1 \input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
3 @settitle FFmpeg Documentation
6 @center @titlefont{FFmpeg Documentation}
13 FFmpeg is a very fast video and audio converter. It can also grab from
14 a live audio/video source.
16 The command line interface is designed to be intuitive, in the sense
17 that FFmpeg tries to figure out all parameters that can possibly be
18 derived automatically. You usually only have to specify the target
21 FFmpeg can also convert from any sample rate to any other, and resize
22 video on the fly with a high quality polyphase filter.
27 @section Video and Audio grabbing
29 FFmpeg can grab video and audio from devices given that you specify the input
33 ffmpeg -f oss -i /dev/dsp -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg
36 Note that you must activate the right video source and channel before
37 launching FFmpeg with any TV viewer such as xawtv
38 (@url{http://bytesex.org/xawtv/}) by Gerd Knorr. You also
39 have to set the audio recording levels correctly with a
44 FFmpeg can grab the X11 display.
47 ffmpeg -f x11grab -s cif -i :0.0 /tmp/out.mpg
50 0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as
51 the DISPLAY environment variable.
54 ffmpeg -f x11grab -s cif -i :0.0+10,20 /tmp/out.mpg
57 0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as the DISPLAY environment
58 variable. 10 is the x-offset and 20 the y-offset for the grabbing.
60 @section Video and Audio file format conversion
62 * FFmpeg can use any supported file format and protocol as input:
66 * You can use YUV files as input:
69 ffmpeg -i /tmp/test%d.Y /tmp/out.mpg
72 It will use the files:
74 /tmp/test0.Y, /tmp/test0.U, /tmp/test0.V,
75 /tmp/test1.Y, /tmp/test1.U, /tmp/test1.V, etc...
78 The Y files use twice the resolution of the U and V files. They are
79 raw files, without header. They can be generated by all decent video
80 decoders. You must specify the size of the image with the @option{-s} option
81 if FFmpeg cannot guess it.
83 * You can input from a raw YUV420P file:
86 ffmpeg -i /tmp/test.yuv /tmp/out.avi
89 test.yuv is a file containing raw YUV planar data. Each frame is composed
90 of the Y plane followed by the U and V planes at half vertical and
91 horizontal resolution.
93 * You can output to a raw YUV420P file:
96 ffmpeg -i mydivx.avi hugefile.yuv
99 * You can set several input files and output files:
102 ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -s 640x480 -i /tmp/a.yuv /tmp/a.mpg
105 Converts the audio file a.wav and the raw YUV video file a.yuv
108 * You can also do audio and video conversions at the same time:
111 ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -ar 22050 /tmp/a.mp2
114 Converts a.wav to MPEG audio at 22050Hz sample rate.
116 * You can encode to several formats at the same time and define a
117 mapping from input stream to output streams:
120 ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -ab 64k /tmp/a.mp2 -ab 128k /tmp/b.mp2 -map 0:0 -map 0:0
123 Converts a.wav to a.mp2 at 64 kbits and to b.mp2 at 128 kbits. '-map
124 file:index' specifies which input stream is used for each output
125 stream, in the order of the definition of output streams.
127 * You can transcode decrypted VOBs:
130 ffmpeg -i snatch_1.vob -f avi -vcodec mpeg4 -b 800k -g 300 -bf 2 -acodec libmp3lame -ab 128k snatch.avi
133 This is a typical DVD ripping example; the input is a VOB file, the
134 output an AVI file with MPEG-4 video and MP3 audio. Note that in this
135 command we use B-frames so the MPEG-4 stream is DivX5 compatible, and
136 GOP size is 300 which means one intra frame every 10 seconds for 29.97fps
137 input video. Furthermore, the audio stream is MP3-encoded so you need
138 to enable LAME support by passing @code{--enable-libmp3lame} to configure.
139 The mapping is particularly useful for DVD transcoding
140 to get the desired audio language.
142 NOTE: To see the supported input formats, use @code{ffmpeg -formats}.
144 * You can extract images from a video:
147 ffmpeg -i foo.avi -r 1 -s WxH -f image2 foo-%03d.jpeg
150 This will extract one video frame per second from the video and will
151 output them in files named @file{foo-001.jpeg}, @file{foo-002.jpeg},
152 etc. Images will be rescaled to fit the new WxH values.
154 The syntax @code{foo-%03d.jpeg} specifies to use a decimal number
155 composed of three digits padded with zeroes to express the sequence
156 number. It is the same syntax supported by the C printf function, but
157 only formats accepting a normal integer are suitable.
159 If you want to extract just a limited number of frames, you can use the
160 above command in combination with the -vframes or -t option, or in
161 combination with -ss to start extracting from a certain point in time.
168 The generic syntax is:
171 @c man begin SYNOPSIS
172 ffmpeg [[infile options][@option{-i} @var{infile}]]... @{[outfile options] @var{outfile}@}...
175 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
176 As a general rule, options are applied to the next specified
177 file. Therefore, order is important, and you can have the same
178 option on the command line multiple times. Each occurrence is
179 then applied to the next input or output file.
181 * To set the video bitrate of the output file to 64kbit/s:
183 ffmpeg -i input.avi -b 64k output.avi
186 * To force the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:
188 ffmpeg -i input.avi -r 24 output.avi
191 * To force the frame rate of the input file (valid for raw formats only)
192 to 1 fps and the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:
194 ffmpeg -r 1 -i input.m2v -r 24 output.avi
197 The format option may be needed for raw input files.
199 By default, FFmpeg tries to convert as losslessly as possible: It
200 uses the same audio and video parameters for the outputs as the one
201 specified for the inputs.
205 @section Main options
218 Show available formats, codecs, protocols, ...
223 @item -i @var{filename}
227 Overwrite output files.
229 @item -t @var{duration}
230 Restrict the transcoded/captured video sequence
231 to the duration specified in seconds.
232 @code{hh:mm:ss[.xxx]} syntax is also supported.
234 @item -fs @var{limit_size}
235 Set the file size limit.
237 @item -ss @var{position}
238 Seek to given time position in seconds.
239 @code{hh:mm:ss[.xxx]} syntax is also supported.
241 @item -itsoffset @var{offset}
242 Set the input time offset in seconds.
243 @code{[-]hh:mm:ss[.xxx]} syntax is also supported.
244 This option affects all the input files that follow it.
245 The offset is added to the timestamps of the input files.
246 Specifying a positive offset means that the corresponding
247 streams are delayed by 'offset' seconds.
249 @item -title @var{string}
252 @item -timestamp @var{time}
255 @item -author @var{string}
258 @item -copyright @var{string}
261 @item -comment @var{string}
264 @item -album @var{string}
267 @item -track @var{number}
270 @item -year @var{number}
273 @item -v @var{number}
274 Set the logging verbosity level.
276 @item -target @var{type}
277 Specify target file type ("vcd", "svcd", "dvd", "dv", "dv50", "pal-vcd",
278 "ntsc-svcd", ... ). All the format options (bitrate, codecs,
279 buffer sizes) are then set automatically. You can just type:
282 ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd /tmp/vcd.mpg
285 Nevertheless you can specify additional options as long as you know
286 they do not conflict with the standard, as in:
289 ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd -bf 2 /tmp/vcd.mpg
292 @item -dframes @var{number}
293 Set the number of data frames to record.
295 @item -scodec @var{codec}
296 Force subtitle codec ('copy' to copy stream).
299 Add a new subtitle stream to the current output stream.
301 @item -slang @var{code}
302 Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current subtitle stream.
306 @section Video Options
309 @item -b @var{bitrate}
310 Set the video bitrate in bit/s (default = 200 kb/s).
311 @item -vframes @var{number}
312 Set the number of video frames to record.
314 Set frame rate (Hz value, fraction or abbreviation), (default = 25).
316 Set frame size. The format is @samp{wxh} (ffserver default = 160x128, ffmpeg default = same as source).
317 The following abbreviations are recognized:
377 @item -aspect @var{aspect}
378 Set aspect ratio (4:3, 16:9 or 1.3333, 1.7777).
379 @item -croptop @var{size}
380 Set top crop band size (in pixels).
381 @item -cropbottom @var{size}
382 Set bottom crop band size (in pixels).
383 @item -cropleft @var{size}
384 Set left crop band size (in pixels).
385 @item -cropright @var{size}
386 Set right crop band size (in pixels).
387 @item -padtop @var{size}
388 Set top pad band size (in pixels).
389 @item -padbottom @var{size}
390 Set bottom pad band size (in pixels).
391 @item -padleft @var{size}
392 Set left pad band size (in pixels).
393 @item -padright @var{size}
394 Set right pad band size (in pixels).
395 @item -padcolor @var{hex_color}
396 Set color of padded bands. The value for padcolor is expressed
397 as a six digit hexadecimal number where the first two digits
398 represent red, the middle two digits green and last two digits
399 blue (default = 000000 (black)).
401 Disable video recording.
402 @item -bt @var{tolerance}
403 Set video bitrate tolerance (in bits, default 4000k).
404 Has a minimum value of: (target_bitrate/target_framerate).
405 In 1-pass mode, bitrate tolerance specifies how far ratecontrol is
406 willing to deviate from the target average bitrate value. This is
407 not related to min/max bitrate. Lowering tolerance too much has
408 an adverse effect on quality.
409 @item -maxrate @var{bitrate}
410 Set max video bitrate (in bit/s).
411 Requires -bufsize to be set.
412 @item -minrate @var{bitrate}
413 Set min video bitrate (in bit/s).
414 Most useful in setting up a CBR encode:
416 ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -b 4000k -minrate 4000k -maxrate 4000k -bufsize 1835k out.m2v
418 It is of little use elsewise.
419 @item -bufsize @var{size}
420 Set video buffer verifier buffer size (in bits).
421 @item -vcodec @var{codec}
422 Force video codec to @var{codec}. Use the @code{copy} special value to
423 tell that the raw codec data must be copied as is.
425 Use same video quality as source (implies VBR).
428 Select the pass number (1 or 2). It is useful to do two pass
429 encoding. The statistics of the video are recorded in the first
430 pass and the video is generated at the exact requested bitrate
432 On pass 1, you may just deactivate audio and set output to null,
433 examples for Windows and Unix:
435 ffmpeg -i foo.mov -vcodec libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y NUL
436 ffmpeg -i foo.mov -vcodec libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y /dev/null
439 @item -passlogfile @var{file}
440 Set two pass logfile name to @var{file}.
443 Add a new video stream to the current output stream.
447 @section Advanced Video Options
450 @item -pix_fmt @var{format}
451 Set pixel format. Use 'list' as parameter to show all the supported
453 @item -sws_flags @var{flags}
454 Set SwScaler flags (only available when compiled with swscale support).
455 @item -g @var{gop_size}
456 Set the group of pictures size.
458 Use only intra frames.
461 @item -qscale @var{q}
462 Use fixed video quantizer scale (VBR).
464 minimum video quantizer scale (VBR)
466 maximum video quantizer scale (VBR)
468 maximum difference between the quantizer scales (VBR)
469 @item -qblur @var{blur}
470 video quantizer scale blur (VBR) (range 0.0 - 1.0)
471 @item -qcomp @var{compression}
472 video quantizer scale compression (VBR) (default 0.5).
473 Constant of ratecontrol equation. Recommended range for default rc_eq: 0.0-1.0
475 @item -lmin @var{lambda}
476 minimum video lagrange factor (VBR)
477 @item -lmax @var{lambda}
478 max video lagrange factor (VBR)
479 @item -mblmin @var{lambda}
480 minimum macroblock quantizer scale (VBR)
481 @item -mblmax @var{lambda}
482 maximum macroblock quantizer scale (VBR)
484 These four options (lmin, lmax, mblmin, mblmax) use 'lambda' units,
485 but you may use the QP2LAMBDA constant to easily convert from 'q' units:
487 ffmpeg -i src.ext -lmax 21*QP2LAMBDA dst.ext
490 @item -rc_init_cplx @var{complexity}
491 initial complexity for single pass encoding
492 @item -b_qfactor @var{factor}
493 qp factor between P- and B-frames
494 @item -i_qfactor @var{factor}
495 qp factor between P- and I-frames
496 @item -b_qoffset @var{offset}
497 qp offset between P- and B-frames
498 @item -i_qoffset @var{offset}
499 qp offset between P- and I-frames
500 @item -rc_eq @var{equation}
501 Set rate control equation (@pxref{FFmpeg formula
502 evaluator}) (default = @code{tex^qComp}).
503 @item -rc_override @var{override}
504 rate control override for specific intervals
505 @item -me_method @var{method}
506 Set motion estimation method to @var{method}.
507 Available methods are (from lowest to best quality):
510 Try just the (0, 0) vector.
519 exhaustive search (slow and marginally better than epzs)
522 @item -dct_algo @var{algo}
523 Set DCT algorithm to @var{algo}. Available values are:
526 FF_DCT_AUTO (default)
539 @item -idct_algo @var{algo}
540 Set IDCT algorithm to @var{algo}. Available values are:
543 FF_IDCT_AUTO (default)
567 Set error resilience to @var{n}.
570 FF_ER_CAREFUL (default)
576 FF_ER_VERY_AGGRESSIVE
579 @item -ec @var{bit_mask}
580 Set error concealment to @var{bit_mask}. @var{bit_mask} is a bit mask of
581 the following values:
584 FF_EC_GUESS_MVS (default = enabled)
586 FF_EC_DEBLOCK (default = enabled)
589 @item -bf @var{frames}
590 Use 'frames' B-frames (supported for MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4).
591 @item -mbd @var{mode}
595 FF_MB_DECISION_SIMPLE: Use mb_cmp (cannot change it yet in FFmpeg).
597 FF_MB_DECISION_BITS: Choose the one which needs the fewest bits.
599 FF_MB_DECISION_RD: rate distortion
603 Use four motion vector by macroblock (MPEG-4 only).
605 Use data partitioning (MPEG-4 only).
606 @item -bug @var{param}
607 Work around encoder bugs that are not auto-detected.
608 @item -strict @var{strictness}
609 How strictly to follow the standards.
611 Enable Advanced intra coding (h263+).
613 Enable Unlimited Motion Vector (h263+)
616 Deinterlace pictures.
618 Force interlacing support in encoder (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 only).
619 Use this option if your input file is interlaced and you want
620 to keep the interlaced format for minimum losses.
621 The alternative is to deinterlace the input stream with
622 @option{-deinterlace}, but deinterlacing introduces losses.
624 Calculate PSNR of compressed frames.
626 Dump video coding statistics to @file{vstats_HHMMSS.log}.
627 @item -vstats_file @var{file}
628 Dump video coding statistics to @var{file}.
629 @item -vhook @var{module}
630 Insert video processing @var{module}. @var{module} contains the module
631 name and its parameters separated by spaces.
633 top=1/bottom=0/auto=-1 field first
634 @item -dc @var{precision}
636 @item -vtag @var{fourcc/tag}
637 Force video tag/fourcc.
640 @item -vbsf @var{bitstream_filter}
641 Bitstream filters available are "dump_extra", "remove_extra", "noise", "h264_mp4toannexb", "imxdump", "mjpegadump".
643 ffmpeg -i h264.mp4 -vcodec copy -vbsf h264_mp4toannexb -an out.h264
647 @section Audio Options
650 @item -aframes @var{number}
651 Set the number of audio frames to record.
653 Set the audio sampling frequency (default = 44100 Hz).
654 @item -ab @var{bitrate}
655 Set the audio bitrate in bit/s (default = 64k).
656 @item -ac @var{channels}
657 Set the number of audio channels (default = 1).
659 Disable audio recording.
660 @item -acodec @var{codec}
661 Force audio codec to @var{codec}. Use the @code{copy} special value to
662 specify that the raw codec data must be copied as is.
664 Add a new audio track to the output file. If you want to specify parameters,
665 do so before @code{-newaudio} (@code{-acodec}, @code{-ab}, etc..).
667 Mapping will be done automatically, if the number of output streams is equal to
668 the number of input streams, else it will pick the first one that matches. You
669 can override the mapping using @code{-map} as usual.
673 ffmpeg -i file.mpg -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ab 384k test.mpg -acodec mp2 -ab 192k -newaudio
675 @item -alang @var{code}
676 Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current audio stream.
679 @section Advanced Audio options:
682 @item -atag @var{fourcc/tag}
683 Force audio tag/fourcc.
684 @item -absf @var{bitstream_filter}
685 Bitstream filters available are "dump_extra", "remove_extra", "noise", "mp3comp", "mp3decomp".
688 @section Subtitle options:
691 @item -scodec @var{codec}
692 Force subtitle codec ('copy' to copy stream).
694 Add a new subtitle stream to the current output stream.
695 @item -slang @var{code}
696 Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current subtitle stream.
697 @item -sbsf @var{bitstream_filter}
698 Bitstream filters available are "mov2textsub", "text2movsub".
700 ffmpeg -i file.mov -an -vn -sbsf mov2textsub -scodec copy -f rawvideo sub.txt
704 @section Audio/Video grab options
707 @item -vc @var{channel}
708 Set video grab channel (DV1394 only).
709 @item -tvstd @var{standard}
710 Set television standard (NTSC, PAL (SECAM)).
712 Synchronize read on input.
715 @section Advanced options
718 @item -map @var{input_stream_id}[:@var{sync_stream_id}]
719 Set stream mapping from input streams to output streams.
720 Just enumerate the input streams in the order you want them in the output.
721 @var{sync_stream_id} if specified sets the input stream to sync
723 @item -map_meta_data @var{outfile}:@var{infile}
724 Set meta data information of @var{outfile} from @var{infile}.
726 Print specific debug info.
728 Add timings for benchmarking.
730 Dump each input packet.
732 When dumping packets, also dump the payload.
734 Only use bit exact algorithms (for codec testing).
736 Set packet size in bits.
738 Read input at native frame rate. Mainly used to simulate a grab device.
740 Loop over the input stream. Currently it works only for image
741 streams. This option is used for automatic FFserver testing.
742 @item -loop_output @var{number_of_times}
743 Repeatedly loop output for formats that support looping such as animated GIF
744 (0 will loop the output infinitely).
745 @item -threads @var{count}
747 @item -vsync @var{parameter}
748 Video sync method. Video will be stretched/squeezed to match the timestamps,
749 it is done by duplicating and dropping frames. With -map you can select from
750 which stream the timestamps should be taken. You can leave either video or
751 audio unchanged and sync the remaining stream(s) to the unchanged one.
752 @item -async @var{samples_per_second}
753 Audio sync method. "Stretches/squeezes" the audio stream to match the timestamps,
754 the parameter is the maximum samples per second by which the audio is changed.
755 -async 1 is a special case where only the start of the audio stream is corrected
756 without any later correction.
758 Copy timestamps from input to output.
760 Finish encoding when the shortest input stream ends.
761 @item -dts_delta_threshold
762 Timestamp discontinuity delta threshold.
763 @item -muxdelay @var{seconds}
764 Set the maximum demux-decode delay.
765 @item -muxpreload @var{seconds}
766 Set the initial demux-decode delay.
769 @node FFmpeg formula evaluator
770 @section FFmpeg formula evaluator
772 When evaluating a rate control string, FFmpeg uses an internal formula
775 The following binary operators are available: @code{+}, @code{-},
776 @code{*}, @code{/}, @code{^}.
778 The following unary operators are available: @code{+}, @code{-},
781 The following functions are available:
803 The following constants are available:
832 @settitle FFmpeg video converter
835 ffserver(1), ffplay(1) and the HTML documentation of @file{ffmpeg}.
846 The file name can be @file{-} to read from standard input or to write
849 FFmpeg also handles many protocols specified with an URL syntax.
851 Use 'ffmpeg -formats' to see a list of the supported protocols.
853 The protocol @code{http:} is currently used only to communicate with
854 FFserver (see the FFserver documentation). When FFmpeg will be a
855 video player it will also be used for streaming :-)
860 @item For streaming at very low bitrate application, use a low frame rate
861 and a small GOP size. This is especially true for RealVideo where
862 the Linux player does not seem to be very fast, so it can miss
863 frames. An example is:
866 ffmpeg -g 3 -r 3 -t 10 -b 50k -s qcif -f rv10 /tmp/b.rm
869 @item The parameter 'q' which is displayed while encoding is the current
870 quantizer. The value 1 indicates that a very good quality could
871 be achieved. The value 31 indicates the worst quality. If q=31 appears
872 too often, it means that the encoder cannot compress enough to meet
873 your bitrate. You must either increase the bitrate, decrease the
874 frame rate or decrease the frame size.
876 @item If your computer is not fast enough, you can speed up the
877 compression at the expense of the compression ratio. You can use
878 '-me zero' to speed up motion estimation, and '-intra' to disable
879 motion estimation completely (you have only I-frames, which means it
880 is about as good as JPEG compression).
882 @item To have very low audio bitrates, reduce the sampling frequency
883 (down to 22050 kHz for MPEG audio, 22050 or 11025 for AC3).
885 @item To have a constant quality (but a variable bitrate), use the option
886 '-qscale n' when 'n' is between 1 (excellent quality) and 31 (worst
889 @item When converting video files, you can use the '-sameq' option which
890 uses the same quality factor in the encoder as in the decoder.
891 It allows almost lossless encoding.