[Libav-user] muxing an .mp4 file with timestamps?

[Max Göttner - d.stream]

Hi
I use the following sequence in order to create .mp4 files with timestamp
information passed for each frame. With these settings, the value
AVPacket.pts is interpreted as a frame index, like when writing an .avi
file. If I pass packet1 with pts=0 and packet2 with pts = 10, than frame one
is repeated 10 times in the outfile. When I write .mkv files the result is
like you'd expect: a variable framerate video.

Here is the outformat relevant code:

// get output format
AVOutputFormat* fmt = NULL;
fmt = av_oformat_next(fmt);
while(strcmp(fmt->name, "mp4"))
{
	fmt = av_oformat_next(fmt);
}
fmt->video_codec = CODEC_ID_MPEG4;

// create output format context
AVFormatContext* outFmtCtx = avformat_alloc_context();
outFmtCtx->oformat = fmt;

// set parameters and init codec context

// open file and write header
avio_open(outFmtCtx->pb, filename, AVIO_FLAG_WRITE);
avformat_write_header(outFmtCtx, NULL);

// write frames with pts multiple times
while(...) 
{
	// encode packet AVPacket encoded_pkt
	encoded_pkt.pts = pts;
	r = av_write_frame(outFmtCtx, &encoded_pkt);
}

// close file
av_write_trailer(outFmtCtx);


I'd appreciate any help. Is the interpretation of AVPacket.pts a
muxer/encoder setting, or is VFR .mp4 not possible with libav?
Thanks in advance.
Max