1 All the numerical options, if not specified otherwise, accept a string
2 representing a number as input, which may be followed by one of the SI
3 unit prefixes, for example: 'K', 'M', or 'G'.
5 If 'i' is appended to the SI unit prefix, the complete prefix will be
6 interpreted as a unit prefix for binary multiples, which are based on
7 powers of 1024 instead of powers of 1000. Appending 'B' to the SI unit
8 prefix multiplies the value by 8. This allows using, for example:
9 'KB', 'MiB', 'G' and 'B' as number suffixes.
11 Options which do not take arguments are boolean options, and set the
12 corresponding value to true. They can be set to false by prefixing
13 the option name with "no". For example using "-nofoo"
14 will set the boolean option with name "foo" to false.
16 @anchor{Stream specifiers}
17 @section Stream specifiers
18 Some options are applied per-stream, e.g. bitrate or codec. Stream specifiers
19 are used to precisely specify which stream(s) a given option belongs to.
21 A stream specifier is a string generally appended to the option name and
22 separated from it by a colon. E.g. @code{-codec:a:1 ac3} contains the
23 @code{a:1} stream specifier, which matches the second audio stream. Therefore, it
24 would select the ac3 codec for the second audio stream.
26 A stream specifier can match several streams, so that the option is applied to all
27 of them. E.g. the stream specifier in @code{-b:a 128k} matches all audio
30 An empty stream specifier matches all streams. For example, @code{-codec copy}
31 or @code{-codec: copy} would copy all the streams without reencoding.
33 Possible forms of stream specifiers are:
35 @item @var{stream_index}
36 Matches the stream with this index. E.g. @code{-threads:1 4} would set the
37 thread count for the second stream to 4.
38 @item @var{stream_type}[:@var{stream_index}]
39 @var{stream_type} is one of following: 'v' for video, 'a' for audio, 's' for subtitle,
40 'd' for data, and 't' for attachments. If @var{stream_index} is given, then it matches
41 stream number @var{stream_index} of this type. Otherwise, it matches all
43 @item p:@var{program_id}[:@var{stream_index}]
44 If @var{stream_index} is given, then it matches the stream with number @var{stream_index}
45 in the program with the id @var{program_id}. Otherwise, it matches all streams in the
47 @item #@var{stream_id} or i:@var{stream_id}
48 Match the stream by stream id (e.g. PID in MPEG-TS container).
49 @item m:@var{key}[:@var{value}]
50 Matches streams with the metadata tag @var{key} having the specified value. If
51 @var{value} is not given, matches streams that contain the given tag with any
54 Note that in @command{ffmpeg}, matching by metadata will only work properly for
58 @section Generic options
60 These options are shared amongst the ff* tools.
67 @item -h, -?, -help, --help [@var{arg}]
68 Show help. An optional parameter may be specified to print help about a specific
69 item. If no argument is specified, only basic (non advanced) tool
72 Possible values of @var{arg} are:
75 Print advanced tool options in addition to the basic tool options.
78 Print complete list of options, including shared and private options
79 for encoders, decoders, demuxers, muxers, filters, etc.
81 @item decoder=@var{decoder_name}
82 Print detailed information about the decoder named @var{decoder_name}. Use the
83 @option{-decoders} option to get a list of all decoders.
85 @item encoder=@var{encoder_name}
86 Print detailed information about the encoder named @var{encoder_name}. Use the
87 @option{-encoders} option to get a list of all encoders.
89 @item demuxer=@var{demuxer_name}
90 Print detailed information about the demuxer named @var{demuxer_name}. Use the
91 @option{-formats} option to get a list of all demuxers and muxers.
93 @item muxer=@var{muxer_name}
94 Print detailed information about the muxer named @var{muxer_name}. Use the
95 @option{-formats} option to get a list of all muxers and demuxers.
97 @item filter=@var{filter_name}
98 Print detailed information about the filter name @var{filter_name}. Use the
99 @option{-filters} option to get a list of all filters.
106 Show available formats (including devices).
109 Show available devices.
112 Show all codecs known to libavcodec.
114 Note that the term 'codec' is used throughout this documentation as a shortcut
115 for what is more correctly called a media bitstream format.
118 Show available decoders.
121 Show all available encoders.
124 Show available bitstream filters.
127 Show available protocols.
130 Show available libavfilter filters.
133 Show available pixel formats.
136 Show available sample formats.
139 Show channel names and standard channel layouts.
142 Show recognized color names.
144 @item -sources @var{device}[,@var{opt1}=@var{val1}[,@var{opt2}=@var{val2}]...]
145 Show autodetected sources of the intput device.
146 Some devices may provide system-dependent source names that cannot be autodetected.
147 The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
149 ffmpeg -sources pulse,server=192.168.0.4
152 @item -sinks @var{device}[,@var{opt1}=@var{val1}[,@var{opt2}=@var{val2}]...]
153 Show autodetected sinks of the output device.
154 Some devices may provide system-dependent sink names that cannot be autodetected.
155 The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
157 ffmpeg -sinks pulse,server=192.168.0.4
160 @item -loglevel [repeat+]@var{loglevel} | -v [repeat+]@var{loglevel}
161 Set the logging level used by the library.
162 Adding "repeat+" indicates that repeated log output should not be compressed
163 to the first line and the "Last message repeated n times" line will be
164 omitted. "repeat" can also be used alone.
165 If "repeat" is used alone, and with no prior loglevel set, the default
166 loglevel will be used. If multiple loglevel parameters are given, using
167 'repeat' will not change the loglevel.
168 @var{loglevel} is a string or a number containing one of the following values:
171 Show nothing at all; be silent.
173 Only show fatal errors which could lead the process to crash, such as
174 and assert failure. This is not currently used for anything.
176 Only show fatal errors. These are errors after which the process absolutely
177 cannot continue after.
179 Show all errors, including ones which can be recovered from.
181 Show all warnings and errors. Any message related to possibly
182 incorrect or unexpected events will be shown.
184 Show informative messages during processing. This is in addition to
185 warnings and errors. This is the default value.
187 Same as @code{info}, except more verbose.
189 Show everything, including debugging information.
192 By default the program logs to stderr, if coloring is supported by the
193 terminal, colors are used to mark errors and warnings. Log coloring
194 can be disabled setting the environment variable
195 @env{AV_LOG_FORCE_NOCOLOR} or @env{NO_COLOR}, or can be forced setting
196 the environment variable @env{AV_LOG_FORCE_COLOR}.
197 The use of the environment variable @env{NO_COLOR} is deprecated and
198 will be dropped in a following FFmpeg version.
201 Dump full command line and console output to a file named
202 @code{@var{program}-@var{YYYYMMDD}-@var{HHMMSS}.log} in the current
204 This file can be useful for bug reports.
205 It also implies @code{-loglevel verbose}.
207 Setting the environment variable @env{FFREPORT} to any value has the
208 same effect. If the value is a ':'-separated key=value sequence, these
209 options will affect the report; option values must be escaped if they
210 contain special characters or the options delimiter ':' (see the
211 ``Quoting and escaping'' section in the ffmpeg-utils manual).
213 The following options are recognized:
216 set the file name to use for the report; @code{%p} is expanded to the name
217 of the program, @code{%t} is expanded to a timestamp, @code{%%} is expanded
220 set the log verbosity level using a numerical value (see @code{-loglevel}).
223 For example, to output a report to a file named @file{ffreport.log}
224 using a log level of @code{32} (alias for log level @code{info}):
227 FFREPORT=file=ffreport.log:level=32 ffmpeg -i input output
230 Errors in parsing the environment variable are not fatal, and will not
231 appear in the report.
234 Suppress printing banner.
236 All FFmpeg tools will normally show a copyright notice, build options
237 and library versions. This option can be used to suppress printing
240 @item -cpuflags flags (@emph{global})
241 Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended
242 for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing.
244 ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx ...
245 ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx ...
246 ffmpeg -cpuflags 0 ...
248 Possible flags for this option are:
283 @item Specific Processors
297 This option is used to benchmark all available OpenCL devices and print the
298 results. This option is only available when FFmpeg has been compiled with
299 @code{--enable-opencl}.
301 When FFmpeg is configured with @code{--enable-opencl}, the options for the
302 global OpenCL context are set via @option{-opencl_options}. See the
303 "OpenCL Options" section in the ffmpeg-utils manual for the complete list of
304 supported options. Amongst others, these options include the ability to select
305 a specific platform and device to run the OpenCL code on. By default, FFmpeg
306 will run on the first device of the first platform. While the options for the
307 global OpenCL context provide flexibility to the user in selecting the OpenCL
308 device of their choice, most users would probably want to select the fastest
309 OpenCL device for their system.
311 This option assists the selection of the most efficient configuration by
312 identifying the appropriate device for the user's system. The built-in
313 benchmark is run on all the OpenCL devices and the performance is measured for
314 each device. The devices in the results list are sorted based on their
315 performance with the fastest device listed first. The user can subsequently
316 invoke @command{ffmpeg} using the device deemed most appropriate via
317 @option{-opencl_options} to obtain the best performance for the OpenCL
320 Typical usage to use the fastest OpenCL device involve the following steps.
326 Note down the platform ID (@var{pidx}) and device ID (@var{didx}) of the first
327 i.e. fastest device in the list.
328 Select the platform and device using the command:
330 ffmpeg -opencl_options platform_idx=@var{pidx}:device_idx=@var{didx} ...
333 @item -opencl_options options (@emph{global})
334 Set OpenCL environment options. This option is only available when
335 FFmpeg has been compiled with @code{--enable-opencl}.
337 @var{options} must be a list of @var{key}=@var{value} option pairs
338 separated by ':'. See the ``OpenCL Options'' section in the
339 ffmpeg-utils manual for the list of supported options.
344 These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and
345 libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the
346 @option{-help} option. They are separated into two categories:
349 These options can be set for any container, codec or device. Generic options
350 are listed under AVFormatContext options for containers/devices and under
351 AVCodecContext options for codecs.
353 These options are specific to the given container, device or codec. Private
354 options are listed under their corresponding containers/devices/codecs.
357 For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to
358 an MP3 file, use the @option{id3v2_version} private option of the MP3
361 ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3
364 All codec AVOptions are per-stream, and thus a stream specifier
365 should be attached to them.
367 Note: the @option{-nooption} syntax cannot be used for boolean
368 AVOptions, use @option{-option 0}/@option{-option 1}.
370 Note: the old undocumented way of specifying per-stream AVOptions by
371 prepending v/a/s to the options name is now obsolete and will be