract(1) exits with one of three exit codes:

       o    0 -- This exit codes means that extraction has completed
           successfully.

       o    1 -- In this case mkvextract(1) has output at least one warning,
           but extraction did continue. A warning is prefixed with the text
           'Warning:'. Depending on the issues involved the resulting files
           might be ok or not. The user is urged to check both the warning and
           the resulting files.

       o    2 -- This exit code is used after an error occurred.
           mkvextract(1) aborts right after outputting the error message.
           Error messages range from wrong command line arguments over
           read/write errors to broken files.

SEE ALSO
       mkvmerge(1), mkvinfo(1), mkvpropedit(1), mmg(1)

WWW
       The latest version can always be found at the MKVToolNix homepage[1].

AUTHOR
       Moritz Bunkus <moritz@bunkus.org>
           Developer

NOTES
        1. the MKVToolNix homepage
           http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/



MkvToolNix 4.0.0                  2010-06-05                     MKVEXTRACT(1)
