ffmpeg-doc.texi

\input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-

@settitle FFmpeg Documentation
@titlepage
@sp 7
@center @titlefont{FFmpeg Documentation}
@sp 3
@end titlepage


@chapter Introduction

FFmpeg is a very fast video and audio converter. It can also grab from
a live audio/video source.

The command line interface is designed to be intuitive, in the sense
that FFmpeg tries to figure out all parameters that can possibly be
derived automatically. You usually only have to specify the target
bitrate you want.

FFmpeg can also convert from any sample rate to any other, and resize
video on the fly with a high quality polyphase filter.

@chapter Quick Start

@c man begin EXAMPLES
@section Video and Audio grabbing

FFmpeg can use a video4linux compatible video source and any Open Sound
System audio source:

@example
ffmpeg /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 xawtv
(@url{http://bytesex.org/xawtv/}) by Gerd Knorr. You also
have to set the audio recording levels correctly with a
standard mixer.

@section Video and Audio file format conversion

* FFmpeg can use any supported file format and protocol as input:

Examples:

* 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.

* 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.

* You can output to a raw YUV420P file:

@example
ffmpeg -i mydivx.avi hugefile.yuv
@end example

* 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.

* 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 22050Hz sample rate.

* 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 -ab 64 /tmp/a.mp2 -ab 128 /tmp/b.mp2 -map 0:0 -map 0:0
@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.

* You can transcode decrypted VOBs

@example
ffmpeg -i snatch_1.vob -f avi -vcodec mpeg4 -b 800 -g 300 -bf 2 -acodec mp3 -ab 128 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-mp3lame} 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}.
@c man end

@chapter Invocation

@section Syntax

The generic syntax is:

@example
@c man begin SYNOPSIS
ffmpeg [[infile options][@option{-i} @var{infile}]]... @{[outfile options] @var{outfile}@}...
@c man end
@end example
@c man begin DESCRIPTION
If no input file is given, audio/video grabbing is done.

As a general rule, options are applied to the next specified
file. For example, if you give the @option{-b 64} option, it sets the video
bitrate of the next file. The format option may be needed for raw input
files.

By default, FFmpeg tries to convert as losslessly as possible: It
uses the same audio and video parameters for the outputs as the one
specified for the inputs.
@c man end

@c man begin OPTIONS
@section Main options

@table @option
@item -L
Show license.

@item -h
Show help.

@item -formats
Show available formats, codecs, protocols, ...

@item -f fmt
Force format.

@item -i filename
input filename

@item -y
Overwrite output files.

@item -t duration
Set the recording time in seconds.
@code{hh:mm:ss[.xxx]} syntax is also supported.

@item -ss position
Seek to given time position in seconds.
@code{hh:mm:ss[.xxx]} syntax is also supported.

@item -title string
Set the title.

@item -author string
Set the author.

@item -copyright string
Set the copyright.

@item -comment string
Set the comment.

@item -target type
Specify target file type ("vcd", "svcd", "dvd", "dv", "pal-vcd",
"ntsc-svcd", ... ). 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