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 output file to 24 fps:
ffmpeg -i input.avi -r 24 output.avi
* To force the frame rate of the input file (valid for raw formats
only) to 1 fps and the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:
ffmpeg -r 1 -i input.m2v -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
specified for the inputs.
OPTIONS
Generic options
These options are shared amongst the ff* tools.
-L Show license.
-h, -?, -help, --help
Show help.
-version
Show version.
-formats
Show available formats.
The fields preceding the format names have the following meanings:
D Decoding available
E Encoding available
-codecs
Show available codecs.
The fields preceding the codec names have the following meanings:
D Decoding available
E Encoding available
V/A/S
Video/audio/subtitle codec
S Codec supports slices
D Codec supports direct rendering
T Codec can handle input truncated at random locations instead of
only at frame boundaries
-bsfs
Show available bitstream filters.
-protocols
Show available protocols.
-filters
Show available libavfilter filters.
-pix_fmts
Show available pixel formats.
-loglevel loglevel
Set the logging level used by the library. loglevel is a number or
a string containing one of the following values:
quiet
panic
fatal
error
warning
info
verbose
debug
Main options
-f fmt
Force format.
-i filename
input file name
-y Overwrite output files.
-t duration
Restrict the transcoded/captured video sequence to the duration
specified 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.
-timestamp time
Set the timestamp.
-metadata key=value
Set a metadata key/value pair.
For example, for setting the title in the output file:
ffmpeg -i in.avi -metadata title="my title" out.flv
-v number
Set the logging verbosity level.
-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,
ffmpeg default = same as source). The following abbreviations are
recognized:
sqcif
128x96
qcif
176x144
cif 352x288
4cif
704x576
16cif
1408x1152
qqvga
160x120
qvga
320x240
vga 640x480
svga
800x600
xga 1024x768
uxga
1600x1200
qxga
2048x1536
sxga
1280x1024
qsxga
2560x2048
hsxga
5120x4096
wvga
852x480
wxga
1366x768
wsxga
1600x1024
wuxga
1920x1200
woxga
2560x1600
wqsxga
3200x2048
wquxga
3840x2400
whsxga
6400x4096
whuxga
7680x4800
cga 320x200
ega 640x350
hd480
852x480
hd720
1280x720
hd1080
1920x1080
-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 bits, default 4000k). Has a
minimum value of: (target_bitrate/target_framerate). In 1-pass
mode, bitrate tolerance specifies how far ratecontrol is willing to
deviate from the target average bitrate value. This is not related
to min/max bitrate. Lowering tolerance too much has an adverse
effect on quality.
-maxrate bitrate
Set max video bitrate (in bit/s). Requires -bufsize to be set.
-minrate bitrate
Set min video bitrate (in bit/s). Most useful in setting up a CBR
encode:
ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -b 4000k -minrate 4000k -maxrate 4000k -bufsize 1835k out.m2v
It is of little use elsewise.
-bufsize size
Set video buffer verifier 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 used to do two-pass video
encoding. The statistics of the video are recorded in the first
pass into a log file (see also the option -passlogfile), and in the
second pass that log file is used to generate the video at the
exact requested bitrate. On pass 1, you may just deactivate audio
and set output to null, examples for Windows and Unix:
ffmpeg -i foo.mov -vcodec libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y NUL
ffmpeg -i foo.mov -vcodec libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y /dev/null
-passlogfile prefix
Set two-pass log file name prefix to prefix, the default file name
prefix is ‘‘ffmpeg2pass’’. The complete file name will be
PREFIX-N.log, where N is a number specific to the output stream.
-newvideo
Add a new video stream to the current output stream.
-vlang code
Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current video
stream.
Advanced Video Options
-pix_fmt format
Set pixel format. Use ’list’ as parameter to show all the supported
pixel formats.
-sws_flags flags
Set SwScaler flags.
-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) (range 0.0 - 1.0)
-qcomp compression
video quantizer scale compression (VBR) (default 0.5). Constant of
ratecontrol equation. Recommended range for default rc_eq: 0.0-1.0
-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 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
hex
umh
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
FFmpeg).
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.
-vstats_file file
Dump video coding statistics to file.
-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", "h264_mp4toannexb", "imxdump", "mjpegadump".
ffmpeg -i h264.mp4 -vcodec copy -vbsf h264_mp4toannexb -an out.h264
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 bit/s (default = 64k).
-aq q
Set the audio quality (codec-specific, VBR).
-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 384k test.mpg -acodec mp2 -ab 192k -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.
-sn Disable subtitle recording.
-sbsf bitstream_filter
Bitstream filters available are "mov2textsub", "text2movsub".
ffmpeg -i file.mov -an -vn -sbsf mov2textsub -scodec copy -f rawvideo sub.txt
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[:sync_stream_id]
Set stream mapping from input streams to output streams. Just
enumerate the input streams in the order you want them in the
output. sync_stream_id if specified 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
Show benchmarking information at the end of an encode. Shows CPU
time used and maximum memory consumption. Maximum memory
consumption is not supported on all systems, it will usually
display as 0 if not supported.
-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 RTP payload size in bytes.
-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. 0 Each frame is passed with its timestamp
from the demuxer to the muxer 1 Frames will be duplicated and
dropped to achieve exactly the requested
constant framerate. 2 Frames are passed through with their
timestamp or dropped so as to prevent
2 frames from having the same timestamp -1 Chooses between 1
and 2 depending on muxer capabilities. This is the default method.
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.
-copyts
Copy timestamps from input to output.
-shortest
Finish encoding when the shortest input stream ends.
-dts_delta_threshold
Timestamp discontinuity delta threshold.
-muxdelay seconds
Set the maximum demux-decode delay.
-muxpreload seconds
Set the initial demux-decode delay.
Preset files
A preset file contains a sequence of option=value pairs, one for each
line, specifying a sequence of options which would be awkward to
specify on the command line. Lines starting with the hash (’#’)
character are ignored and are used to provide comments. Check the
ffpresets directory in the FFmpeg source tree for examples.
Preset files are specified with the "vpre", "apre", "spre", and "fpre"
options. The "fpre" option takes the filename of the preset instead of
a preset name as input and can be used for any kind of codec. For the
"vpre", "apre", and "spre" options, the options specified in a preset
file are applied to the currently selected codec of the same type as
the preset option.
The argument passed to the "vpre", "apre", and "spre" preset options
identifies the preset file to use according to the following rules:
First ffmpeg searches for a file named arg.ffpreset in the directories
$FFMPEG_DATADIR (if set), and $HOME/.ffmpeg, and in the datadir defined
at configuration time (usually PREFIX/share/ffmpeg) in that order. For
example, if the argument is "libx264-max", it will search for the file
libx264-max.ffpreset.
If no such file is found, then ffmpeg will search for a file named
codec_name-arg.ffpreset in the above-mentioned directories, where
codec_name is the name of the codec to which the preset file options
will be applied. For example, if you select the video codec with
"-vcodec libx264" and use "-vpre max", then it will search for the file
libx264-max.ffpreset.
@anchor{FFmpeg formula evaluator}
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 statements are available: "ld", "st", "while".
The following functions are available:
sinh(x)
cosh(x)
tanh(x)
sin(x)
cos(x)
tan(x)
atan(x)
asin(x)
acos(x)
exp(x)
log(x)
abs(x)
squish(x)
gauss(x)
mod(x, y)
max(x, y)
min(x, y)
eq(x, y)
gte(x, y)
gt(x, y)
lte(x, y)
lt(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 oss -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
(<http://linux.bytesex.org/xawtv/>) by Gerd Knorr. You also have to set
the audio recording levels correctly with a standard mixer.
X11 grabbing
FFmpeg can grab the X11 display.
ffmpeg -f x11grab -s cif -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 -s cif -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
composed 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 22050 Hz sample rate.
* You can encode to several formats at the same time and define a
mapping from input stream to output streams:
ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -ab 64k /tmp/a.mp2 -ab 128k /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 libmp3lame -ab 128k 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-libmp3lame" to
configure. The mapping is particularly useful for DVD transcoding to
get the desired audio language.
NOTE: To see the supported input formats, use "ffmpeg -formats".
* You can extract images from a video, or create a video from many
images:
For extracting images from a video:
ffmpeg -i foo.avi -r 1 -s WxH -f image2 foo-%03d.jpeg
This will extract one video frame per second from the video and will
output them in files named foo-001.jpeg, foo-002.jpeg, etc. Images will
be rescaled to fit the new WxH values.
If you want to extract just a limited number of frames, you can use the
above command in combination with the -vframes or -t option, or in
combination with -ss to start extracting from a certain point in time.
For creating a video from many images:
ffmpeg -f image2 -i foo-%03d.jpeg -r 12 -s WxH foo.avi
The syntax "foo-%03d.jpeg" specifies to use a decimal number composed
of three digits padded with zeroes to express the sequence number. It
is the same syntax supported by the C printf function, but only formats
accepting a normal integer are suitable.
* You can put many streams of the same type in the output:
ffmpeg -i test1.avi -i test2.avi -vcodec copy -acodec copy -vcodec copy -acodec copy test12.avi -newvideo -newaudio
In addition to the first video and audio streams, the resulting output
file test12.avi will contain the second video and the second audio
stream found in the input streams list.
The "-newvideo", "-newaudio" and "-newsubtitle" options have to be
specified immediately after the name of the output file to which you
want to add them.
SEE ALSO
ffserver(1), ffplay(1) and the HTML documentation of ffmpeg.
AUTHOR
Fabrice Bellard
2010-07-12