gst-launch ================ This is a tool that will construct pipelines based on a command-line syntax. The syntax is rather complex to enable all the features I want it to have, but should be easy to use for most people. Multi-pathed and feedback pipelines are the most complex. A simple commandline looks like: gst-launch filesrc location=music.mp3 ! mad ! osssink This plays an mp3 music file music.mp3 using libmad, and: gst-launch filesrc location=music.mp3 ! mp3parse ! mpg123 ! osssink Plays and mp3 music file using mpg123 You can also stream files over http: gst-launch httpsrc location=http://domain.com/music.mp3 ! mad ! osssink And using gnome-vfs you can do the same with: gst-launch gnomevfssrc location=music.mp3 ! mad ! osssink gst-launch gnomevfssrc location=http://domain.com/music.mp3 ! mad ! osssink And too play the same song with gnome-vfs via smb: gst-launch gnomevfssrc location=smb://computer/music.mp3 ! mad ! osssink Here we convert a Mp3 file into an Ogg Vorbis file: gst-launch filesrc location=music.mp3 ! mad ! vorbisenc ! filesink location=music.ogg And then we can play that file with: gst-launch filesrc location=music.ogg ! oggdemux ! vorbisdec ! audioconvert ! osssink Some other useful pipelines are.. Plays wav files (currently there are no wav encoders): gst-launch filesrc location=music.wav ! wavparse ! osssink Converts wav files into mp3 and ogg files: gst-launch filesrc location=music.wav ! wavparse ! vorbisenc ! filesink location=music.ogg gst-launch filesrc location=music.wav ! wavparse ! mpegaudio ! filesink location=music.mp3 You can also use lame for mp3 encoding if you have it installed, it does a much better job than mpegaudio. Rips all songs from cd and saves them into a mp3 file: gst-launch cdparanoia ! mpegaudio ! filesink location=cd.mp3 You can toy around with gst-inspect to discover the settings for cdparanoia to rip individual tracks Record sound from your sound input and encode it into an ogg file: gst-launch osssrc ! vorbisenc ! filesink location=input.ogg gst-launch not only handles audio but video as well: For mpeg1 files (video and audio streams respectively): gst-launch filesrc location=video.mpg ! mpegdemux video_00! { queue ! mpeg2dec ! sdlvideosink } gst-launch filesrc location=video.mpg ! mpegdemux audio_00! { queue ! mad ! osssink } for mpeg1 with both audio and video (for glib2): gst-launch filesrc location=video.mpg ! mpegdemux name=demux video_00! { queue ! mpeg2dec ! sdlvideosink } demux.audio_00! { queue ! mad ! osssink } for mpeg1 with both audio and video (for gtk1.2, the shim doesn't handle the 'name' property yet): gst-launch filesrc location=video.mpg ! mpegdemux video_00! { queue ! mpeg2dec ! sdlvideosink } mpegdemux0.audio_00! { queue ! mad ! osssink } For mpeg2 files (video and audio streams respectively): gst-launch filesrc location=video.mpeg ! mpegdemux video_00! { queue ! mpeg2dec ! sdlvideosink } gst-launch filesrc location=video.mpeg ! mpegdemux private_stream_1.0! { queue ! a52dec ! osssink } for mpeg2 with both audio and video (glib2): gst-launch filesrc location=video.mpg ! mpegdemux name=demux video_00! { queue ! mpeg2dec ! sdlvideosink } demux.private_stream_1.0! { queue ! a52dec ! osssink } Note: The types of audio streams in the mpeg files can vary! For an avi file (DivX, mjpeg,...) gst-launch filesrc location=video.avi ! avidecoder video_00! { queue ! sdlvideosink } avidecoder0.audio_00! { queue ! osssink } gst-complete ================== This is a simple utility which provides custom bash completion when typing gst-launch commands. Simply run "gst-compprep" as root to build the registry of completions, and then put, in your .bashrc, "complete -C gst-complete gst-launch" (ensuring that gst-complete is on your path). You can then enjoy context sensitive tab-completion of gst-launch commands. gst-inspect ================= Allows you to check the properties of plugins and elements. ./gst-inspect will show all the plugins available and the elements they contain. ./gst-inspect shows more info about the plugin/element. gst-xmlinspect ================= Dump properties of plugins and elements in an xml format. You can transform the xml to something else with an appropriate stylesheet. ./gst-xmlinspect | xsltproc xml2text.xsl -