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movie2avi

Create Audio/Video Interleaved (AVI) file from MATLAB movie

Syntax

movie2avi(mov, filename) movie2avi(mov, filename, ParameterName, ParameterValue)

Description

movie2avi(mov, filename) creates the AVI file filename from the MATLAB^® movie mov. The filename input is a string. The mov input is a 1-by-n structure array, where n is the number of frames. Each frame is a structure with two fields: cdata and colormap. For more information, see getframe.

movie2avi(mov, filename, ParameterName, ParameterValue) accepts one or more comma-separated parameter name/value pairs. The following table lists the available parameters and values.

Parameter Name	Value	Default
`'colormap'`	An `m`-by-3 matrix defining the colormap for indexed AVI movies, where `m` is no more than 256 (236 for `Indeo` compression). Valid only when the `'compression'` is `'MSVC'`, `'RLE'`, or `'None'`.	No default
`'compression'`	A text string specifying the compression codec to use. To create an uncompressed file, specify a value of `'None'`. On UNIX^® operating systems, the only valid value is `'None'`. On Windows^® systems, valid values include: `'MSVC'` `'RLE'` `'Cinepak'` on 32-bit systems. `'Indeo3'` or `'Indeo5'` on 32-bit Windows XP systems. Alternatively, specify a custom compression codec on Windows systems using the four-character code that identifies the codec (typically included in the codec documentation). If MATLAB cannot find the specified codec, it returns an error.	`'Indeo5'` on Windows systems. `'None'` on UNIX systems.
`'fps'`	A scalar value specifying the speed of the AVI movie in frames per second (fps).	15 fps
`'keyframe'`	For compressors that support temporal compression, the number of key frames per second.	2.1429 key frames per second
`'quality'`	A number from 0 through 100. Higher quality numbers result in higher video quality and larger file sizes. Lower quality numbers result in lower video quality and smaller file sizes. Valid only for compressed movies.	75
`'videoname'`	A descriptive name for the video stream, no more than 64 characters.	`filename`

Examples

Create a movie and write to an uncompressed AVI file, myPeaks.avi:

nFrames = 20;

% Preallocate movie structure.
mov(1:nFrames) = struct('cdata', [],...
                        'colormap', []);

% Create movie.
Z = peaks; surf(Z); 
axis tight
set(gca,'nextplot','replacechildren');
for k = 1:nFrames 
   surf(sin(2*pi*k/20)*Z,Z)
   mov(k) = getframe(gcf);
end

% Create AVI file.
movie2avi(mov, 'myPeaks.avi', 'compression', 'None');

More About

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Tips

On some Windows systems, including all 64-bit systems, the default Indeo^® 5 codec is not available. MATLAB issues a warning, and creates an uncompressed file.
On 32-bit Windows XP systems, MATLAB can create AVI files compressed with Indeo 3 and Indeo 5 codecs. However, Microsoft^® Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) with Security Update 954157 disables playback of Indeo 3 and Indeo 5 codecs in Windows Media^® Player and Internet Explorer^®. Consider specifying a compression value of 'None'.