Tutorial: Using the Sink Writer to Encode Video
This tutorial uses the Sink Writer to encode a video file.
Define the Video Format
For simplicity, this tutorial uses a fixed video format, defined by the following constants:
// Format constants
const UINT32 VIDEO_WIDTH = 640;
const UINT32 VIDEO_HEIGHT = 480;
const UINT32 VIDEO_FPS = 30;
const UINT64 VIDEO_FRAME_DURATION = 10 * 1000 * 1000 / VIDEO_FPS;
const UINT32 VIDEO_BIT_RATE = 800000;
const GUID VIDEO_ENCODING_FORMAT = MFVideoFormat_WMV3;
const GUID VIDEO_INPUT_FORMAT = MFVideoFormat_RGB32;
const UINT32 VIDEO_PELS = VIDEO_WIDTH * VIDEO_HEIGHT;
const UINT32 VIDEO_FRAME_COUNT = 20 * VIDEO_FPS;
These constants specify the following parameters of the video format:
- Frame size (width and height)
- Frames per second.
- Encoded bit rate.
- Encoding format, which is Windows Media Video 9 (MFVideoFormat_WMV3).
- Input format, which is 32-bit RGB.
- Duration of the output file.
The program uses these constants to create the media types that describe the format. In a real application, you would typically support a range of encoding profiles.
Create an Uncompressed Video Frame
Also for simplicity, this tutorial uses a static video frame as input. The video frame contains a solid green rectangle and is generated programmatically. The video frame is stored in a global variable as an array of DWORDs:
// Buffer to hold the video frame data.
DWORD videoFrameBuffer[VIDEO_PELS];
The following code sets every pixel in the frame to green:
// Set all pixels to green
for (DWORD i = 0; i < VIDEO_PELS; ++i)
{
videoFrameBuffer[i] = 0x0000FF00;
}
Initialize the Sink Writer
To initialize the sink writer, perform the following steps.
- Call MFCreateSinkWriterFromURL to create a new instance of the sink writer.
- Create a media type that describes the encoded video.
- Pass this media type to the IMFSinkWriter::AddStream method.
- Create a second media type that describes the uncompressed input.
- Pass the uncompressed media type to the IMFSinkWriter::SetInputMediaType method.
- Call the IMFSinkWriter::BeginWriting method.
- The sink writer is now ready to accept input samples.
The following code shows these steps.
HRESULT InitializeSinkWriter(IMFSinkWriter **ppWriter, DWORD *pStreamIndex)
{
*ppWriter = NULL;
*pStreamIndex = NULL;
IMFSinkWriter *pSinkWriter = NULL;
IMFMediaType *pMediaTypeOut = NULL;
IMFMediaType *pMediaTypeIn = NULL;
DWORD streamIndex;
HRESULT hr = MFCreateSinkWriterFromURL(L"output.wmv", NULL, NULL, &pSinkWriter);
// Set the output media type.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFCreateMediaType(&pMediaTypeOut);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeOut->SetGUID(MF_MT_MAJOR_TYPE, MFMediaType_Video);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeOut->SetGUID(MF_MT_SUBTYPE, VIDEO_ENCODING_FORMAT);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeOut->SetUINT32(MF_MT_AVG_BITRATE, VIDEO_BIT_RATE);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeOut->SetUINT32(MF_MT_INTERLACE_MODE, MFVideoInterlace_Progressive);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeSize(pMediaTypeOut, MF_MT_FRAME_SIZE, VIDEO_WIDTH, VIDEO_HEIGHT);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeOut, MF_MT_FRAME_RATE, VIDEO_FPS, 1);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeOut, MF_MT_PIXEL_ASPECT_RATIO, 1, 1);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSinkWriter->AddStream(pMediaTypeOut, &streamIndex);
}
// Set the input media type.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFCreateMediaType(&pMediaTypeIn);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeIn->SetGUID(MF_MT_MAJOR_TYPE, MFMediaType_Video);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeIn->SetGUID(MF_MT_SUBTYPE, VIDEO_INPUT_FORMAT);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeIn->SetUINT32(MF_MT_INTERLACE_MODE, MFVideoInterlace_Progressive);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeSize(pMediaTypeIn, MF_MT_FRAME_SIZE, VIDEO_WIDTH, VIDEO_HEIGHT);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeIn, MF_MT_FRAME_RATE, VIDEO_FPS, 1);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeIn, MF_MT_PIXEL_ASPECT_RATIO, 1, 1);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSinkWriter->SetInputMediaType(streamIndex, pMediaTypeIn, NULL);
}
// Tell the sink writer to start accepting data.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSinkWriter->BeginWriting();
}
// Return the pointer to the caller.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
*ppWriter = pSinkWriter;
(*ppWriter)->AddRef();
*pStreamIndex = streamIndex;
}
SafeRelease(&pSinkWriter);
SafeRelease(&pMediaTypeOut);
SafeRelease(&pMediaTypeIn);
return hr;
}
Most of the steps in previous code example are setting the media type attributes for the two media types. The details of the media types will depend on your source content and the desired encoding profile.
Send Video Frames to the Sink Writer
To send a video frame to the sink writer, call the IMFSinkWriter::WriteSample method. The WriteSample method takes a pointer to the IMFSample interface, which represents a media sample object. The media sample contains a media buffer object, which in turn contains a pointer to the video frame. For more information about media samples and buffer, see the following topics.
Depending on your application, you might get the media samples from the Source Reader. Alternatively, you can create the media samples and directly manipulate the data in the buffer. The following code shows the second approach. It creates a memory buffer and writes a single video frame to the buffer. Then it adds that buffer to a media sample, and sends the media sample to the sink writer.
HRESULT WriteFrame(
IMFSinkWriter *pWriter,
DWORD streamIndex,
const LONGLONG& rtStart // Time stamp.
)
{
IMFSample *pSample = NULL;
IMFMediaBuffer *pBuffer = NULL;
const LONG cbWidth = 4 * VIDEO_WIDTH;
const DWORD cbBuffer = cbWidth * VIDEO_HEIGHT;
BYTE *pData = NULL;
// Create a new memory buffer.
HRESULT hr = MFCreateMemoryBuffer(cbBuffer, &pBuffer);
// Lock the buffer and copy the video frame to the buffer.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pBuffer->Lock(&pData, NULL, NULL);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFCopyImage(
pData, // Destination buffer.
cbWidth, // Destination stride.
(BYTE*)videoFrameBuffer, // First row in source image.
cbWidth, // Source stride.
cbWidth, // Image width in bytes.
VIDEO_HEIGHT // Image height in pixels.
);
}
if (pBuffer)
{
pBuffer->Unlock();
}
// Set the data length of the buffer.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pBuffer->SetCurrentLength(cbBuffer);
}
// Create a media sample and add the buffer to the sample.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFCreateSample(&pSample);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSample->AddBuffer(pBuffer);
}
// Set the time stamp and the duration.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSample->SetSampleTime(rtStart);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSample->SetSampleDuration(VIDEO_FRAME_DURATION);
}
// Send the sample to the Sink Writer.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pWriter->WriteSample(streamIndex, pSample);
}
SafeRelease(&pSample);
SafeRelease(&pBuffer);
return hr;
}
This code performs the following steps.
Call MFCreateMemoryBuffer to create a media buffer object. This function allocates the memory for the buffer.
Call IMFMediaBuffer::Lock to lock the buffer and get a pointer to the memory.
Call MFCopyImage to copy the video frame into the buffer.
Note
In this particular example, using memcpy would work just as well. However, the MFCopyImage function correctly handles the case where the stride of the source image does not match the target buffer. For more information, see Image Stride.
Call IMFMediaBuffer::Unlock to unlock the buffer.
Call IMFMediaBuffer::SetCurrentLength to update the length of the valid data in the buffer. (Otherwise, this value defaults to zero.)
Call MFCreateSample to create a media sample object.
Call IMFSample::AddBuffer to add the media buffer to the media sample.
Call IMFSample::SetSampleTime to set the time stamp for the video frame.
Call IMFSample::SetSampleDuration to set the duration of the video frame.
Call IMFSinkWriter::WriteSample to send the media sample to the sink writer.
Write the main Function
Inside the main function, perform the following steps.
- Call CoInitializeEx to initialize the COM library.
- Call MFStartup to initialize Microsoft Media Foundation.
- Create the sink writer.
- Send video frames to the sink writer.
- Call IMFSinkWriter::Finalize to finalize the output file.
- Release the pointer to the sink writer.
- Call MFShutdown.
- Call CoUninitialize.
void main()
{
// Set all pixels to green
for (DWORD i = 0; i < VIDEO_PELS; ++i)
{
videoFrameBuffer[i] = 0x0000FF00;
}
HRESULT hr = CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFStartup(MF_VERSION);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
IMFSinkWriter *pSinkWriter = NULL;
DWORD stream;
hr = InitializeSinkWriter(&pSinkWriter, &stream);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
// Send frames to the sink writer.
LONGLONG rtStart = 0;
for (DWORD i = 0; i < VIDEO_FRAME_COUNT; ++i)
{
hr = WriteFrame(pSinkWriter, stream, rtStart);
if (FAILED(hr))
{
break;
}
rtStart += VIDEO_FRAME_DURATION;
}
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSinkWriter->Finalize();
}
SafeRelease(&pSinkWriter);
MFShutdown();
}
CoUninitialize();
}
}
Example Code
The following code shows the complete program.
#include <Windows.h>
#include <mfapi.h>
#include <mfidl.h>
#include <Mfreadwrite.h>
#include <mferror.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "mfreadwrite")
#pragma comment(lib, "mfplat")
#pragma comment(lib, "mfuuid")
template <class T> void SafeRelease(T **ppT)
{
if (*ppT)
{
(*ppT)->Release();
*ppT = NULL;
}
}
// Format constants
const UINT32 VIDEO_WIDTH = 640;
const UINT32 VIDEO_HEIGHT = 480;
const UINT32 VIDEO_FPS = 30;
const UINT64 VIDEO_FRAME_DURATION = 10 * 1000 * 1000 / VIDEO_FPS;
const UINT32 VIDEO_BIT_RATE = 800000;
const GUID VIDEO_ENCODING_FORMAT = MFVideoFormat_WMV3;
const GUID VIDEO_INPUT_FORMAT = MFVideoFormat_RGB32;
const UINT32 VIDEO_PELS = VIDEO_WIDTH * VIDEO_HEIGHT;
const UINT32 VIDEO_FRAME_COUNT = 20 * VIDEO_FPS;
// Buffer to hold the video frame data.
DWORD videoFrameBuffer[VIDEO_PELS];
HRESULT InitializeSinkWriter(IMFSinkWriter **ppWriter, DWORD *pStreamIndex)
{
*ppWriter = NULL;
*pStreamIndex = NULL;
IMFSinkWriter *pSinkWriter = NULL;
IMFMediaType *pMediaTypeOut = NULL;
IMFMediaType *pMediaTypeIn = NULL;
DWORD streamIndex;
HRESULT hr = MFCreateSinkWriterFromURL(L"output.wmv", NULL, NULL, &pSinkWriter);
// Set the output media type.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFCreateMediaType(&pMediaTypeOut);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeOut->SetGUID(MF_MT_MAJOR_TYPE, MFMediaType_Video);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeOut->SetGUID(MF_MT_SUBTYPE, VIDEO_ENCODING_FORMAT);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeOut->SetUINT32(MF_MT_AVG_BITRATE, VIDEO_BIT_RATE);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeOut->SetUINT32(MF_MT_INTERLACE_MODE, MFVideoInterlace_Progressive);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeSize(pMediaTypeOut, MF_MT_FRAME_SIZE, VIDEO_WIDTH, VIDEO_HEIGHT);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeOut, MF_MT_FRAME_RATE, VIDEO_FPS, 1);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeOut, MF_MT_PIXEL_ASPECT_RATIO, 1, 1);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSinkWriter->AddStream(pMediaTypeOut, &streamIndex);
}
// Set the input media type.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFCreateMediaType(&pMediaTypeIn);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeIn->SetGUID(MF_MT_MAJOR_TYPE, MFMediaType_Video);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeIn->SetGUID(MF_MT_SUBTYPE, VIDEO_INPUT_FORMAT);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pMediaTypeIn->SetUINT32(MF_MT_INTERLACE_MODE, MFVideoInterlace_Progressive);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeSize(pMediaTypeIn, MF_MT_FRAME_SIZE, VIDEO_WIDTH, VIDEO_HEIGHT);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeIn, MF_MT_FRAME_RATE, VIDEO_FPS, 1);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFSetAttributeRatio(pMediaTypeIn, MF_MT_PIXEL_ASPECT_RATIO, 1, 1);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSinkWriter->SetInputMediaType(streamIndex, pMediaTypeIn, NULL);
}
// Tell the sink writer to start accepting data.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSinkWriter->BeginWriting();
}
// Return the pointer to the caller.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
*ppWriter = pSinkWriter;
(*ppWriter)->AddRef();
*pStreamIndex = streamIndex;
}
SafeRelease(&pSinkWriter);
SafeRelease(&pMediaTypeOut);
SafeRelease(&pMediaTypeIn);
return hr;
}
HRESULT WriteFrame(
IMFSinkWriter *pWriter,
DWORD streamIndex,
const LONGLONG& rtStart // Time stamp.
)
{
IMFSample *pSample = NULL;
IMFMediaBuffer *pBuffer = NULL;
const LONG cbWidth = 4 * VIDEO_WIDTH;
const DWORD cbBuffer = cbWidth * VIDEO_HEIGHT;
BYTE *pData = NULL;
// Create a new memory buffer.
HRESULT hr = MFCreateMemoryBuffer(cbBuffer, &pBuffer);
// Lock the buffer and copy the video frame to the buffer.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pBuffer->Lock(&pData, NULL, NULL);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFCopyImage(
pData, // Destination buffer.
cbWidth, // Destination stride.
(BYTE*)videoFrameBuffer, // First row in source image.
cbWidth, // Source stride.
cbWidth, // Image width in bytes.
VIDEO_HEIGHT // Image height in pixels.
);
}
if (pBuffer)
{
pBuffer->Unlock();
}
// Set the data length of the buffer.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pBuffer->SetCurrentLength(cbBuffer);
}
// Create a media sample and add the buffer to the sample.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFCreateSample(&pSample);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSample->AddBuffer(pBuffer);
}
// Set the time stamp and the duration.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSample->SetSampleTime(rtStart);
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSample->SetSampleDuration(VIDEO_FRAME_DURATION);
}
// Send the sample to the Sink Writer.
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pWriter->WriteSample(streamIndex, pSample);
}
SafeRelease(&pSample);
SafeRelease(&pBuffer);
return hr;
}
void main()
{
// Set all pixels to green
for (DWORD i = 0; i < VIDEO_PELS; ++i)
{
videoFrameBuffer[i] = 0x0000FF00;
}
HRESULT hr = CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = MFStartup(MF_VERSION);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
IMFSinkWriter *pSinkWriter = NULL;
DWORD stream;
hr = InitializeSinkWriter(&pSinkWriter, &stream);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
// Send frames to the sink writer.
LONGLONG rtStart = 0;
for (DWORD i = 0; i < VIDEO_FRAME_COUNT; ++i)
{
hr = WriteFrame(pSinkWriter, stream, rtStart);
if (FAILED(hr))
{
break;
}
rtStart += VIDEO_FRAME_DURATION;
}
}
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
hr = pSinkWriter->Finalize();
}
SafeRelease(&pSinkWriter);
MFShutdown();
}
CoUninitialize();
}
}
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