Media formats
Supported file types
When ArenaDirector indexes a folder, it adds files with these extensions and ignores everything else.
| Kind | Extensions |
|---|---|
| Audio | mp3 wav flac ogg m4a aac wma aiff opus |
| Video | mp4 mov avi mkv webm m4v |
| Image | jpg jpeg png bmp gif webp tiff tif |
Video decoding
Video decodes on the GPU when the platform has a hardware decoder for the codec. This matters most on a perimeter board with sections, where many sections decode at the same time.
| Codec | macOS | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| H.264 | Hardware | Hardware |
| HEVC / H.265 | Hardware | Hardware |
VP8 (.webm) | Software | Software |
VP9 (.webm) | Software | Hardware on most recent GPUs |
Use H.264 or HEVC. Both decode on the GPU on macOS and Windows, which leaves the CPU free for the rest of the show. VP8 and VP9 files play correctly, but on macOS they decode on the CPU, so a rotation with many sections playing these files uses much more CPU.
This command converts a file to H.264 with no visible loss of quality:
ffmpeg -i input.webm -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 18 -c:a aac output.mp4
HDR
HDR video plays without conversion. ArenaDirector tone-maps HLG (the iPhone default) and PQ / HDR10 to standard dynamic range, and converts wide-gamut colour (BT.2020, Display P3) to Rec.709.
The result looks close to QuickTime or any other player that supports HDR. An HDR clip usually looks a little softer than an SDR clip recorded in the same room: white becomes a bright grey, so highlights such as a spotlight flare stay visible.
If an important clip does not look right, grade it to SDR in your editor before you import it.
Loudness and tempo data
ArenaDirector analyzes audio files in the background, measuring integrated loudness (LUFS), true peak and tempo (BPM). The Library shows the results in sortable columns.
Playback does not need the analysis. A file with the status Pending plays, but has no loudness or tempo data yet. Once the file is analyzed, playback levels it to -16 LUFS. See Loudness levelling and Manage background processing.