Branching, multi-track, sharing ?

[Musaran]

I would like to know what containers and codecs can support part or all of the following:

•Video and audio branching, where playback can go different paths and rejoin.
If so can the duration mismatch ?

•Multi-track audio, where several tracks can play at the same time.

•Stream data sharing, where the same data can be part of different streams or attachments.


I know DVD allows some branching, but timeline seems fixed per chunk.
I also know HD media support branching, but have no details.

Or maybe there is somewhere this is all explained in detail ?

[Dark Shikari]

I *think* Matroska can do various forms of video branching, though its not very well documented. I know that, for example, anime fansubbers have released sets in which the intro/ending sequences of each episode are encoded only once, and branching/referencing is used to play them at the start and end of each episode.

[TheFluff]

http://www.uppcon.se/thefluff/hurfdurf/?p=8

[Musaran]

Okay, Matroska can do branching and virtual timelines.
It also has "DVD-like" menu system.
But I can't figure out about the rest.

I would not be surprised if mpeg4 container could do it all, given how absurdly versatile it is.