---
title: Foundations
...

# Foundations

This chapter of the guide introduces the basic concepts of GStreamer.
Understanding these concepts will be important in reading any of the
rest of this guide, all of them assume understanding of these basic
concepts.

## Elements

An *element* is the most important class of objects in GStreamer. You
will usually create a chain of elements linked together and let data
flow through this chain of elements. An element has one specific
function, which can be the reading of data from a file, decoding of this
data or outputting this data to your sound card (or anything else). By
chaining together several such elements, you create a *pipeline* that
can do a specific task, for example media playback or capture. GStreamer
ships with a large collection of elements by default, making the
development of a large variety of media applications possible. If
needed, you can also write new elements. That topic is explained in
great deal in the *GStreamer Plugin Writer's Guide*.

## Pads

*Pads* are element's input and output, where you can connect other
elements. They are used to negotiate links and data flow between
elements in GStreamer. A pad can be viewed as a “plug” or “port” on an
element where links may be made with other elements, and through which
data can flow to or from those elements. Pads have specific data
handling capabilities: a pad can restrict the type of data that flows
through it. Links are only allowed between two pads when the allowed
data types of the two pads are compatible. Data types are negotiated
between pads using a process called *caps negotiation*. Data types are
described as a `GstCaps`.

An analogy may be helpful here. A pad is similar to a plug or jack on a
physical device. Consider, for example, a home theater system consisting
of an amplifier, a DVD player, and a (silent) video projector. Linking
the DVD player to the amplifier is allowed because both devices have
audio jacks, and linking the projector to the DVD player is allowed
because both devices have compatible video jacks. Links between the
projector and the amplifier may not be made because the projector and
amplifier have different types of jacks. Pads in GStreamer serve the
same purpose as the jacks in the home theater system.

For the most part, all data in GStreamer flows one way through a link
between elements. Data flows out of one element through one or more
*source pads*, and elements accept incoming data through one or more
*sink pads*. Source and sink elements have only source and sink pads,
respectively. Data usually means buffers (described by the
[`GstBuffer`](http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/data/doc/gstreamer/stable/gstreamer/html/gstreamer-GstBuffer.html)
object) and events (described by the
[`GstEvent`](http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/data/doc/gstreamer/stable/gstreamer/html/gstreamer-GstEvent.html)
object).

## Bins and pipelines

A *bin* is a container for a collection of elements. Since bins are
subclasses of elements themselves, you can mostly control a bin as if it
were an element, thereby abstracting away a lot of complexity for your
application. You can, for example change state on all elements in a bin
by changing the state of that bin itself. Bins also forward bus messages
from their contained children (such as error messages, tag messages or
`EOS` messages).

A *pipeline* is a top-level bin. It provides a bus for the application
and manages the synchronization for its children. As you set it to
`PAUSED` or `PLAYING` state, data flow will start and media processing will
take place. Once started, pipelines will run in a separate thread until
you stop them or the end of the data stream is reached.

![GStreamer pipeline for a simple ogg player](images/simple-player.png
"fig:")

## Communication

GStreamer provides several mechanisms for communication and data
exchange between the *application* and the *pipeline*.

  - *buffers* are objects for passing streaming data between elements in
    the pipeline. Buffers always travel from sources to sinks
    (downstream).

  - *events* are objects sent between elements or from the application
    to elements. Events can travel upstream and downstream. Downstream
    events can be synchronised to the data flow.

  - *messages* are objects posted by elements on the pipeline's message
    bus, where they will be held for collection by the application.
    Messages can be intercepted synchronously from the streaming thread
    context of the element posting the message, but are usually handled
    asynchronously by the application from the application's main
    thread. Messages are used to transmit information such as errors,
    tags, state changes, buffering state, redirects etc. from elements
    to the application in a thread-safe way.

  - *queries* allow applications to request information such as duration
    or current playback position from the pipeline. Queries are always
    answered synchronously. Elements can also use queries to request
    information from their peer elements (such as the file size or
    duration). They can be used both ways within a pipeline, but
    upstream queries are more common.

![GStreamer pipeline with different communication
flows](images/communication.png "fig:")
