1 FFmpeg - (c) 2000,2001 Gerard Lantau.
6 ffmpeg is a hyper fast realtime audio/video encoder, a streaming
7 server and a generic audio and video file converter.
9 It can grab from a standard Video4Linux video source and convert it
10 into several file formats based on DCT/motion compensation
11 encoding. Sound is compressed in MPEG audio layer 2 or using an AC3
14 What makes ffmpeg interesting ?
16 - Innovative streaming technology : multiformat, real time encoding,
19 - Simple and efficient video encoder: outputs MPEG1, H263, Real
20 Video(tm), MPEG4, DIVX and MJPEG compatible bitstreams using the
23 - Real time encoding (25 fps in 352x288 on a K6 500) using the
26 - Generates I and P frames, which means it is far better than a MJPEG
29 - Hyper fast MPEG audio layer 2 compression (50 times faster than
30 realtime on a K6 500).
32 - Hyper fast AC3 compatible encoder.
34 - simple and very small portable C source code, easy to understand and
35 to modify. It be may the smallest decent MPEG encoder :-)
37 - optional non real time higher quality encoding (different motion
38 estimators available).
40 - Audio and Video decoders are in development.
42 ffmpeg is made of two programs:
44 * ffmpeg: soft VCR which encodes in real time to several formats. It
45 can also encode from any supported input file format to any input
48 * ffserver: high performance live broadcast streaming server based on
49 the ffmpeg core encoders.
54 * Read doc/ffmpeg.txt and doc/ffserver.txt to learn the basic features.
56 * Read doc/TODO to know what are the know bugs and missing features.
58 * Read doc/README.dev if you want to contribute or use the codec or
64 * See the file COPYING. ffmpeg and the associated library are licensed
65 under the GNU General Public License. I may change the license of
66 libavcodec and libav to LGPL if many people ask it (and if they
67 submit good patches!).
69 * This code should be patent free since it is very simple. I took care
70 to use the same video encoder/decoder core for all formats to show
71 that they really ARE THE SAME except for the encoding huffman codes.
73 Gerard Lantau (glantau@yahoo.fr).