ARMovie

• Extensions: rpl
• Technical Description: http://multimedia.cx/AE7doc.txt
• Samples: http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/game-formats/rpl/

ARMovie is ostensibly a multimedia container format used on Acorn RISC computer systems. Perhaps the most curious aspect of the format's design is its use of variable-length strings in the file header.

While apparently designed as a general container format, its most most notable use is in various Eidos Interactive computer games (using the extension rpl for Replay) including the Tomb Raider series. These FMV files contain video encoded with the ESCAPE video codec, and the audio is either uncompressed PCM or a custom IMA ADPCM variant.

Known video codecs

Most of the codecs output RGB555 or 5-bit YUV formats.

• 1 -- Acorn Moving lines
• 2 -- 15bpp uncompressed video (YUV or RGB)
• 3 -- 10bpp YUV (4:2:2 YUV with 5-bit components)
• 4 -- 8bpp raw video
• 5 -- 8bpp YUV (4:2:0 subsampling)
• 6 -- 6bpp YUV (4:1:0 subsampling)
• 7 -- Acorn Moving Blocks
• 8 -- 24bpp RGB
• 9 -- YYUV with 8-bit components
• 10 -- YV12
• 11 -- YUV9
• 12 -- indirect MPEG (a pointer to real MPEG movie)
• 13 -- MPEG video data
• 14 -- IBM UltiMotion
• 15 -- other indirect video formats
• 16 -- another packed YV12
• 17 -- Acorn Moving Blocks HQ
• 18 -- H.263
• 19 -- Acorn Super Moving Blocks
• 20 -- Acorn Moving Blocks Beta
• 21 -- YUYV8
• 22 -- packed YUV422
• 23 -- YUV422 with 6-bit Y and 5-bit U/V components
• 24 -- YUV420 with 6-bit Y and 5-bit U/V components
• 25 -- YUV410 with 6-bit components
• 100-199 -- ESCAPE codecs from Eidos Technologies
• 500 -- Iota Software LZW-compressed frames (like in their Euclid or ACE films)
• 600 -- WSS wrapper for 8-bit Microsoft Video 1
• 601 -- WSS wrapper for 15-bit Microsoft Video 1
• 602 -- WSS wrapper for Cinepak
• 603 -- WSS wrapper for RPZA
• 604 -- WSS wrapper for SMC
• 605 -- WSS wrapper for IBM UltiMotion
• 606 -- WSS wrapper for 8-bit RGB (AVI)
• 607 -- WSS wrapper for 8-bit Microsoft RLE
• 608 -- WSS wrapper for 24-bit RGB (AVI)
• 609 -- WSS wrapper for 8-bit Apple QuickTime RLE
• 610 -- WSS wrapper for FLI
• 613 -- WSS wrapper for 4-bit Apple QuickTime RLE
• 614 -- WSS wrapper for 16-bit Apple QuickTime RLE
• 615 -- WSS wrapper for 24-bit Apple QuickTime RLE
• 622 -- WSS DL (converted to raw palettised video)
• 623 -- WSS ANM (converted to raw palettised video)
• 624 -- WSS wrapper for 8-bit RGB (QuickTime)
• 630 -- WSS wrapper for QuickTime VR
• 699 -- WSS wrapper for unknown AVI or QT codecs
• 800 -- Henrik Pedersen's LinePack
• 802 -- Henrik Pedersen's Movie 16:3
• 803 -- Henrik Pedersen's wrapper for AVI/QT codecs and FLI

PC Games That Use RPL Files

• Big Red Racing (Escape 122)
• Fighting Force (Escape 130)
• Ian Livingstone's Deathtrap Dungeon (Escape 130)
• Joint Strike Fighter (Escape 130)
• Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (Escape 130)
• Lords of Midnight (Escape 122)
• Tomb Raider (Escape 124)
• Tomb Raider II (Escape 130)
• Tomb Raider III (Escape 130)
• Warzone 2100 (Escape 130)