MKVToolNix v57.0.0 released

2021-05-22 — mosu

Hello, hello!

fresh of the presses here’s MKVToolNix v57.0.0. A lot of work has gone into the HEVC/H.265 code over the last couple days, fixing most issues with Dolby Vision and HDR content, but also fixing a couple of general issues with the HEVC/H.265 code. Everyone using that codec should definitely update.

The state of Dolby Vision & HDR is pretty good right now. The only thing still missing is reading Dolby Vision from Annex B type elementary streams (raw .h265 files or MPEG transport streams), but we’re working on that as well.

By the way: a lot of you have decided to support MKVToolNix by buying it from the Microsoft Store for which I’m very, very grateful. At the point of writing it has been sold 544 times already. One immediate benefit is that I’ve invested in Dolby Vision capable hardware in order to be better able to test & improve that part of MKVToolNix. Your support is definitely making a difference.

You can download the source code or one of the binaries. The Windows and macOS binaries as well as the Linux AppImage are available already. The other Linux binaries are stil being built and will be available over the course of the next couple of hours.

Here are the NEWS since the previous release:

New features and enhancements

• mkvmerge: MP4 reader: added support for reading Dolby Vision from MP4 files (FourCCs dvh1 and dvhe; configuration records dvcC, dvvC and hvcE will be converted into block addition mappings). Implements #2784.
• mkvmerge: SRT subtitles: mkvmerge now accepts empty text files with the extension .srt as SRT subtitle files, enabling the creation of empty SRT tracks. Implements #3089.
• mkvmerge, mkvextract: HEVC/H.265: access unit delimiter NALUs will no longer be discarded, neither during muxing nor during extraction.
• MKVToolNix GUI: preferences: switched the order & wording of controls in the “enabling items” panel to make it clearer that certain controls define exceptions. Inspired by 3086.

Bug fixes

• mkvmerge: HEVC/H.265 parser: several NALU types, notably the Dolby Vision-specific NALUs (“unspecified 62” and “unspecified 63”) and suffix SEI NALUs, are now stored with the frame they belong to instead of with the next frame. Part of fixing & implementing #2784, #2818, #3093 and #3113.
• mkvmerge: HEVC/H.265 packetizer: fixed setting the track’s default duration when reading HEVC/H.265 from Matroska files that don’t have a default duration set.
• mkvmerge: HEVC/H.265 packetizer: fixed the calculation of the duration of frames so that SimpleBlock elements can be used again instead of BlockGroups with BlockDuration elements. Fixes #3114.
• mkvmerge, mkvextract: HEVC/H.265 parser: fixed issues with ordering & duplication of certain NALUs (parameter set & prefix SEI NALUs). Part of fixing & implementing of #2784, #2818, #3093 and #3113.
• MKVToolNix GUI: multiplexer: when dragging & dropping files to the multiplexer, the source directory will be remembered as the “last open directory” again, causing subsequent uses of the “open file” dialog to start in the same directory. Fixes #3110.
• mkvinfo: fixed the position of frames in block groups containing “block duration” elements in summary mode (e.g. for subtitle tracks).

Build system changes

• configure will now try to detect libmagic via pkg-config and fall back to including & linking directly if it cannot be found via pkg-config.

Have fun 😁