[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 001/279] Add a new channel layout API

[Anton Khirnov]

Quoting Nicolas George (2021-12-14 14:15:05)
> Anton Khirnov (12021-12-14):
> > The same thing happening to channel layouts is something we very much do
> > not want IMO. Opaque IDs referring to higher-layer side data allows
> > implementing the same capabilities without stuffing complexity in places
> > it doesn't belong.
> 
> Opaque IDs only work for applications that were designed to make use of
> them and have logic to map them onto something the user can understand.
> We need something that can work with a generic application, starting
> with ffmpeg itself. Something that will work if only a few components
> (muxers and demuxers maybe) know about these strange layouts, and most
> components only look at the standard part of the layout and behave as
> they do now or with the straightforward extension to the more powerful
> API.

A transcoder that is not aware of opaque IDs can just blindly copy them
as the data travels along the chain. Same with side data those IDs refer
to. Callers who want to do something nontrivial with them will of course
have to be aware of them, but that's the case either way.

-- 
Anton Khirnov