FFMPEG-CODECS(1) FFMPEG-CODECS(1) NAME ffmpeg-codecs - FFmpeg codecs DESCRIPTION This document describes the codecs (decoders and encoders) provided by the libavcodec library. CODEC OPTIONS libavcodec provides some generic global options, which can be set on all the encoders and decoders. In addition each codec may support so-called private options, which are specific for a given codec. Sometimes, a global option may only affect a specific kind of codec, and may be unsensical or ignored by another, so you need to be aware of the meaning of the specified options. Also some options are meant only for decoding or encoding. Options may be set by specifying -option value in the FFmpeg tools, or by setting the value explicitly in the "AVCodecContext" options or using the libavutil/opt.h API for programmatic use. The list of supported options follow: b integer (encoding,audio,video) Set bitrate in bits/s. Default value is 200K. ab integer (encoding,audio) Set audio bitrate (in bits/s). Default value is 128K. bt integer (encoding,video) Set video bitrate tolerance (in bits/s). In 1-pass mode, bitrate tolerance specifies how far ratecontrol is willing to deviate from the target average bitrate value. This is not related to min/max bitrate. Lowering tolerance too much has an adverse effect on quality. flags flags (decoding/encoding,audio,video,subtitles) Set generic flags. Possible values: mv4 Use four motion vector by macroblock (mpeg4). qpel Use 1/4 pel motion compensation. loop Use loop filter. qscale Use fixed qscale. gmc Use gmc. mv0 Always try a mb with mv=<0,0>. input_preserved pass1 Use internal 2pass ratecontrol in first pass mode. pass2 Use internal 2pass ratecontrol in second pass mode. gray Only decode/encode grayscale. emu_edge Do not draw edges. psnr Set error[?] variables during encoding. truncated naq Normalize adaptive quantization. ildct Use interlaced DCT. low_delay Force low delay. global_header Place global headers in extradata instead of every keyframe. bitexact Use only bitexact stuff (except (I)DCT). aic Apply H263 advanced intra coding / mpeg4 ac prediction. cbp Deprecated, use mpegvideo private options instead. qprd Deprecated, use mpegvideo private options instead. ilme Apply interlaced motion estimation. cgop Use closed gop. me_method integer (encoding,video) Set motion estimation method. Possible values: zero zero motion estimation (fastest) full full motion estimation (slowest) epzs EPZS motion estimation (default) esa esa motion estimation (alias for full) tesa tesa motion estimation dia dia motion estimation (alias for epzs) log log motion estimation phods phods motion estimation x1 X1 motion estimation hex hex motion estimation umh umh motion estimation iter iter motion estimation extradata_size integer Set extradata size. time_base rational number Set codec time base. It is the fundamental unit of time (in seconds) in terms of which frame timestamps are represented. For fixed-fps content, timebase should be "1 / frame_rate" and timestamp increments should be identically 1. g integer (encoding,video) Set the group of picture size. Default value is 12. ar integer (decoding/encoding,audio) Set audio sampling rate (in Hz). ac integer (decoding/encoding,audio) Set number of audio channels. cutoff integer (encoding,audio) Set cutoff bandwidth. frame_size integer (encoding,audio) Set audio frame size. Each submitted frame except the last must contain exactly frame_size samples per channel. May be 0 when the codec has CODEC_CAP_VARIABLE_FRAME_SIZE set, in that case the frame size is not restricted. It is set by some decoders to indicate constant frame size. frame_number integer Set the frame number. delay integer qcomp float (encoding,video) Set video quantizer scale compression (VBR). It is used as a constant in the ratecontrol equation. Recommended range for default rc_eq: 0.0-1.0. qblur float (encoding,video) Set video quantizer scale blur (VBR). qmin integer (encoding,video) Set min video quantizer scale (VBR). Must be included between -1 and 69, default value is 2. qmax integer (encoding,video) Set max video quantizer scale (VBR). Must be included between -1 and 1024, default value is 31. qdiff integer (encoding,video) Set max difference between the quantizer scale (VBR). bf integer (encoding,video) Set max number of B frames between non-B-frames. Must be an integer between -1 and 16. 0 means that B-frames are disabled. If a value of -1 is used, it will choose an automatic value depending on the encoder. Default value is 0. b_qfactor float (encoding,video) Set qp factor between P and B frames. rc_strategy integer (encoding,video) Set ratecontrol method. b_strategy integer (encoding,video) Set strategy to choose between I/P/B-frames. ps integer (encoding,video) Set RTP payload size in bytes. mv_bits integer header_bits integer i_tex_bits integer p_tex_bits integer i_count integer p_count integer skip_count integer misc_bits integer frame_bits integer codec_tag integer bug flags (decoding,video) Workaround not auto detected encoder bugs. Possible values: autodetect old_msmpeg4 some old lavc generated msmpeg4v3 files (no autodetection) xvid_ilace Xvid interlacing bug (autodetected if fourcc==XVIX) ump4 (autodetected if fourcc==UMP4) no_padding padding bug (autodetected) amv ac_vlc illegal vlc bug (autodetected per fourcc) qpel_chroma std_qpel old standard qpel (autodetected per fourcc/version) qpel_chroma2 direct_blocksize direct-qpel-blocksize bug (autodetected per fourcc/version) edge edge padding bug (autodetected per fourcc/version) hpel_chroma dc_clip ms Workaround various bugs in microsoft broken decoders. trunc trancated frames lelim integer (encoding,video) Set single coefficient elimination threshold for luminance (negative values also consider DC coefficient). celim integer (encoding,video) Set single coefficient elimination threshold for chrominance (negative values also consider dc coefficient) strict integer (decoding/encoding,audio,video) Specify how strictly to follow the standards. Possible values: very strictly conform to a older more strict version of the spec or reference software strict strictly conform to all the things in the spec no matter what consequences normal unofficial allow unofficial extensions experimental allow non standardized experimental things, experimental (unfinished/work in progress/not well tested) decoders and encoders. Note: experimental decoders can pose a security risk, do not use this for decoding untrusted input. b_qoffset float (encoding,video) Set QP offset between P and B frames. err_detect flags (decoding,audio,video) Set error detection flags. Possible values: crccheck verify embedded CRCs bitstream detect bitstream specification deviations buffer detect improper bitstream length explode abort decoding on minor error detection careful consider things that violate the spec and have not been seen in the wild as errors compliant consider all spec non compliancies as errors aggressive consider things that a sane encoder should not do as an error has_b_frames integer block_align integer mpeg_quant integer (encoding,video) Use MPEG quantizers instead of H.263. qsquish float (encoding,video) How to keep quantizer between qmin and qmax (0 = clip, 1 = use differentiable function). rc_qmod_amp float (encoding,video) Set experimental quantizer modulation. rc_qmod_freq integer (encoding,video) Set experimental quantizer modulation. rc_override_count integer rc_eq string (encoding,video) Set rate control equation. When computing the expression, besides the standard functions defined in the section 'Expression Evaluation', the following functions are available: bits2qp(bits), qp2bits(qp). Also the following constants are available: iTex pTex tex mv fCode iCount mcVar var isI isP isB avgQP qComp avgIITex avgPITex avgPPTex avgBPTex avgTex. maxrate integer (encoding,audio,video) Set max bitrate tolerance (in bits/s). Requires bufsize to be set. minrate integer (encoding,audio,video) Set min bitrate tolerance (in bits/s). Most useful in setting up a CBR encode. It is of little use elsewise. bufsize integer (encoding,audio,video) Set ratecontrol buffer size (in bits). rc_buf_aggressivity float (encoding,video) Currently useless. i_qfactor float (encoding,video) Set QP factor between P and I frames. i_qoffset float (encoding,video) Set QP offset between P and I frames. rc_init_cplx float (encoding,video) Set initial complexity for 1-pass encoding. dct integer (encoding,video) Set DCT algorithm. Possible values: auto autoselect a good one (default) fastint fast integer int accurate integer mmx altivec faan floating point AAN DCT lumi_mask float (encoding,video) Compress bright areas stronger than medium ones. tcplx_mask float (encoding,video) Set temporal complexity masking. scplx_mask float (encoding,video) Set spatial complexity masking. p_mask float (encoding,video) Set inter masking. dark_mask float (encoding,video) Compress dark areas stronger than medium ones. idct integer (decoding/encoding,video) Select IDCT implementation. Possible values: auto int simple simplemmx arm altivec sh4 simplearm simplearmv5te simplearmv6 simpleneon simplealpha ipp xvidmmx faani floating point AAN IDCT slice_count integer ec flags (decoding,video) Set error concealment strategy. Possible values: guess_mvs iterative motion vector (MV) search (slow) deblock use strong deblock filter for damaged MBs bits_per_coded_sample integer pred integer (encoding,video) Set prediction method. Possible values: left plane median aspect rational number (encoding,video) Set sample aspect ratio. debug flags (decoding/encoding,audio,video,subtitles) Print specific debug info. Possible values: pict picture info rc rate control bitstream mb_type macroblock (MB) type qp per-block quantization parameter (QP) mv motion vector dct_coeff skip startcode pts er error recognition mmco memory management control operations (H.264) bugs vis_qp visualize quantization parameter (QP), lower QP are tinted greener vis_mb_type visualize block types buffers picture buffer allocations thread_ops threading operations vismv integer (decoding,video) Visualize motion vectors (MVs). Possible values: pf forward predicted MVs of P-frames bf forward predicted MVs of B-frames bb backward predicted MVs of B-frames cmp integer (encoding,video) Set full pel me compare function. Possible values: sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default) sse sum of squared errors satd sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences psnr sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality) bit number of bits needed for the block rd rate distortion optimal, slow zero 0 vsad sum of absolute vertical differences vsse sum of squared vertical differences nsse noise preserving sum of squared differences w53 5/3 wavelet, only used in snow w97 9/7 wavelet, only used in snow dctmax chroma subcmp integer (encoding,video) Set sub pel me compare function. Possible values: sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default) sse sum of squared errors satd sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences psnr sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality) bit number of bits needed for the block rd rate distortion optimal, slow zero 0 vsad sum of absolute vertical differences vsse sum of squared vertical differences nsse noise preserving sum of squared differences w53 5/3 wavelet, only used in snow w97 9/7 wavelet, only used in snow dctmax chroma mbcmp integer (encoding,video) Set macroblock compare function. Possible values: sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default) sse sum of squared errors satd sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences psnr sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality) bit number of bits needed for the block rd rate distortion optimal, slow zero 0 vsad sum of absolute vertical differences vsse sum of squared vertical differences nsse noise preserving sum of squared differences w53 5/3 wavelet, only used in snow w97 9/7 wavelet, only used in snow dctmax chroma ildctcmp integer (encoding,video) Set interlaced dct compare function. Possible values: sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default) sse sum of squared errors satd sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences psnr sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality) bit number of bits needed for the block rd rate distortion optimal, slow zero 0 vsad sum of absolute vertical differences vsse sum of squared vertical differences nsse noise preserving sum of squared differences w53 5/3 wavelet, only used in snow w97 9/7 wavelet, only used in snow dctmax chroma dia_size integer (encoding,video) Set diamond type & size for motion estimation. last_pred integer (encoding,video) Set amount of motion predictors from the previous frame. preme integer (encoding,video) Set pre motion estimation. precmp integer (encoding,video) Set pre motion estimation compare function. Possible values: sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default) sse sum of squared errors satd sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences psnr sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality) bit number of bits needed for the block rd rate distortion optimal, slow zero 0 vsad sum of absolute vertical differences vsse sum of squared vertical differences nsse noise preserving sum of squared differences w53 5/3 wavelet, only used in snow w97 9/7 wavelet, only used in snow dctmax chroma pre_dia_size integer (encoding,video) Set diamond type & size for motion estimation pre-pass. subq integer (encoding,video) Set sub pel motion estimation quality. dtg_active_format integer me_range integer (encoding,video) Set limit motion vectors range (1023 for DivX player). ibias integer (encoding,video) Set intra quant bias. pbias integer (encoding,video) Set inter quant bias. color_table_id integer global_quality integer (encoding,audio,video) coder integer (encoding,video) Possible values: vlc variable length coder / huffman coder ac arithmetic coder raw raw (no encoding) rle run-length coder deflate deflate-based coder context integer (encoding,video) Set context model. slice_flags integer xvmc_acceleration integer mbd integer (encoding,video) Set macroblock decision algorithm (high quality mode). Possible values: simple use mbcmp (default) bits use fewest bits rd use best rate distortion stream_codec_tag integer sc_threshold integer (encoding,video) Set scene change threshold. lmin integer (encoding,video) Set min lagrange factor (VBR). lmax integer (encoding,video) Set max lagrange factor (VBR). nr integer (encoding,video) Set noise reduction. rc_init_occupancy integer (encoding,video) Set number of bits which should be loaded into the rc buffer before decoding starts. flags2 flags (decoding/encoding,audio,video) Possible values: fast Allow non spec compliant speedup tricks. sgop Deprecated, use mpegvideo private options instead. noout Skip bitstream encoding. ignorecrop Ignore cropping information from sps. local_header Place global headers at every keyframe instead of in extradata. chunks Frame data might be split into multiple chunks. showall Show all frames before the first keyframe. skiprd Deprecated, use mpegvideo private options instead. error integer (encoding,video) qns integer (encoding,video) Deprecated, use mpegvideo private options instead. threads integer (decoding/encoding,video) Possible values: auto detect a good number of threads me_threshold integer (encoding,video) Set motion estimation threshold. mb_threshold integer (encoding,video) Set macroblock threshold. dc integer (encoding,video) Set intra_dc_precision. nssew integer (encoding,video) Set nsse weight. skip_top integer (decoding,video) Set number of macroblock rows at the top which are skipped. skip_bottom integer (decoding,video) Set number of macroblock rows at the bottom which are skipped. profile integer (encoding,audio,video) Possible values: unknown aac_main aac_low aac_ssr aac_ltp aac_he aac_he_v2 aac_ld aac_eld mpeg2_aac_low mpeg2_aac_he dts dts_es dts_96_24 dts_hd_hra dts_hd_ma level integer (encoding,audio,video) Possible values: unknown lowres integer (decoding,audio,video) Decode at 1= 1/2, 2=1/4, 3=1/8 resolutions. skip_threshold integer (encoding,video) Set frame skip threshold. skip_factor integer (encoding,video) Set frame skip factor. skip_exp integer (encoding,video) Set frame skip exponent. Negative values behave identical to the corresponding positive ones, except that the score is normalized. Positive values exist primarly for compatibility reasons and are not so useful. skipcmp integer (encoding,video) Set frame skip compare function. Possible values: sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default) sse sum of squared errors satd sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences psnr sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality) bit number of bits needed for the block rd rate distortion optimal, slow zero 0 vsad sum of absolute vertical differences vsse sum of squared vertical differences nsse noise preserving sum of squared differences w53 5/3 wavelet, only used in snow w97 9/7 wavelet, only used in snow dctmax chroma border_mask float (encoding,video) Increase the quantizer for macroblocks close to borders. mblmin integer (encoding,video) Set min macroblock lagrange factor (VBR). mblmax integer (encoding,video) Set max macroblock lagrange factor (VBR). mepc integer (encoding,video) Set motion estimation bitrate penalty compensation (1.0 = 256). skip_loop_filter integer (decoding,video) skip_idct integer (decoding,video) skip_frame integer (decoding,video) Make decoder discard processing depending on the frame type selected by the option value. skip_loop_filter skips frame loop filtering, skip_idct skips frame IDCT/dequantization, skip_frame skips decoding. Possible values: none Discard no frame. default Discard useless frames like 0-sized frames. noref Discard all non-reference frames. bidir Discard all bidirectional frames. nokey Discard all frames excepts keyframes. all Discard all frames. Default value is default. bidir_refine integer (encoding,video) Refine the two motion vectors used in bidirectional macroblocks. brd_scale integer (encoding,video) Downscale frames for dynamic B-frame decision. keyint_min integer (encoding,video) Set minimum interval between IDR-frames. refs integer (encoding,video) Set reference frames to consider for motion compensation. chromaoffset integer (encoding,video) Set chroma qp offset from luma. trellis integer (encoding,audio,video) Set rate-distortion optimal quantization. sc_factor integer (encoding,video) Set value multiplied by qscale for each frame and added to scene_change_score. mv0_threshold integer (encoding,video) b_sensitivity integer (encoding,video) Adjust sensitivity of b_frame_strategy 1. compression_level integer (encoding,audio,video) min_prediction_order integer (encoding,audio) max_prediction_order integer (encoding,audio) timecode_frame_start integer (encoding,video) Set GOP timecode frame start number, in non drop frame format. request_channels integer (decoding,audio) Set desired number of audio channels. bits_per_raw_sample integer channel_layout integer (decoding/encoding,audio) Possible values: request_channel_layout integer (decoding,audio) Possible values: rc_max_vbv_use float (encoding,video) rc_min_vbv_use float (encoding,video) ticks_per_frame integer (decoding/encoding,audio,video) color_primaries integer (decoding/encoding,video) color_trc integer (decoding/encoding,video) colorspace integer (decoding/encoding,video) color_range integer (decoding/encoding,video) chroma_sample_location integer (decoding/encoding,video) log_level_offset integer Set the log level offset. slices integer (encoding,video) Number of slices, used in parallelized encoding. thread_type flags (decoding/encoding,video) Select multithreading type. Possible values: slice frame audio_service_type integer (encoding,audio) Set audio service type. Possible values: ma Main Audio Service ef Effects vi Visually Impaired hi Hearing Impaired di Dialogue co Commentary em Emergency vo Voice Over ka Karaoke request_sample_fmt sample_fmt (decoding,audio) Set sample format audio decoders should prefer. Default value is "none". pkt_timebase rational number sub_charenc encoding (decoding,subtitles) Set the input subtitles character encoding. field_order field_order (video) Set/override the field order of the video. Possible values: progressive Progressive video tt Interlaced video, top field coded and displayed first bb Interlaced video, bottom field coded and displayed first tb Interlaced video, top coded first, bottom displayed first bt Interlaced video, bottom coded first, top displayed first skip_alpha integer (decoding,video) Set to 1 to disable processing alpha (transparency). This works like the gray flag in the flags option which skips chroma information instead of alpha. Default is 0. DECODERS Decoders are configured elements in FFmpeg which allow the decoding of multimedia streams. When you configure your FFmpeg build, all the supported native decoders are enabled by default. Decoders requiring an external library must be enabled manually via the corresponding "--enable-lib" option. You can list all available decoders using the configure option "--list-decoders". You can disable all the decoders with the configure option "--disable-decoders" and selectively enable / disable single decoders with the options "--enable-decoder=DECODER" / "--disable-decoder=DECODER". The option "-decoders" of the ff* tools will display the list of enabled decoders. VIDEO DECODERS A description of some of the currently available video decoders follows. rawvideo Raw video decoder. This decoder decodes rawvideo streams. Options top top_field_first Specify the assumed field type of the input video. -1 the video is assumed to be progressive (default) 0 bottom-field-first is assumed 1 top-field-first is assumed AUDIO DECODERS A description of some of the currently available audio decoders follows. ac3 AC-3 audio decoder. This decoder implements part of ATSC A/52:2010 and ETSI TS 102 366, as well as the undocumented RealAudio 3 (a.k.a. dnet). AC-3 Decoder Options -drc_scale value Dynamic Range Scale Factor. The factor to apply to dynamic range values from the AC-3 stream. This factor is applied exponentially. There are 3 notable scale factor ranges: drc_scale == 0 DRC disabled. Produces full range audio. 0 < drc_scale <= 1 DRC enabled. Applies a fraction of the stream DRC value. Audio reproduction is between full range and full compression. drc_scale > 1 DRC enabled. Applies drc_scale asymmetrically. Loud sounds are fully compressed. Soft sounds are enhanced. ffwavesynth Internal wave synthetizer. This decoder generates wave patterns according to predefined sequences. Its use is purely internal and the format of the data it accepts is not publicly documented. libcelt libcelt decoder wrapper. libcelt allows libavcodec to decode the Xiph CELT ultra-low delay audio codec. Requires the presence of the libcelt headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libcelt". libgsm libgsm decoder wrapper. libgsm allows libavcodec to decode the GSM full rate audio codec. Requires the presence of the libgsm headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libgsm". This decoder supports both the ordinary GSM and the Microsoft variant. libilbc libilbc decoder wrapper. libilbc allows libavcodec to decode the Internet Low Bitrate Codec (iLBC) audio codec. Requires the presence of the libilbc headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libilbc". Options The following option is supported by the libilbc wrapper. enhance Enable the enhancement of the decoded audio when set to 1. The default value is 0 (disabled). libopencore-amrnb libopencore-amrnb decoder wrapper. libopencore-amrnb allows libavcodec to decode the Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrowband audio codec. Using it requires the presence of the libopencore-amrnb headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libopencore-amrnb". An FFmpeg native decoder for AMR-NB exists, so users can decode AMR-NB without this library. libopencore-amrwb libopencore-amrwb decoder wrapper. libopencore-amrwb allows libavcodec to decode the Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband audio codec. Using it requires the presence of the libopencore-amrwb headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libopencore-amrwb". An FFmpeg native decoder for AMR-WB exists, so users can decode AMR-WB without this library. libopus libopus decoder wrapper. libopus allows libavcodec to decode the Opus Interactive Audio Codec. Requires the presence of the libopus headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libopus". SUBTITLES DECODERS dvdsub This codec decodes the bitmap subtitles used in DVDs; the same subtitles can also be found in VobSub file pairs and in some Matroska files. Options palette Specify the global palette used by the bitmaps. When stored in VobSub, the palette is normally specified in the index file; in Matroska, the palette is stored in the codec extra-data in the same format as in VobSub. In DVDs, the palette is stored in the IFO file, and therefore not available when reading from dumped VOB files. The format for this option is a string containing 16 24-bits hexadecimal numbers (without 0x prefix) separated by comas, for example "0d00ee, ee450d, 101010, eaeaea, 0ce60b, ec14ed, ebff0b, 0d617a, 7b7b7b, d1d1d1, 7b2a0e, 0d950c, 0f007b, cf0dec, cfa80c, 7c127b". libzvbi-teletext Libzvbi allows libavcodec to decode DVB teletext pages and DVB teletext subtitles. Requires the presence of the libzvbi headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libzvbi". Options txt_page List of teletext page numbers to decode. You may use the special * string to match all pages. Pages that do not match the specified list are dropped. Default value is *. txt_chop_top Discards the top teletext line. Default value is 1. txt_format Specifies the format of the decoded subtitles. The teletext decoder is capable of decoding the teletext pages to bitmaps or to simple text, you should use "bitmap" for teletext pages, because certain graphics and colors cannot be expressed in simple text. You might use "text" for teletext based subtitles if your application can handle simple text based subtitles. Default value is bitmap. txt_left X offset of generated bitmaps, default is 0. txt_top Y offset of generated bitmaps, default is 0. txt_chop_spaces Chops leading and trailing spaces and removes empty lines from the generated text. This option is useful for teletext based subtitles where empty spaces may be present at the start or at the end of the lines or empty lines may be present between the subtitle lines because of double-sized teletext charactes. Default value is 1. txt_duration Sets the display duration of the decoded teletext pages or subtitles in miliseconds. Default value is 30000 which is 30 seconds. txt_transparent Force transparent background of the generated teletext bitmaps. Default value is 0 which means an opaque (black) background. ENCODERS Encoders are configured elements in FFmpeg which allow the encoding of multimedia streams. When you configure your FFmpeg build, all the supported native encoders are enabled by default. Encoders requiring an external library must be enabled manually via the corresponding "--enable-lib" option. You can list all available encoders using the configure option "--list-encoders". You can disable all the encoders with the configure option "--disable-encoders" and selectively enable / disable single encoders with the options "--enable-encoder=ENCODER" / "--disable-encoder=ENCODER". The option "-encoders" of the ff* tools will display the list of enabled encoders. AUDIO ENCODERS A description of some of the currently available audio encoders follows. aac Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) encoder. This encoder is an experimental FFmpeg-native AAC encoder. Currently only the low complexity (AAC-LC) profile is supported. To use this encoder, you must set strict option to experimental or lower. As this encoder is experimental, unexpected behavior may exist from time to time. For a more stable AAC encoder, see libvo-aacenc. However, be warned that it has a worse quality reported by some users. See also libfdk_aac. Options b Set bit rate in bits/s. Setting this automatically activates constant bit rate (CBR) mode. q Set quality for variable bit rate (VBR) mode. This option is valid only using the ffmpeg command-line tool. For library interface users, use global_quality. stereo_mode Set stereo encoding mode. Possible values: auto Automatically selected by the encoder. ms_off Disable middle/side encoding. This is the default. ms_force Force middle/side encoding. aac_coder Set AAC encoder coding method. Possible values: faac FAAC-inspired method. This method is a simplified reimplementation of the method used in FAAC, which sets thresholds proportional to the band energies, and then decreases all the thresholds with quantizer steps to find the appropriate quantization with distortion below threshold band by band. The quality of this method is comparable to the two loop searching method descibed below, but somewhat a little better and slower. anmr Average noise to mask ratio (ANMR) trellis-based solution. This has a theoretic best quality out of all the coding methods, but at the cost of the slowest speed. twoloop Two loop searching (TLS) method. This method first sets quantizers depending on band thresholds and then tries to find an optimal combination by adding or subtracting a specific value from all quantizers and adjusting some individual quantizer a little. This method produces similar quality with the FAAC method and is the default. fast Constant quantizer method. This method sets a constant quantizer for all bands. This is the fastest of all the methods, yet produces the worst quality. ac3 and ac3_fixed AC-3 audio encoders. These encoders implement part of ATSC A/52:2010 and ETSI TS 102 366, as well as the undocumented RealAudio 3 (a.k.a. dnet). The ac3 encoder uses floating-point math, while the ac3_fixed encoder only uses fixed-point integer math. This does not mean that one is always faster, just that one or the other may be better suited to a particular system. The floating-point encoder will generally produce better quality audio for a given bitrate. The ac3_fixed encoder is not the default codec for any of the output formats, so it must be specified explicitly using the option "-acodec ac3_fixed" in order to use it. AC-3 Metadata The AC-3 metadata options are used to set parameters that describe the audio, but in most cases do not affect the audio encoding itself. Some of the options do directly affect or influence the decoding and playback of the resulting bitstream, while others are just for informational purposes. A few of the options will add bits to the output stream that could otherwise be used for audio data, and will thus affect the quality of the output. Those will be indicated accordingly with a note in the option list below. These parameters are described in detail in several publicly-available documents. *<> *<> *<> *<> Metadata Control Options -per_frame_metadata boolean Allow Per-Frame Metadata. Specifies if the encoder should check for changing metadata for each frame. 0 The metadata values set at initialization will be used for every frame in the stream. (default) 1 Metadata values can be changed before encoding each frame. Downmix Levels -center_mixlev level Center Mix Level. The amount of gain the decoder should apply to the center channel when downmixing to stereo. This field will only be written to the bitstream if a center channel is present. The value is specified as a scale factor. There are 3 valid values: 0.707 Apply -3dB gain 0.595 Apply -4.5dB gain (default) 0.500 Apply -6dB gain -surround_mixlev level Surround Mix Level. The amount of gain the decoder should apply to the surround channel(s) when downmixing to stereo. This field will only be written to the bitstream if one or more surround channels are present. The value is specified as a scale factor. There are 3 valid values: 0.707 Apply -3dB gain 0.500 Apply -6dB gain (default) 0.000 Silence Surround Channel(s) Audio Production Information Audio Production Information is optional information describing the mixing environment. Either none or both of the fields are written to the bitstream. -mixing_level number Mixing Level. Specifies peak sound pressure level (SPL) in the production environment when the mix was mastered. Valid values are 80 to 111, or -1 for unknown or not indicated. The default value is -1, but that value cannot be used if the Audio Production Information is written to the bitstream. Therefore, if the "room_type" option is not the default value, the "mixing_level" option must not be -1. -room_type type Room Type. Describes the equalization used during the final mixing session at the studio or on the dubbing stage. A large room is a dubbing stage with the industry standard X-curve equalization; a small room has flat equalization. This field will not be written to the bitstream if both the "mixing_level" option and the "room_type" option have the default values. 0 notindicated Not Indicated (default) 1 large Large Room 2 small Small Room Other Metadata Options -copyright boolean Copyright Indicator. Specifies whether a copyright exists for this audio. 0 off No Copyright Exists (default) 1 on Copyright Exists -dialnorm value Dialogue Normalization. Indicates how far the average dialogue level of the program is below digital 100% full scale (0 dBFS). This parameter determines a level shift during audio reproduction that sets the average volume of the dialogue to a preset level. The goal is to match volume level between program sources. A value of -31dB will result in no volume level change, relative to the source volume, during audio reproduction. Valid values are whole numbers in the range -31 to -1, with -31 being the default. -dsur_mode mode Dolby Surround Mode. Specifies whether the stereo signal uses Dolby Surround (Pro Logic). This field will only be written to the bitstream if the audio stream is stereo. Using this option does NOT mean the encoder will actually apply Dolby Surround processing. 0 notindicated Not Indicated (default) 1 off Not Dolby Surround Encoded 2 on Dolby Surround Encoded -original boolean Original Bit Stream Indicator. Specifies whether this audio is from the original source and not a copy. 0 off Not Original Source 1 on Original Source (default) Extended Bitstream Information The extended bitstream options are part of the Alternate Bit Stream Syntax as specified in Annex D of the A/52:2010 standard. It is grouped into 2 parts. If any one parameter in a group is specified, all values in that group will be written to the bitstream. Default values are used for those that are written but have not been specified. If the mixing levels are written, the decoder will use these values instead of the ones specified in the "center_mixlev" and "surround_mixlev" options if it supports the Alternate Bit Stream Syntax. Extended Bitstream Information - Part 1 -dmix_mode mode Preferred Stereo Downmix Mode. Allows the user to select either Lt/Rt (Dolby Surround) or Lo/Ro (normal stereo) as the preferred stereo downmix mode. 0 notindicated Not Indicated (default) 1 ltrt Lt/Rt Downmix Preferred 2 loro Lo/Ro Downmix Preferred -ltrt_cmixlev level Lt/Rt Center Mix Level. The amount of gain the decoder should apply to the center channel when downmixing to stereo in Lt/Rt mode. 1.414 Apply +3dB gain 1.189 Apply +1.5dB gain 1.000 Apply 0dB gain 0.841 Apply -1.5dB gain 0.707 Apply -3.0dB gain 0.595 Apply -4.5dB gain (default) 0.500 Apply -6.0dB gain 0.000 Silence Center Channel -ltrt_surmixlev level Lt/Rt Surround Mix Level. The amount of gain the decoder should apply to the surround channel(s) when downmixing to stereo in Lt/Rt mode. 0.841 Apply -1.5dB gain 0.707 Apply -3.0dB gain 0.595 Apply -4.5dB gain 0.500 Apply -6.0dB gain (default) 0.000 Silence Surround Channel(s) -loro_cmixlev level Lo/Ro Center Mix Level. The amount of gain the decoder should apply to the center channel when downmixing to stereo in Lo/Ro mode. 1.414 Apply +3dB gain 1.189 Apply +1.5dB gain 1.000 Apply 0dB gain 0.841 Apply -1.5dB gain 0.707 Apply -3.0dB gain 0.595 Apply -4.5dB gain (default) 0.500 Apply -6.0dB gain 0.000 Silence Center Channel -loro_surmixlev level Lo/Ro Surround Mix Level. The amount of gain the decoder should apply to the surround channel(s) when downmixing to stereo in Lo/Ro mode. 0.841 Apply -1.5dB gain 0.707 Apply -3.0dB gain 0.595 Apply -4.5dB gain 0.500 Apply -6.0dB gain (default) 0.000 Silence Surround Channel(s) Extended Bitstream Information - Part 2 -dsurex_mode mode Dolby Surround EX Mode. Indicates whether the stream uses Dolby Surround EX (7.1 matrixed to 5.1). Using this option does NOT mean the encoder will actually apply Dolby Surround EX processing. 0 notindicated Not Indicated (default) 1 on Dolby Surround EX Off 2 off Dolby Surround EX On -dheadphone_mode mode Dolby Headphone Mode. Indicates whether the stream uses Dolby Headphone encoding (multi-channel matrixed to 2.0 for use with headphones). Using this option does NOT mean the encoder will actually apply Dolby Headphone processing. 0 notindicated Not Indicated (default) 1 on Dolby Headphone Off 2 off Dolby Headphone On -ad_conv_type type A/D Converter Type. Indicates whether the audio has passed through HDCD A/D conversion. 0 standard Standard A/D Converter (default) 1 hdcd HDCD A/D Converter Other AC-3 Encoding Options -stereo_rematrixing boolean Stereo Rematrixing. Enables/Disables use of rematrixing for stereo input. This is an optional AC-3 feature that increases quality by selectively encoding the left/right channels as mid/side. This option is enabled by default, and it is highly recommended that it be left as enabled except for testing purposes. Floating-Point-Only AC-3 Encoding Options These options are only valid for the floating-point encoder and do not exist for the fixed-point encoder due to the corresponding features not being implemented in fixed-point. -channel_coupling boolean Enables/Disables use of channel coupling, which is an optional AC-3 feature that increases quality by combining high frequency information from multiple channels into a single channel. The per-channel high frequency information is sent with less accuracy in both the frequency and time domains. This allows more bits to be used for lower frequencies while preserving enough information to reconstruct the high frequencies. This option is enabled by default for the floating-point encoder and should generally be left as enabled except for testing purposes or to increase encoding speed. -1 auto Selected by Encoder (default) 0 off Disable Channel Coupling 1 on Enable Channel Coupling -cpl_start_band number Coupling Start Band. Sets the channel coupling start band, from 1 to 15. If a value higher than the bandwidth is used, it will be reduced to 1 less than the coupling end band. If auto is used, the start band will be determined by the encoder based on the bit rate, sample rate, and channel layout. This option has no effect if channel coupling is disabled. -1 auto Selected by Encoder (default) libfaac libfaac AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) encoder wrapper. Requires the presence of the libfaac headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree". This encoder is considered to be of higher quality with respect to the the native experimental FFmpeg AAC encoder. For more information see the libfaac project at . Options The following shared FFmpeg codec options are recognized. The following options are supported by the libfaac wrapper. The faac-equivalent of the options are listed in parentheses. b (-b) Set bit rate in bits/s for ABR (Average Bit Rate) mode. If the bit rate is not explicitly specified, it is automatically set to a suitable value depending on the selected profile. faac bitrate is expressed in kilobits/s. Note that libfaac does not support CBR (Constant Bit Rate) but only ABR (Average Bit Rate). If VBR mode is enabled this option is ignored. ar (-R) Set audio sampling rate (in Hz). ac (-c) Set the number of audio channels. cutoff (-C) Set cutoff frequency. If not specified (or explicitly set to 0) it will use a value automatically computed by the library. Default value is 0. profile Set audio profile. The following profiles are recognized: aac_main Main AAC (Main) aac_low Low Complexity AAC (LC) aac_ssr Scalable Sample Rate (SSR) aac_ltp Long Term Prediction (LTP) If not specified it is set to aac_low. flags +qscale Set constant quality VBR (Variable Bit Rate) mode. global_quality Set quality in VBR mode as an integer number of lambda units. Only relevant when VBR mode is enabled with "flags +qscale". The value is converted to QP units by dividing it by "FF_QP2LAMBDA", and used to set the quality value used by libfaac. A reasonable range for the option value in QP units is [10-500], the higher the value the higher the quality. q (-q) Enable VBR mode when set to a non-negative value, and set constant quality value as a double floating point value in QP units. The value sets the quality value used by libfaac. A reasonable range for the option value is [10-500], the higher the value the higher the quality. This option is valid only using the ffmpeg command-line tool. For library interface users, use global_quality. Examples · Use ffmpeg to convert an audio file to ABR 128 kbps AAC in an M4A (MP4) container: ffmpeg -i input.wav -codec:a libfaac -b:a 128k -output.m4a · Use ffmpeg to convert an audio file to VBR AAC, using the LTP AAC profile: ffmpeg -i input.wav -c:a libfaac -profile:a aac_ltp -q:a 100 output.m4a libfdk_aac libfdk-aac AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) encoder wrapper. The libfdk-aac library is based on the Fraunhofer FDK AAC code from the Android project. Requires the presence of the libfdk-aac headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libfdk-aac". The library is also incompatible with GPL, so if you allow the use of GPL, you should configure with "--enable-gpl --enable-nonfree --enable-libfdk-aac". This encoder is considered to be of higher quality with respect to both the native experimental FFmpeg AAC encoder and libfaac. VBR encoding, enabled through the vbr or flags +qscale options, is experimental and only works with some combinations of parameters. Support for encoding 7.1 audio is only available with libfdk-aac 0.1.3 or higher. For more information see the fdk-aac project at . Options The following options are mapped on the shared FFmpeg codec options. b Set bit rate in bits/s. If the bitrate is not explicitly specified, it is automatically set to a suitable value depending on the selected profile. In case VBR mode is enabled the option is ignored. ar Set audio sampling rate (in Hz). channels Set the number of audio channels. flags +qscale Enable fixed quality, VBR (Variable Bit Rate) mode. Note that VBR is implicitly enabled when the vbr value is positive. cutoff Set cutoff frequency. If not specified (or explicitly set to 0) it will use a value automatically computed by the library. Default value is 0. profile Set audio profile. The following profiles are recognized: aac_low Low Complexity AAC (LC) aac_he High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) aac_he_v2 High Efficiency AAC version 2 (HE-AACv2) aac_ld Low Delay AAC (LD) aac_eld Enhanced Low Delay AAC (ELD) If not specified it is set to aac_low. The following are private options of the libfdk_aac encoder. afterburner Enable afterburner feature if set to 1, disabled if set to 0. This improves the quality but also the required processing power. Default value is 1. eld_sbr Enable SBR (Spectral Band Replication) for ELD if set to 1, disabled if set to 0. Default value is 0. signaling Set SBR/PS signaling style. It can assume one of the following values: default choose signaling implicitly (explicit hierarchical by default, implicit if global header is disabled) implicit implicit backwards compatible signaling explicit_sbr explicit SBR, implicit PS signaling explicit_hierarchical explicit hierarchical signaling Default value is default. latm Output LATM/LOAS encapsulated data if set to 1, disabled if set to 0. Default value is 0. header_period Set StreamMuxConfig and PCE repetition period (in frames) for sending in-band configuration buffers within LATM/LOAS transport layer. Must be a 16-bits non-negative integer. Default value is 0. vbr Set VBR mode, from 1 to 5. 1 is lowest quality (though still pretty good) and 5 is highest quality. A value of 0 will disable VBR, and CBR (Constant Bit Rate) is enabled. Currently only the aac_low profile supports VBR encoding. VBR modes 1-5 correspond to roughly the following average bit rates: 1 32 kbps/channel 2 40 kbps/channel 3 48-56 kbps/channel 4 64 kbps/channel 5 about 80-96 kbps/channel Default value is 0. Examples · Use ffmpeg to convert an audio file to VBR AAC in an M4A (MP4) container: ffmpeg -i input.wav -codec:a libfdk_aac -vbr 3 output.m4a · Use ffmpeg to convert an audio file to CBR 64k kbps AAC, using the High-Efficiency AAC profile: ffmpeg -i input.wav -c:a libfdk_aac -profile:a aac_he -b:a 64k output.m4a libmp3lame LAME (Lame Ain't an MP3 Encoder) MP3 encoder wrapper. Requires the presence of the libmp3lame headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libmp3lame". See libshine for a fixed-point MP3 encoder, although with a lower quality. Options The following options are supported by the libmp3lame wrapper. The lame-equivalent of the options are listed in parentheses. b (-b) Set bitrate expressed in bits/s for CBR or ABR. LAME "bitrate" is expressed in kilobits/s. q (-V) Set constant quality setting for VBR. This option is valid only using the ffmpeg command-line tool. For library interface users, use global_quality. compression_level (-q) Set algorithm quality. Valid arguments are integers in the 0-9 range, with 0 meaning highest quality but slowest, and 9 meaning fastest while producing the worst quality. reservoir Enable use of bit reservoir when set to 1. Default value is 1. LAME has this enabled by default, but can be overriden by use --nores option. joint_stereo (-m j) Enable the encoder to use (on a frame by frame basis) either L/R stereo or mid/side stereo. Default value is 1. abr (--abr) Enable the encoder to use ABR when set to 1. The lame --abr sets the target bitrate, while this options only tells FFmpeg to use ABR still relies on b to set bitrate. libopencore-amrnb OpenCORE Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrowband encoder. Requires the presence of the libopencore-amrnb headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-version3". This is a mono-only encoder. Officially it only supports 8000Hz sample rate, but you can override it by setting strict to unofficial or lower. Options b Set bitrate in bits per second. Only the following bitrates are supported, otherwise libavcodec will round to the nearest valid bitrate. 4750 5150 5900 6700 7400 7950 10200 12200 dtx Allow discontinuous transmission (generate comfort noise) when set to 1. The default value is 0 (disabled). libshine Shine Fixed-Point MP3 encoder wrapper. Shine is a fixed-point MP3 encoder. It has a far better performance on platforms without an FPU, e.g. armel CPUs, and some phones and tablets. However, as it is more targeted on performance than quality, it is not on par with LAME and other production-grade encoders quality-wise. Also, according to the project's homepage, this encoder may not be free of bugs as the code was written a long time ago and the project was dead for at least 5 years. This encoder only supports stereo and mono input. This is also CBR-only. The original project (last updated in early 2007) is at . We only support the updated fork by the Savonet/Liquidsoap project at . Requires the presence of the libshine headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libshine". See also libmp3lame. Options The following options are supported by the libshine wrapper. The shineenc-equivalent of the options are listed in parentheses. b (-b) Set bitrate expressed in bits/s for CBR. shineenc -b option is expressed in kilobits/s. libtwolame TwoLAME MP2 encoder wrapper. Requires the presence of the libtwolame headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libtwolame". Options The following options are supported by the libtwolame wrapper. The twolame-equivalent options follow the FFmpeg ones and are in parentheses. b (-b) Set bitrate expressed in bits/s for CBR. twolame b option is expressed in kilobits/s. Default value is 128k. q (-V) Set quality for experimental VBR support. Maximum value range is from -50 to 50, useful range is from -10 to 10. The higher the value, the better the quality. This option is valid only using the ffmpeg command-line tool. For library interface users, use global_quality. mode (--mode) Set the mode of the resulting audio. Possible values: auto Choose mode automatically based on the input. This is the default. stereo Stereo joint_stereo Joint stereo dual_channel Dual channel mono Mono psymodel (--psyc-mode) Set psychoacoustic model to use in encoding. The argument must be an integer between -1 and 4, inclusive. The higher the value, the better the quality. The default value is 3. energy_levels (--energy) Enable energy levels extensions when set to 1. The default value is 0 (disabled). error_protection (--protect) Enable CRC error protection when set to 1. The default value is 0 (disabled). copyright (--copyright) Set MPEG audio copyright flag when set to 1. The default value is 0 (disabled). original (--original) Set MPEG audio original flag when set to 1. The default value is 0 (disabled). libvo-aacenc VisualOn AAC encoder. Requires the presence of the libvo-aacenc headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-version3". This encoder is considered to be worse than the native experimental FFmpeg AAC encoder, according to multiple sources. Options The VisualOn AAC encoder only support encoding AAC-LC and up to 2 channels. It is also CBR-only. b Set bit rate in bits/s. libvo-amrwbenc VisualOn Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband encoder. Requires the presence of the libvo-amrwbenc headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-version3". This is a mono-only encoder. Officially it only supports 16000Hz sample rate, but you can override it by setting strict to unofficial or lower. Options b Set bitrate in bits/s. Only the following bitrates are supported, otherwise libavcodec will round to the nearest valid bitrate. 6600 8850 12650 14250 15850 18250 19850 23050 23850 dtx Allow discontinuous transmission (generate comfort noise) when set to 1. The default value is 0 (disabled). libopus libopus Opus Interactive Audio Codec encoder wrapper. Requires the presence of the libopus headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libopus". Option Mapping Most libopus options are modeled after the opusenc utility from opus-tools. The following is an option mapping chart describing options supported by the libopus wrapper, and their opusenc-equivalent in parentheses. b (bitrate) Set the bit rate in bits/s. FFmpeg's b option is expressed in bits/s, while opusenc's bitrate in kilobits/s. vbr (vbr, hard-cbr, and cvbr) Set VBR mode. The FFmpeg vbr option has the following valid arguments, with the their opusenc equivalent options in parentheses: off (hard-cbr) Use constant bit rate encoding. on (vbr) Use variable bit rate encoding (the default). constrained (cvbr) Use constrained variable bit rate encoding. compression_level (comp) Set encoding algorithm complexity. Valid options are integers in the 0-10 range. 0 gives the fastest encodes but lower quality, while 10 gives the highest quality but slowest encoding. The default is 10. frame_duration (framesize) Set maximum frame size, or duration of a frame in milliseconds. The argument must be exactly the following: 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60. Smaller frame sizes achieve lower latency but less quality at a given bitrate. Sizes greater than 20ms are only interesting at fairly low bitrates. The default is 20ms. packet_loss (expect-loss) Set expected packet loss percentage. The default is 0. application (N.A.) Set intended application type. Valid options are listed below: voip Favor improved speech intelligibility. audio Favor faithfulness to the input (the default). lowdelay Restrict to only the lowest delay modes. cutoff (N.A.) Set cutoff bandwidth in Hz. The argument must be exactly one of the following: 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000, or 20000, corresponding to narrowband, mediumband, wideband, super wideband, and fullband respectively. The default is 0 (cutoff disabled). libvorbis libvorbis encoder wrapper. Requires the presence of the libvorbisenc headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libvorbis". Options The following options are supported by the libvorbis wrapper. The oggenc-equivalent of the options are listed in parentheses. To get a more accurate and extensive documentation of the libvorbis options, consult the libvorbisenc's and oggenc's documentations. See , , and oggenc(1). b (-b) Set bitrate expressed in bits/s for ABR. oggenc -b is expressed in kilobits/s. q (-q) Set constant quality setting for VBR. The value should be a float number in the range of -1.0 to 10.0. The higher the value, the better the quality. The default value is 3.0. This option is valid only using the ffmpeg command-line tool. For library interface users, use global_quality. cutoff (--advanced-encode-option lowpass_frequency=N) Set cutoff bandwidth in Hz, a value of 0 disables cutoff. oggenc's related option is expressed in kHz. The default value is 0 (cutoff disabled). minrate (-m) Set minimum bitrate expressed in bits/s. oggenc -m is expressed in kilobits/s. maxrate (-M) Set maximum bitrate expressed in bits/s. oggenc -M is expressed in kilobits/s. This only has effect on ABR mode. iblock (--advanced-encode-option impulse_noisetune=N) Set noise floor bias for impulse blocks. The value is a float number from -15.0 to 0.0. A negative bias instructs the encoder to pay special attention to the crispness of transients in the encoded audio. The tradeoff for better transient response is a higher bitrate. libwavpack A wrapper providing WavPack encoding through libwavpack. Only lossless mode using 32-bit integer samples is supported currently. Requires the presence of the libwavpack headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libwavpack". Note that a libavcodec-native encoder for the WavPack codec exists so users can encode audios with this codec without using this encoder. See wavpackenc. Options wavpack command line utility's corresponding options are listed in parentheses, if any. frame_size (--blocksize) Default is 32768. compression_level Set speed vs. compression tradeoff. Acceptable arguments are listed below: 0 (-f) Fast mode. 1 Normal (default) settings. 2 (-h) High quality. 3 (-hh) Very high quality. 4-8 (-hh -xEXTRAPROC) Same as 3, but with extra processing enabled. 4 is the same as -x2 and 8 is the same as -x6. wavpack WavPack lossless audio encoder. This is a libavcodec-native WavPack encoder. There is also an encoder based on libwavpack, but there is virtually no reason to use that encoder. See also libwavpack. Options The equivalent options for wavpack command line utility are listed in parentheses. Shared options The following shared options are effective for this encoder. Only special notes about this particular encoder will be documented here. For the general meaning of the options, see the Codec Options chapter. frame_size (--blocksize) For this encoder, the range for this option is between 128 and 131072. Default is automatically decided based on sample rate and number of channel. For the complete formula of calculating default, see libavcodec/wavpackenc.c. compression_level (-f, -h, -hh, and -x) This option's syntax is consistent with libwavpack's. Private options joint_stereo (-j) Set whether to enable joint stereo. Valid values are: on (1) Force mid/side audio encoding. off (0) Force left/right audio encoding. auto Let the encoder decide automatically. optimize_mono Set whether to enable optimization for mono. This option is only effective for non-mono streams. Available values: on enabled off disabled VIDEO ENCODERS A description of some of the currently available video encoders follows. libtheora libtheora Theora encoder wrapper. Requires the presence of the libtheora headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libtheora". For more information about the libtheora project see . Options The following global options are mapped to internal libtheora options which affect the quality and the bitrate of the encoded stream. b Set the video bitrate in bit/s for CBR (Constant Bit Rate) mode. In case VBR (Variable Bit Rate) mode is enabled this option is ignored. flags Used to enable constant quality mode (VBR) encoding through the qscale flag, and to enable the "pass1" and "pass2" modes. g Set the GOP size. global_quality Set the global quality as an integer in lambda units. Only relevant when VBR mode is enabled with "flags +qscale". The value is converted to QP units by dividing it by "FF_QP2LAMBDA", clipped in the [0 - 10] range, and then multiplied by 6.3 to get a value in the native libtheora range [0-63]. A higher value corresponds to a higher quality. q Enable VBR mode when set to a non-negative value, and set constant quality value as a double floating point value in QP units. The value is clipped in the [0-10] range, and then multiplied by 6.3 to get a value in the native libtheora range [0-63]. This option is valid only using the ffmpeg command-line tool. For library interface users, use global_quality. Examples · Set maximum constant quality (VBR) encoding with ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i INPUT -codec:v libtheora -q:v 10 OUTPUT.ogg · Use ffmpeg to convert a CBR 1000 kbps Theora video stream: ffmpeg -i INPUT -codec:v libtheora -b:v 1000k OUTPUT.ogg libvpx VP8 format supported through libvpx. Requires the presence of the libvpx headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libvpx". Options Mapping from FFmpeg to libvpx options with conversion notes in parentheses. threads g_threads profile g_profile vb rc_target_bitrate g kf_max_dist keyint_min kf_min_dist qmin rc_min_quantizer qmax rc_max_quantizer bufsize, vb rc_buf_sz "(bufsize * 1000 / vb)" rc_buf_optimal_sz "(bufsize * 1000 / vb * 5 / 6)" rc_init_occupancy, vb rc_buf_initial_sz "(rc_init_occupancy * 1000 / vb)" rc_buffer_aggressivity rc_undershoot_pct skip_threshold rc_dropframe_thresh qcomp rc_2pass_vbr_bias_pct maxrate, vb rc_2pass_vbr_maxsection_pct "(maxrate * 100 / vb)" minrate, vb rc_2pass_vbr_minsection_pct "(minrate * 100 / vb)" minrate, maxrate, vb "VPX_CBR" "(minrate == maxrate == vb)" crf "VPX_CQ", "VP8E_SET_CQ_LEVEL" quality best "VPX_DL_BEST_QUALITY" good "VPX_DL_GOOD_QUALITY" realtime "VPX_DL_REALTIME" speed "VP8E_SET_CPUUSED" nr "VP8E_SET_NOISE_SENSITIVITY" mb_threshold "VP8E_SET_STATIC_THRESHOLD" slices "VP8E_SET_TOKEN_PARTITIONS" max-intra-rate "VP8E_SET_MAX_INTRA_BITRATE_PCT" force_key_frames "VPX_EFLAG_FORCE_KF" Alternate reference frame related vp8flags altref "VP8E_SET_ENABLEAUTOALTREF" arnr_max_frames "VP8E_SET_ARNR_MAXFRAMES" arnr_type "VP8E_SET_ARNR_TYPE" arnr_strength "VP8E_SET_ARNR_STRENGTH" rc_lookahead g_lag_in_frames vp8flags error_resilient g_error_resilient For more information about libvpx see: libwebp libwebp WebP Image encoder wrapper libwebp is Google's official encoder for WebP images. It can encode in either lossy or lossless mode. Lossy images are essentially a wrapper around a VP8 frame. Lossless images are a separate codec developed by Google. Pixel Format Currently, libwebp only supports YUV420 for lossy and RGB for lossless due to limitations of the format and libwebp. Alpha is supported for either mode. Because of API limitations, if RGB is passed in when encoding lossy or YUV is passed in for encoding lossless, the pixel format will automatically be converted using functions from libwebp. This is not ideal and is done only for convenience. Options -lossless boolean Enables/Disables use of lossless mode. Default is 0. -compression_level integer For lossy, this is a quality/speed tradeoff. Higher values give better quality for a given size at the cost of increased encoding time. For lossless, this is a size/speed tradeoff. Higher values give smaller size at the cost of increased encoding time. More specifically, it controls the number of extra algorithms and compression tools used, and varies the combination of these tools. This maps to the method option in libwebp. The valid range is 0 to 6. Default is 4. -qscale float For lossy encoding, this controls image quality, 0 to 100. For lossless encoding, this controls the effort and time spent at compressing more. The default value is 75. Note that for usage via libavcodec, this option is called global_quality and must be multiplied by FF_QP2LAMBDA. -preset type Configuration preset. This does some automatic settings based on the general type of the image. none Do not use a preset. default Use the encoder default. picture Digital picture, like portrait, inner shot photo Outdoor photograph, with natural lighting drawing Hand or line drawing, with high-contrast details icon Small-sized colorful images text Text-like libx264, libx264rgb x264 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoder wrapper. This encoder requires the presence of the libx264 headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libx264". libx264 supports an impressive number of features, including 8x8 and 4x4 adaptive spatial transform, adaptive B-frame placement, CAVLC/CABAC entropy coding, interlacing (MBAFF), lossless mode, psy optimizations for detail retention (adaptive quantization, psy-RD, psy-trellis). Many libx264 encoder options are mapped to FFmpeg global codec options, while unique encoder options are provided through private options. Additionally the x264opts and x264-params private options allows to pass a list of key=value tuples as accepted by the libx264 "x264_param_parse" function. The x264 project website is at . The libx264rgb encoder is the same as libx264, except it accepts packed RGB pixel formats as input instead of YUV. Supported Pixel Formats x264 supports 8- to 10-bit color spaces. The exact bit depth is controlled at x264's configure time. FFmpeg only supports one bit depth in one particular build. In other words, it is not possible to build one FFmpeg with multiple versions of x264 with different bit depths. Options The following options are supported by the libx264 wrapper. The x264-equivalent options or values are listed in parentheses for easy migration. To reduce the duplication of documentation, only the private options and some others requiring special attention are documented here. For the documentation of the undocumented generic options, see the Codec Options chapter. To get a more accurate and extensive documentation of the libx264 options, invoke the command x264 --full-help or consult the libx264 documentation. b (bitrate) Set bitrate in bits/s. Note that FFmpeg's b option is expressed in bits/s, while x264's bitrate is in kilobits/s. bf (bframes) g (keyint) qmax (qpmax) qmin (qpmin) qdiff (qpstep) qblur (qblur) qcomp (qcomp) refs (ref) sc_threshold (scenecut) trellis (trellis) nr (nr) me_range (merange) me_method (me) Set motion estimation method. Possible values in the decreasing order of speed: dia (dia) epzs (dia) Diamond search with radius 1 (fastest). epzs is an alias for dia. hex (hex) Hexagonal search with radius 2. umh (umh) Uneven multi-hexagon search. esa (esa) Exhaustive search. tesa (tesa) Hadamard exhaustive search (slowest). subq (subme) b_strategy (b-adapt) keyint_min (min-keyint) coder Set entropy encoder. Possible values: ac Enable CABAC. vlc Enable CAVLC and disable CABAC. It generates the same effect as x264's --no-cabac option. cmp Set full pixel motion estimation comparation algorithm. Possible values: chroma Enable chroma in motion estimation. sad Ignore chroma in motion estimation. It generates the same effect as x264's --no-chroma-me option. threads (threads) thread_type Set multithreading technique. Possible values: slice Slice-based multithreading. It generates the same effect as x264's --sliced-threads option. frame Frame-based multithreading. flags Set encoding flags. It can be used to disable closed GOP and enable open GOP by setting it to "-cgop". The result is similar to the behavior of x264's --open-gop option. rc_init_occupancy (vbv-init) preset (preset) Set the encoding preset. tune (tune) Set tuning of the encoding params. profile (profile) Set profile restrictions. fastfirstpass Enable fast settings when encoding first pass, when set to 1. When set to 0, it has the same effect of x264's --slow-firstpass option. crf (crf) Set the quality for constant quality mode. crf_max (crf-max) In CRF mode, prevents VBV from lowering quality beyond this point. qp (qp) Set constant quantization rate control method parameter. aq-mode (aq-mode) Set AQ method. Possible values: none (0) Disabled. variance (1) Variance AQ (complexity mask). autovariance (2) Auto-variance AQ (experimental). aq-strength (aq-strength) Set AQ strength, reduce blocking and blurring in flat and textured areas. psy Use psychovisual optimizations when set to 1. When set to 0, it has the same effect as x264's --no-psy option. psy-rd (psy-rd) Set strength of psychovisual optimization, in psy-rd:psy-trellis format. rc-lookahead (rc-lookahead) Set number of frames to look ahead for frametype and ratecontrol. weightb Enable weighted prediction for B-frames when set to 1. When set to 0, it has the same effect as x264's --no-weightb option. weightp (weightp) Set weighted prediction method for P-frames. Possible values: none (0) Disabled simple (1) Enable only weighted refs smart (2) Enable both weighted refs and duplicates ssim (ssim) Enable calculation and printing SSIM stats after the encoding. intra-refresh (intra-refresh) Enable the use of Periodic Intra Refresh instead of IDR frames when set to 1. bluray-compat (bluray-compat) Configure the encoder to be compatible with the bluray standard. It is a shorthand for setting "bluray-compat=1 force-cfr=1". b-bias (b-bias) Set the influence on how often B-frames are used. b-pyramid (b-pyramid) Set method for keeping of some B-frames as references. Possible values: none (none) Disabled. strict (strict) Strictly hierarchical pyramid. normal (normal) Non-strict (not Blu-ray compatible). mixed-refs Enable the use of one reference per partition, as opposed to one reference per macroblock when set to 1. When set to 0, it has the same effect as x264's --no-mixed-refs option. 8x8dct Enable adaptive spatial transform (high profile 8x8 transform) when set to 1. When set to 0, it has the same effect as x264's --no-8x8dct option. fast-pskip Enable early SKIP detection on P-frames when set to 1. When set to 0, it has the same effect as x264's --no-fast-pskip option. aud (aud) Enable use of access unit delimiters when set to 1. mbtree Enable use macroblock tree ratecontrol when set to 1. When set to 0, it has the same effect as x264's --no-mbtree option. deblock (deblock) Set loop filter parameters, in alpha:beta form. cplxblur (cplxblur) Set fluctuations reduction in QP (before curve compression). partitions (partitions) Set partitions to consider as a comma-separated list of. Possible values in the list: p8x8 8x8 P-frame partition. p4x4 4x4 P-frame partition. b8x8 4x4 B-frame partition. i8x8 8x8 I-frame partition. i4x4 4x4 I-frame partition. (Enabling p4x4 requires p8x8 to be enabled. Enabling i8x8 requires adaptive spatial transform (8x8dct option) to be enabled.) none (none) Do not consider any partitions. all (all) Consider every partition. direct-pred (direct) Set direct MV prediction mode. Possible values: none (none) Disable MV prediction. spatial (spatial) Enable spatial predicting. temporal (temporal) Enable temporal predicting. auto (auto) Automatically decided. slice-max-size (slice-max-size) Set the limit of the size of each slice in bytes. If not specified but RTP payload size (ps) is specified, that is used. stats (stats) Set the file name for multi-pass stats. nal-hrd (nal-hrd) Set signal HRD information (requires vbv-bufsize to be set). Possible values: none (none) Disable HRD information signaling. vbr (vbr) Variable bit rate. cbr (cbr) Constant bit rate (not allowed in MP4 container). x264opts (N.A.) Set any x264 option, see x264 --fullhelp for a list. Argument is a list of key=value couples separated by ":". In filter and psy-rd options that use ":" as a separator themselves, use "," instead. They accept it as well since long ago but this is kept undocumented for some reason. For example to specify libx264 encoding options with ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i foo.mpg -vcodec libx264 -x264opts keyint=123:min-keyint=20 -an out.mkv x264-params (N.A.) Override the x264 configuration using a :-separated list of key=value parameters. This option is functionally the same as the x264opts, but is duplicated for compability with the Libav fork. For example to specify libx264 encoding options with ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i INPUT -c:v libx264 -x264-params level=30:bframes=0:weightp=0:\ cabac=0:ref=1:vbv-maxrate=768:vbv-bufsize=2000:analyse=all:me=umh:\ no-fast-pskip=1:subq=6:8x8dct=0:trellis=0 OUTPUT Encoding ffpresets for common usages are provided so they can be used with the general presets system (e.g. passing the pre option). libxvid Xvid MPEG-4 Part 2 encoder wrapper. This encoder requires the presence of the libxvidcore headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libxvid --enable-gpl". The native "mpeg4" encoder supports the MPEG-4 Part 2 format, so users can encode to this format without this library. Options The following options are supported by the libxvid wrapper. Some of the following options are listed but are not documented, and correspond to shared codec options. See the Codec Options chapter for their documentation. The other shared options which are not listed have no effect for the libxvid encoder. b g qmin qmax mpeg_quant threads bf b_qfactor b_qoffset flags Set specific encoding flags. Possible values: mv4 Use four motion vector by macroblock. aic Enable high quality AC prediction. gray Only encode grayscale. gmc Enable the use of global motion compensation (GMC). qpel Enable quarter-pixel motion compensation. cgop Enable closed GOP. global_header Place global headers in extradata instead of every keyframe. trellis me_method Set motion estimation method. Possible values in decreasing order of speed and increasing order of quality: zero Use no motion estimation (default). phods x1 log Enable advanced diamond zonal search for 16x16 blocks and half-pixel refinement for 16x16 blocks. x1 and log are aliases for phods. epzs Enable all of the things described above, plus advanced diamond zonal search for 8x8 blocks, half-pixel refinement for 8x8 blocks, and motion estimation on chroma planes. full Enable all of the things described above, plus extended 16x16 and 8x8 blocks search. mbd Set macroblock decision algorithm. Possible values in the increasing order of quality: simple Use macroblock comparing function algorithm (default). bits Enable rate distortion-based half pixel and quarter pixel refinement for 16x16 blocks. rd Enable all of the things described above, plus rate distortion-based half pixel and quarter pixel refinement for 8x8 blocks, and rate distortion-based search using square pattern. lumi_aq Enable lumi masking adaptive quantization when set to 1. Default is 0 (disabled). variance_aq Enable variance adaptive quantization when set to 1. Default is 0 (disabled). When combined with lumi_aq, the resulting quality will not be better than any of the two specified individually. In other words, the resulting quality will be the worse one of the two effects. ssim Set structural similarity (SSIM) displaying method. Possible values: off Disable displaying of SSIM information. avg Output average SSIM at the end of encoding to stdout. The format of showing the average SSIM is: Average SSIM: %f For users who are not familiar with C, %f means a float number, or a decimal (e.g. 0.939232). frame Output both per-frame SSIM data during encoding and average SSIM at the end of encoding to stdout. The format of per-frame information is: SSIM: avg: %1.3f min: %1.3f max: %1.3f For users who are not familiar with C, %1.3f means a float number rounded to 3 digits after the dot (e.g. 0.932). ssim_acc Set SSIM accuracy. Valid options are integers within the range of 0-4, while 0 gives the most accurate result and 4 computes the fastest. png PNG image encoder. Private options dpi integer Set physical density of pixels, in dots per inch, unset by default dpm integer Set physical density of pixels, in dots per meter, unset by default ProRes Apple ProRes encoder. FFmpeg contains 2 ProRes encoders, the prores-aw and prores-ks encoder. The used encoder can be choosen with the "-vcodec" option. Private Options for prores-ks profile integer Select the ProRes profile to encode proxy lt standard hq 4444 quant_mat integer Select quantization matrix. auto default proxy lt standard hq If set to auto, the matrix matching the profile will be picked. If not set, the matrix providing the highest quality, default, will be picked. bits_per_mb integer How many bits to allot for coding one macroblock. Different profiles use between 200 and 2400 bits per macroblock, the maximum is 8000. mbs_per_slice integer Number of macroblocks in each slice (1-8); the default value (8) should be good in almost all situations. vendor string Override the 4-byte vendor ID. A custom vendor ID like apl0 would claim the stream was produced by the Apple encoder. alpha_bits integer Specify number of bits for alpha component. Possible values are 0, 8 and 16. Use 0 to disable alpha plane coding. Speed considerations In the default mode of operation the encoder has to honor frame constraints (i.e. not produc frames with size bigger than requested) while still making output picture as good as possible. A frame containing a lot of small details is harder to compress and the encoder would spend more time searching for appropriate quantizers for each slice. Setting a higher bits_per_mb limit will improve the speed. For the fastest encoding speed set the qscale parameter (4 is the recommended value) and do not set a size constraint. SEE ALSO ffmpeg(1), ffplay(1), ffprobe(1), ffserver(1), libavcodec(3) AUTHORS The FFmpeg developers. For details about the authorship, see the Git history of the project (git://source.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg), e.g. by typing the command git log in the FFmpeg source directory, or browsing the online repository at . Maintainers for the specific components are listed in the file MAINTAINERS in the source code tree. 2014-04-11 FFMPEG-CODECS(1)