Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

gstreamer VS MKVToolnix

Compare gstreamer VS MKVToolnix and see what are their differences

gstreamer logo gstreamer

GStreamer is a library for constructing graphs of media-handling components. The applications it supports range from simple Ogg/Vorbis playback, audio/video streaming to complex audio (mixing) and video (non-linear editing) processing.

MKVToolnix logo MKVToolnix

MKVToolnix is a set of tools to create, alter and inspect Matroska files under Linux, other Unices...
  • gstreamer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-01
  • MKVToolnix Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-13

gstreamer features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Support
    GStreamer is compatible with multiple operating systems including Linux, Windows, macOS, and Android, which makes it a versatile choice for multi-platform application development.
  • Modular Design
    Its pipeline-based architecture allows developers to choose from a wide range of plugins to build custom multimedia processing solutions, offering great flexibility in handling multimedia data.
  • Community and Support
    Being open-source and widely used, GStreamer has an active community and extensive documentation, facilitating easier problem-solving and continuous improvement.
  • Extensive Plugin Library
    GStreamer contains an extensive set of default plugins and supports third-party plugins, enabling a vast array of functionalities ranging from basic media playback to complex streaming and processing operations.
  • High Performance
    Designed for high-performance multimedia handling, GStreamer can efficiently process media streams including video and audio, making it suitable for both low and high-end applications.

Possible disadvantages of gstreamer

  • Complex API
    For beginners, the GStreamer API can be overwhelming due to its complexity and steep learning curve, which might require considerable time and effort to master fully.
  • Debugging Challenges
    Debugging GStreamer pipelines can be complex, particularly in applications involving many plugins and stages, as error handling is not always straightforward.
  • Compatibility Issues
    While GStreamer aims to be cross-platform, ensuring consistent behavior and performance across all supported platforms can be challenging due to subtle differences and dependencies.
  • Resource Intensive
    Depending on the configuration and the plugins used, GStreamer can become resource-intensive, posing a problem for applications running on hardware with limited capabilities.

MKVToolnix features and specs

  • Comprehensive File Support
    MKVToolnix supports a wide range of multimedia file formats for input and output, making it a versatile tool for merging, splitting, and modifying MKV files.
  • Open-Source
    As an open-source software, MKVToolnix is free to use and offers transparency for users who want to understand its inner workings or contribute to its development.
  • Multi-Platform Availability
    MKVToolnix is available for various operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing accessibility to a broad audience.
  • Extensive Features
    The software offers a comprehensive set of features, such as merging, splitting, demuxing, and multiplexing, along with support for subtitles, audio tracks, and chapter editing.
  • Regular Updates
    MKVToolnix receives frequent updates, which include bug fixes, performance improvements, and new features, ensuring it remains current with industry standards.

Possible disadvantages of MKVToolnix

  • Complexity for Beginners
    The extensive feature set and specialized nature of the software can be overwhelming for beginners, requiring a steep learning curve to utilize effectively.
  • Command-Line Interface
    While MKVToolnix includes a graphical user interface, many of its powerful features are accessible only through its command-line interface, which can be daunting for non-technical users.
  • Limited Support for Non-MKV Formats
    Although MKVToolnix supports various input formats, its primary focus is on MKV files, which may limit its utility for users working extensively with other file types.
  • Resource Intensive
    Processing large multimedia files, especially with complex tasks such as merging or transcoding, can be resource-intensive and may require significant system memory and CPU power.
  • Basic User Interface
    The user interface, while functional, is relatively basic and may not meet the expectations of users looking for a more polished and visually appealing design.

gstreamer videos

GStreamer review day

More videos:

  • Review - Gstreamer
  • Review - Embedded Linux Conference 2013 - Optimizing GStreamer Video Plugins

MKVToolnix videos

How To Use Mkvtoolnix | Technical Maher

More videos:

  • Review - Como Multiplexar Videos con MKVToolNix (modificar videos MKV)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to gstreamer and MKVToolnix)
Video
23 23%
77% 77
Tool
100 100%
0% 0
Video Converter
9 9%
91% 91
Video Platform
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, MKVToolnix seems to be a lot more popular than gstreamer. While we know about 185 links to MKVToolnix, we've tracked only 15 mentions of gstreamer. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

gstreamer mentions (15)

  • We Rewrote the Ghostty GTK Application
    GStreamer: https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/ is written in GObject which enabled some great tooling like gst-inspect-1.0:. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Broadcasting to an Amazon IVS Real-Time Stream with WHIP from OBS
    If you're a fan of the open source multimedia framework GStreamer, you can take advantage of WHIP support as well. Here's a simple pipeline that could be used to publish a webcam and microphone to a stage. This pipeline is specific to MacOS, but can be adapted to any supported OS. Make sure to obtain and set a participant token into IVS_STAGE_TOKEN (or include a raw token instead). - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Odroid C1 USB to IP for USB Camera
    You could also set up a GStreamer pipeline or maybe even use VLC, instead of Motion. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Using a Raspberry Pi to add a second HDMI port to a laptop
    A long time ago when I was looking for a low latency solution for streaming _from_ the Pi (should also have a similar performance in the other direction), gstreamer[1] was the only usable option. [1] https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • How to get esp32-Cam to work with Gstreamer
    I get errors when esp32-cam (rtsp://url:8554/mjpep/1) streams via wifi to GStreamer on Nvidia jetson nano (my current use case). Has anyone encountered this problem and how did you resolve this? Source: almost 3 years ago
View more

MKVToolnix mentions (185)

  • TRUEHD 7.1 Slow Down
    Fourth, try remuxing one of the problem files. Use the Multiplexer section of MKVToolNix. This will copy the contents to a new MKV file. It is like putting a letter in a new envelope when the original is damaged, but the pages inside are OK. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Remove Audio Commentary over TV shows
    If the audio tracks are displayed as unknown, the language flag needs to be set. Use tools such as MKVToolNix Header Editor to configure the language for audio & subtitle tracks. Source: about 2 years ago
  • /r/Plex's Moronic Mondays' No Stupid Questions Thread - 2023-07-10
    As for extracting tracks from MKVs, the low-level way would be to use ffmpeg directly (something like ffmpeg -i video.mkv -map 0:s:0 subtitle.sup would extract the first subtitle stream to a .sup file, the extension used for standalone PGS subtitles), but something like MKVToolNix can probably do it as well. That won't help you too much on its own though, since you now just have an external image-based subtitle... Source: about 2 years ago
  • Advice needed on anime series with two audio language versions.
    You could use a tool outside of Plex (like MKVToolNix) to combine the video+audio of one version with the audio+subtitles of the other. It gets trickier, or at least more tedious, if the videos aren't exactly the same, since you'd then have to account for any audio/subtitle shifting. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Plex isn't syncing episodes into database
    Option 3: Change to MKV container. Use MKVToolNix or similar tools and remux to a MKV container. Note that this may cause problems with Dolby Vision. LG TVs must have Dolby Vision in a MP4 container, otherwise the video will not play correctly. Probably affects other Plex clients as well. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing gstreamer and MKVToolnix, you can also consider the following products

Kurento - Kurento is an open source software development framework providing a media server written in C/C++...

HandBrake - HandBrake allows users to easily convert video files into a wide variety of different formats.

Red5 Pro - Server software designed for ultra-low sub-250 ms latency streaming at scale

tsMuxeR - tsMuxeR update for 3D blu-ray (HD) DVD & Blu-ray authoring

Ant Media Server - Scalable, Ultra Low Latency & Adaptive WebRTC Streaming Ant Media Server provides Scalable Ultra-low latency (0.5 seconds) Adaptive Live Streaming with WebRTC. It supports RTMP, RTSP, Zixi, SRT, LL-HLS,LL-DASH,WebRTC, Adaptive Bitrate and recording.

Subler - Subler is a Mac OS X application that opens media containers, allows you to add or remove media...