What Is Gstreamer?
GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework that links together a wide variety of media processing systems to complete complex workflows. It supports the creation of numerous types of media applications, including video editors, media players, transcoding systems, and also used in computer vision applications. GStreamer is designed to be flexible and modular, allowing developers to create custom media processing pipelines by combining a wide variety of media processing systems. The GStreamer framework is written in the C programming language and is used in a variety of applications and frameworks, including the GNOME desktop environment, the Totem media player and Nvidia Deepstream.
How Gstreamer Work?
GStreamer works by using a series of interconnected elements that perform specific media processing tasks. Each element performs a specific function, such as decoding a video stream or scaling an image, and the elements are connected together in a pipeline to create a complete media processing workflow.
If Just do simple search on google about gstreamer. you might come across some image like the above. Above image is what pipeline based gstreamer framework looks like. In above pipeline audio and video splitted and outputted to their respective hardware.
For Example if you want to write video into file instead of showing video on screen you can use file-sink element instead of video-sink and you will have your video written in the file.
GStreamer comes with a wide variety of pre-built elements that can be used to create custom pipelines, and developers can also create their own custom elements if needed. This modular design allows GStreamer to be used for a wide range of media processing tasks, from simple playback to complex transcoding and editing workflows.
For example some of them can crop a video some can apply different filter on to video frames etc and you can also write custom plugins according to your own need.
Who uses gstreamer?
There are many software frameworks that are built on top of GStreamer, and they use GStreamer as a low-level multimedia processing engine. GStreamer is a widely used multimedia framework that is used in a variety of applications, including media players, video editors, and transcoding systems. Gstreamer is also used in computer vision applications for doing inference and doing all sort of image processing operations on live video streams.
Some examples of applications (or frameworks) that use GStreamer include:
- Nvidia Deepstream for computer vision specific applications.
- Rhythmbox default music player in Ubuntu.
- Pitivi a video editor that uses GStreamer as the underlying media processing engine.
- Totem a media player that uses GStreamer for playback of various media formats.
- Gnonlin a GStreamer-based library for creating non-linear video editors.
In addition to these applications, GStreamer is also used in a number of other projects, including the Int-Ball camera drone developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for use on the International Space Station (ISS).
Gstreamer Alternative:
There are several multimedia frameworks that are similar to GStreamer and can be considered alternatives in some cases. Some examples of these frameworks include:
- FFmpeg: A powerful command-line tool for transcoding and processing media.
- libav: A library of tools for transcoding and processing media, similar to FFmpeg.
- Apple’s AV Foundation: A multimedia framework for Apple platforms, similar to GStreamer.
- Microsoft’s DirectShow: A multimedia framework for Microsoft Windows platforms, similar to GStreamer.
These frameworks are all designed for tasks such as media transcoding and processing, and they can be used as alternatives to GStreamer in some cases. However, you may find that these frameworks are either limited to there particular platforms or not as flexible as gstreamer where as gstreamer is supported on a wide range of platforms, including Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS.
Most asked Questions
why chose gstreamer over ffmpeg?
Gstreamer vs FFmpeg?
Gstreamer or FFmpeg?
Both GStreamer and FFmpeg are open-source software frameworks that can be used for tasks such as media transcoding and processing. However, they have some differences that might make one a better choice over the other in certain situations.
One key difference between GStreamer and FFmpeg is the way they are designed and intended to be used. GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework, which means that it allows developers to create custom media processing pipelines by combining a wide variety of media processing systems. This makes it a good choice for applications that need to perform complex media processing tasks.
In contrast, FFmpeg is a command-line tool for transcoding and processing media. It is a powerful and flexible tool, but it is not as modular as GStreamer and may not be as well-suited for creating custom media processing pipelines.
Gstreamer with Opencv?
Gstreamer vs Opencv?
Gstreamer or Opencv?
GStreamer and OpenCV (Open Computer Vision) are both open-source software frameworks, but they are designed for different purposes and have different use cases. GStreamer is a multimedia framework that can be used in combination with the OpenCV (Open Computer Vision) library to develop applications that process and analyze video streams. OpenCV is a library of programming functions for computer vision tasks such as image and video processing, object detection, and more.
While GStreamer and OpenCV can be used together for tasks such as video processing and object recognition, they are generally used for different purposes and are not directly comparable.
Where to learn more about Gstreamer?
Gstreamer Tutorial
Gstreamer Learning Material
Gstreamer is not easy. As there is a limited number of available resources over the Internet.
are the sources where you can learn more about gstreamer.
Please Check this Article for more gstreamer resources:
Top 5 Resources to learn Gstreamer
Gstreamer With Python
The GStreamer Python bindings (Gst-python) allow developers to use GStreamer in Python applications, making it easy to build powerful media processing tools in a high-level, interpreted language.
Source for learning Gstreamer with Python
https://lifestyletransfer.com/ by jackersson and https://mathieuduponchelle.github.io/2018-02-01-Python-Elements.html
are the best websites to learn about gstreamer using python, how to install gstreamer python bindings. how to create custom plugins etc.
Gstreamer and Different Programming Languages:
Gstreamer provides APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for C, C++, Python, and other languages, allowing developers to use GStreamer in their programs and build custom media processing applications.
Some of the programming languages that can be used with GStreamer include:
- C
- C++
- Python
- Vala
- Rust
- Java
- Perl
- C#
- Ruby
Keep this in mind most of the resources available on the internet are in C/C++.
Gstreamer Test Run on Ubuntu
GStreamer is included in all Linux distributions. you may need to install some missing packages But to just quickly test if gstreamer is working on your machine is to type Below command.
gst-launch-1.0 videotestsrc ! autovideosink
Some thing like above should popup if every thing is working fine.
Please feel free to comment below if you have any questions.
