FFMPEG(1) FFMPEG(1) NAME ffmpeg - FFmpeg video converter SYNOPSIS ffmpeg [[infile options][-i infile]]... {[outfile options] outfile}... DESCRIPTION As a general rule, options are applied to the next specified file. Therefore, order is important, and you can have the same option on the command line multiple times. Each occurrence is then applied to the next input or output file. * To set the video bitrate of the output file to 64kbit/s: ffmpeg -i input.avi -b 64k output.avi * To force the frame rate of the input and output file to 24 fps: ffmpeg -r 24 -i input.avi output.avi * To force the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps: ffmpeg -i input.avi -r 24 output.avi * To force the frame rate of input file to 1 fps and the output file to 24 fps: ffmpeg -r 1 -i input.avi -r 24 output.avi The format option may be needed for raw input files. By default, FFmpeg tries to convert as losslessly as possible: It uses the same audio and video parameters for the outputs as the one speci‐ fied for the inputs. OPTIONS Main options -L Show license. -h Show help. -version Show version. -formats Show available formats, codecs, protocols, ... -f fmt Force format. -i filename input filename -y Overwrite output files. -t duration Set the recording time in seconds. "hh:mm:ss[.xxx]" syntax is also supported. -fs limit_size Set the file size limit. -ss position Seek to given time position in seconds. "hh:mm:ss[.xxx]" syntax is also supported. -itsoffset offset Set the input time offset in seconds. "[-]hh:mm:ss[.xxx]" syntax is also supported. This option affects all the input files that follow it. The offset is added to the timestamps of the input files. Specifying a positive offset means that the corresponding streams are delayed by ’offset’ seconds. -title string Set the title. -timestamp time Set the timestamp. -author string Set the author. -copyright string Set the copyright. -comment string Set the comment. -album string Set the album. -track number Set the track. -year number Set the year. -v verbose Control amount of logging. -target type Specify target file type ("vcd", "svcd", "dvd", "dv", "dv50", "pal-vcd", "ntsc-svcd", ... ). All the format options (bitrate, codecs, buffer sizes) are then set automatically. You can just type: ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd /tmp/vcd.mpg Nevertheless you can specify additional options as long as you know they do not conflict with the standard, as in: ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd -bf 2 /tmp/vcd.mpg -dframes number Set the number of data frames to record. -scodec codec Force subtitle codec (’copy’ to copy stream). -newsubtitle Add a new subtitle stream to the current output stream. -slang code Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current subtitle stream. Video Options -b bitrate Set the video bitrate in bit/s (default = 200 kb/s). -vframes number Set the number of video frames to record. -r fps Set frame rate (Hz value, fraction or abbreviation), (default = 25). -s size Set frame size. The format is wxh (ffserver default = 160x128, ffm‐ peg default = same as source). The following abbreviations are recognized: sqcif 128x96 qcif 176x144 cif 352x288 4cif 704x576 -aspect aspect Set aspect ratio (4:3, 16:9 or 1.3333, 1.7777). -croptop size Set top crop band size (in pixels). -cropbottom size Set bottom crop band size (in pixels). -cropleft size Set left crop band size (in pixels). -cropright size Set right crop band size (in pixels). -padtop size Set top pad band size (in pixels). -padbottom size Set bottom pad band size (in pixels). -padleft size Set left pad band size (in pixels). -padright size Set right pad band size (in pixels). -padcolor (hex color) Set color of padded bands. The value for padcolor is expressed as a six digit hexadecimal number where the first two digits represent red, the middle two digits green and last two digits blue (default = 000000 (black)). -vn Disable video recording. -bt tolerance Set video bitrate tolerance (in bit/s). -maxrate bitrate Set max video bitrate tolerance (in bit/s). -minrate bitrate Set min video bitrate tolerance (in bit/s). -bufsize size Set rate control buffer size (in bits). -vcodec codec Force video codec to codec. Use the "copy" special value to tell that the raw codec data must be copied as is. -sameq Use same video quality as source (implies VBR). -pass n Select the pass number (1 or 2). It is useful to do two pass encod‐ ing. The statistics of the video are recorded in the first pass and the video is generated at the exact requested bitrate in the second pass. -passlogfile file Set two pass logfile name to file. -newvideo Add a new video stream to the current output stream. Advanced Video Options -pix_fmt format Set pixel format. -g gop_size Set the group of pictures size. -intra Use only intra frames. -vdt n Discard threshold. -qscale q Use fixed video quantizer scale (VBR). -qmin q minimum video quantizer scale (VBR) -qmax q maximum video quantizer scale (VBR) -qdiff q maximum difference between the quantizer scales (VBR) -qblur blur video quantizer scale blur (VBR) -qcomp compression video quantizer scale compression (VBR) -lmin lambda minimum video lagrange factor (VBR) -lmax lambda max video lagrange factor (VBR) -mblmin lambda minimum macroblock quantizer scale (VBR) -mblmax lambda maximum macroblock quantizer scale (VBR) These four options (lmin, lmax, mblmin, mblmax) use ’lambda’ units, but you may use the QP2LAMBDA constant to easily convert from ’q’ units: ffmpeg -i src.ext -lmax 21*QP2LAMBDA dst.ext -rc_init_cplx complexity initial complexity for single pass encoding -b_qfactor factor qp factor between P- and B-frames -i_qfactor factor qp factor between P- and I-frames -b_qoffset offset qp offset between P- and B-frames -i_qoffset offset qp offset between P- and I-frames -rc_eq equation Set rate control equation (default = "tex^qComp"). -rc_override override rate control override for specific intervals -me method Set motion estimation method to method. Available methods are (from lowest to best quality): zero Try just the (0, 0) vector. phods log x1 epzs (default method) full exhaustive search (slow and marginally better than epzs) -dct_algo algo Set DCT algorithm to algo. Available values are: 0 FF_DCT_AUTO (default) 1 FF_DCT_FASTINT 2 FF_DCT_INT 3 FF_DCT_MMX 4 FF_DCT_MLIB 5 FF_DCT_ALTIVEC -idct_algo algo Set IDCT algorithm to algo. Available values are: 0 FF_IDCT_AUTO (default) 1 FF_IDCT_INT 2 FF_IDCT_SIMPLE 3 FF_IDCT_SIMPLEMMX 4 FF_IDCT_LIBMPEG2MMX 5 FF_IDCT_PS2 6 FF_IDCT_MLIB 7 FF_IDCT_ARM 8 FF_IDCT_ALTIVEC 9 FF_IDCT_SH4 10 FF_IDCT_SIMPLEARM -er n Set error resilience to n. 1 FF_ER_CAREFUL (default) 2 FF_ER_COMPLIANT 3 FF_ER_AGGRESSIVE 4 FF_ER_VERY_AGGRESSIVE -ec bit_mask Set error concealment to bit_mask. bit_mask is a bit mask of the following values: 1 FF_EC_GUESS_MVS (default = enabled) 2 FF_EC_DEBLOCK (default = enabled) -bf frames Use ’frames’ B-frames (supported for MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4). -mbd mode macroblock decision 0 FF_MB_DECISION_SIMPLE: Use mb_cmp (cannot change it yet in FFm‐ peg). 1 FF_MB_DECISION_BITS: Choose the one which needs the fewest bits. 2 FF_MB_DECISION_RD: rate distortion -4mv Use four motion vector by macroblock (MPEG-4 only). -part Use data partitioning (MPEG-4 only). -bug param Work around encoder bugs that are not auto-detected. -strict strictness How strictly to follow the standards. -aic Enable Advanced intra coding (h263+). -umv Enable Unlimited Motion Vector (h263+) -deinterlace Deinterlace pictures. -ilme Force interlacing support in encoder (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 only). Use this option if your input file is interlaced and you want to keep the interlaced format for minimum losses. The alternative is to deinterlace the input stream with -deinterlace, but deinterlacing introduces losses. -psnr Calculate PSNR of compressed frames. -vstats Dump video coding statistics to vstats_HHMMSS.log. -vhook module Insert video processing module. module contains the module name and its parameters separated by spaces. -top n top=1/bottom=0/auto=-1 field first -dc precision Intra_dc_precision. -vtag fourcc/tag Force video tag/fourcc. -qphist Show QP histogram. -vbsf bitstream filter Bitstream filters available are "dump_extra", "remove_extra", "noise". Audio Options -aframes number Set the number of audio frames to record. -ar freq Set the audio sampling frequency (default = 44100 Hz). -ab bitrate Set the audio bitrate in kbit/s (default = 64). -ac channels Set the number of audio channels (default = 1). -an Disable audio recording. -acodec codec Force audio codec to codec. Use the "copy" special value to specify that the raw codec data must be copied as is. -newaudio Add a new audio track to the output file. If you want to specify parameters, do so before "-newaudio" ("-acodec", "-ab", etc..). Mapping will be done automatically, if the number of output streams is equal to the number of input streams, else it will pick the first one that matches. You can override the mapping using "-map" as usual. Example: ffmpeg -i file.mpg -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ab 384 test.mpg -acodec mp2 -ab 192 -newaudio -alang code Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current audio stream. Advanced Audio options: -atag fourcc/tag Force audio tag/fourcc. -absf bitstream filter Bitstream filters available are "dump_extra", "remove_extra", "noise", "mp3comp", "mp3decomp". Subtitle options: -scodec codec Force subtitle codec (’copy’ to copy stream). -newsubtitle Add a new subtitle stream to the current output stream. -slang code Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current subtitle stream. Audio/Video grab options -vc channel Set video grab channel (DV1394 only). -tvstd standard Set television standard (NTSC, PAL (SECAM)). -isync Synchronize read on input. Advanced options -map input stream id[:input stream id] Set stream mapping from input streams to output streams. Just enu‐ merate the input streams in the order you want them in the output. [input stream id] sets the (input) stream to sync against. -map_meta_data outfile:infile Set meta data information of outfile from infile. -debug Print specific debug info. -benchmark Add timings for benchmarking. -dump Dump each input packet. -hex When dumping packets, also dump the payload. -bitexact Only use bit exact algorithms (for codec testing). -ps size Set packet size in bits. -re Read input at native frame rate. Mainly used to simulate a grab device. -loop_input Loop over the input stream. Currently it works only for image streams. This option is used for automatic FFserver testing. -loop_output number_of_times Repeatedly loop output for formats that support looping such as animated GIF (0 will loop the output infinitely). -threads count Thread count. -vsync parameter Video sync method. Video will be stretched/squeezed to match the timestamps, it is done by duplicating and dropping frames. With -map you can select from which stream the timestamps should be taken. You can leave either video or audio unchanged and sync the remaining stream(s) to the unchanged one. -async samples_per_second Audio sync method. "Stretches/squeezes" the audio stream to match the timestamps, the parameter is the maximum samples per second by which the audio is changed. -async 1 is a special case where only the start of the audio stream is corrected without any later correction. FFmpeg formula evaluator When evaluating a rate control string, FFmpeg uses an internal formula evaluator. The following binary operators are available: "+", "-", "*", "/", "^". The following unary operators are available: "+", "-", "(...)". The following functions are available: sinh(x) cosh(x) tanh(x) sin(x) cos(x) tan(x) exp(x) log(x) squish(x) gauss(x) abs(x) max(x, y) min(x, y) gt(x, y) lt(x, y) eq(x, y) bits2qp(bits) qp2bits(qp) The following constants are available: PI E iTex pTex tex mv fCode iCount mcVar var isI isP isB avgQP qComp avgIITex avgPITex avgPPTex avgBPTex avgTex EXAMPLES Video and Audio grabbing FFmpeg can grab video and audio from devices given that you specify the input format and device. ffmpeg -f audio_device -i /dev/dsp -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg Note that you must activate the right video source and channel before launching FFmpeg with any TV viewer such as xawtv () by Gerd Knorr. You also have to set the audio record‐ ing levels correctly with a standard mixer. X11 grabbing FFmpeg can grab the X11 display. ffmpeg -f x11grab -i :0.0 /tmp/out.mpg 0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as the DISPLAY environment variable. ffmpeg -f x11grab -i :0.0+10,20 /tmp/out.mpg 0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as the DISPLAY environment variable. 10 is the x-offset and 20 the y-offset for the grabbing. Video and Audio file format conversion * FFmpeg can use any supported file format and protocol as input: Examples: * You can use YUV files as input: ffmpeg -i /tmp/test%d.Y /tmp/out.mpg It will use the files: /tmp/test0.Y, /tmp/test0.U, /tmp/test0.V, /tmp/test1.Y, /tmp/test1.U, /tmp/test1.V, etc... The Y files use twice the resolution of the U and V files. They are raw files, without header. They can be generated by all decent video decoders. You must specify the size of the image with the -s option if FFmpeg cannot guess it. * You can input from a raw YUV420P file: ffmpeg -i /tmp/test.yuv /tmp/out.avi test.yuv is a file containing raw YUV planar data. Each frame is com‐ posed of the Y plane followed by the U and V planes at half vertical and horizontal resolution. * You can output to a raw YUV420P file: ffmpeg -i mydivx.avi hugefile.yuv * You can set several input files and output files: ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -s 640x480 -i /tmp/a.yuv /tmp/a.mpg Converts the audio file a.wav and the raw YUV video file a.yuv to MPEG file a.mpg. * You can also do audio and video conversions at the same time: ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -ar 22050 /tmp/a.mp2 Converts a.wav to MPEG audio at 22050Hz sample rate. * You can encode to several formats at the same time and define a map‐ ping from input stream to output streams: ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -ab 64 /tmp/a.mp2 -ab 128 /tmp/b.mp2 -map 0:0 -map 0:0 Converts a.wav to a.mp2 at 64 kbits and to b.mp2 at 128 kbits. ’-map file:index’ specifies which input stream is used for each output stream, in the order of the definition of output streams. * You can transcode decrypted VOBs ffmpeg -i snatch_1.vob -f avi -vcodec mpeg4 -b 800k -g 300 -bf 2 -acodec mp3 -ab 128 snatch.avi This is a typical DVD ripping example; the input is a VOB file, the output an AVI file with MPEG-4 video and MP3 audio. Note that in this command we use B-frames so the MPEG-4 stream is DivX5 compatible, and GOP size is 300 which means one intra frame every 10 seconds for 29.97fps input video. Furthermore, the audio stream is MP3-encoded so you need to enable LAME support by passing "--enable-mp3lame" to con‐ figure. The mapping is particularly useful for DVD transcoding to get the desired audio language. NOTE: To see the supported input formats, use "ffmpeg -formats". SEE ALSO ffserver(1), ffplay(1) and the HTML documentation of ffmpeg. AUTHOR Fabrice Bellard 2007-10-01 FFMPEG(1) FFmpeg version SVN-rUNKNOWN, Copyright (c) 2000-2007 Fabrice Bellard, et al. configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-pthreads --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libogg --enable-libgsm --enable-dc1394 --disable-debug --enable-shared --prefix=/usr libavutil version: 1d.49.3.0 libavcodec version: 1d.51.38.0 libavformat version: 1d.51.10.0 built on Jun 3 2007 20:59:25, gcc: 4.1.3 20070528 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.2-9ubuntu2) File formats: E 3g2 3gp2 format E 3gp 3gp format D 4xm 4X Technologies format D MTV MTV format D RoQ Id RoQ format D aac ADTS AAC DE ac3 raw ac3 E adts ADTS AAC DE aiff Audio IFF DE alaw pcm A law format DE amr 3gpp amr file format DE asf asf format E asf_stream asf format DE au SUN AU Format DE audio_device audio grab and output DE avi avi format D avs avs format E crc crc testing format D daud D-Cinema audio format D dc1394 dc1394 A/V grab D dsicin Delphine Software International CIN format D dts raw dts DE dv DV video format D dv1394 dv1394 A/V grab E dvd MPEG2 PS format (DVD VOB) D ea Electronic Arts Multimedia Format DE ffm ffm format D film_cpk Sega FILM/CPK format DE flac raw flac D flic FLI/FLC/FLX animation format DE flv flv format E framecrc framecrc testing format DE gif GIF Animation DE gxf GXF format DE h261 raw h261 DE h263 raw h263 DE h264 raw H264 video format D idcin Id CIN format DE image2 image2 sequence DE image2pipe piped image2 sequence D ingenient Ingenient MJPEG D ipmovie Interplay MVE format DE m4v raw MPEG4 video format D matroska Matroska file format DE mjpeg MJPEG video D mm American Laser Games MM format DE mmf mmf format E mov mov format D mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 QuickTime/MPEG4/Motion JPEG 2000 format E mp2 MPEG audio layer 2 DE mp3 MPEG audio layer 3 E mp4 mp4 format D mpc musepack DE mpeg MPEG1 System format E mpeg1video MPEG video E mpeg2video MPEG2 video DE mpegts MPEG2 transport stream format D mpegvideo MPEG video E mpjpeg Mime multipart JPEG format DE mulaw pcm mu law format D mxf MXF format D nsv NullSoft Video format E null null video format D nut nut format D nuv NuppelVideo format DE ogg Ogg format E psp psp mp4 format D psxstr Sony Playstation STR format DE rawvideo raw video format D redir Redirector format DE rm rm format E rtp RTP output format D rtsp RTSP input format DE s16be pcm signed 16 bit big endian format DE s16le pcm signed 16 bit little endian format DE s8 pcm signed 8 bit format D sdp SDP D shn raw shorten D smk Smacker Video D sol Sierra SOL Format E svcd MPEG2 PS format (VOB) DE swf Flash format D tiertexseq Tiertex Limited SEQ format D tta true-audio DE u16be pcm unsigned 16 bit big endian format DE u16le pcm unsigned 16 bit little endian format DE u8 pcm unsigned 8 bit format D vc1 raw vc1 E vcd MPEG1 System format (VCD) D video4linux video grab D video4linux2 video grab D vmd Sierra VMD format E vob MPEG2 PS format (VOB) DE voc Creative Voice File format DE wav wav format D wc3movie Wing Commander III movie format D wsaud Westwood Studios audio format D wsvqa Westwood Studios VQA format D wv WavPack DE yuv4mpegpipe YUV4MPEG pipe format Codecs: D V 4xm D V D 8bps D V VMware video D V D aasc EA ac3 DEA adpcm_4xm DEA adpcm_adx DEA adpcm_ct DEA adpcm_ea DEA adpcm_ima_dk3 DEA adpcm_ima_dk4 DEA adpcm_ima_qt DEA adpcm_ima_smjpeg DEA adpcm_ima_wav DEA adpcm_ima_ws DEA adpcm_ms DEA adpcm_sbpro_2 DEA adpcm_sbpro_3 DEA adpcm_sbpro_4 DEA adpcm_swf DEA adpcm_xa DEA adpcm_yamaha D A alac DEV D asv1 DEV D asv2 D V D avs DEV bmp D V D camstudio D V D camtasia D V D cavs D V D cinepak D V D cljr D A cook D V D cyuv D A dca D A dsicinaudio D V D dsicinvideo DES dvbsub DES dvdsub DEV D dvvideo DEV D ffv1 DEVSD ffvhuff DEA flac DEV D flashsv D V D flic DEVSD flv D V D fraps DEA g726 DEV gif DEA gsm D A gsm_ms DEV D h261 DEVSDT h263 D VSD h263i EV h263p D V DT h264 DEVSD huffyuv D V D idcinvideo D A imc D V D indeo2 D V indeo3 D A interplay_dpcm D V D interplayvideo EV jpegls D V kmvc EV libtheora EV ljpeg D V D loco D A mace3 D A mace6 D V D mdec DEV D mjpeg D V D mjpegb D V D mmvideo DEA mp2 D A mp3 D A mp3adu D A mp3on4 D A mpc sv7 DEVSDT mpeg1video DEVSDT mpeg2video DEVSDT mpeg4 D VSDT mpegvideo DEVSD msmpeg4 DEVSD msmpeg4v1 DEVSD msmpeg4v2 D V D msrle D V D msvideo1 D V D mszh D V D nuv DEV pam DEV pbm DEA pcm_alaw DEA pcm_mulaw DEA pcm_s16be DEA pcm_s16le DEA pcm_s24be DEA pcm_s24daud DEA pcm_s24le DEA pcm_s32be DEA pcm_s32le DEA pcm_s8 DEA pcm_u16be DEA pcm_u16le DEA pcm_u24be DEA pcm_u24le DEA pcm_u32be DEA pcm_u32le DEA pcm_u8 DEV pgm DEV pgmyuv DEV png DEV ppm D A qdm2 D V D qdraw D V D qpeg D V D qtrle DEV rawvideo D A real_144 D A real_288 D A roq_dpcm D V D roqvideo D V D rpza DEV D rv10 DEV D rv20 D A shorten D A smackaud D V smackvid D V D smc DEV snow D A sol_dpcm DEA sonic EA sonicls D V D sp5x DEV D svq1 D VSD svq3 D V targa D V theora D V D tiertexseqvideo D V tiff D V D truemotion1 D V D truemotion2 D A truespeech D A tta D V D ultimotion D V vc1 D V D vcr1 D A vmdaudio D V D vmdvideo DEA vorbis D V vp3 D V vp5 D V vp6 D V vp6f D V D vqavideo D A wavpack DEA wmav1 DEA wmav2 DEVSD wmv1 DEVSD wmv2 D V wmv3 D V D wnv1 D A ws_snd1 D A xan_dpcm D V D xan_wc3 D V D xl DEV D zlib DEV zmbv Supported file protocols: file: pipe: udp: rtp: tcp: http: Frame size, frame rate abbreviations: ntsc pal qntsc qpal sntsc spal film ntsc-film sqcif qcif cif 4cif Motion estimation methods: zero(fastest) full(slowest) log phods epzs(default) x1 hex umh iter Note, the names of encoders and decoders dont always match, so there are several cases where the above table shows encoder only or decoder only entries even though both encoding and decoding are supported for example, the h263 decoder corresponds to the h263 and h263p encoders, for file formats its even worse