\input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*- @settitle ffmpeg Documentation @titlepage @center @titlefont{ffmpeg Documentation} @end titlepage @top @contents @chapter Synopsis ffmpeg [@var{global_options}] @{[@var{input_file_options}] -i @file{input_file}@} ... @{[@var{output_file_options}] @file{output_file}@} ... @chapter Description @c man begin DESCRIPTION @command{ffmpeg} is a very fast video and audio converter that can also grab from a live audio/video source. It can also convert between arbitrary sample rates and resize video on the fly with a high quality polyphase filter. @command{ffmpeg} reads from an arbitrary number of input "files" (which can be regular files, pipes, network streams, grabbing devices, etc.), specified by the @code{-i} option, and writes to an arbitrary number of output "files", which are specified by a plain output filename. Anything found on the command line which cannot be interpreted as an option is considered to be an output filename. Each input or output file can, in principle, contain any number of streams of different types (video/audio/subtitle/attachment/data). The allowed number and/or types of streams may be limited by the container format. Selecting which streams from which inputs will go into which output is either done automatically or with the @code{-map} option (see the Stream selection chapter). To refer to input files in options, you must use their indices (0-based). E.g. the first input file is @code{0}, the second is @code{1}, etc. Similarly, streams within a file are referred to by their indices. E.g. @code{2:3} refers to the fourth stream in the third input file. Also see the Stream specifiers chapter. As a general rule, options are applied to the next specified file. Therefore, order is important, and you can have the same option on the command line multiple times. Each occurrence is then applied to the next input or output file. Exceptions from this rule are the global options (e.g. verbosity level), which should be specified first. Do not mix input and output files -- first specify all input files, then all output files. Also do not mix options which belong to different files. All options apply ONLY to the next input or output file and are reset between files. @itemize @item To set the video bitrate of the output file to 64 kbit/s: @example ffmpeg -i input.avi -b:v 64k -bufsize 64k output.avi @end example @item To force the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps: @example ffmpeg -i input.avi -r 24 output.avi @end example @item To force the frame rate of the input file (valid for raw formats only) to 1 fps and the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps: @example ffmpeg -r 1 -i input.m2v -r 24 output.avi @end example @end itemize The format option may be needed for raw input files. @c man end DESCRIPTION @chapter Detailed description @c man begin DETAILED DESCRIPTION The transcoding process in @command{ffmpeg} for each output can be described by the following diagram: @example _______ ______________ _________ ______________ ________ | | | | | | | | | | | input | demuxer | encoded data | decoder | decoded | encoder | encoded data | muxer | output | | file | ---------> | packets | ---------> | frames | ---------> | packets | -------> | file | |_______| |______________| |_________| |______________| |________| @end example @command{ffmpeg} calls the libavformat library (containing demuxers) to read input files and get packets containing encoded data from them. When there are multiple input files, @command{ffmpeg} tries to keep them synchronized by tracking lowest timestamp on any active input stream. Encoded packets are then passed to the decoder (unless streamcopy is selected for the stream, see further for a description). The decoder produces uncompressed frames (raw video/PCM audio/...) which can be processed further by filtering (see next section). After filtering, the frames are passed to the encoder, which encodes them and outputs encoded packets. Finally those are passed to the muxer, which writes the encoded packets to the output file. @section Filtering Before encoding, @command{ffmpeg} can process raw audio and video frames using filters from the libavfilter library. Several chained filters form a filter graph. @command{ffmpeg} distinguishes between two types of filtergraphs: simple and complex. @subsection Simple filtergraphs Simple filtergraphs are those that have exactly one input and output, both of the same type. In the above diagram they can be represented by simply inserting an additional step between decoding and encoding: @example _________ __________ ______________ | | | | | | | decoded | simple filtergraph | filtered | encoder | encoded data | | frames | -------------------> | frames | ---------> | packets | |_________| |__________| |______________| @end example Simple filtergraphs are configured with the per-stream @option{-filter} option (with @option{-vf} and @option{-af} aliases for video and audio respectively). A simple filtergraph for video can look for example like this: @example _______ _____________ _______ _____ ________ | | | | | | | | | | | input | ---> | deinterlace | ---> | scale | ---> | fps | ---> | output | |_______| |_____________| |_______| |_____| |________| @end example Note that some filters change frame properties but not frame contents. E.g. the @code{fps} filter in the example above changes number of frames, but does not touch the frame contents. Another example is the @code{setpts} filter, which only sets timestamps and otherwise passes the frames unchanged. @subsection Complex filtergraphs Complex filtergraphs are those which cannot be described as simply a linear processing chain applied to one stream. This is the case, for example, when the graph has more than one input and/or output, or when output stream type is different from input. They can be represented with the following diagram: @example _________ | | | input 0 |\ __________ |_________| \ | | \ _________ /| output 0 | \ | | / |__________| _________ \| complex | / | | | |/ | input 1 |---->| filter |\ |_________| | | \ __________ /| graph | \ | | / | | \| output 1 | _________ / |_________| |__________| | | / | input 2 |/ |_________| @end example Complex filtergraphs are configured with the @option{-filter_complex} option. Note that this option is global, since a complex filtergraph, by its nature, cannot be unambiguously associated with a single stream or file. The @option{-lavfi} option is equivalent to @option{-filter_complex}. A trivial example of a complex filtergraph is the @code{overlay} filter, which has two video inputs and one video output, containing one video overlaid on top of the other. Its audio counterpart is the @code{amix} filter. @section Stream copy Stream copy is a mode selected by supplying the @code{copy} parameter to the @option{-codec} option. It makes @command{ffmpeg} omit the decoding and encoding step for the specified stream, so it does only demuxing and muxing. It is useful for changing the container format or modifying container-level metadata. The diagram above will, in this case, simplify to this: @example _______ ______________ ________ | | | | | | | input | demuxer | encoded data | muxer | output | | file | ---------> | packets | -------> | file | |_______| |______________| |________| @end example Since there is no decoding or encoding, it is very fast and there is no quality loss. However, it might not work in some cases because of many factors. Applying filters is obviously also impossible, since filters work on uncompressed data. @c man end DETAILED DESCRIPTION @chapter Stream selection @c man begin STREAM SELECTION By default, @command{ffmpeg} includes only one stream of each type (video, audio, subtitle) present in the input files and adds them to each output file. It picks the "best" of each based upon the following criteria: for video, it is the stream with the highest resolution, for audio, it is the stream with the most channels, for subtitles, it is the first subtitle stream. In the case where several streams of the same type rate equally, the stream with the lowest index is chosen. You can disable some of those defaults by using the @code{-vn/-an/-sn} options. For full manual control, use the @code{-map} option, which disables the defaults just described. @c man end STREAM SELECTION @chapter Options @c man begin OPTIONS @include fftools-common-opts.texi @section Main options @table @option @item -f @var{fmt} (@emph{input/output}) Force input or output file format. The format is normally auto detected for input files and guessed from the file extension for output files, so this option is not needed in most cases. @item -i @var{filename} (@emph{input}) input file name @item -y (@emph{global}) Overwrite output files without asking. @item -n (@emph{global}) Do not overwrite output files, and exit immediately if a specified output file already exists. @item -c[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{codec} (@emph{input/output,per-stream}) @itemx -codec[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{codec} (@emph{input/output,per-stream}) Select an encoder (when used before an output file) or a decoder (when used before an input file) for one or more streams. @var{codec} is the name of a decoder/encoder or a special value @code{copy} (output only) to indicate that the stream is not to be re-encoded. For example @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c:v libx264 -c:a copy OUTPUT @end example encodes all video streams with libx264 and copies all audio streams. For each stream, the last matching @code{c} option is applied, so @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c copy -c:v:1 libx264 -c:a:137 libvorbis OUTPUT @end example will copy all the streams except the second video, which will be encoded with libx264, and the 138th audio, which will be encoded with libvorbis. @item -t @var{duration} (@emph{output}) Stop writing the output after its duration reaches @var{duration}. @var{duration} may be a number in seconds, or in @code{hh:mm:ss[.xxx]} form. -to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority. @item -to @var{position} (@emph{output}) Stop writing the output at @var{position}. @var{position} may be a number in seconds, or in @code{hh:mm:ss[.xxx]} form. -to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority. @item -fs @var{limit_size} (@emph{output}) Set the file size limit, expressed in bytes. @item -ss @var{position} (@emph{input/output}) When used as an input option (before @code{-i}), seeks in this input file to @var{position}. Note the in most formats it is not possible to seek exactly, so @command{ffmpeg} will seek to the closest seek point before @var{position}. When transcoding and @option{-accurate_seek} is enabled (the default), this extra segment between the seek point and @var{position} will be decoded and discarded. When doing stream copy or when @option{-noaccurate_seek} is used, it will be preserved. When used as an output option (before an output filename), decodes but discards input until the timestamps reach @var{position}. @var{position} may be either in seconds or in @code{hh:mm:ss[.xxx]} form. @item -itsoffset @var{offset} (@emph{input}) Set the input time offset in seconds. @code{[-]hh:mm:ss[.xxx]} syntax is also supported. The offset is added to the timestamps of the input files. Specifying a positive offset means that the corresponding streams are delayed by @var{offset} seconds. @item -timestamp @var{time} (@emph{output}) Set the recording timestamp in the container. The syntax for @var{time} is: @example now|([(YYYY-MM-DD|YYYYMMDD)[T|t| ]]((HH:MM:SS[.m...])|(HHMMSS[.m...]))[Z|z]) @end example If the value is "now" it takes the current time. Time is local time unless 'Z' or 'z' is appended, in which case it is interpreted as UTC. If the year-month-day part is not specified it takes the current year-month-day. @item -metadata[:metadata_specifier] @var{key}=@var{value} (@emph{output,per-metadata}) Set a metadata key/value pair. An optional @var{metadata_specifier} may be given to set metadata on streams or chapters. See @code{-map_metadata} documentation for details. This option overrides metadata set with @code{-map_metadata}. It is also possible to delete metadata by using an empty value. For example, for setting the title in the output file: @example ffmpeg -i in.avi -metadata title="my title" out.flv @end example To set the language of the first audio stream: @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -metadata:s:a:1 language=eng OUTPUT @end example @item -target @var{type} (@emph{output}) Specify target file type (@code{vcd}, @code{svcd}, @code{dvd}, @code{dv}, @code{dv50}). @var{type} may be prefixed with @code{pal-}, @code{ntsc-} or @code{film-} to use the corresponding standard. All the format options (bitrate, codecs, buffer sizes) are then set automatically. You can just type: @example ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd /tmp/vcd.mpg @end example Nevertheless you can specify additional options as long as you know they do not conflict with the standard, as in: @example ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd -bf 2 /tmp/vcd.mpg @end example @item -dframes @var{number} (@emph{output}) Set the number of data frames to record. This is an alias for @code{-frames:d}. @item -frames[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{framecount} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Stop writing to the stream after @var{framecount} frames. @item -q[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{q} (@emph{output,per-stream}) @itemx -qscale[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{q} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Use fixed quality scale (VBR). The meaning of @var{q} is codec-dependent. @anchor{filter_option} @item -filter[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{filtergraph} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Create the filtergraph specified by @var{filtergraph} and use it to filter the stream. @var{filtergraph} is a description of the filtergraph to apply to the stream, and must have a single input and a single output of the same type of the stream. In the filtergraph, the input is associated to the label @code{in}, and the output to the label @code{out}. See the ffmpeg-filters manual for more information about the filtergraph syntax. See the @ref{filter_complex_option,,-filter_complex option} if you want to create filtergraphs with multiple inputs and/or outputs. @item -filter_script[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{filename} (@emph{output,per-stream}) This option is similar to @option{-filter}, the only difference is that its argument is the name of the file from which a filtergraph description is to be read. @item -pre[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{preset_name} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Specify the preset for matching stream(s). @item -stats (@emph{global}) Print encoding progress/statistics. It is on by default, to explicitly disable it you need to specify @code{-nostats}. @item -progress @var{url} (@emph{global}) Send program-friendly progress information to @var{url}. Progress information is written approximately every second and at the end of the encoding process. It is made of "@var{key}=@var{value}" lines. @var{key} consists of only alphanumeric characters. The last key of a sequence of progress information is always "progress". @item -stdin Enable interaction on standard input. On by default unless standard input is used as an input. To explicitly disable interaction you need to specify @code{-nostdin}. Disabling interaction on standard input is useful, for example, if ffmpeg is in the background process group. Roughly the same result can be achieved with @code{ffmpeg ... < /dev/null} but it requires a shell. @item -debug_ts (@emph{global}) Print timestamp information. It is off by default. This option is mostly useful for testing and debugging purposes, and the output format may change from one version to another, so it should not be employed by portable scripts. See also the option @code{-fdebug ts}. @item -attach @var{filename} (@emph{output}) Add an attachment to the output file. This is supported by a few formats like Matroska for e.g. fonts used in rendering subtitles. Attachments are implemented as a specific type of stream, so this option will add a new stream to the file. It is then possible to use per-stream options on this stream in the usual way. Attachment streams created with this option will be created after all the other streams (i.e. those created with @code{-map} or automatic mappings). Note that for Matroska you also have to set the mimetype metadata tag: @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -attach DejaVuSans.ttf -metadata:s:2 mimetype=application/x-truetype-font out.mkv @end example (assuming that the attachment stream will be third in the output file). @item -dump_attachment[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{filename} (@emph{input,per-stream}) Extract the matching attachment stream into a file named @var{filename}. If @var{filename} is empty, then the value of the @code{filename} metadata tag will be used. E.g. to extract the first attachment to a file named 'out.ttf': @example ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t:0 out.ttf -i INPUT @end example To extract all attachments to files determined by the @code{filename} tag: @example ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t "" -i INPUT @end example Technical note -- attachments are implemented as codec extradata, so this option can actually be used to extract extradata from any stream, not just attachments. @end table @section Video Options @table @option @item -vframes @var{number} (@emph{output}) Set the number of video frames to record. This is an alias for @code{-frames:v}. @item -r[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{fps} (@emph{input/output,per-stream}) Set frame rate (Hz value, fraction or abbreviation). As an input option, ignore any timestamps stored in the file and instead generate timestamps assuming constant frame rate @var{fps}. As an output option, duplicate or drop input frames to achieve constant output frame rate @var{fps}. @item -s[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{size} (@emph{input/output,per-stream}) Set frame size. As an input option, this is a shortcut for the @option{video_size} private option, recognized by some demuxers for which the frame size is either not stored in the file or is configurable -- e.g. raw video or video grabbers. As an output option, this inserts the @code{scale} video filter to the @emph{end} of the corresponding filtergraph. Please use the @code{scale} filter directly to insert it at the beginning or some other place. The format is @samp{wxh} (default - same as source). @item -aspect[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{aspect} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Set the video display aspect ratio specified by @var{aspect}. @var{aspect} can be a floating point number string, or a string of the form @var{num}:@var{den}, where @var{num} and @var{den} are the numerator and denominator of the aspect ratio. For example "4:3", "16:9", "1.3333", and "1.7777" are valid argument values. If used together with @option{-vcodec copy}, it will affect the aspect ratio stored at container level, but not the aspect ratio stored in encoded frames, if it exists. @item -vn (@emph{output}) Disable video recording. @item -vcodec @var{codec} (@emph{output}) Set the video codec. This is an alias for @code{-codec:v}. @item -pass[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{n} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Select the pass number (1 or 2). It is used to do two-pass video encoding. The statistics of the video are recorded in the first pass into a log file (see also the option -passlogfile), and in the second pass that log file is used to generate the video at the exact requested bitrate. On pass 1, you may just deactivate audio and set output to null, examples for Windows and Unix: @example ffmpeg -i foo.mov -c:v libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y NUL ffmpeg -i foo.mov -c:v libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y /dev/null @end example @item -passlogfile[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{prefix} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Set two-pass log file name prefix to @var{prefix}, the default file name prefix is ``ffmpeg2pass''. The complete file name will be @file{PREFIX-N.log}, where N is a number specific to the output stream @item -vlang @var{code} Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current video stream. @item -vf @var{filtergraph} (@emph{output}) Create the filtergraph specified by @var{filtergraph} and use it to filter the stream. This is an alias for @code{-filter:v}, see the @ref{filter_option,,-filter option}. @end table @section Advanced Video Options @table @option @item -pix_fmt[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{format} (@emph{input/output,per-stream}) Set pixel format. Use @code{-pix_fmts} to show all the supported pixel formats. If the selected pixel format can not be selected, ffmpeg will print a warning and select the best pixel format supported by the encoder. If @var{pix_fmt} is prefixed by a @code{+}, ffmpeg will exit with an error if the requested pixel format can not be selected, and automatic conversions inside filtergraphs are disabled. If @var{pix_fmt} is a single @code{+}, ffmpeg selects the same pixel format as the input (or graph output) and automatic conversions are disabled. @item -sws_flags @var{flags} (@emph{input/output}) Set SwScaler flags. @item -vdt @var{n} Discard threshold. @item -rc_override[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{override} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Rate control override for specific intervals, formatted as "int,int,int" list separated with slashes. Two first values are the beginning and end frame numbers, last one is quantizer to use if positive, or quality factor if negative. @item -ilme Force interlacing support in encoder (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 only). Use this option if your input file is interlaced and you want to keep the interlaced format for minimum losses. The alternative is to deinterlace the input stream with @option{-deinterlace}, but deinterlacing introduces losses. @item -psnr Calculate PSNR of compressed frames. @item -vstats Dump video coding statistics to @file{vstats_HHMMSS.log}. @item -vstats_file @var{file} Dump video coding statistics to @var{file}. @item -top[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{n} (@emph{output,per-stream}) top=1/bottom=0/auto=-1 field first @item -dc @var{precision} Intra_dc_precision. @item -vtag @var{fourcc/tag} (@emph{output}) Force video tag/fourcc. This is an alias for @code{-tag:v}. @item -qphist (@emph{global}) Show QP histogram @item -vbsf @var{bitstream_filter} Deprecated see -bsf @item -force_key_frames[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{time}[,@var{time}...] (@emph{output,per-stream}) @item -force_key_frames[:@var{stream_specifier}] expr:@var{expr} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Force key frames at the specified timestamps, more precisely at the first frames after each specified time. If the argument is prefixed with @code{expr:}, the string @var{expr} is interpreted like an expression and is evaluated for each frame. A key frame is forced in case the evaluation is non-zero. If one of the times is "@code{chapters}[@var{delta}]", it is expanded into the time of the beginning of all chapters in the file, shifted by @var{delta}, expressed as a time in seconds. This option can be useful to ensure that a seek point is present at a chapter mark or any other designated place in the output file. For example, to insert a key frame at 5 minutes, plus key frames 0.1 second before the beginning of every chapter: @example -force_key_frames 0:05:00,chapters-0.1 @end example The expression in @var{expr} can contain the following constants: @table @option @item n the number of current processed frame, starting from 0 @item n_forced the number of forced frames @item prev_forced_n the number of the previous forced frame, it is @code{NAN} when no keyframe was forced yet @item prev_forced_t the time of the previous forced frame, it is @code{NAN} when no keyframe was forced yet @item t the time of the current processed frame @end table For example to force a key frame every 5 seconds, you can specify: @example -force_key_frames expr:gte(t,n_forced*5) @end example To force a key frame 5 seconds after the time of the last forced one, starting from second 13: @example -force_key_frames expr:if(isnan(prev_forced_t),gte(t,13),gte(t,prev_forced_t+5)) @end example Note that forcing too many keyframes is very harmful for the lookahead algorithms of certain encoders: using fixed-GOP options or similar would be more efficient. @item -copyinkf[:@var{stream_specifier}] (@emph{output,per-stream}) When doing stream copy, copy also non-key frames found at the beginning. @end table @section Audio Options @table @option @item -aframes @var{number} (@emph{output}) Set the number of audio frames to record. This is an alias for @code{-frames:a}. @item -ar[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{freq} (@emph{input/output,per-stream}) Set the audio sampling frequency. For output streams it is set by default to the frequency of the corresponding input stream. For input streams this option only makes sense for audio grabbing devices and raw demuxers and is mapped to the corresponding demuxer options. @item -aq @var{q} (@emph{output}) Set the audio quality (codec-specific, VBR). This is an alias for -q:a. @item -ac[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{channels} (@emph{input/output,per-stream}) Set the number of audio channels. For output streams it is set by default to the number of input audio channels. For input streams this option only makes sense for audio grabbing devices and raw demuxers and is mapped to the corresponding demuxer options. @item -an (@emph{output}) Disable audio recording. @item -acodec @var{codec} (@emph{input/output}) Set the audio codec. This is an alias for @code{-codec:a}. @item -sample_fmt[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{sample_fmt} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Set the audio sample format. Use @code{-sample_fmts} to get a list of supported sample formats. @item -af @var{filtergraph} (@emph{output}) Create the filtergraph specified by @var{filtergraph} and use it to filter the stream. This is an alias for @code{-filter:a}, see the @ref{filter_option,,-filter option}. @end table @section Advanced Audio options: @table @option @item -atag @var{fourcc/tag} (@emph{output}) Force audio tag/fourcc. This is an alias for @code{-tag:a}. @item -absf @var{bitstream_filter} Deprecated, see -bsf @item -guess_layout_max @var{channels} (@emph{input,per-stream}) If some input channel layout is not known, try to guess only if it corresponds to at most the specified number of channels. For example, 2 tells to @command{ffmpeg} to recognize 1 channel as mono and 2 channels as stereo but not 6 channels as 5.1. The default is to always try to guess. Use 0 to disable all guessing. @end table @section Subtitle options: @table @option @item -slang @var{code} Set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current subtitle stream. @item -scodec @var{codec} (@emph{input/output}) Set the subtitle codec. This is an alias for @code{-codec:s}. @item -sn (@emph{output}) Disable subtitle recording. @item -sbsf @var{bitstream_filter} Deprecated, see -bsf @end table @section Advanced Subtitle options: @table @option @item -fix_sub_duration Fix subtitles durations. For each subtitle, wait for the next packet in the same stream and adjust the duration of the first to avoid overlap. This is necessary with some subtitles codecs, especially DVB subtitles, because the duration in the original packet is only a rough estimate and the end is actually marked by an empty subtitle frame. Failing to use this option when necessary can result in exaggerated durations or muxing failures due to non-monotonic timestamps. Note that this option will delay the output of all data until the next subtitle packet is decoded: it may increase memory consumption and latency a lot. @item -canvas_size @var{size} Set the size of the canvas used to render subtitles. @end table @section Advanced options @table @option @item -map [-]@var{input_file_id}[:@var{stream_specifier}][,@var{sync_file_id}[:@var{stream_specifier}]] | @var{[linklabel]} (@emph{output}) Designate one or more input streams as a source for the output file. Each input stream is identified by the input file index @var{input_file_id} and the input stream index @var{input_stream_id} within the input file. Both indices start at 0. If specified, @var{sync_file_id}:@var{stream_specifier} sets which input stream is used as a presentation sync reference. The first @code{-map} option on the command line specifies the source for output stream 0, the second @code{-map} option specifies the source for output stream 1, etc. A @code{-} character before the stream identifier creates a "negative" mapping. It disables matching streams from already created mappings. An alternative @var{[linklabel]} form will map outputs from complex filter graphs (see the @option{-filter_complex} option) to the output file. @var{linklabel} must correspond to a defined output link label in the graph. For example, to map ALL streams from the first input file to output @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 output @end example For example, if you have two audio streams in the first input file, these streams are identified by "0:0" and "0:1". You can use @code{-map} to select which streams to place in an output file. For example: @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:1 out.wav @end example will map the input stream in @file{INPUT} identified by "0:1" to the (single) output stream in @file{out.wav}. For example, to select the stream with index 2 from input file @file{a.mov} (specified by the identifier "0:2"), and stream with index 6 from input @file{b.mov} (specified by the identifier "1:6"), and copy them to the output file @file{out.mov}: @example ffmpeg -i a.mov -i b.mov -c copy -map 0:2 -map 1:6 out.mov @end example To select all video and the third audio stream from an input file: @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:v -map 0:a:2 OUTPUT @end example To map all the streams except the second audio, use negative mappings @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -map -0:a:1 OUTPUT @end example Note that using this option disables the default mappings for this output file. @item -map_channel [@var{input_file_id}.@var{stream_specifier}.@var{channel_id}|-1][:@var{output_file_id}.@var{stream_specifier}] Map an audio channel from a given input to an output. If @var{output_file_id}.@var{stream_specifier} is not set, the audio channel will be mapped on all the audio streams. Using "-1" instead of @var{input_file_id}.@var{stream_specifier}.@var{channel_id} will map a muted channel. For example, assuming @var{INPUT} is a stereo audio file, you can switch the two audio channels with the following command: @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.1 -map_channel 0.0.0 OUTPUT @end example If you want to mute the first channel and keep the second: @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel -1 -map_channel 0.0.1 OUTPUT @end example The order of the "-map_channel" option specifies the order of the channels in the output stream. The output channel layout is guessed from the number of channels mapped (mono if one "-map_channel", stereo if two, etc.). Using "-ac" in combination of "-map_channel" makes the channel gain levels to be updated if input and output channel layouts don't match (for instance two "-map_channel" options and "-ac 6"). You can also extract each channel of an input to specific outputs; the following command extracts two channels of the @var{INPUT} audio stream (file 0, stream 0) to the respective @var{OUTPUT_CH0} and @var{OUTPUT_CH1} outputs: @example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.0 OUTPUT_CH0 -map_channel 0.0.1 OUTPUT_CH1 @end example The following example splits the channels of a stereo input into two separate streams, which are put into the same output file: @example 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 @end example Note that currently each output stream can only contain channels from a single input stream; you can't for example use "-map_channel" to pick multiple input audio channels contained in different streams (from the same or different files) and merge them into a single output stream. It is therefore not currently possible, for example, to turn two separate mono streams into a single stereo stream. However splitting a stereo stream into two single channel mono streams is possible. If you need this feature, a possible workaround is to use the @emph{amerge} filter. For example, if you need to merge a media (here @file{input.mkv}) with 2 mono audio streams into one single stereo channel audio stream (and keep the video stream), you can use the following command: @example ffmpeg -i input.mkv -filter_complex "[0:1] [0:2] amerge" -c:a pcm_s16le -c:v copy output.mkv @end example @item -map_metadata[:@var{metadata_spec_out}] @var{infile}[:@var{metadata_spec_in}] (@emph{output,per-metadata}) Set metadata information of the next output file from @var{infile}. Note that those are file indices (zero-based), not filenames. Optional @var{metadata_spec_in/out} parameters specify, which metadata to copy. A metadata specifier can have the following forms: @table @option @item @var{g} global metadata, i.e. metadata that applies to the whole file @item @var{s}[:@var{stream_spec}] per-stream metadata. @var{stream_spec} is a stream specifier as described in the @ref{Stream specifiers} chapter. In an input metadata specifier, the first matching stream is copied from. In an output metadata specifier, all matching streams are copied to. @item @var{c}:@var{chapter_index} per-chapter metadata. @var{chapter_index} is the zero-based chapter index. @item @var{p}:@var{program_index} per-program metadata. @var{program_index} is the zero-based program index. @end table If metadata specifier is omitted, it defaults to global. By default, global metadata is copied from the first input file, per-stream and per-chapter metadata is copied along with streams/chapters. These default mappings are disabled by creating any mapping of the relevant type. A negative file index can be used to create a dummy mapping that just disables automatic copying. For example to copy metadata from the first stream of the input file to global metadata of the output file: @example ffmpeg -i in.ogg -map_metadata 0:s:0 out.mp3 @end example To do the reverse, i.e. copy global metadata to all audio streams: @example ffmpeg -i in.mkv -map_metadata:s:a 0:g out.mkv @end example Note that simple @code{0} would work as well in this example, since global metadata is assumed by default. @item -map_chapters @var{input_file_index} (@emph{output}) Copy chapters from input file with index @var{input_file_index} to the next output file. If no chapter mapping is specified, then chapters are copied from the first input file with at least one chapter. Use a negative file index to disable any chapter copying. @item -benchmark (@emph{global}) Show benchmarking information at the end of an encode. Shows CPU time used and maximum memory consumption. Maximum memory consumption is not supported on all systems, it will usually display as 0 if not supported. @item -benchmark_all (@emph{global}) Show benchmarking information during the encode. Shows CPU time used in various steps (audio/video encode/decode). @item -timelimit @var{duration} (@emph{global}) Exit after ffmpeg has been running for @var{duration} seconds. @item -dump (@emph{global}) Dump each input packet to stderr. @item -hex (@emph{global}) When dumping packets, also dump the payload. @item -re (@emph{input}) Read input at native frame rate. Mainly used to simulate a grab device. or live input stream (e.g. when reading from a file). Should not be used with actual grab devices or live input streams (where it can cause packet loss). By default @command{ffmpeg} attempts to read the input(s) as fast as possible. This option will slow down the reading of the input(s) to the native frame rate of the input(s). It is useful for real-time output (e.g. live streaming). @item -loop_input Loop over the input stream. Currently it works only for image streams. This option is used for automatic FFserver testing. This option is deprecated, use -loop 1. @item -loop_output @var{number_of_times} Repeatedly loop output for formats that support looping such as animated GIF (0 will loop the output infinitely). This option is deprecated, use -loop. @item -vsync @var{parameter} Video sync method. For compatibility reasons old values can be specified as numbers. Newly added values will have to be specified as strings always. @table @option @item 0, passthrough Each frame is passed with its timestamp from the demuxer to the muxer. @item 1, cfr Frames will be duplicated and dropped to achieve exactly the requested constant frame rate. @item 2, vfr Frames are passed through with their timestamp or dropped so as to prevent 2 frames from having the same timestamp. @item drop As passthrough but destroys all timestamps, making the muxer generate fresh timestamps based on frame-rate. @item -1, auto Chooses between 1 and 2 depending on muxer capabilities. This is the default method. @end table Note that the timestamps may be further modified by the muxer, after this. For example, in the case that the format option @option{avoid_negative_ts} is enabled. With -map you can select from which stream the timestamps should be taken. You can leave either video or audio unchanged and sync the remaining stream(s) to the unchanged one. @item -async @var{samples_per_second} Audio sync method. "Stretches/squeezes" the audio stream to match the timestamps, the parameter is the maximum samples per second by which the audio is changed. -async 1 is a special case where only the start of the audio stream is corrected without any later correction. Note that the timestamps may be further modified by the muxer, after this. For example, in the case that the format option @option{avoid_negative_ts} is enabled. This option has been deprecated. Use the @code{aresample} audio filter instead. @item -copyts Do not process input timestamps, but keep their values without trying to sanitize them. In particular, do not remove the initial start time offset value. Note that, depending on the @option{vsync} option or on specific muxer processing (e.g. in case the format option @option{avoid_negative_ts} is enabled) the output timestamps may mismatch with the input timestamps even when this option is selected. @item -copytb @var{mode} Specify how to set the encoder timebase when stream copying. @var{mode} is an integer numeric value, and can assume one of the following values: @table @option @item 1 Use the demuxer timebase. The time base is copied to the output encoder from the corresponding input demuxer. This is sometimes required to avoid non monotonically increasing timestamps when copying video streams with variable frame rate. @item 0 Use the decoder timebase. The time base is copied to the output encoder from the corresponding input decoder. @item -1 Try to make the choice automatically, in order to generate a sane output. @end table Default value is -1. @item -shortest (@emph{output}) Finish encoding when the shortest input stream ends. @item -dts_delta_threshold Timestamp discontinuity delta threshold. @item -muxdelay @var{seconds} (@emph{input}) Set the maximum demux-decode delay. @item -muxpreload @var{seconds} (@emph{input}) Set the initial demux-decode delay. @item -streamid @var{output-stream-index}:@var{new-value} (@emph{output}) Assign a new stream-id value to an output stream. This option should be specified prior to the output filename to which it applies. For the situation where multiple output files exist, a streamid may be reassigned to a different value. For example, to set the stream 0 PID to 33 and the stream 1 PID to 36 for an output mpegts file: @example ffmpeg -i infile -streamid 0:33 -streamid 1:36 out.ts @end example @item -bsf[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{bitstream_filters} (@emph{output,per-stream}) Set bitstream filters for matching streams. @var{bitstream_filters} is a comma-separated list of bitstream filters. Use the @code{-bsfs} option to get the list of bitstream filters. @example ffmpeg -i h264.mp4 -c:v copy -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -an out.h264 @end example @example ffmpeg -i file.mov -an -vn -bsf:s mov2textsub -c:s copy -f rawvideo sub.txt @end example @item -tag[:@var{stream_specifier}] @var{codec_tag} (@emph{per-stream}) Force a tag/fourcc for matching streams. @item -timecode @var{hh}:@var{mm}:@var{ss}SEP@var{ff} Specify Timecode for writing. @var{SEP} is ':' for non drop timecode and ';' (or '.') for drop. @example ffmpeg -i input.mpg -timecode 01:02:03.04 -r 30000/1001 -s ntsc output.mpg @end example @anchor{filter_complex_option} @item -filter_complex @var{filtergraph} (@emph{global}) Define a complex filtergraph, i.e. one with arbitrary number of inputs and/or outputs. For simple graphs -- those with one input and one output of the same type -- see the @option{-filter} options. @var{filtergraph} is a description of the filtergraph, as described in the ``Filtergraph syntax'' section of the ffmpeg-filters manual. Input link labels must refer to input streams using the @code{[file_index:stream_specifier]} syntax (i.e. the same as @option{-map} uses). If @var{stream_specifier} matches multiple streams, the first one will be used. An unlabeled input will be connected to the first unused input stream of the matching type. Output link labels are referred to with @option{-map}. Unlabeled outputs are added to the first output file. Note that with this option it is possible to use only lavfi sources without normal input files. For example, to overlay an image over video @example ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex '[0:v][1:v]overlay[out]' -map '[out]' out.mkv @end example Here @code{[0:v]} refers to the first video stream in the first input file, which is linked to the first (main) input of the overlay filter. Similarly the first video stream in the second input is linked to the second (overlay) input of overlay. Assuming there is only one video stream in each input file, we can omit input labels, so the above is equivalent to @example ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex 'overlay[out]' -map '[out]' out.mkv @end example Furthermore we can omit the output label and the single output from the filter graph will be added to the output file automatically, so we can simply write @example ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex 'overlay' out.mkv @end example To generate 5 seconds of pure red video using lavfi @code{color} source: @example ffmpeg -filter_complex 'color=c=red' -t 5 out.mkv @end example @item -lavfi @var{filtergraph} (@emph{global}) Define a complex filtergraph, i.e. one with arbitrary number of inputs and/or outputs. Equivalent to @option{-filter_complex}. @item -filter_complex_script @var{filename} (@emph{global}) This option is similar to @option{-filter_complex}, the only difference is that its argument is the name of the file from which a complex filtergraph description is to be read. @item -accurate_seek (@emph{input}) This option enables or disables accurate seeking in input files with the @option{-ss} option. It is enabled by default, so seeking is accurate when transcoding. Use @option{-noaccurate_seek} to disable it, which may be useful e.g. when copying some streams and transcoding the others. @item -override_ffserver (@emph{global}) Overrides the input specifications from ffserver. Using this option you can map any input stream to ffserver and control many aspects of the encoding from ffmpeg. Without this option ffmpeg will transmit to ffserver what is requested by ffserver. The option is intended for cases where features are needed that cannot be specified to ffserver but can be to ffmpeg. @end table As a special exception, you can use a bitmap subtitle stream as input: it will be converted into a video with the same size as the largest video in the file, or 720x576 if no video is present. Note that this is an experimental and temporary solution. It will be removed once libavfilter has proper support for subtitles. For example, to hardcode subtitles on top of a DVB-T recording stored in MPEG-TS format, delaying the subtitles by 1 second: @example ffmpeg -i input.ts -filter_complex \ '[#0x2ef] setpts=PTS+1/TB [sub] ; [#0x2d0] [sub] overlay' \ -sn -map '#0x2dc' output.mkv @end example (0x2d0, 0x2dc and 0x2ef are the MPEG-TS PIDs of respectively the video, audio and subtitles streams; 0:0, 0:3 and 0:7 would have worked too) @section Preset files A preset file contains a sequence of @var{option}=@var{value} pairs, one for each line, specifying a sequence of options which would be awkward to specify on the command line. Lines starting with the hash ('#') character are ignored and are used to provide comments. Check the @file{presets} directory in the FFmpeg source tree for examples. Preset files are specified with the @code{vpre}, @code{apre}, @code{spre}, and @code{fpre} options. The @code{fpre} option takes the filename of the preset instead of a preset name as input and can be used for any kind of codec. For the @code{vpre}, @code{apre}, and @code{spre} options, the options specified in a preset file are applied to the currently selected codec of the same type as the preset option. The argument passed to the @code{vpre}, @code{apre}, and @code{spre} preset options identifies the preset file to use according to the following rules: First ffmpeg searches for a file named @var{arg}.ffpreset in the directories @file{$FFMPEG_DATADIR} (if set), and @file{$HOME/.ffmpeg}, and in the datadir defined at configuration time (usually @file{PREFIX/share/ffmpeg}) or in a @file{ffpresets} folder along the executable on win32, in that order. For example, if the argument is @code{libvpx-1080p}, it will search for the file @file{libvpx-1080p.ffpreset}. If no such file is found, then ffmpeg will search for a file named @var{codec_name}-@var{arg}.ffpreset in the above-mentioned directories, where @var{codec_name} is the name of the codec to which the preset file options will be applied. For example, if you select the video codec with @code{-vcodec libvpx} and use @code{-vpre 1080p}, then it will search for the file @file{libvpx-1080p.ffpreset}. @c man end OPTIONS @chapter Tips @c man begin TIPS @itemize @item For streaming at very low bitrates, use a low frame rate and a small GOP size. This is especially true for RealVideo where the Linux player does not seem to be very fast, so it can miss frames. An example is: @example ffmpeg -g 3 -r 3 -t 10 -b:v 50k -s qcif -f rv10 /tmp/b.rm @end example @item The parameter 'q' which is displayed while encoding is the current quantizer. The value 1 indicates that a very good quality could be achieved. The value 31 indicates the worst quality. If q=31 appears too often, it means that the encoder cannot compress enough to meet your bitrate. You must either increase the bitrate, decrease the frame rate or decrease the frame size. @item If your computer is not fast enough, you can speed up the compression at the expense of the compression ratio. You can use '-me zero' to speed up motion estimation, and '-g 0' to disable motion estimation completely (you have only I-frames, which means it is about as good as JPEG compression). @item To have very low audio bitrates, reduce the sampling frequency (down to 22050 Hz for MPEG audio, 22050 or 11025 for AC-3). @item To have a constant quality (but a variable bitrate), use the option '-qscale n' when 'n' is between 1 (excellent quality) and 31 (worst quality). @end itemize @c man end TIPS @chapter Examples @c man begin EXAMPLES @section Preset files A preset file contains a sequence of @var{option=value} pairs, one for each line, specifying a sequence of options which can be specified also on the command line. Lines starting with the hash ('#') character are ignored and are used to provide comments. Empty lines are also ignored. Check the @file{presets} directory in the FFmpeg source tree for examples. Preset files are specified with the @code{pre} option, this option takes a preset name as input. FFmpeg searches for a file named @var{preset_name}.avpreset in the directories @file{$AVCONV_DATADIR} (if set), and @file{$HOME/.ffmpeg}, and in the data directory defined at configuration time (usually @file{$PREFIX/share/ffmpeg}) in that order. For example, if the argument is @code{libx264-max}, it will search for the file @file{libx264-max.avpreset}. @section Video and Audio grabbing If you specify the input format and device then ffmpeg can grab video and audio directly. @example ffmpeg -f oss -i /dev/dsp -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg @end example Or with an ALSA audio source (mono input, card id 1) instead of OSS: @example ffmpeg -f alsa -ac 1 -i hw:1 -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg @end example Note that you must activate the right video source and channel before launching ffmpeg with any TV viewer such as @uref{http://linux.bytesex.org/xawtv/, xawtv} by Gerd Knorr. You also have to set the audio recording levels correctly with a standard mixer. @section X11 grabbing Grab the X11 display with ffmpeg via @example ffmpeg -f x11grab -video_size cif -framerate 25 -i :0.0 /tmp/out.mpg @end example 0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as the DISPLAY environment variable. @example ffmpeg -f x11grab -video_size cif -framerate 25 -i :0.0+10,20 /tmp/out.mpg @end example 0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as the DISPLAY environment variable. 10 is the x-offset and 20 the y-offset for the grabbing. @section Video and Audio file format conversion Any supported file format and protocol can serve as input to ffmpeg: Examples: @itemize @item You can use YUV files as input: @example ffmpeg -i /tmp/test%d.Y /tmp/out.mpg @end example It will use the files: @example /tmp/test0.Y, /tmp/test0.U, /tmp/test0.V, /tmp/test1.Y, /tmp/test1.U, /tmp/test1.V, etc... @end example The Y files use twice the resolution of the U and V files. They are raw files, without header. They can be generated by all decent video decoders. You must specify the size of the image with the @option{-s} option if ffmpeg cannot guess it. @item You can input from a raw YUV420P file: @example ffmpeg -i /tmp/test.yuv /tmp/out.avi @end example test.yuv is a file containing raw YUV planar data. Each frame is composed of the Y plane followed by the U and V planes at half vertical and horizontal resolution. @item You can output to a raw YUV420P file: @example ffmpeg -i mydivx.avi hugefile.yuv @end example @item You can set several input files and output files: @example ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -s 640x480 -i /tmp/a.yuv /tmp/a.mpg @end example Converts the audio file a.wav and the raw YUV video file a.yuv to MPEG file a.mpg. @item You can also do audio and video conversions at the same time: @example ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -ar 22050 /tmp/a.mp2 @end example Converts a.wav to MPEG audio at 22050 Hz sample rate. @item You can encode to several formats at the same time and define a mapping from input stream to output streams: @example ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -map 0:a -b:a 64k /tmp/a.mp2 -map 0:a -b:a 128k /tmp/b.mp2 @end example Converts a.wav to a.mp2 at 64 kbits and to b.mp2 at 128 kbits. '-map file:index' specifies which input stream is used for each output stream, in the order of the definition of output streams. @item You can transcode decrypted VOBs: @example 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 @end example This is a typical DVD ripping example; the input is a VOB file, the output an AVI file with MPEG-4 video and MP3 audio. Note that in this command we use B-frames so the MPEG-4 stream is DivX5 compatible, and GOP size is 300 which means one intra frame every 10 seconds for 29.97fps input video. Furthermore, the audio stream is MP3-encoded so you need to enable LAME support by passing @code{--enable-libmp3lame} to configure. The mapping is particularly useful for DVD transcoding to get the desired audio language. NOTE: To see the supported input formats, use @code{ffmpeg -formats}. @item You can extract images from a video, or create a video from many images: For extracting images from a video: @example ffmpeg -i foo.avi -r 1 -s WxH -f image2 foo-%03d.jpeg @end example This will extract one video frame per second from the video and will output them in files named @file{foo-001.jpeg}, @file{foo-002.jpeg}, etc. Images will be rescaled to fit the new WxH values. If you want to extract just a limited number of frames, you can use the above command in combination with the -vframes or -t option, or in combination with -ss to start extracting from a certain point in time. For creating a video from many images: @example ffmpeg -f image2 -i foo-%03d.jpeg -r 12 -s WxH foo.avi @end example The syntax @code{foo-%03d.jpeg} specifies to use a decimal number composed of three digits padded with zeroes to express the sequence number. It is the same syntax supported by the C printf function, but only formats accepting a normal integer are suitable. When importing an image sequence, -i also supports expanding shell-like wildcard patterns (globbing) internally, by selecting the image2-specific @code{-pattern_type glob} option. For example, for creating a video from filenames matching the glob pattern @code{foo-*.jpeg}: @example ffmpeg -f image2 -pattern_type glob -i 'foo-*.jpeg' -r 12 -s WxH foo.avi @end example @item You can put many streams of the same type in the output: @example ffmpeg -i test1.avi -i test2.avi -map 0:3 -map 0:2 -map 0:1 -map 0:0 -c copy test12.nut @end example The resulting output file @file{test12.avi} will contain first four streams from the input file in reverse order. @item To force CBR video output: @example ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -b 4000k -minrate 4000k -maxrate 4000k -bufsize 1835k out.m2v @end example @item The four options lmin, lmax, mblmin and mblmax use 'lambda' units, but you may use the QP2LAMBDA constant to easily convert from 'q' units: @example ffmpeg -i src.ext -lmax 21*QP2LAMBDA dst.ext @end example @end itemize @c man end EXAMPLES @include config.texi @ifset config-all @ifset config-avutil @include utils.texi @end ifset @ifset config-avcodec @include codecs.texi @include bitstream_filters.texi @end ifset @ifset config-avformat @include formats.texi @include protocols.texi @end ifset @ifset config-avdevice @include devices.texi @end ifset @ifset config-swresample @include resampler.texi @end ifset @ifset config-swscale @include scaler.texi @end ifset @ifset config-avfilter @include filters.texi @end ifset @end ifset @chapter See Also @ifhtml @ifset config-all @url{ffmpeg.html,ffmpeg} @end ifset @ifset config-not-all @url{ffmpeg-all.html,ffmpeg-all}, @end ifset @url{ffplay.html,ffplay}, @url{ffprobe.html,ffprobe}, @url{ffserver.html,ffserver}, @url{ffmpeg-utils.html,ffmpeg-utils}, @url{ffmpeg-scaler.html,ffmpeg-scaler}, @url{ffmpeg-resampler.html,ffmpeg-resampler}, @url{ffmpeg-codecs.html,ffmpeg-codecs}, @url{ffmpeg-bitstream-filters.html,ffmpeg-bitstream-filters}, @url{ffmpeg-formats.html,ffmpeg-formats}, @url{ffmpeg-devices.html,ffmpeg-devices}, @url{ffmpeg-protocols.html,ffmpeg-protocols}, @url{ffmpeg-filters.html,ffmpeg-filters} @end ifhtml @ifnothtml @ifset config-all ffmpeg(1), @end ifset @ifset config-not-all ffmpeg-all(1), @end ifset ffplay(1), ffprobe(1), ffserver(1), ffmpeg-utils(1), ffmpeg-scaler(1), ffmpeg-resampler(1), ffmpeg-codecs(1), ffmpeg-bitstream-filters(1), ffmpeg-formats(1), ffmpeg-devices(1), ffmpeg-protocols(1), ffmpeg-filters(1) @end ifnothtml @include authors.texi @ignore @setfilename ffmpeg @settitle ffmpeg video converter @end ignore @bye