Class for video capturing from video files, image sequences or cameras. More...

#include <videoio.hpp>

Public Member Functions
CV_WRAP	VideoCapture ()
	Default constructor.

CV_WRAP	VideoCapture (const String &filename, int apiPreference=CAP_ANY)
	Opens a video file or a capturing device or an IP video stream for video capturing with API Preference.

CV_WRAP	VideoCapture (const String &filename, int apiPreference, const std::vector< int > &params)
	Opens a video file or a capturing device or an IP video stream for video capturing with API Preference and parameters.

CV_WRAP	VideoCapture (int index, int apiPreference=CAP_ANY)
	Opens a camera for video capturing.

CV_WRAP	VideoCapture (int index, int apiPreference, const std::vector< int > &params)
	Opens a camera for video capturing with API Preference and parameters.

virtual	~VideoCapture ()
	Default destructor.

virtual CV_WRAP bool	open (const String &filename, int apiPreference=CAP_ANY)
	Opens a video file or a capturing device or an IP video stream for video capturing.

virtual CV_WRAP bool	open (const String &filename, int apiPreference, const std::vector< int > &params)
	Opens a video file or a capturing device or an IP video stream for video capturing with API Preference and parameters.

virtual CV_WRAP bool	open (int index, int apiPreference=CAP_ANY)
	Opens a camera for video capturing.

virtual CV_WRAP bool	open (int index, int apiPreference, const std::vector< int > &params)
	Opens a camera for video capturing with API Preference and parameters.

virtual CV_WRAP bool	isOpened () const
	Returns true if video capturing has been initialized already.

virtual CV_WRAP void	release ()
	Closes video file or capturing device.

virtual CV_WRAP bool	grab ()
	Grabs the next frame from video file or capturing device.

virtual CV_WRAP bool	retrieve (OutputArray image, int flag=0)
	Decodes and returns the grabbed video frame.

virtual VideoCapture &	operator>> (CV_OUT Mat &image)
	Stream operator to read the next video frame.

virtual VideoCapture &	operator>> (CV_OUT UMat &image)

virtual CV_WRAP bool	read (OutputArray image)
	Grabs, decodes and returns the next video frame.

virtual CV_WRAP bool	set (int propId, double value)
	Sets a property in the VideoCapture.

virtual CV_WRAP double	get (int propId) const
	Returns the specified VideoCapture property.

CV_WRAP String	getBackendName () const
	Returns used backend API name.

CV_WRAP void	setExceptionMode (bool enable)

CV_WRAP bool	getExceptionMode () const
	query if exception mode is active

Static Public Member Functions
static CV_WRAP bool	waitAny (const std::vector< VideoCapture > &streams, CV_OUT std::vector< int > &readyIndex, int64 timeoutNs=0)
	Wait for ready frames from VideoCapture.

Protected Attributes
Ptr< CvCapture >	cap

Ptr< IVideoCapture >	icap

bool	throwOnFail

Friends
class	internal::VideoCapturePrivateAccessor

Detailed Description

Class for video capturing from video files, image sequences or cameras.

The class provides C++ API for capturing video from cameras or for reading video files and image sequences.

Here is how the class can be used:

Note

In C API the black-box structure CvCapture is used instead of VideoCapture.

(C++) A basic sample on using the VideoCapture interface can be found at OPENCV_SOURCE_CODE/samples/cpp/videocapture_starter.cpp
(Python) A basic sample on using the VideoCapture interface can be found at OPENCV_SOURCE_CODE/samples/python/video.py
(Python) A multi threaded video processing sample can be found at OPENCV_SOURCE_CODE/samples/python/video_threaded.py
(Python) VideoCapture sample showcasing some features of the Video4Linux2 backend OPENCV_SOURCE_CODE/samples/python/video_v4l2.py

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

◆ VideoCapture() [1/5]

CV_WRAP cv::VideoCapture::VideoCapture ( )

Default constructor.

Note: In C API, when you finished working with video, release CvCapture structure with cvReleaseCapture(), or use Ptr<CvCapture> that calls cvReleaseCapture() automatically in the destructor.

◆ VideoCapture() [2/5]

CV_WRAP cv::VideoCapture::VideoCapture	(	const String &	filename,
		int	apiPreference = `CAP_ANY`
	)

explicit

Opens a video file or a capturing device or an IP video stream for video capturing with API Preference.

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts.

Parameters

filename

it can be:

name of video file (eg. video.avi)
or image sequence (eg. img_%02d.jpg, which will read samples like img_00.jpg, img_01.jpg, img_02.jpg, ...)
or URL of video stream (eg. protocol://host:port/script_name?script_params|auth)
or GStreamer pipeline string in gst-launch tool format in case if GStreamer is used as backend Note that each video stream or IP camera feed has its own URL scheme. Please refer to the documentation of source stream to know the right URL.

apiPreference preferred Capture API backends to use. Can be used to enforce a specific reader implementation if multiple are available: e.g. cv::CAP_FFMPEG or cv::CAP_IMAGES or cv::CAP_DSHOW.

See also: cv::VideoCaptureAPIs

◆ VideoCapture() [3/5]

CV_WRAP cv::VideoCapture::VideoCapture	(	const String &	filename,
		int	apiPreference,
		const std::vector< int > &	params
	)

explicit

Opens a video file or a capturing device or an IP video stream for video capturing with API Preference and parameters.

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts.

The params parameter allows to specify extra parameters encoded as pairs (paramId_1, paramValue_1, paramId_2, paramValue_2, ...). See cv::VideoCaptureProperties

◆ VideoCapture() [4/5]

CV_WRAP cv::VideoCapture::VideoCapture	(	int	index,
		int	apiPreference = `CAP_ANY`
	)

explicit

Opens a camera for video capturing.

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts.

Parameters

index	id of the video capturing device to open. To open default camera using default backend just pass 0. (to backward compatibility usage of camera_id + domain_offset (CAP_*) is valid when apiPreference is CAP_ANY)
apiPreference	preferred Capture API backends to use. Can be used to enforce a specific reader implementation if multiple are available: e.g. cv::CAP_DSHOW or cv::CAP_MSMF or cv::CAP_V4L.

See also: cv::VideoCaptureAPIs

◆ VideoCapture() [5/5]

CV_WRAP cv::VideoCapture::VideoCapture	(	int	index,
		int	apiPreference,
		const std::vector< int > &	params
	)

explicit

Opens a camera for video capturing with API Preference and parameters.

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts.

The params parameter allows to specify extra parameters encoded as pairs (paramId_1, paramValue_1, paramId_2, paramValue_2, ...). See cv::VideoCaptureProperties

◆ ~VideoCapture()

virtual cv::VideoCapture::~VideoCapture ( )

virtual

Default destructor.

The method first calls VideoCapture::release to close the already opened file or camera.

Member Function Documentation

◆ get()

virtual CV_WRAP double cv::VideoCapture::get ( int propId ) const

virtual

Returns the specified VideoCapture property.

Parameters

propId Property identifier from cv::VideoCaptureProperties (eg. cv::CAP_PROP_POS_MSEC, cv::CAP_PROP_POS_FRAMES, ...) or one from Additional flags for video I/O API backends

Returns: Value for the specified property. Value 0 is returned when querying a property that is not supported by the backend used by the VideoCapture instance.

Note: Reading / writing properties involves many layers. Some unexpected result might happens along this chain.
VideoCapture -> API Backend -> Operating System -> Device Driver -> Device Hardware

cv::VideoCapture
Class for video capturing from video files, image sequences or cameras.
Definition videoio.hpp:731

The returned value might be different from what really used by the device or it could be encoded using device dependent rules (eg. steps or percentage). Effective behaviour depends from device driver and API Backend

◆ getBackendName()

CV_WRAP String cv::VideoCapture::getBackendName ( ) const

Returns used backend API name.

Note: Stream should be opened.

◆ getExceptionMode()

CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::getExceptionMode ( ) const

inline

query if exception mode is active

◆ grab()

virtual CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::grab ( )

virtual

Grabs the next frame from video file or capturing device.

Returns: true (non-zero) in the case of success.

The method/function grabs the next frame from video file or camera and returns true (non-zero) in the case of success.

The primary use of the function is in multi-camera environments, especially when the cameras do not have hardware synchronization. That is, you call VideoCapture::grab() for each camera and after that call the slower method VideoCapture::retrieve() to decode and get frame from each camera. This way the overhead on demosaicing or motion jpeg decompression etc. is eliminated and the retrieved frames from different cameras will be closer in time.

Also, when a connected camera is multi-head (for example, a stereo camera or a Kinect device), the correct way of retrieving data from it is to call VideoCapture::grab() first and then call VideoCapture::retrieve() one or more times with different values of the channel parameter.

tutorial_kinect_openni

◆ isOpened()

virtual CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::isOpened ( ) const

virtual

Returns true if video capturing has been initialized already.

If the previous call to VideoCapture constructor or VideoCapture::open() succeeded, the method returns true.

◆ open() [1/4]

virtual CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::open	(	const String &	filename,
		int	apiPreference,
		const std::vector< int > &	params
	)

virtual

Opens a video file or a capturing device or an IP video stream for video capturing with API Preference and parameters.

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts.

The params parameter allows to specify extra parameters encoded as pairs (paramId_1, paramValue_1, paramId_2, paramValue_2, ...). See cv::VideoCaptureProperties

Returns: true if the file has been successfully opened

The method first calls VideoCapture::release to close the already opened file or camera.

◆ open() [2/4]

virtual CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::open	(	const String &	filename,
		int	apiPreference = `CAP_ANY`
	)

virtual

Opens a video file or a capturing device or an IP video stream for video capturing.

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts.

Parameters are same as the constructor VideoCapture(const String& filename, int apiPreference = CAP_ANY)

Returns: true if the file has been successfully opened

The method first calls VideoCapture::release to close the already opened file or camera.

◆ open() [3/4]

virtual CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::open	(	int	index,
		int	apiPreference,
		const std::vector< int > &	params
	)

virtual

Opens a camera for video capturing with API Preference and parameters.

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts.

The params parameter allows to specify extra parameters encoded as pairs (paramId_1, paramValue_1, paramId_2, paramValue_2, ...). See cv::VideoCaptureProperties

Returns: true if the camera has been successfully opened.

The method first calls VideoCapture::release to close the already opened file or camera.

◆ open() [4/4]

virtual CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::open	(	int	index,
		int	apiPreference = `CAP_ANY`
	)

virtual

Opens a camera for video capturing.

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts.

Parameters are same as the constructor VideoCapture(int index, int apiPreference = CAP_ANY)

Returns: true if the camera has been successfully opened.

The method first calls VideoCapture::release to close the already opened file or camera.

◆ operator>>() [1/2]

virtual VideoCapture & cv::VideoCapture::operator>> ( CV_OUT Mat & image )

virtual

Stream operator to read the next video frame.

See also: read()

◆ operator>>() [2/2]

virtual VideoCapture & cv::VideoCapture::operator>> ( CV_OUT UMat & image )

virtual

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts.

See also: read()

◆ read()

virtual CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::read ( OutputArray image )

virtual

Grabs, decodes and returns the next video frame.

Parameters

[out] image the video frame is returned here. If no frames has been grabbed the image will be empty.

Returns: false if no frames has been grabbed

The method/function combines VideoCapture::grab() and VideoCapture::retrieve() in one call. This is the most convenient method for reading video files or capturing data from decode and returns the just grabbed frame. If no frames has been grabbed (camera has been disconnected, or there are no more frames in video file), the method returns false and the function returns empty image (with cv::Mat, test it with Mat::empty()).

Note: In C API, functions cvRetrieveFrame() and cv.RetrieveFrame() return image stored inside the video capturing structure. It is not allowed to modify or release the image! You can copy the frame using cvCloneImage and then do whatever you want with the copy.

◆ release()

virtual CV_WRAP void cv::VideoCapture::release ( )

virtual

Closes video file or capturing device.

The method is automatically called by subsequent VideoCapture::open and by VideoCapture destructor.

The C function also deallocates memory and clears *capture pointer.

◆ retrieve()

virtual CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::retrieve	(	OutputArray	image,
		int	flag = `0`
	)

virtual

Decodes and returns the grabbed video frame.

Parameters

[out]	image	the video frame is returned here. If no frames has been grabbed the image will be empty.
	flag	it could be a frame index or a driver specific flag

Returns: false if no frames has been grabbed

The method decodes and returns the just grabbed frame. If no frames has been grabbed (camera has been disconnected, or there are no more frames in video file), the method returns false and the function returns an empty image (with cv::Mat, test it with Mat::empty()).

See also: read()

Note: In C API, functions cvRetrieveFrame() and cv.RetrieveFrame() return image stored inside the video capturing structure. It is not allowed to modify or release the image! You can copy the frame using cvCloneImage and then do whatever you want with the copy.

◆ set()

virtual CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::set	(	int	propId,
		double	value
	)

virtual

Sets a property in the VideoCapture.

Parameters

propId	Property identifier from cv::VideoCaptureProperties (eg. cv::CAP_PROP_POS_MSEC, cv::CAP_PROP_POS_FRAMES, ...) or one from Additional flags for video I/O API backends
value	Value of the property.

Returns: true if the property is supported by backend used by the VideoCapture instance.

Note: Even if it returns true this doesn't ensure that the property value has been accepted by the capture device. See note in VideoCapture::get()

◆ setExceptionMode()

CV_WRAP void cv::VideoCapture::setExceptionMode ( bool enable )

inline

Switches exceptions mode

methods raise exceptions if not successful instead of returning an error code

◆ waitAny()

static CV_WRAP bool cv::VideoCapture::waitAny	(	const std::vector< VideoCapture > &	streams,
		CV_OUT std::vector< int > &	readyIndex,
		int64	timeoutNs = `0`
	)

static

Wait for ready frames from VideoCapture.

Parameters

streams	input video streams
readyIndex	stream indexes with grabbed frames (ready to use .retrieve() to fetch actual frame)
timeoutNs	number of nanoseconds (0 - infinite)

Returns: true if streamReady is not empty

Exceptions

Exception Exception on stream errors (check .isOpened() to filter out malformed streams) or VideoCapture type is not supported

The primary use of the function is in multi-camera environments. The method fills the ready state vector, grabs video frame, if camera is ready.

After this call use VideoCapture::retrieve() to decode and fetch frame data.

Friends And Related Symbol Documentation

◆ internal::VideoCapturePrivateAccessor

friend class internal::VideoCapturePrivateAccessor

friend

Member Data Documentation

◆ cap

Ptr<CvCapture> cv::VideoCapture::cap

protected

◆ icap

Ptr<IVideoCapture> cv::VideoCapture::icap

protected

◆ throwOnFail

bool cv::VideoCapture::throwOnFail

protected

The documentation for this class was generated from the following file:

build/release/_deps/opencv-src/include/opencv4/opencv2/videoio.hpp

Public Member Functions

Static Public Member Functions

Protected Attributes

Friends

Detailed Description

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

◆ VideoCapture() [1/5]

◆ VideoCapture() [2/5]

◆ VideoCapture() [3/5]

◆ VideoCapture() [4/5]

◆ VideoCapture() [5/5]

◆ ~VideoCapture()

Member Function Documentation

◆ get()

◆ getBackendName()

◆ getExceptionMode()

◆ grab()

◆ isOpened()

◆ open() [1/4]

◆ open() [2/4]

◆ open() [3/4]

◆ open() [4/4]

◆ operator>>() [1/2]

◆ operator>>() [2/2]

◆ read()

◆ release()

◆ retrieve()

◆ set()

◆ setExceptionMode()

◆ waitAny()

Friends And Related Symbol Documentation

◆ internal::VideoCapturePrivateAccessor

Member Data Documentation

◆ cap

◆ icap

◆ throwOnFail