View source for Projects/Multimedia/Phonon

[[Image:Preferences-desktop-sound.svg]]

Phonon is the Qt multimedia toolkit. It allows developers to add multimedia functionality to applications with minimal effort.

= Features =

* Works on Linux, OSX, *BSD, Windows, Meego, Maemo, and likely more
* Leverages pre-existing multimedia frameworks such as GStreamer, VLC, DirectShow, etc.
* Eliminates the need for developers to worry about installing codecs, managing pipelines, decoding to the proper format, learning XVideo or DirectShow, and more.

= Documentation =

For the most detailed and up-to-date information on using phonon, have a look at [http://api.kde.org/kdesupport-api/kdesupport-apidocs/phonon-git/html/ the latest API documentation]. Several tutorials are also available:

<!--OLD:* [[Development/Tutorials/Phonon/Introduction|Introduction to Phonon]] -->
* [[Development/Tutorials/Phonon/Simple Media Player|A Simple media player]]
* [[Development/Tutorials/Debugging/Phonon|Debugging Phonon and Phonon-based applications]]
* [[Development/Tutorials/Phonon/Language Bindings|Other language bindings]]

In addition, numerous examples can be found inside the demos/ directory of the [https://projects.kde.org/projects/kdesupport/phonon/phonon/repository/revisions/master/show/demos phonon sources]. They are well-documented and provide the basis for the above tutorials.

= Backends =
To provide cross-platform support, Phonon is powered by various backend libraries. The stable backends are:

* GStreamer
* VLC

Other backends have been created in the past, however they are currently unmaintained and looking for developers:

* MPlayer
* Xine
* DirectShow
* QuickTime

= Support =
For general Phonon support, you can join the [http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-multimedia KDE-Multimedia mailing list]. If you wish to join us in backend development, you might also want to subscribe to [https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/phonon-backends the phonon-backends list].

If you desire a more real-time support method, you can also hang out in [http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=phonon #phonon on freenode].

= Contributing =

Phonon's source code is hosted on the KDE infrastructure and is available for viewing at [https://projects.kde.org/projects/kdesupport/phonon projects.kde.org]. It is recommended that you also join the kde-multimedia and phonon-backends mailing lists mentioned in the previous section. Finally, join us in [http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=phonon #phonon on Freenode].

Our current developers:

* Harald Sitter (apachelogger), Phonon master overlord, VLC backend developer
* Trever Fischer (tdfischer), GStreamer backend developer
* Romain Perier (bambee), GStreamer backend developer
* Colin Guthrie (coling), PulseAudio integration officer