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 multiplies, 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.
109 Show all codecs known to libavcodec.
111 Note that the term 'codec' is used throughout this documentation as a shortcut
112 for what is more correctly called a media bitstream format.
115 Show available decoders.
118 Show all available encoders.
121 Show available bitstream filters.
124 Show available protocols.
127 Show available libavfilter filters.
130 Show available pixel formats.
133 Show available sample formats.
136 Show channel names and standard channel layouts.
139 Show recognized color names.
141 @item -loglevel [repeat+]@var{loglevel} | -v [repeat+]@var{loglevel}
142 Set the logging level used by the library.
143 Adding "repeat+" indicates that repeated log output should not be compressed
144 to the first line and the "Last message repeated n times" line will be
145 omitted. "repeat" can also be used alone.
146 If "repeat" is used alone, and with no prior loglevel set, the default
147 loglevel will be used. If multiple loglevel parameters are given, using
148 'repeat' will not change the loglevel.
149 @var{loglevel} is a number or a string containing one of the following values:
152 Show nothing at all; be silent.
154 Only show fatal errors which could lead the process to crash, such as
155 and assert failure. This is not currently used for anything.
157 Only show fatal errors. These are errors after which the process absolutely
158 cannot continue after.
160 Show all errors, including ones which can be recovered from.
162 Show all warnings and errors. Any message related to possibly
163 incorrect or unexpected events will be shown.
165 Show informative messages during processing. This is in addition to
166 warnings and errors. This is the default value.
168 Same as @code{info}, except more verbose.
170 Show everything, including debugging information.
173 By default the program logs to stderr, if coloring is supported by the
174 terminal, colors are used to mark errors and warnings. Log coloring
175 can be disabled setting the environment variable
176 @env{AV_LOG_FORCE_NOCOLOR} or @env{NO_COLOR}, or can be forced setting
177 the environment variable @env{AV_LOG_FORCE_COLOR}.
178 The use of the environment variable @env{NO_COLOR} is deprecated and
179 will be dropped in a following FFmpeg version.
182 Dump full command line and console output to a file named
183 @code{@var{program}-@var{YYYYMMDD}-@var{HHMMSS}.log} in the current
185 This file can be useful for bug reports.
186 It also implies @code{-loglevel verbose}.
188 Setting the environment variable @code{FFREPORT} to any value has the
189 same effect. If the value is a ':'-separated key=value sequence, these
190 options will affect the report; options values must be escaped if they
191 contain special characters or the options delimiter ':' (see the
192 ``Quoting and escaping'' section in the ffmpeg-utils manual). The
193 following option is recognized:
196 set the file name to use for the report; @code{%p} is expanded to the name
197 of the program, @code{%t} is expanded to a timestamp, @code{%%} is expanded
203 Errors in parsing the environment variable are not fatal, and will not
204 appear in the report.
207 Suppress printing banner.
209 All FFmpeg tools will normally show a copyright notice, build options
210 and library versions. This option can be used to suppress printing
213 @item -cpuflags flags (@emph{global})
214 Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended
215 for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing.
217 ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx ...
218 ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx ...
219 ffmpeg -cpuflags 0 ...
221 Possible flags for this option are:
256 @item Specific Processors
270 Benchmark all available OpenCL devices and show the results. This option
271 is only available when FFmpeg has been compiled with @code{--enable-opencl}.
273 @item -opencl_options options (@emph{global})
274 Set OpenCL environment options. This option is only available when
275 FFmpeg has been compiled with @code{--enable-opencl}.
277 @var{options} must be a list of @var{key}=@var{value} option pairs
278 separated by ':'. See the ``OpenCL Options'' section in the
279 ffmpeg-utils manual for the list of supported options.
284 These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and
285 libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the
286 @option{-help} option. They are separated into two categories:
289 These options can be set for any container, codec or device. Generic options
290 are listed under AVFormatContext options for containers/devices and under
291 AVCodecContext options for codecs.
293 These options are specific to the given container, device or codec. Private
294 options are listed under their corresponding containers/devices/codecs.
297 For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to
298 an MP3 file, use the @option{id3v2_version} private option of the MP3
301 ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3
304 All codec AVOptions are per-stream, and thus a stream specifier
305 should be attached to them.
307 Note: the @option{-nooption} syntax cannot be used for boolean
308 AVOptions, use @option{-option 0}/@option{-option 1}.
310 Note: the old undocumented way of specifying per-stream AVOptions by
311 prepending v/a/s to the options name is now obsolete and will be