1 \input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
2 @documentencoding UTF-8
4 @settitle ffmpeg Documentation
6 @center @titlefont{ffmpeg Documentation}
15 ffmpeg [@var{global_options}] @{[@var{input_file_options}] -i @file{input_url}@} ... @{[@var{output_file_options}] @file{output_url}@} ...
18 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
20 @command{ffmpeg} is a very fast video and audio converter that can also grab from
21 a live audio/video source. It can also convert between arbitrary sample
22 rates and resize video on the fly with a high quality polyphase filter.
24 @command{ffmpeg} reads from an arbitrary number of input "files" (which can be regular
25 files, pipes, network streams, grabbing devices, etc.), specified by the
26 @code{-i} option, and writes to an arbitrary number of output "files", which are
27 specified by a plain output url. Anything found on the command line which
28 cannot be interpreted as an option is considered to be an output url.
30 Each input or output url can, in principle, contain any number of streams of
31 different types (video/audio/subtitle/attachment/data). The allowed number and/or
32 types of streams may be limited by the container format. Selecting which
33 streams from which inputs will go into which output is either done automatically
34 or with the @code{-map} option (see the Stream selection chapter).
36 To refer to input files in options, you must use their indices (0-based). E.g.
37 the first input file is @code{0}, the second is @code{1}, etc. Similarly, streams
38 within a file are referred to by their indices. E.g. @code{2:3} refers to the
39 fourth stream in the third input file. Also see the Stream specifiers chapter.
41 As a general rule, options are applied to the next specified
42 file. Therefore, order is important, and you can have the same
43 option on the command line multiple times. Each occurrence is
44 then applied to the next input or output file.
45 Exceptions from this rule are the global options (e.g. verbosity level),
46 which should be specified first.
48 Do not mix input and output files -- first specify all input files, then all
49 output files. Also do not mix options which belong to different files. All
50 options apply ONLY to the next input or output file and are reset between files.
54 To set the video bitrate of the output file to 64 kbit/s:
56 ffmpeg -i input.avi -b:v 64k -bufsize 64k output.avi
60 To force the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:
62 ffmpeg -i input.avi -r 24 output.avi
66 To force the frame rate of the input file (valid for raw formats only)
67 to 1 fps and the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:
69 ffmpeg -r 1 -i input.m2v -r 24 output.avi
73 The format option may be needed for raw input files.
75 @c man end DESCRIPTION
77 @chapter Detailed description
78 @c man begin DETAILED DESCRIPTION
80 The transcoding process in @command{ffmpeg} for each output can be described by
81 the following diagram:
84 _______ ______________
86 | input | demuxer | encoded data | decoder
87 | file | ---------> | packets | -----+
88 |_______| |______________| |
95 ________ ______________ |
97 | output | <-------- | encoded data | <----+
98 | file | muxer | packets | encoder
99 |________| |______________|
104 @command{ffmpeg} calls the libavformat library (containing demuxers) to read
105 input files and get packets containing encoded data from them. When there are
106 multiple input files, @command{ffmpeg} tries to keep them synchronized by
107 tracking lowest timestamp on any active input stream.
109 Encoded packets are then passed to the decoder (unless streamcopy is selected
110 for the stream, see further for a description). The decoder produces
111 uncompressed frames (raw video/PCM audio/...) which can be processed further by
112 filtering (see next section). After filtering, the frames are passed to the
113 encoder, which encodes them and outputs encoded packets. Finally those are
114 passed to the muxer, which writes the encoded packets to the output file.
117 Before encoding, @command{ffmpeg} can process raw audio and video frames using
118 filters from the libavfilter library. Several chained filters form a filter
119 graph. @command{ffmpeg} distinguishes between two types of filtergraphs:
122 @subsection Simple filtergraphs
123 Simple filtergraphs are those that have exactly one input and output, both of
124 the same type. In the above diagram they can be represented by simply inserting
125 an additional step between decoding and encoding:
128 _________ ______________
130 | decoded | | encoded data |
131 | frames |\ _ | packets |
132 |_________| \ /||______________|
134 simple _\|| | / encoder
135 filtergraph | filtered |/
141 Simple filtergraphs are configured with the per-stream @option{-filter} option
142 (with @option{-vf} and @option{-af} aliases for video and audio respectively).
143 A simple filtergraph for video can look for example like this:
146 _______ _____________ _______ ________
148 | input | ---> | deinterlace | ---> | scale | ---> | output |
149 |_______| |_____________| |_______| |________|
153 Note that some filters change frame properties but not frame contents. E.g. the
154 @code{fps} filter in the example above changes number of frames, but does not
155 touch the frame contents. Another example is the @code{setpts} filter, which
156 only sets timestamps and otherwise passes the frames unchanged.
158 @subsection Complex filtergraphs
159 Complex filtergraphs are those which cannot be described as simply a linear
160 processing chain applied to one stream. This is the case, for example, when the graph has
161 more than one input and/or output, or when output stream type is different from
162 input. They can be represented with the following diagram:
167 | input 0 |\ __________
169 \ _________ /| output 0 |
171 _________ \| complex | /
173 | input 1 |---->| filter |\
174 |_________| | | \ __________
177 _________ / |_________| |__________|
184 Complex filtergraphs are configured with the @option{-filter_complex} option.
185 Note that this option is global, since a complex filtergraph, by its nature,
186 cannot be unambiguously associated with a single stream or file.
188 The @option{-lavfi} option is equivalent to @option{-filter_complex}.
190 A trivial example of a complex filtergraph is the @code{overlay} filter, which
191 has two video inputs and one video output, containing one video overlaid on top
192 of the other. Its audio counterpart is the @code{amix} filter.
195 Stream copy is a mode selected by supplying the @code{copy} parameter to the
196 @option{-codec} option. It makes @command{ffmpeg} omit the decoding and encoding
197 step for the specified stream, so it does only demuxing and muxing. It is useful
198 for changing the container format or modifying container-level metadata. The
199 diagram above will, in this case, simplify to this:
202 _______ ______________ ________
204 | input | demuxer | encoded data | muxer | output |
205 | file | ---------> | packets | -------> | file |
206 |_______| |______________| |________|
210 Since there is no decoding or encoding, it is very fast and there is no quality
211 loss. However, it might not work in some cases because of many factors. Applying
212 filters is obviously also impossible, since filters work on uncompressed data.
214 @c man end DETAILED DESCRIPTION
216 @chapter Stream selection
217 @c man begin STREAM SELECTION
219 @command{ffmpeg} provides the @code{-map} option for manual control of stream selection in each
220 output file. Users can skip @code{-map} and let ffmpeg perform automatic stream selection as
221 described below. The @code{-vn / -an / -sn / -dn} options can be used to skip inclusion of
222 video, audio, subtitle and data streams respectively, whether manually mapped or automatically
223 selected, except for those streams which are outputs of complex filtergraphs.
226 The sub-sections that follow describe the various rules that are involved in stream selection.
227 The examples that follow next show how these rules are applied in practice.
229 While every effort is made to accurately reflect the behavior of the program, FFmpeg is under
230 continuous development and the code may have changed since the time of this writing.
232 @subsection Automatic stream selection
234 In the absence of any map options for a particular output file, ffmpeg inspects the output
235 format to check which type of streams can be included in it, viz. video, audio and/or
236 subtitles. For each acceptable stream type, ffmpeg will pick one stream, when available,
237 from among all the inputs.
239 It will select that stream based upon the following criteria:
242 for video, it is the stream with the highest resolution,
244 for audio, it is the stream with the most channels,
246 for subtitles, it is the first subtitle stream found but there's a caveat.
247 The output format's default subtitle encoder can be either text-based or image-based,
248 and only a subtitle stream of the same type will be chosen.
251 In the case where several streams of the same type rate equally, the stream with the lowest
254 Data or attachment streams are not automatically selected and can only be included
256 @subsection Manual stream selection
258 When @code{-map} is used, only user-mapped streams are included in that output file,
259 with one possible exception for filtergraph outputs described below.
261 @subsection Complex filtergraphs
263 If there are any complex filtergraph output streams with unlabeled pads, they will be added
264 to the first output file. This will lead to a fatal error if the stream type is not supported
265 by the output format. In the absence of the map option, the inclusion of these streams leads
266 to the automatic stream selection of their types being skipped. If map options are present,
267 these filtergraph streams are included in addition to the mapped streams.
269 Complex filtergraph output streams with labeled pads must be mapped once and exactly once.
271 @subsection Stream handling
273 Stream handling is independent of stream selection, with an exception for subtitles described
274 below. Stream handling is set via the @code{-codec} option addressed to streams within a
275 specific @emph{output} file. In particular, codec options are applied by ffmpeg after the
276 stream selection process and thus do not influence the latter. If no @code{-codec} option is
277 specified for a stream type, ffmpeg will select the default encoder registered by the output
280 An exception exists for subtitles. If a subtitle encoder is specified for an output file, the
281 first subtitle stream found of any type, text or image, will be included. ffmpeg does not validate
282 if the specified encoder can convert the selected stream or if the converted stream is acceptable
283 within the output format. This applies generally as well: when the user sets an encoder manually,
284 the stream selection process cannot check if the encoded stream can be muxed into the output file.
285 If it cannot, ffmpeg will abort and @emph{all} output files will fail to be processed.
289 The following examples illustrate the behavior, quirks and limitations of ffmpeg's stream
292 They assume the following three input files.
297 stream 0: video 640x360
298 stream 1: audio 2 channels
301 stream 0: video 1920x1080
302 stream 1: audio 2 channels
303 stream 2: subtitles (text)
304 stream 3: audio 5.1 channels
305 stream 4: subtitles (text)
308 stream 0: video 1280x720
309 stream 1: audio 2 channels
310 stream 2: subtitles (image)
313 @subsubheading Example: automatic stream selection
315 ffmpeg -i A.avi -i B.mp4 out1.mkv out2.wav -map 1:a -c:a copy out3.mov
317 There are three output files specified, and for the first two, no @code{-map} options
318 are set, so ffmpeg will select streams for these two files automatically.
320 @file{out1.mkv} is a Matroska container file and accepts video, audio and subtitle streams,
321 so ffmpeg will try to select one of each type.@*
322 For video, it will select @code{stream 0} from @file{B.mp4}, which has the highest
323 resolution among all the input video streams.@*
324 For audio, it will select @code{stream 3} from @file{B.mp4}, since it has the greatest
325 number of channels.@*
326 For subtitles, it will select @code{stream 2} from @file{B.mp4}, which is the first subtitle
327 stream from among @file{A.avi} and @file{B.mp4}.
329 @file{out2.wav} accepts only audio streams, so only @code{stream 3} from @file{B.mp4} is
332 For @file{out3.mov}, since a @code{-map} option is set, no automatic stream selection will
333 occur. The @code{-map 1:a} option will select all audio streams from the second input
334 @file{B.mp4}. No other streams will be included in this output file.
336 For the first two outputs, all included streams will be transcoded. The encoders chosen will
337 be the default ones registered by each output format, which may not match the codec of the
338 selected input streams.
340 For the third output, codec option for audio streams has been set
341 to @code{copy}, so no decoding-filtering-encoding operations will occur, or @emph{can} occur.
342 Packets of selected streams shall be conveyed from the input file and muxed within the output
345 @subsubheading Example: automatic subtitles selection
347 ffmpeg -i C.mkv out1.mkv -c:s dvdsub -an out2.mkv
349 Although @file{out1.mkv} is a Matroska container file which accepts subtitle streams, only a
350 video and audio stream shall be selected. The subtitle stream of @file{C.mkv} is image-based
351 and the default subtitle encoder of the Matroska muxer is text-based, so a transcode operation
352 for the subtitles is expected to fail and hence the stream isn't selected. However, in
353 @file{out2.mkv}, a subtitle encoder is specified in the command and so, the subtitle stream is
354 selected, in addition to the video stream. The presence of @code{-an} disables audio stream
355 selection for @file{out2.mkv}.
357 @subsubheading Example: unlabeled filtergraph outputs
359 ffmpeg -i A.avi -i C.mkv -i B.mp4 -filter_complex "overlay" out1.mp4 out2.srt
361 A filtergraph is setup here using the @code{-filter_complex} option and consists of a single
362 video filter. The @code{overlay} filter requires exactly two video inputs, but none are
363 specified, so the first two available video streams are used, those of @file{A.avi} and
364 @file{C.mkv}. The output pad of the filter has no label and so is sent to the first output file
365 @file{out1.mp4}. Due to this, automatic selection of the video stream is skipped, which would
366 have selected the stream in @file{B.mp4}. The audio stream with most channels viz. @code{stream 3}
367 in @file{B.mp4}, is chosen automatically. No subtitle stream is chosen however, since the MP4
368 format has no default subtitle encoder registered, and the user hasn't specified a subtitle encoder.
370 The 2nd output file, @file{out2.srt}, only accepts text-based subtitle streams. So, even though
371 the first subtitle stream available belongs to @file{C.mkv}, it is image-based and hence skipped.
372 The selected stream, @code{stream 2} in @file{B.mp4}, is the first text-based subtitle stream.
374 @subsubheading Example: labeled filtergraph outputs
376 ffmpeg -i A.avi -i B.mp4 -i C.mkv -filter_complex "[1:v]hue=s=0[outv];overlay;aresample" \
377 -map '[outv]' -an out1.mp4 \
379 -map '[outv]' -map 1:a:0 out3.mkv
382 The above command will fail, as the output pad labelled @code{[outv]} has been mapped twice.
383 None of the output files shall be processed.
386 ffmpeg -i A.avi -i B.mp4 -i C.mkv -filter_complex "[1:v]hue=s=0[outv];overlay;aresample" \
392 This command above will also fail as the hue filter output has a label, @code{[outv]},
393 and hasn't been mapped anywhere.
395 The command should be modified as follows,
397 ffmpeg -i A.avi -i B.mp4 -i C.mkv -filter_complex "[1:v]hue=s=0,split=2[outv1][outv2];overlay;aresample" \
398 -map '[outv1]' -an out1.mp4 \
400 -map '[outv2]' -map 1:a:0 out3.mkv
402 The video stream from @file{B.mp4} is sent to the hue filter, whose output is cloned once using
403 the split filter, and both outputs labelled. Then a copy each is mapped to the first and third
406 The overlay filter, requiring two video inputs, uses the first two unused video streams. Those
407 are the streams from @file{A.avi} and @file{C.mkv}. The overlay output isn't labelled, so it is
408 sent to the first output file @file{out1.mp4}, regardless of the presence of the @code{-map} option.
410 The aresample filter is sent the first unused audio stream, that of @file{A.avi}. Since this filter
411 output is also unlabelled, it too is mapped to the first output file. The presence of @code{-an}
412 only suppresses automatic or manual stream selection of audio streams, not outputs sent from
413 filtergraphs. Both these mapped streams shall be ordered before the mapped stream in @file{out1.mp4}.
415 The video, audio and subtitle streams mapped to @code{out2.mkv} are entirely determined by
416 automatic stream selection.
418 @file{out3.mkv} consists of the cloned video output from the hue filter and the first audio
419 stream from @file{B.mp4}.
422 @c man end STREAM SELECTION
427 @include fftools-common-opts.texi
429 @section Main options
433 @item -f @var{fmt} (@emph{input/output})
434 Force input or output file format. The format is normally auto detected for input
435 files and guessed from the file extension for output files, so this option is not
436 needed in most cases.
438 @item -i @var{url} (@emph{input})
441 @item -y (@emph{global})
442 Overwrite output files without asking.
444 @item -n (@emph{global})
445 Do not overwrite output files, and exit immediately if a specified
446 output file already exists.
448 @item -stream_loop @var{number} (@emph{input})
449 Set number of times input stream shall be looped. Loop 0 means no loop,
450 loop -1 means infinite loop.
452 @item -c[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{codec} (@emph{input/output,per-stream})
453 @itemx -codec[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{codec} (@emph{input/output,per-stream})
454 Select an encoder (when used before an output file) or a decoder (when used
455 before an input file) for one or more streams. @var{codec} is the name of a
456 decoder/encoder or a special value @code{copy} (output only) to indicate that
457 the stream is not to be re-encoded.
461 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c:v libx264 -c:a copy OUTPUT
463 encodes all video streams with libx264 and copies all audio streams.
465 For each stream, the last matching @code{c} option is applied, so
467 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c copy -c:v:1 libx264 -c:a:137 libvorbis OUTPUT
469 will copy all the streams except the second video, which will be encoded with
470 libx264, and the 138th audio, which will be encoded with libvorbis.
472 @item -t @var{duration} (@emph{input/output})
473 When used as an input option (before @code{-i}), limit the @var{duration} of
474 data read from the input file.
476 When used as an output option (before an output url), stop writing the
477 output after its duration reaches @var{duration}.
479 @var{duration} must be a time duration specification,
480 see @ref{time duration syntax,,the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual,ffmpeg-utils}.
482 -to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority.
484 @item -to @var{position} (@emph{input/output})
485 Stop writing the output or reading the input at @var{position}.
486 @var{position} must be a time duration specification,
487 see @ref{time duration syntax,,the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual,ffmpeg-utils}.
489 -to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority.
491 @item -fs @var{limit_size} (@emph{output})
492 Set the file size limit, expressed in bytes. No further chunk of bytes is written
493 after the limit is exceeded. The size of the output file is slightly more than the
496 @item -ss @var{position} (@emph{input/output})
497 When used as an input option (before @code{-i}), seeks in this input file to
498 @var{position}. Note that in most formats it is not possible to seek exactly,
499 so @command{ffmpeg} will seek to the closest seek point before @var{position}.
500 When transcoding and @option{-accurate_seek} is enabled (the default), this
501 extra segment between the seek point and @var{position} will be decoded and
502 discarded. When doing stream copy or when @option{-noaccurate_seek} is used, it
505 When used as an output option (before an output url), decodes but discards
506 input until the timestamps reach @var{position}.
508 @var{position} must be a time duration specification,
509 see @ref{time duration syntax,,the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual,ffmpeg-utils}.
511 @item -sseof @var{position} (@emph{input})
513 Like the @code{-ss} option but relative to the "end of file". That is negative
514 values are earlier in the file, 0 is at EOF.
516 @item -itsoffset @var{offset} (@emph{input})
517 Set the input time offset.
519 @var{offset} must be a time duration specification,
520 see @ref{time duration syntax,,the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual,ffmpeg-utils}.
522 The offset is added to the timestamps of the input files. Specifying
523 a positive offset means that the corresponding streams are delayed by
524 the time duration specified in @var{offset}.
526 @item -itsscale @var{scale} (@emph{input,per-stream})
527 Rescale input timestamps. @var{scale} should be a floating point number.
529 @item -timestamp @var{date} (@emph{output})
530 Set the recording timestamp in the container.
532 @var{date} must be a date specification,
533 see @ref{date syntax,,the Date section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual,ffmpeg-utils}.
535 @item -metadata[:metadata_specifier] @var{key}=@var{value} (@emph{output,per-metadata})
536 Set a metadata key/value pair.
538 An optional @var{metadata_specifier} may be given to set metadata
539 on streams, chapters or programs. See @code{-map_metadata}
540 documentation for details.
542 This option overrides metadata set with @code{-map_metadata}. It is
543 also possible to delete metadata by using an empty value.
545 For example, for setting the title in the output file:
547 ffmpeg -i in.avi -metadata title="my title" out.flv
550 To set the language of the first audio stream:
552 ffmpeg -i INPUT -metadata:s:a:0 language=eng OUTPUT
555 @item -disposition[:stream_specifier] @var{value} (@emph{output,per-stream})
556 Sets the disposition for a stream.
558 This option overrides the disposition copied from the input stream. It is also
559 possible to delete the disposition by setting it to 0.
561 The following dispositions are recognized:
570 @item hearing_impaired
571 @item visual_impaired
580 For example, to make the second audio stream the default stream:
582 ffmpeg -i in.mkv -c copy -disposition:a:1 default out.mkv
585 To make the second subtitle stream the default stream and remove the default
586 disposition from the first subtitle stream:
588 ffmpeg -i in.mkv -c copy -disposition:s:0 0 -disposition:s:1 default out.mkv
591 To add an embedded cover/thumbnail:
593 ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -i IMAGE -map 0 -map 1 -c copy -c:v:1 png -disposition:v:1 attached_pic out.mp4
596 Not all muxers support embedded thumbnails, and those who do, only support a few formats, like JPEG or PNG.
598 @item -program [title=@var{title}:][program_num=@var{program_num}:]st=@var{stream}[:st=@var{stream}...] (@emph{output})
600 Creates a program with the specified @var{title}, @var{program_num} and adds the specified
601 @var{stream}(s) to it.
603 @item -target @var{type} (@emph{output})
604 Specify target file type (@code{vcd}, @code{svcd}, @code{dvd}, @code{dv},
605 @code{dv50}). @var{type} may be prefixed with @code{pal-}, @code{ntsc-} or
606 @code{film-} to use the corresponding standard. All the format options
607 (bitrate, codecs, buffer sizes) are then set automatically. You can just type:
610 ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd /tmp/vcd.mpg
613 Nevertheless you can specify additional options as long as you know
614 they do not conflict with the standard, as in:
617 ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd -bf 2 /tmp/vcd.mpg
620 The parameters set for each target are as follows.
625 -f vcd -muxrate 1411200 -muxpreload 0.44 -packetsize 2324
627 -codec:v mpeg1video -g 15 -b:v 1150k -maxrate:v 1150v -minrate:v 1150k -bufsize:v 327680
629 -codec:a mp2 -b:a 224k
632 -f vcd -muxrate 1411200 -muxpreload 0.44 -packetsize 2324
633 -s 352x240 -r 30000/1001
634 -codec:v mpeg1video -g 18 -b:v 1150k -maxrate:v 1150v -minrate:v 1150k -bufsize:v 327680
636 -codec:a mp2 -b:a 224k
639 -f vcd -muxrate 1411200 -muxpreload 0.44 -packetsize 2324
640 -s 352x240 -r 24000/1001
641 -codec:v mpeg1video -g 18 -b:v 1150k -maxrate:v 1150v -minrate:v 1150k -bufsize:v 327680
643 -codec:a mp2 -b:a 224k
649 -f svcd -packetsize 2324
650 -s 480x576 -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 25
651 -codec:v mpeg2video -g 15 -b:v 2040k -maxrate:v 2516k -minrate:v 0 -bufsize:v 1835008 -scan_offset 1
653 -codec:a mp2 -b:a 224k
656 -f svcd -packetsize 2324
657 -s 480x480 -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 30000/1001
658 -codec:v mpeg2video -g 18 -b:v 2040k -maxrate:v 2516k -minrate:v 0 -bufsize:v 1835008 -scan_offset 1
660 -codec:a mp2 -b:a 224k
663 -f svcd -packetsize 2324
664 -s 480x480 -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 24000/1001
665 -codec:v mpeg2video -g 18 -b:v 2040k -maxrate:v 2516k -minrate:v 0 -bufsize:v 1835008 -scan_offset 1
667 -codec:a mp2 -b:a 224k
673 -f dvd -muxrate 10080k -packetsize 2048
674 -s 720x576 -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 25
675 -codec:v mpeg2video -g 15 -b:v 6000k -maxrate:v 9000k -minrate:v 0 -bufsize:v 1835008
677 -codec:a ac3 -b:a 448k
680 -f dvd -muxrate 10080k -packetsize 2048
681 -s 720x480 -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 30000/1001
682 -codec:v mpeg2video -g 18 -b:v 6000k -maxrate:v 9000k -minrate:v 0 -bufsize:v 1835008
684 -codec:a ac3 -b:a 448k
687 -f dvd -muxrate 10080k -packetsize 2048
688 -s 720x480 -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 24000/1001
689 -codec:v mpeg2video -g 18 -b:v 6000k -maxrate:v 9000k -minrate:v 0 -bufsize:v 1835008
691 -codec:a ac3 -b:a 448k
698 -s 720x576 -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 25
703 -s 720x480 -pix_fmt yuv411p -r 30000/1001
708 -s 720x480 -pix_fmt yuv411p -r 24000/1001
711 The @code{dv50} target is identical to the @code{dv} target except that the pixel format set is @code{yuv422p} for all three standards.
713 Any user-set value for a parameter above will override the target preset value. In that case, the output may
714 not comply with the target standard.
716 @item -dn (@emph{input/output})
717 As an input option, blocks all data streams of a file from being filtered or
718 being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See @code{-discard}
719 option to disable streams individually.
721 As an output option, disables data recording i.e. automatic selection or
722 mapping of any data stream. For full manual control see the @code{-map}
725 @item -dframes @var{number} (@emph{output})
726 Set the number of data frames to output. This is an obsolete alias for
727 @code{-frames:d}, which you should use instead.
729 @item -frames[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{framecount} (@emph{output,per-stream})
730 Stop writing to the stream after @var{framecount} frames.
732 @item -q[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{q} (@emph{output,per-stream})
733 @itemx -qscale[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{q} (@emph{output,per-stream})
734 Use fixed quality scale (VBR). The meaning of @var{q}/@var{qscale} is
736 If @var{qscale} is used without a @var{stream_specifier} then it applies only
737 to the video stream, this is to maintain compatibility with previous behavior
738 and as specifying the same codec specific value to 2 different codecs that is
739 audio and video generally is not what is intended when no stream_specifier is
742 @anchor{filter_option}
743 @item -filter[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{filtergraph} (@emph{output,per-stream})
744 Create the filtergraph specified by @var{filtergraph} and use it to
747 @var{filtergraph} is a description of the filtergraph to apply to
748 the stream, and must have a single input and a single output of the
749 same type of the stream. In the filtergraph, the input is associated
750 to the label @code{in}, and the output to the label @code{out}. See
751 the ffmpeg-filters manual for more information about the filtergraph
754 See the @ref{filter_complex_option,,-filter_complex option} if you
755 want to create filtergraphs with multiple inputs and/or outputs.
757 @item -filter_script[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{filename} (@emph{output,per-stream})
758 This option is similar to @option{-filter}, the only difference is that its
759 argument is the name of the file from which a filtergraph description is to be
762 @item -filter_threads @var{nb_threads} (@emph{global})
763 Defines how many threads are used to process a filter pipeline. Each pipeline
764 will produce a thread pool with this many threads available for parallel processing.
765 The default is the number of available CPUs.
767 @item -pre[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{preset_name} (@emph{output,per-stream})
768 Specify the preset for matching stream(s).
770 @item -stats (@emph{global})
771 Print encoding progress/statistics. It is on by default, to explicitly
772 disable it you need to specify @code{-nostats}.
774 @item -stats_period @var{time} (@emph{global})
775 Set period at which encoding progress/statistics are updated. Default is 0.5 seconds.
777 @item -progress @var{url} (@emph{global})
778 Send program-friendly progress information to @var{url}.
780 Progress information is written periodically and at the end of
781 the encoding process. It is made of "@var{key}=@var{value}" lines. @var{key}
782 consists of only alphanumeric characters. The last key of a sequence of
783 progress information is always "progress".
785 The update period is set using @code{-stats_period}.
787 @anchor{stdin option}
789 Enable interaction on standard input. On by default unless standard input is
790 used as an input. To explicitly disable interaction you need to specify
793 Disabling interaction on standard input is useful, for example, if
794 ffmpeg is in the background process group. Roughly the same result can
795 be achieved with @code{ffmpeg ... < /dev/null} but it requires a
798 @item -debug_ts (@emph{global})
799 Print timestamp information. It is off by default. This option is
800 mostly useful for testing and debugging purposes, and the output
801 format may change from one version to another, so it should not be
802 employed by portable scripts.
804 See also the option @code{-fdebug ts}.
806 @item -attach @var{filename} (@emph{output})
807 Add an attachment to the output file. This is supported by a few formats
808 like Matroska for e.g. fonts used in rendering subtitles. Attachments
809 are implemented as a specific type of stream, so this option will add
810 a new stream to the file. It is then possible to use per-stream options
811 on this stream in the usual way. Attachment streams created with this
812 option will be created after all the other streams (i.e. those created
813 with @code{-map} or automatic mappings).
815 Note that for Matroska you also have to set the mimetype metadata tag:
817 ffmpeg -i INPUT -attach DejaVuSans.ttf -metadata:s:2 mimetype=application/x-truetype-font out.mkv
819 (assuming that the attachment stream will be third in the output file).
821 @item -dump_attachment[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{filename} (@emph{input,per-stream})
822 Extract the matching attachment stream into a file named @var{filename}. If
823 @var{filename} is empty, then the value of the @code{filename} metadata tag
826 E.g. to extract the first attachment to a file named 'out.ttf':
828 ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t:0 out.ttf -i INPUT
830 To extract all attachments to files determined by the @code{filename} tag:
832 ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t "" -i INPUT
835 Technical note -- attachments are implemented as codec extradata, so this
836 option can actually be used to extract extradata from any stream, not just
840 @section Video Options
843 @item -vframes @var{number} (@emph{output})
844 Set the number of video frames to output. This is an obsolete alias for
845 @code{-frames:v}, which you should use instead.
846 @item -r[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{fps} (@emph{input/output,per-stream})
847 Set frame rate (Hz value, fraction or abbreviation).
849 As an input option, ignore any timestamps stored in the file and instead
850 generate timestamps assuming constant frame rate @var{fps}.
851 This is not the same as the @option{-framerate} option used for some input formats
852 like image2 or v4l2 (it used to be the same in older versions of FFmpeg).
853 If in doubt use @option{-framerate} instead of the input option @option{-r}.
855 As an output option, duplicate or drop input frames to achieve constant output
856 frame rate @var{fps}.
858 @item -fpsmax[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{fps} (@emph{output,per-stream})
859 Set maximum frame rate (Hz value, fraction or abbreviation).
861 Clamps output frame rate when output framerate is auto-set and is higher than this value.
862 Useful in batch processing or when input framerate is wrongly detected as very high.
863 It cannot be set together with @code{-r}. It is ignored during streamcopy.
865 @item -s[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{size} (@emph{input/output,per-stream})
868 As an input option, this is a shortcut for the @option{video_size} private
869 option, recognized by some demuxers for which the frame size is either not
870 stored in the file or is configurable -- e.g. raw video or video grabbers.
872 As an output option, this inserts the @code{scale} video filter to the
873 @emph{end} of the corresponding filtergraph. Please use the @code{scale} filter
874 directly to insert it at the beginning or some other place.
876 The format is @samp{wxh} (default - same as source).
878 @item -aspect[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{aspect} (@emph{output,per-stream})
879 Set the video display aspect ratio specified by @var{aspect}.
881 @var{aspect} can be a floating point number string, or a string of the
882 form @var{num}:@var{den}, where @var{num} and @var{den} are the
883 numerator and denominator of the aspect ratio. For example "4:3",
884 "16:9", "1.3333", and "1.7777" are valid argument values.
886 If used together with @option{-vcodec copy}, it will affect the aspect ratio
887 stored at container level, but not the aspect ratio stored in encoded
888 frames, if it exists.
890 @item -vn (@emph{input/output})
891 As an input option, blocks all video streams of a file from being filtered or
892 being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See @code{-discard}
893 option to disable streams individually.
895 As an output option, disables video recording i.e. automatic selection or
896 mapping of any video stream. For full manual control see the @code{-map}
899 @item -vcodec @var{codec} (@emph{output})
900 Set the video codec. This is an alias for @code{-codec:v}.
902 @item -pass[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{n} (@emph{output,per-stream})
903 Select the pass number (1 or 2). It is used to do two-pass
904 video encoding. The statistics of the video are recorded in the first
905 pass into a log file (see also the option -passlogfile),
906 and in the second pass that log file is used to generate the video
907 at the exact requested bitrate.
908 On pass 1, you may just deactivate audio and set output to null,
909 examples for Windows and Unix:
911 ffmpeg -i foo.mov -c:v libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y NUL
912 ffmpeg -i foo.mov -c:v libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y /dev/null
915 @item -passlogfile[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{prefix} (@emph{output,per-stream})
916 Set two-pass log file name prefix to @var{prefix}, the default file name
917 prefix is ``ffmpeg2pass''. The complete file name will be
918 @file{PREFIX-N.log}, where N is a number specific to the output
921 @item -vf @var{filtergraph} (@emph{output})
922 Create the filtergraph specified by @var{filtergraph} and use it to
925 This is an alias for @code{-filter:v}, see the @ref{filter_option,,-filter option}.
928 Automatically rotate the video according to file metadata. Enabled by
929 default, use @option{-noautorotate} to disable it.
932 Automatically scale the video according to the resolution of first frame.
933 Enabled by default, use @option{-noautoscale} to disable it. When autoscale is
934 disabled, all output frames of filter graph might not be in the same resolution
935 and may be inadequate for some encoder/muxer. Therefore, it is not recommended
936 to disable it unless you really know what you are doing.
937 Disable autoscale at your own risk.
940 @section Advanced Video options
943 @item -pix_fmt[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{format} (@emph{input/output,per-stream})
944 Set pixel format. Use @code{-pix_fmts} to show all the supported
946 If the selected pixel format can not be selected, ffmpeg will print a
947 warning and select the best pixel format supported by the encoder.
948 If @var{pix_fmt} is prefixed by a @code{+}, ffmpeg will exit with an error
949 if the requested pixel format can not be selected, and automatic conversions
950 inside filtergraphs are disabled.
951 If @var{pix_fmt} is a single @code{+}, ffmpeg selects the same pixel format
952 as the input (or graph output) and automatic conversions are disabled.
954 @item -sws_flags @var{flags} (@emph{input/output})
957 @item -rc_override[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{override} (@emph{output,per-stream})
958 Rate control override for specific intervals, formatted as "int,int,int"
959 list separated with slashes. Two first values are the beginning and
960 end frame numbers, last one is quantizer to use if positive, or quality
964 Force interlacing support in encoder (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 only).
965 Use this option if your input file is interlaced and you want
966 to keep the interlaced format for minimum losses.
967 The alternative is to deinterlace the input stream by use of a filter
968 such as @code{yadif} or @code{bwdif}, but deinterlacing introduces losses.
970 Calculate PSNR of compressed frames.
972 Dump video coding statistics to @file{vstats_HHMMSS.log}.
973 @item -vstats_file @var{file}
974 Dump video coding statistics to @var{file}.
975 @item -vstats_version @var{file}
976 Specifies which version of the vstats format to use. Default is 2.
980 @code{frame= %5d q= %2.1f PSNR= %6.2f f_size= %6d s_size= %8.0fkB time= %0.3f br= %7.1fkbits/s avg_br= %7.1fkbits/s}
984 @code{out= %2d st= %2d frame= %5d q= %2.1f PSNR= %6.2f f_size= %6d s_size= %8.0fkB time= %0.3f br= %7.1fkbits/s avg_br= %7.1fkbits/s}
985 @item -top[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{n} (@emph{output,per-stream})
986 top=1/bottom=0/auto=-1 field first
987 @item -dc @var{precision}
989 @item -vtag @var{fourcc/tag} (@emph{output})
990 Force video tag/fourcc. This is an alias for @code{-tag:v}.
991 @item -qphist (@emph{global})
993 @item -vbsf @var{bitstream_filter}
996 @item -force_key_frames[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{time}[,@var{time}...] (@emph{output,per-stream})
997 @item -force_key_frames[:@var{stream_specifier}] expr:@var{expr} (@emph{output,per-stream})
998 @item -force_key_frames[:@var{stream_specifier}] source (@emph{output,per-stream})
1000 @var{force_key_frames} can take arguments of the following form:
1004 @item @var{time}[,@var{time}...]
1005 If the argument consists of timestamps, ffmpeg will round the specified times to the nearest
1006 output timestamp as per the encoder time base and force a keyframe at the first frame having
1007 timestamp equal or greater than the computed timestamp. Note that if the encoder time base is too
1008 coarse, then the keyframes may be forced on frames with timestamps lower than the specified time.
1009 The default encoder time base is the inverse of the output framerate but may be set otherwise
1010 via @code{-enc_time_base}.
1012 If one of the times is "@code{chapters}[@var{delta}]", it is expanded into
1013 the time of the beginning of all chapters in the file, shifted by
1014 @var{delta}, expressed as a time in seconds.
1015 This option can be useful to ensure that a seek point is present at a
1016 chapter mark or any other designated place in the output file.
1018 For example, to insert a key frame at 5 minutes, plus key frames 0.1 second
1019 before the beginning of every chapter:
1021 -force_key_frames 0:05:00,chapters-0.1
1024 @item expr:@var{expr}
1025 If the argument is prefixed with @code{expr:}, the string @var{expr}
1026 is interpreted like an expression and is evaluated for each frame. A
1027 key frame is forced in case the evaluation is non-zero.
1029 The expression in @var{expr} can contain the following constants:
1032 the number of current processed frame, starting from 0
1034 the number of forced frames
1036 the number of the previous forced frame, it is @code{NAN} when no
1037 keyframe was forced yet
1039 the time of the previous forced frame, it is @code{NAN} when no
1040 keyframe was forced yet
1042 the time of the current processed frame
1045 For example to force a key frame every 5 seconds, you can specify:
1047 -force_key_frames expr:gte(t,n_forced*5)
1050 To force a key frame 5 seconds after the time of the last forced one,
1051 starting from second 13:
1053 -force_key_frames expr:if(isnan(prev_forced_t),gte(t,13),gte(t,prev_forced_t+5))
1057 If the argument is @code{source}, ffmpeg will force a key frame if
1058 the current frame being encoded is marked as a key frame in its source.
1062 Note that forcing too many keyframes is very harmful for the lookahead
1063 algorithms of certain encoders: using fixed-GOP options or similar
1064 would be more efficient.
1066 @item -copyinkf[:@var{stream_specifier}] (@emph{output,per-stream})
1067 When doing stream copy, copy also non-key frames found at the
1070 @item -init_hw_device @var{type}[=@var{name}][:@var{device}[,@var{key=value}...]]
1071 Initialise a new hardware device of type @var{type} called @var{name}, using the
1072 given device parameters.
1073 If no name is specified it will receive a default name of the form "@var{type}%d".
1075 The meaning of @var{device} and the following arguments depends on the
1080 @var{device} is the number of the CUDA device.
1083 @var{device} is the number of the Direct3D 9 display adapter.
1086 @var{device} is either an X11 display name or a DRM render node.
1087 If not specified, it will attempt to open the default X11 display (@emph{$DISPLAY})
1088 and then the first DRM render node (@emph{/dev/dri/renderD128}).
1091 @var{device} is an X11 display name.
1092 If not specified, it will attempt to open the default X11 display (@emph{$DISPLAY}).
1095 @var{device} selects a value in @samp{MFX_IMPL_*}. Allowed values are:
1106 If not specified, @samp{auto_any} is used.
1107 (Note that it may be easier to achieve the desired result for QSV by creating the
1108 platform-appropriate subdevice (@samp{dxva2} or @samp{vaapi}) and then deriving a
1109 QSV device from that.)
1112 @var{device} selects the platform and device as @emph{platform_index.device_index}.
1114 The set of devices can also be filtered using the key-value pairs to find only
1115 devices matching particular platform or device strings.
1117 The strings usable as filters are:
1119 @item platform_profile
1120 @item platform_version
1122 @item platform_vendor
1123 @item platform_extensions
1126 @item driver_version
1127 @item device_version
1128 @item device_profile
1129 @item device_extensions
1133 The indices and filters must together uniquely select a device.
1137 @item -init_hw_device opencl:0.1
1138 Choose the second device on the first platform.
1140 @item -init_hw_device opencl:,device_name=Foo9000
1141 Choose the device with a name containing the string @emph{Foo9000}.
1143 @item -init_hw_device opencl:1,device_type=gpu,device_extensions=cl_khr_fp16
1144 Choose the GPU device on the second platform supporting the @emph{cl_khr_fp16}
1149 If @var{device} is an integer, it selects the device by its index in a
1150 system-dependent list of devices. If @var{device} is any other string, it
1151 selects the first device with a name containing that string as a substring.
1153 The following options are recognized:
1156 If set to 1, enables the validation layer, if installed.
1158 If set to 1, images allocated by the hwcontext will be linear and locally mappable.
1159 @item instance_extensions
1160 A plus separated list of additional instance extensions to enable.
1161 @item device_extensions
1162 A plus separated list of additional device extensions to enable.
1167 @item -init_hw_device vulkan:1
1168 Choose the second device on the system.
1170 @item -init_hw_device vulkan:RADV
1171 Choose the first device with a name containing the string @emph{RADV}.
1173 @item -init_hw_device vulkan:0,instance_extensions=VK_KHR_wayland_surface+VK_KHR_xcb_surface
1174 Choose the first device and enable the Wayland and XCB instance extensions.
1179 @item -init_hw_device @var{type}[=@var{name}]@@@var{source}
1180 Initialise a new hardware device of type @var{type} called @var{name},
1181 deriving it from the existing device with the name @var{source}.
1183 @item -init_hw_device list
1184 List all hardware device types supported in this build of ffmpeg.
1186 @item -filter_hw_device @var{name}
1187 Pass the hardware device called @var{name} to all filters in any filter graph.
1188 This can be used to set the device to upload to with the @code{hwupload} filter,
1189 or the device to map to with the @code{hwmap} filter. Other filters may also
1190 make use of this parameter when they require a hardware device. Note that this
1191 is typically only required when the input is not already in hardware frames -
1192 when it is, filters will derive the device they require from the context of the
1193 frames they receive as input.
1195 This is a global setting, so all filters will receive the same device.
1197 @item -hwaccel[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{hwaccel} (@emph{input,per-stream})
1198 Use hardware acceleration to decode the matching stream(s). The allowed values
1199 of @var{hwaccel} are:
1202 Do not use any hardware acceleration (the default).
1205 Automatically select the hardware acceleration method.
1208 Use VDPAU (Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix) hardware acceleration.
1211 Use DXVA2 (DirectX Video Acceleration) hardware acceleration.
1214 Use VAAPI (Video Acceleration API) hardware acceleration.
1217 Use the Intel QuickSync Video acceleration for video transcoding.
1219 Unlike most other values, this option does not enable accelerated decoding (that
1220 is used automatically whenever a qsv decoder is selected), but accelerated
1221 transcoding, without copying the frames into the system memory.
1223 For it to work, both the decoder and the encoder must support QSV acceleration
1224 and no filters must be used.
1227 This option has no effect if the selected hwaccel is not available or not
1228 supported by the chosen decoder.
1230 Note that most acceleration methods are intended for playback and will not be
1231 faster than software decoding on modern CPUs. Additionally, @command{ffmpeg}
1232 will usually need to copy the decoded frames from the GPU memory into the system
1233 memory, resulting in further performance loss. This option is thus mainly
1236 @item -hwaccel_device[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{hwaccel_device} (@emph{input,per-stream})
1237 Select a device to use for hardware acceleration.
1239 This option only makes sense when the @option{-hwaccel} option is also specified.
1240 It can either refer to an existing device created with @option{-init_hw_device}
1241 by name, or it can create a new device as if
1242 @samp{-init_hw_device} @var{type}:@var{hwaccel_device}
1243 were called immediately before.
1246 List all hardware acceleration components enabled in this build of ffmpeg.
1247 Actual runtime availability depends on the hardware and its suitable driver
1252 @section Audio Options
1255 @item -aframes @var{number} (@emph{output})
1256 Set the number of audio frames to output. This is an obsolete alias for
1257 @code{-frames:a}, which you should use instead.
1258 @item -ar[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{freq} (@emph{input/output,per-stream})
1259 Set the audio sampling frequency. For output streams it is set by
1260 default to the frequency of the corresponding input stream. For input
1261 streams this option only makes sense for audio grabbing devices and raw
1262 demuxers and is mapped to the corresponding demuxer options.
1263 @item -aq @var{q} (@emph{output})
1264 Set the audio quality (codec-specific, VBR). This is an alias for -q:a.
1265 @item -ac[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{channels} (@emph{input/output,per-stream})
1266 Set the number of audio channels. For output streams it is set by
1267 default to the number of input audio channels. For input streams
1268 this option only makes sense for audio grabbing devices and raw demuxers
1269 and is mapped to the corresponding demuxer options.
1270 @item -an (@emph{input/output})
1271 As an input option, blocks all audio streams of a file from being filtered or
1272 being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See @code{-discard}
1273 option to disable streams individually.
1275 As an output option, disables audio recording i.e. automatic selection or
1276 mapping of any audio stream. For full manual control see the @code{-map}
1278 @item -acodec @var{codec} (@emph{input/output})
1279 Set the audio codec. This is an alias for @code{-codec:a}.
1280 @item -sample_fmt[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{sample_fmt} (@emph{output,per-stream})
1281 Set the audio sample format. Use @code{-sample_fmts} to get a list
1282 of supported sample formats.
1284 @item -af @var{filtergraph} (@emph{output})
1285 Create the filtergraph specified by @var{filtergraph} and use it to
1288 This is an alias for @code{-filter:a}, see the @ref{filter_option,,-filter option}.
1291 @section Advanced Audio options
1294 @item -atag @var{fourcc/tag} (@emph{output})
1295 Force audio tag/fourcc. This is an alias for @code{-tag:a}.
1296 @item -absf @var{bitstream_filter}
1297 Deprecated, see -bsf
1298 @item -guess_layout_max @var{channels} (@emph{input,per-stream})
1299 If some input channel layout is not known, try to guess only if it
1300 corresponds to at most the specified number of channels. For example, 2
1301 tells to @command{ffmpeg} to recognize 1 channel as mono and 2 channels as
1302 stereo but not 6 channels as 5.1. The default is to always try to guess. Use
1303 0 to disable all guessing.
1306 @section Subtitle options
1309 @item -scodec @var{codec} (@emph{input/output})
1310 Set the subtitle codec. This is an alias for @code{-codec:s}.
1311 @item -sn (@emph{input/output})
1312 As an input option, blocks all subtitle streams of a file from being filtered or
1313 being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See @code{-discard}
1314 option to disable streams individually.
1316 As an output option, disables subtitle recording i.e. automatic selection or
1317 mapping of any subtitle stream. For full manual control see the @code{-map}
1319 @item -sbsf @var{bitstream_filter}
1320 Deprecated, see -bsf
1323 @section Advanced Subtitle options
1327 @item -fix_sub_duration
1328 Fix subtitles durations. For each subtitle, wait for the next packet in the
1329 same stream and adjust the duration of the first to avoid overlap. This is
1330 necessary with some subtitles codecs, especially DVB subtitles, because the
1331 duration in the original packet is only a rough estimate and the end is
1332 actually marked by an empty subtitle frame. Failing to use this option when
1333 necessary can result in exaggerated durations or muxing failures due to
1334 non-monotonic timestamps.
1336 Note that this option will delay the output of all data until the next
1337 subtitle packet is decoded: it may increase memory consumption and latency a
1340 @item -canvas_size @var{size}
1341 Set the size of the canvas used to render subtitles.
1345 @section Advanced options
1348 @item -map [-]@var{input_file_id}[:@var{stream_specifier}][?][,@var{sync_file_id}[:@var{stream_specifier}]] | @var{[linklabel]} (@emph{output})
1350 Designate one or more input streams as a source for the output file. Each input
1351 stream is identified by the input file index @var{input_file_id} and
1352 the input stream index @var{input_stream_id} within the input
1353 file. Both indices start at 0. If specified,
1354 @var{sync_file_id}:@var{stream_specifier} sets which input stream
1355 is used as a presentation sync reference.
1357 The first @code{-map} option on the command line specifies the
1358 source for output stream 0, the second @code{-map} option specifies
1359 the source for output stream 1, etc.
1361 A @code{-} character before the stream identifier creates a "negative" mapping.
1362 It disables matching streams from already created mappings.
1364 A trailing @code{?} after the stream index will allow the map to be
1365 optional: if the map matches no streams the map will be ignored instead
1366 of failing. Note the map will still fail if an invalid input file index
1367 is used; such as if the map refers to a non-existent input.
1369 An alternative @var{[linklabel]} form will map outputs from complex filter
1370 graphs (see the @option{-filter_complex} option) to the output file.
1371 @var{linklabel} must correspond to a defined output link label in the graph.
1373 For example, to map ALL streams from the first input file to output
1375 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 output
1378 For example, if you have two audio streams in the first input file,
1379 these streams are identified by "0:0" and "0:1". You can use
1380 @code{-map} to select which streams to place in an output file. For
1383 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:1 out.wav
1385 will map the input stream in @file{INPUT} identified by "0:1" to
1386 the (single) output stream in @file{out.wav}.
1388 For example, to select the stream with index 2 from input file
1389 @file{a.mov} (specified by the identifier "0:2"), and stream with
1390 index 6 from input @file{b.mov} (specified by the identifier "1:6"),
1391 and copy them to the output file @file{out.mov}:
1393 ffmpeg -i a.mov -i b.mov -c copy -map 0:2 -map 1:6 out.mov
1396 To select all video and the third audio stream from an input file:
1398 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:v -map 0:a:2 OUTPUT
1401 To map all the streams except the second audio, use negative mappings
1403 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -map -0:a:1 OUTPUT
1406 To map the video and audio streams from the first input, and using the
1407 trailing @code{?}, ignore the audio mapping if no audio streams exist in
1410 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:v -map 0:a? OUTPUT
1413 To pick the English audio stream:
1415 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:m:language:eng OUTPUT
1418 Note that using this option disables the default mappings for this output file.
1420 @item -ignore_unknown
1421 Ignore input streams with unknown type instead of failing if copying
1422 such streams is attempted.
1425 Allow input streams with unknown type to be copied instead of failing if copying
1426 such streams is attempted.
1428 @item -map_channel [@var{input_file_id}.@var{stream_specifier}.@var{channel_id}|-1][?][:@var{output_file_id}.@var{stream_specifier}]
1429 Map an audio channel from a given input to an output. If
1430 @var{output_file_id}.@var{stream_specifier} is not set, the audio channel will
1431 be mapped on all the audio streams.
1433 Using "-1" instead of
1434 @var{input_file_id}.@var{stream_specifier}.@var{channel_id} will map a muted
1437 A trailing @code{?} will allow the map_channel to be
1438 optional: if the map_channel matches no channel the map_channel will be ignored instead
1441 For example, assuming @var{INPUT} is a stereo audio file, you can switch the
1442 two audio channels with the following command:
1444 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.1 -map_channel 0.0.0 OUTPUT
1447 If you want to mute the first channel and keep the second:
1449 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel -1 -map_channel 0.0.1 OUTPUT
1452 The order of the "-map_channel" option specifies the order of the channels in
1453 the output stream. The output channel layout is guessed from the number of
1454 channels mapped (mono if one "-map_channel", stereo if two, etc.). Using "-ac"
1455 in combination of "-map_channel" makes the channel gain levels to be updated if
1456 input and output channel layouts don't match (for instance two "-map_channel"
1457 options and "-ac 6").
1459 You can also extract each channel of an input to specific outputs; the following
1460 command extracts two channels of the @var{INPUT} audio stream (file 0, stream 0)
1461 to the respective @var{OUTPUT_CH0} and @var{OUTPUT_CH1} outputs:
1463 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.0 OUTPUT_CH0 -map_channel 0.0.1 OUTPUT_CH1
1466 The following example splits the channels of a stereo input into two separate
1467 streams, which are put into the same output file:
1469 ffmpeg -i stereo.wav -map 0:0 -map 0:0 -map_channel 0.0.0:0.0 -map_channel 0.0.1:0.1 -y out.ogg
1472 Note that currently each output stream can only contain channels from a single
1473 input stream; you can't for example use "-map_channel" to pick multiple input
1474 audio channels contained in different streams (from the same or different files)
1475 and merge them into a single output stream. It is therefore not currently
1476 possible, for example, to turn two separate mono streams into a single stereo
1477 stream. However splitting a stereo stream into two single channel mono streams
1480 If you need this feature, a possible workaround is to use the @emph{amerge}
1481 filter. For example, if you need to merge a media (here @file{input.mkv}) with 2
1482 mono audio streams into one single stereo channel audio stream (and keep the
1483 video stream), you can use the following command:
1485 ffmpeg -i input.mkv -filter_complex "[0:1] [0:2] amerge" -c:a pcm_s16le -c:v copy output.mkv
1488 To map the first two audio channels from the first input, and using the
1489 trailing @code{?}, ignore the audio channel mapping if the first input is
1490 mono instead of stereo:
1492 ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.0 -map_channel 0.0.1? OUTPUT
1495 @item -map_metadata[:@var{metadata_spec_out}] @var{infile}[:@var{metadata_spec_in}] (@emph{output,per-metadata})
1496 Set metadata information of the next output file from @var{infile}. Note that
1497 those are file indices (zero-based), not filenames.
1498 Optional @var{metadata_spec_in/out} parameters specify, which metadata to copy.
1499 A metadata specifier can have the following forms:
1502 global metadata, i.e. metadata that applies to the whole file
1504 @item @var{s}[:@var{stream_spec}]
1505 per-stream metadata. @var{stream_spec} is a stream specifier as described
1506 in the @ref{Stream specifiers} chapter. In an input metadata specifier, the first
1507 matching stream is copied from. In an output metadata specifier, all matching
1508 streams are copied to.
1510 @item @var{c}:@var{chapter_index}
1511 per-chapter metadata. @var{chapter_index} is the zero-based chapter index.
1513 @item @var{p}:@var{program_index}
1514 per-program metadata. @var{program_index} is the zero-based program index.
1516 If metadata specifier is omitted, it defaults to global.
1518 By default, global metadata is copied from the first input file,
1519 per-stream and per-chapter metadata is copied along with streams/chapters. These
1520 default mappings are disabled by creating any mapping of the relevant type. A negative
1521 file index can be used to create a dummy mapping that just disables automatic copying.
1523 For example to copy metadata from the first stream of the input file to global metadata
1526 ffmpeg -i in.ogg -map_metadata 0:s:0 out.mp3
1529 To do the reverse, i.e. copy global metadata to all audio streams:
1531 ffmpeg -i in.mkv -map_metadata:s:a 0:g out.mkv
1533 Note that simple @code{0} would work as well in this example, since global
1534 metadata is assumed by default.
1536 @item -map_chapters @var{input_file_index} (@emph{output})
1537 Copy chapters from input file with index @var{input_file_index} to the next
1538 output file. If no chapter mapping is specified, then chapters are copied from
1539 the first input file with at least one chapter. Use a negative file index to
1540 disable any chapter copying.
1542 @item -benchmark (@emph{global})
1543 Show benchmarking information at the end of an encode.
1544 Shows real, system and user time used and maximum memory consumption.
1545 Maximum memory consumption is not supported on all systems,
1546 it will usually display as 0 if not supported.
1547 @item -benchmark_all (@emph{global})
1548 Show benchmarking information during the encode.
1549 Shows real, system and user time used in various steps (audio/video encode/decode).
1550 @item -timelimit @var{duration} (@emph{global})
1551 Exit after ffmpeg has been running for @var{duration} seconds in CPU user time.
1552 @item -dump (@emph{global})
1553 Dump each input packet to stderr.
1554 @item -hex (@emph{global})
1555 When dumping packets, also dump the payload.
1556 @item -re (@emph{input})
1557 Read input at native frame rate. Mainly used to simulate a grab device,
1558 or live input stream (e.g. when reading from a file). Should not be used
1559 with actual grab devices or live input streams (where it can cause packet
1561 By default @command{ffmpeg} attempts to read the input(s) as fast as possible.
1562 This option will slow down the reading of the input(s) to the native frame rate
1563 of the input(s). It is useful for real-time output (e.g. live streaming).
1564 @item -vsync @var{parameter}
1566 For compatibility reasons old values can be specified as numbers.
1567 Newly added values will have to be specified as strings always.
1570 @item 0, passthrough
1571 Each frame is passed with its timestamp from the demuxer to the muxer.
1573 Frames will be duplicated and dropped to achieve exactly the requested
1574 constant frame rate.
1576 Frames are passed through with their timestamp or dropped so as to
1577 prevent 2 frames from having the same timestamp.
1579 As passthrough but destroys all timestamps, making the muxer generate
1580 fresh timestamps based on frame-rate.
1582 Chooses between 1 and 2 depending on muxer capabilities. This is the
1586 Note that the timestamps may be further modified by the muxer, after this.
1587 For example, in the case that the format option @option{avoid_negative_ts}
1590 With -map you can select from which stream the timestamps should be
1591 taken. You can leave either video or audio unchanged and sync the
1592 remaining stream(s) to the unchanged one.
1594 @item -frame_drop_threshold @var{parameter}
1595 Frame drop threshold, which specifies how much behind video frames can
1596 be before they are dropped. In frame rate units, so 1.0 is one frame.
1597 The default is -1.1. One possible usecase is to avoid framedrops in case
1598 of noisy timestamps or to increase frame drop precision in case of exact
1601 @item -async @var{samples_per_second}
1602 Audio sync method. "Stretches/squeezes" the audio stream to match the timestamps,
1603 the parameter is the maximum samples per second by which the audio is changed.
1604 -async 1 is a special case where only the start of the audio stream is corrected
1605 without any later correction.
1607 Note that the timestamps may be further modified by the muxer, after this.
1608 For example, in the case that the format option @option{avoid_negative_ts}
1611 This option has been deprecated. Use the @code{aresample} audio filter instead.
1613 @item -adrift_threshold @var{time}
1614 Set the minimum difference between timestamps and audio data (in seconds) to trigger
1615 adding/dropping samples to make it match the timestamps. This option effectively is
1616 a threshold to select between hard (add/drop) and soft (squeeze/stretch) compensation.
1617 @code{-async} must be set to a positive value.
1619 @item -apad @var{parameters} (@emph{output,per-stream})
1620 Pad the output audio stream(s). This is the same as applying @code{-af apad}.
1621 Argument is a string of filter parameters composed the same as with the @code{apad} filter.
1622 @code{-shortest} must be set for this output for the option to take effect.
1625 Do not process input timestamps, but keep their values without trying
1626 to sanitize them. In particular, do not remove the initial start time
1629 Note that, depending on the @option{vsync} option or on specific muxer
1630 processing (e.g. in case the format option @option{avoid_negative_ts}
1631 is enabled) the output timestamps may mismatch with the input
1632 timestamps even when this option is selected.
1634 @item -start_at_zero
1635 When used with @option{copyts}, shift input timestamps so they start at zero.
1637 This means that using e.g. @code{-ss 50} will make output timestamps start at
1638 50 seconds, regardless of what timestamp the input file started at.
1640 @item -copytb @var{mode}
1641 Specify how to set the encoder timebase when stream copying. @var{mode} is an
1642 integer numeric value, and can assume one of the following values:
1646 Use the demuxer timebase.
1648 The time base is copied to the output encoder from the corresponding input
1649 demuxer. This is sometimes required to avoid non monotonically increasing
1650 timestamps when copying video streams with variable frame rate.
1653 Use the decoder timebase.
1655 The time base is copied to the output encoder from the corresponding input
1659 Try to make the choice automatically, in order to generate a sane output.
1662 Default value is -1.
1664 @item -enc_time_base[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{timebase} (@emph{output,per-stream})
1665 Set the encoder timebase. @var{timebase} is a floating point number,
1666 and can assume one of the following values:
1670 Assign a default value according to the media type.
1672 For video - use 1/framerate, for audio - use 1/samplerate.
1675 Use the input stream timebase when possible.
1677 If an input stream is not available, the default timebase will be used.
1680 Use the provided number as the timebase.
1682 This field can be provided as a ratio of two integers (e.g. 1:24, 1:48000)
1683 or as a floating point number (e.g. 0.04166, 2.0833e-5)
1688 @item -bitexact (@emph{input/output})
1689 Enable bitexact mode for (de)muxer and (de/en)coder
1690 @item -shortest (@emph{output})
1691 Finish encoding when the shortest input stream ends.
1692 @item -dts_delta_threshold
1693 Timestamp discontinuity delta threshold.
1694 @item -dts_error_threshold @var{seconds}
1695 Timestamp error delta threshold. This threshold use to discard crazy/damaged
1696 timestamps and the default is 30 hours which is arbitrarily picked and quite
1698 @item -muxdelay @var{seconds} (@emph{output})
1699 Set the maximum demux-decode delay.
1700 @item -muxpreload @var{seconds} (@emph{output})
1701 Set the initial demux-decode delay.
1702 @item -streamid @var{output-stream-index}:@var{new-value} (@emph{output})
1703 Assign a new stream-id value to an output stream. This option should be
1704 specified prior to the output filename to which it applies.
1705 For the situation where multiple output files exist, a streamid
1706 may be reassigned to a different value.
1708 For example, to set the stream 0 PID to 33 and the stream 1 PID to 36 for
1709 an output mpegts file:
1711 ffmpeg -i inurl -streamid 0:33 -streamid 1:36 out.ts
1714 @item -bsf[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{bitstream_filters} (@emph{output,per-stream})
1715 Set bitstream filters for matching streams. @var{bitstream_filters} is
1716 a comma-separated list of bitstream filters. Use the @code{-bsfs} option
1717 to get the list of bitstream filters.
1719 ffmpeg -i h264.mp4 -c:v copy -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -an out.h264
1722 ffmpeg -i file.mov -an -vn -bsf:s mov2textsub -c:s copy -f rawvideo sub.txt
1725 @item -tag[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{codec_tag} (@emph{input/output,per-stream})
1726 Force a tag/fourcc for matching streams.
1728 @item -timecode @var{hh}:@var{mm}:@var{ss}SEP@var{ff}
1729 Specify Timecode for writing. @var{SEP} is ':' for non drop timecode and ';'
1732 ffmpeg -i input.mpg -timecode 01:02:03.04 -r 30000/1001 -s ntsc output.mpg
1735 @anchor{filter_complex_option}
1736 @item -filter_complex @var{filtergraph} (@emph{global})
1737 Define a complex filtergraph, i.e. one with arbitrary number of inputs and/or
1738 outputs. For simple graphs -- those with one input and one output of the same
1739 type -- see the @option{-filter} options. @var{filtergraph} is a description of
1740 the filtergraph, as described in the ``Filtergraph syntax'' section of the
1741 ffmpeg-filters manual.
1743 Input link labels must refer to input streams using the
1744 @code{[file_index:stream_specifier]} syntax (i.e. the same as @option{-map}
1745 uses). If @var{stream_specifier} matches multiple streams, the first one will be
1746 used. An unlabeled input will be connected to the first unused input stream of
1749 Output link labels are referred to with @option{-map}. Unlabeled outputs are
1750 added to the first output file.
1752 Note that with this option it is possible to use only lavfi sources without
1755 For example, to overlay an image over video
1757 ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex '[0:v][1:v]overlay[out]' -map
1760 Here @code{[0:v]} refers to the first video stream in the first input file,
1761 which is linked to the first (main) input of the overlay filter. Similarly the
1762 first video stream in the second input is linked to the second (overlay) input
1765 Assuming there is only one video stream in each input file, we can omit input
1766 labels, so the above is equivalent to
1768 ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex 'overlay[out]' -map
1772 Furthermore we can omit the output label and the single output from the filter
1773 graph will be added to the output file automatically, so we can simply write
1775 ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex 'overlay' out.mkv
1778 As a special exception, you can use a bitmap subtitle stream as input: it
1779 will be converted into a video with the same size as the largest video in
1780 the file, or 720x576 if no video is present. Note that this is an
1781 experimental and temporary solution. It will be removed once libavfilter has
1782 proper support for subtitles.
1784 For example, to hardcode subtitles on top of a DVB-T recording stored in
1785 MPEG-TS format, delaying the subtitles by 1 second:
1787 ffmpeg -i input.ts -filter_complex \
1788 '[#0x2ef] setpts=PTS+1/TB [sub] ; [#0x2d0] [sub] overlay' \
1789 -sn -map '#0x2dc' output.mkv
1791 (0x2d0, 0x2dc and 0x2ef are the MPEG-TS PIDs of respectively the video,
1792 audio and subtitles streams; 0:0, 0:3 and 0:7 would have worked too)
1794 To generate 5 seconds of pure red video using lavfi @code{color} source:
1796 ffmpeg -filter_complex 'color=c=red' -t 5 out.mkv
1799 @item -filter_complex_threads @var{nb_threads} (@emph{global})
1800 Defines how many threads are used to process a filter_complex graph.
1801 Similar to filter_threads but used for @code{-filter_complex} graphs only.
1802 The default is the number of available CPUs.
1804 @item -lavfi @var{filtergraph} (@emph{global})
1805 Define a complex filtergraph, i.e. one with arbitrary number of inputs and/or
1806 outputs. Equivalent to @option{-filter_complex}.
1808 @item -filter_complex_script @var{filename} (@emph{global})
1809 This option is similar to @option{-filter_complex}, the only difference is that
1810 its argument is the name of the file from which a complex filtergraph
1811 description is to be read.
1813 @item -accurate_seek (@emph{input})
1814 This option enables or disables accurate seeking in input files with the
1815 @option{-ss} option. It is enabled by default, so seeking is accurate when
1816 transcoding. Use @option{-noaccurate_seek} to disable it, which may be useful
1817 e.g. when copying some streams and transcoding the others.
1819 @item -seek_timestamp (@emph{input})
1820 This option enables or disables seeking by timestamp in input files with the
1821 @option{-ss} option. It is disabled by default. If enabled, the argument
1822 to the @option{-ss} option is considered an actual timestamp, and is not
1823 offset by the start time of the file. This matters only for files which do
1824 not start from timestamp 0, such as transport streams.
1826 @item -thread_queue_size @var{size} (@emph{input})
1827 This option sets the maximum number of queued packets when reading from the
1828 file or device. With low latency / high rate live streams, packets may be
1829 discarded if they are not read in a timely manner; setting this value can
1830 force ffmpeg to use a separate input thread and read packets as soon as they
1831 arrive. By default ffmpeg only do this if multiple inputs are specified.
1833 @item -sdp_file @var{file} (@emph{global})
1834 Print sdp information for an output stream to @var{file}.
1835 This allows dumping sdp information when at least one output isn't an
1836 rtp stream. (Requires at least one of the output formats to be rtp).
1838 @item -discard (@emph{input})
1839 Allows discarding specific streams or frames from streams.
1840 Any input stream can be fully discarded, using value @code{all} whereas
1841 selective discarding of frames from a stream occurs at the demuxer
1842 and is not supported by all demuxers.
1849 Default, which discards no frames.
1852 Discard all non-reference frames.
1855 Discard all bidirectional frames.
1858 Discard all frames excepts keyframes.
1864 @item -abort_on @var{flags} (@emph{global})
1865 Stop and abort on various conditions. The following flags are available:
1869 No packets were passed to the muxer, the output is empty.
1870 @item empty_output_stream
1871 No packets were passed to the muxer in some of the output streams.
1874 @item -max_error_rate (@emph{global})
1875 Set fraction of decoding frame failures across all inputs which when crossed
1876 ffmpeg will return exit code 69. Crossing this threshold does not terminate
1877 processing. Range is a floating-point number between 0 to 1. Default is 2/3.
1879 @item -xerror (@emph{global})
1880 Stop and exit on error
1882 @item -max_muxing_queue_size @var{packets} (@emph{output,per-stream})
1883 When transcoding audio and/or video streams, ffmpeg will not begin writing into
1884 the output until it has one packet for each such stream. While waiting for that
1885 to happen, packets for other streams are buffered. This option sets the size of
1886 this buffer, in packets, for the matching output stream.
1888 The default value of this option should be high enough for most uses, so only
1889 touch this option if you are sure that you need it.
1891 @item -muxing_queue_data_threshold @var{bytes} (@emph{output,per-stream})
1892 This is a minimum threshold until which the muxing queue size is not taken into
1893 account. Defaults to 50 megabytes per stream, and is based on the overall size
1894 of packets passed to the muxer.
1896 @item -auto_conversion_filters (@emph{global})
1897 Enable automatically inserting format conversion filters in all filter
1898 graphs, including those defined by @option{-vf}, @option{-af},
1899 @option{-filter_complex} and @option{-lavfi}. If filter format negotiation
1900 requires a conversion, the initialization of the filters will fail.
1901 Conversions can still be performed by inserting the relevant conversion
1902 filter (scale, aresample) in the graph.
1903 On by default, to explicitly disable it you need to specify
1904 @code{-noauto_conversion_filters}.
1908 @section Preset files
1909 A preset file contains a sequence of @var{option}=@var{value} pairs,
1910 one for each line, specifying a sequence of options which would be
1911 awkward to specify on the command line. Lines starting with the hash
1912 ('#') character are ignored and are used to provide comments. Check
1913 the @file{presets} directory in the FFmpeg source tree for examples.
1915 There are two types of preset files: ffpreset and avpreset files.
1917 @subsection ffpreset files
1918 ffpreset files are specified with the @code{vpre}, @code{apre},
1919 @code{spre}, and @code{fpre} options. The @code{fpre} option takes the
1920 filename of the preset instead of a preset name as input and can be
1921 used for any kind of codec. For the @code{vpre}, @code{apre}, and
1922 @code{spre} options, the options specified in a preset file are
1923 applied to the currently selected codec of the same type as the preset
1926 The argument passed to the @code{vpre}, @code{apre}, and @code{spre}
1927 preset options identifies the preset file to use according to the
1930 First ffmpeg searches for a file named @var{arg}.ffpreset in the
1931 directories @file{$FFMPEG_DATADIR} (if set), and @file{$HOME/.ffmpeg}, and in
1932 the datadir defined at configuration time (usually @file{PREFIX/share/ffmpeg})
1933 or in a @file{ffpresets} folder along the executable on win32,
1934 in that order. For example, if the argument is @code{libvpx-1080p}, it will
1935 search for the file @file{libvpx-1080p.ffpreset}.
1937 If no such file is found, then ffmpeg will search for a file named
1938 @var{codec_name}-@var{arg}.ffpreset in the above-mentioned
1939 directories, where @var{codec_name} is the name of the codec to which
1940 the preset file options will be applied. For example, if you select
1941 the video codec with @code{-vcodec libvpx} and use @code{-vpre 1080p},
1942 then it will search for the file @file{libvpx-1080p.ffpreset}.
1944 @subsection avpreset files
1945 avpreset files are specified with the @code{pre} option. They work similar to
1946 ffpreset files, but they only allow encoder- specific options. Therefore, an
1947 @var{option}=@var{value} pair specifying an encoder cannot be used.
1949 When the @code{pre} option is specified, ffmpeg will look for files with the
1950 suffix .avpreset in the directories @file{$AVCONV_DATADIR} (if set), and
1951 @file{$HOME/.avconv}, and in the datadir defined at configuration time (usually
1952 @file{PREFIX/share/ffmpeg}), in that order.
1954 First ffmpeg searches for a file named @var{codec_name}-@var{arg}.avpreset in
1955 the above-mentioned directories, where @var{codec_name} is the name of the codec
1956 to which the preset file options will be applied. For example, if you select the
1957 video codec with @code{-vcodec libvpx} and use @code{-pre 1080p}, then it will
1958 search for the file @file{libvpx-1080p.avpreset}.
1960 If no such file is found, then ffmpeg will search for a file named
1961 @var{arg}.avpreset in the same directories.
1966 @c man begin EXAMPLES
1968 @section Video and Audio grabbing
1970 If you specify the input format and device then ffmpeg can grab video
1974 ffmpeg -f oss -i /dev/dsp -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg
1977 Or with an ALSA audio source (mono input, card id 1) instead of OSS:
1979 ffmpeg -f alsa -ac 1 -i hw:1 -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg
1982 Note that you must activate the right video source and channel before
1983 launching ffmpeg with any TV viewer such as
1984 @uref{http://linux.bytesex.org/xawtv/, xawtv} by Gerd Knorr. You also
1985 have to set the audio recording levels correctly with a
1988 @section X11 grabbing
1990 Grab the X11 display with ffmpeg via
1993 ffmpeg -f x11grab -video_size cif -framerate 25 -i :0.0 /tmp/out.mpg
1996 0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as
1997 the DISPLAY environment variable.
2000 ffmpeg -f x11grab -video_size cif -framerate 25 -i :0.0+10,20 /tmp/out.mpg
2003 0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as the DISPLAY environment
2004 variable. 10 is the x-offset and 20 the y-offset for the grabbing.
2006 @section Video and Audio file format conversion
2008 Any supported file format and protocol can serve as input to ffmpeg:
2013 You can use YUV files as input:
2016 ffmpeg -i /tmp/test%d.Y /tmp/out.mpg
2019 It will use the files:
2021 /tmp/test0.Y, /tmp/test0.U, /tmp/test0.V,
2022 /tmp/test1.Y, /tmp/test1.U, /tmp/test1.V, etc...
2025 The Y files use twice the resolution of the U and V files. They are
2026 raw files, without header. They can be generated by all decent video
2027 decoders. You must specify the size of the image with the @option{-s} option
2028 if ffmpeg cannot guess it.
2031 You can input from a raw YUV420P file:
2034 ffmpeg -i /tmp/test.yuv /tmp/out.avi
2037 test.yuv is a file containing raw YUV planar data. Each frame is composed
2038 of the Y plane followed by the U and V planes at half vertical and
2039 horizontal resolution.
2042 You can output to a raw YUV420P file:
2045 ffmpeg -i mydivx.avi hugefile.yuv
2049 You can set several input files and output files:
2052 ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -s 640x480 -i /tmp/a.yuv /tmp/a.mpg
2055 Converts the audio file a.wav and the raw YUV video file a.yuv
2059 You can also do audio and video conversions at the same time:
2062 ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -ar 22050 /tmp/a.mp2
2065 Converts a.wav to MPEG audio at 22050 Hz sample rate.
2068 You can encode to several formats at the same time and define a
2069 mapping from input stream to output streams:
2072 ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -map 0:a -b:a 64k /tmp/a.mp2 -map 0:a -b:a 128k /tmp/b.mp2
2075 Converts a.wav to a.mp2 at 64 kbits and to b.mp2 at 128 kbits. '-map
2076 file:index' specifies which input stream is used for each output
2077 stream, in the order of the definition of output streams.
2080 You can transcode decrypted VOBs:
2083 ffmpeg -i snatch_1.vob -f avi -c:v mpeg4 -b:v 800k -g 300 -bf 2 -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 128k snatch.avi
2086 This is a typical DVD ripping example; the input is a VOB file, the
2087 output an AVI file with MPEG-4 video and MP3 audio. Note that in this
2088 command we use B-frames so the MPEG-4 stream is DivX5 compatible, and
2089 GOP size is 300 which means one intra frame every 10 seconds for 29.97fps
2090 input video. Furthermore, the audio stream is MP3-encoded so you need
2091 to enable LAME support by passing @code{--enable-libmp3lame} to configure.
2092 The mapping is particularly useful for DVD transcoding
2093 to get the desired audio language.
2095 NOTE: To see the supported input formats, use @code{ffmpeg -demuxers}.
2098 You can extract images from a video, or create a video from many images:
2100 For extracting images from a video:
2102 ffmpeg -i foo.avi -r 1 -s WxH -f image2 foo-%03d.jpeg
2105 This will extract one video frame per second from the video and will
2106 output them in files named @file{foo-001.jpeg}, @file{foo-002.jpeg},
2107 etc. Images will be rescaled to fit the new WxH values.
2109 If you want to extract just a limited number of frames, you can use the
2110 above command in combination with the @code{-frames:v} or @code{-t} option,
2111 or in combination with -ss to start extracting from a certain point in time.
2113 For creating a video from many images:
2115 ffmpeg -f image2 -framerate 12 -i foo-%03d.jpeg -s WxH foo.avi
2118 The syntax @code{foo-%03d.jpeg} specifies to use a decimal number
2119 composed of three digits padded with zeroes to express the sequence
2120 number. It is the same syntax supported by the C printf function, but
2121 only formats accepting a normal integer are suitable.
2123 When importing an image sequence, -i also supports expanding
2124 shell-like wildcard patterns (globbing) internally, by selecting the
2125 image2-specific @code{-pattern_type glob} option.
2127 For example, for creating a video from filenames matching the glob pattern
2130 ffmpeg -f image2 -pattern_type glob -framerate 12 -i 'foo-*.jpeg' -s WxH foo.avi
2134 You can put many streams of the same type in the output:
2137 ffmpeg -i test1.avi -i test2.avi -map 1:1 -map 1:0 -map 0:1 -map 0:0 -c copy -y test12.nut
2140 The resulting output file @file{test12.nut} will contain the first four streams
2141 from the input files in reverse order.
2144 To force CBR video output:
2146 ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -b 4000k -minrate 4000k -maxrate 4000k -bufsize 1835k out.m2v
2150 The four options lmin, lmax, mblmin and mblmax use 'lambda' units,
2151 but you may use the QP2LAMBDA constant to easily convert from 'q' units:
2153 ffmpeg -i src.ext -lmax 21*QP2LAMBDA dst.ext
2159 @include config.texi
2161 @ifset config-avutil
2164 @ifset config-avcodec
2165 @include codecs.texi
2166 @include bitstream_filters.texi
2168 @ifset config-avformat
2169 @include formats.texi
2170 @include protocols.texi
2172 @ifset config-avdevice
2173 @include devices.texi
2175 @ifset config-swresample
2176 @include resampler.texi
2178 @ifset config-swscale
2179 @include scaler.texi
2181 @ifset config-avfilter
2182 @include filters.texi
2184 @include general_contents.texi
2191 @url{ffmpeg.html,ffmpeg}
2193 @ifset config-not-all
2194 @url{ffmpeg-all.html,ffmpeg-all},
2196 @url{ffplay.html,ffplay}, @url{ffprobe.html,ffprobe},
2197 @url{ffmpeg-utils.html,ffmpeg-utils},
2198 @url{ffmpeg-scaler.html,ffmpeg-scaler},
2199 @url{ffmpeg-resampler.html,ffmpeg-resampler},
2200 @url{ffmpeg-codecs.html,ffmpeg-codecs},
2201 @url{ffmpeg-bitstream-filters.html,ffmpeg-bitstream-filters},
2202 @url{ffmpeg-formats.html,ffmpeg-formats},
2203 @url{ffmpeg-devices.html,ffmpeg-devices},
2204 @url{ffmpeg-protocols.html,ffmpeg-protocols},
2205 @url{ffmpeg-filters.html,ffmpeg-filters}
2212 @ifset config-not-all
2215 ffplay(1), ffprobe(1),
2216 ffmpeg-utils(1), ffmpeg-scaler(1), ffmpeg-resampler(1),
2217 ffmpeg-codecs(1), ffmpeg-bitstream-filters(1), ffmpeg-formats(1),
2218 ffmpeg-devices(1), ffmpeg-protocols(1), ffmpeg-filters(1)
2221 @include authors.texi
2226 @settitle ffmpeg video converter