NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

•

To set the video bitrate of the output file to 64 kbit/s:

 

        ffmpeg -i input.avi -b:v 64k -bufsize 64k output.avi
    

•

To force the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:

 

        ffmpeg -i input.avi -r 24 output.avi
    

•

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:

 

        ffmpeg -r 1 -i input.m2v -r 24 output.avi
    

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

         _______              ______________
        |       |            |              |
        | input |  demuxer   | encoded data |   decoder
        | file  | ---------> | packets      | -----+
        |_______|            |______________|      |
                                                   v
                                               _________
                                              |         |
                                              | decoded |
                                              | frames  |
                                              |_________|
         ________             ______________       |
        |        |           |              |      |
        | output | <-------- | encoded data | <----+
        | file   |   muxer   | packets      |   encoder
        |________|           |______________|

Filtering

         _________                        ______________
        |         |                      |              |
        | decoded |                      | encoded data |
        | frames  |\                   _ | packets      |
        |_________| \                  /||______________|
                     \   __________   /
          simple     _\||          | /  encoder
          filtergraph   | filtered |/
                        | frames   |
                        |__________|

         _______        _____________        _______        ________
        |       |      |             |      |       |      |        |
        | input | ---> | deinterlace | ---> | scale | ---> | output |
        |_______|      |_____________|      |_______|      |________|

         _________
        |         |
        | input 0 |\                    __________
        |_________| \                  |          |
                     \   _________    /| output 0 |
                      \ |         |  / |__________|
         _________     \| complex | /
        |         |     |         |/
        | input 1 |---->| filter  |\
        |_________|     |         | \   __________
                       /| graph   |  \ |          |
                      / |         |   \| output 1 |
         _________   /  |_________|    |__________|
        |         | /
        | input 2 |/
        |_________|

Stream copy

         _______              ______________            ________
        |       |            |              |          |        |
        | input |  demuxer   | encoded data |  muxer   | output |
        | file  | ---------> | packets      | -------> | file   |
        |_______|            |______________|          |________|

STREAM SELECTION

Description

•

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 found but there's a caveat. The output format's default subtitle encoder can be either text-based or image-based, and only a subtitle stream of the same type will be chosen.

Examples

        input file 'A.avi'
              stream 0: video 640x360
              stream 1: audio 2 channels
        
        input file 'B.mp4'
              stream 0: video 1920x1080
              stream 1: audio 2 channels
              stream 2: subtitles (text)
              stream 3: audio 5.1 channels
              stream 4: subtitles (text)
        
        input file 'C.mkv'
              stream 0: video 1280x720
              stream 1: audio 2 channels
              stream 2: subtitles (image)

        ffmpeg -i A.avi -i B.mp4 out1.mkv out2.wav -map 1:a -c:a copy out3.mov

        ffmpeg -i C.mkv out1.mkv -c:s dvdsub -an out2.mkv

        ffmpeg -i A.avi -i C.mkv -i B.mp4 -filter_complex "overlay" out1.mp4 out2.srt

        ffmpeg -i A.avi -i B.mp4 -i C.mkv -filter_complex "[1:v]hue=s=0[outv];overlay;aresample" \
               -map '[outv]' -an        out1.mp4 \
                                        out2.mkv \
               -map '[outv]' -map 1:a:0 out3.mkv

        ffmpeg -i A.avi -i B.mp4 -i C.mkv -filter_complex "[1:v]hue=s=0[outv];overlay;aresample" \
               -an        out1.mp4 \
                          out2.mkv \
               -map 1:a:0 out3.mkv

        ffmpeg -i A.avi -i B.mp4 -i C.mkv -filter_complex "[1:v]hue=s=0,split=2[outv1][outv2];overlay;aresample" \
                -map '[outv1]' -an        out1.mp4 \
                                          out2.mkv \
                -map '[outv2]' -map 1:a:0 out3.mkv

OPTIONS

Stream specifiers

stream_index

Matches the stream with this index. E.g. "-threads:1 4" would set the thread count for the second stream to 4. If stream_index is used as an additional stream specifier (see below), then it selects stream number stream_index from the matching streams. Stream numbering is based on the order of the streams as detected by libavformat except when a program ID is also specified. In this case it is based on the ordering of the streams in the program.

stream_type[:additional_stream_specifier]

stream_type is one of following: 'v' or 'V' for video, 'a' for audio, 's' for subtitle, 'd' for data, and 't' for attachments. 'v' matches all video streams, 'V' only matches video streams which are not attached pictures, video thumbnails or cover arts. If additional_stream_specifier is used, then it matches streams which both have this type and match the additional_stream_specifier. Otherwise, it matches all streams of the specified type.

p:program_id[:additional_stream_specifier]

Matches streams which are in the program with the id program_id. If additional_stream_specifier is used, then it matches streams which both are part of the program and match the additional_stream_specifier.

#stream_id or i:stream_id

Match the stream by stream id (e.g. PID in MPEG-TS container).

m:key[:value]

Matches streams with the metadata tag key having the specified value. If value is not given, matches streams that contain the given tag with any value.

u

Matches streams with usable configuration, the codec must be defined and the essential information such as video dimension or audio sample rate must be present.

 

Note that in ffmpeg, matching by metadata will only work properly for input files.

Generic options

-L

Show license.

-h, -?, -help, --help [arg]

Show help. An optional parameter may be specified to print help about a specific item. If no argument is specified, only basic (non advanced) tool options are shown.

 

Possible values of arg are:

-version

Show version.

-formats

Show available formats (including devices).

-demuxers

Show available demuxers.

-muxers

Show available muxers.

-devices

Show available devices.

-codecs

Show all codecs known to libavcodec.

 

Note that the term 'codec' is used throughout this documentation as a shortcut for what is more correctly called a media bitstream format.

-decoders

Show available decoders.

-encoders

Show all available encoders.

-bsfs

Show available bitstream filters.

-protocols

Show available protocols.

-filters

Show available libavfilter filters.

-pix_fmts

Show available pixel formats.

-sample_fmts

Show available sample formats.

-layouts

Show channel names and standard channel layouts.

-colors

Show recognized color names.

-sources device[,opt1=val1[,opt2=val2]...]

Show autodetected sources of the input device. Some devices may provide system-dependent source names that cannot be autodetected. The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.

 

        ffmpeg -sources pulse,server=192.168.0.4
    

-sinks device[,opt1=val1 [,opt2= val2]...]

Show autodetected sinks of the output device. Some devices may provide system-dependent sink names that cannot be autodetected. The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.

 

        ffmpeg -sinks pulse,server=192.168.0.4
    

-loglevel [flags+]loglevel | -v [ flags+]loglevel

Set logging level and flags used by the library.

 

The optional flags prefix can consist of the following values:

        ffmpeg -loglevel repeat+level+verbose -i input output

        ffmpeg [...] -loglevel +repeat

-report

Dump full command line and log output to a file named " program-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.log" in the current directory. This file can be useful for bug reports. It also implies "-loglevel debug".

 

Setting the environment variable FFREPORT to any value has the same effect. If the value is a ':'-separated key=value sequence, these options will affect the report; option values must be escaped if they contain special characters or the options delimiter ':' (see the ``Quoting and escaping'' section in the ffmpeg-utils manual).

 

The following options are recognized:

        FFREPORT=file=ffreport.log:level=32 ffmpeg -i input output

-hide_banner

Suppress printing banner.

 

All FFmpeg tools will normally show a copyright notice, build options and library versions. This option can be used to suppress printing this information.

-cpuflags flags (global)

Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing.

 

        ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx ...
        ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx ...
        ffmpeg -cpuflags 0 ...
    

 

Possible flags for this option are:

AVOptions

generic

These options can be set for any container, codec or device. Generic options are listed under AVFormatContext options for containers/devices and under AVCodecContext options for codecs.

private

These options are specific to the given container, device or codec. Private options are listed under their corresponding containers/devices/codecs.

        ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3

        ffmpeg -i multichannel.mxf -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 -map 0:a:0 -c:a:0 ac3 -b:a:0 640k -ac:a:1 2 -c:a:1 aac -b:2 128k out.mp4

Main options

-f fmt (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.

-i url (input)

input file url

-y (global)

Overwrite output files without asking.

-n (global)

Do not overwrite output files, and exit immediately if a specified output file already exists.

-stream_loop number (input)

Set number of times input stream shall be looped. Loop 0 means no loop, loop -1 means infinite loop.

-c[:stream_specifier] codec ( input/output,per-stream)

-codec[:stream_specifier] codec (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. codec is the name of a decoder/encoder or a special value "copy" (output only) to indicate that the stream is not to be re-encoded.

 

For example

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c:v libx264 -c:a copy OUTPUT
    

 

encodes all video streams with libx264 and copies all audio streams.

 

For each stream, the last matching "c" option is applied, so

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c copy -c:v:1 libx264 -c:a:137 libvorbis OUTPUT
    

 

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.

-t duration (input/output)

When used as an input option (before "-i"), limit the duration of data read from the input file.

 

When used as an output option (before an output url), stop writing the output after its duration reaches duration.

 

duration must be a time duration specification, see the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual.

 

-to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority.

-to position (input/output)

Stop writing the output or reading the input at position. position must be a time duration specification, see the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual.

 

-to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority.

-fs limit_size (output)

Set the file size limit, expressed in bytes. No further chunk of bytes is written after the limit is exceeded. The size of the output file is slightly more than the requested file size.

-ss position (input/output)

When used as an input option (before "-i"), seeks in this input file to position. Note that in most formats it is not possible to seek exactly, so ffmpeg will seek to the closest seek point before position. When transcoding and -accurate_seek is enabled (the default), this extra segment between the seek point and position will be decoded and discarded. When doing stream copy or when -noaccurate_seek is used, it will be preserved.

 

When used as an output option (before an output url), decodes but discards input until the timestamps reach position.

 

position must be a time duration specification, see the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual.

-sseof position (input)

Like the "-ss" option but relative to the "end of file". That is negative values are earlier in the file, 0 is at EOF.

-itsoffset offset (input)

Set the input time offset.

 

offset must be a time duration specification, see the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual.

 

The offset is added to the timestamps of the input files. Specifying a positive offset means that the corresponding streams are delayed by the time duration specified in offset.

-itsscale scale (input,per-stream )

Rescale input timestamps. scale should be a floating point number.

-timestamp date (output)

Set the recording timestamp in the container.

 

date must be a date specification, see the Date section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual.

-metadata[:metadata_specifier] key=value (output,per-metadata)

Set a metadata key/value pair.

 

An optional metadata_specifier may be given to set metadata on streams, chapters or programs. See "-map_metadata" documentation for details.

 

This option overrides metadata set with "-map_metadata". It is also possible to delete metadata by using an empty value.

 

For example, for setting the title in the output file:

 

        ffmpeg -i in.avi -metadata title="my title" out.flv
    

 

To set the language of the first audio stream:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -metadata:s:a:0 language=eng OUTPUT
    

-disposition[:stream_specifier] value ( output,per-stream)

Sets the disposition for a stream.

 

This option overrides the disposition copied from the input stream. It is also possible to delete the disposition by setting it to 0.

 

The following dispositions are recognized:

        ffmpeg -i in.mkv -c copy -disposition:a:1 default out.mkv

        ffmpeg -i in.mkv -c copy -disposition:s:0 0 -disposition:s:1 default out.mkv

        ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -i IMAGE -map 0 -map 1 -c copy -c:v:1 png -disposition:v:1 attached_pic out.mp4

-program [title=title:][program_num=program_num:]st=stream[:st=stream...] ( output)

Creates a program with the specified title, program_num and adds the specified stream(s) to it.

-target type (output)

Specify target file type ("vcd", "svcd", "dvd", "dv", "dv50"). type may be prefixed with "pal-", "ntsc-" or "film-" to use the corresponding standard. All the format options (bitrate, codecs, buffer sizes) are then set automatically. You can just type:

 

        ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd /tmp/vcd.mpg
    

 

Nevertheless you can specify additional options as long as you know they do not conflict with the standard, as in:

 

        ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd -bf 2 /tmp/vcd.mpg
    

-dn (input/output)

As an input option, blocks all data streams of a file from being filtered or being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See "-discard" option to disable streams individually.

 

As an output option, disables data recording i.e. automatic selection or mapping of any data stream. For full manual control see the "-map" option.

-dframes number (output)

Set the number of data frames to output. This is an obsolete alias for "-frames:d", which you should use instead.

-frames[:stream_specifier] framecount (output,per-stream)

Stop writing to the stream after framecount frames.

-q[:stream_specifier] q ( output,per-stream)

-qscale[:stream_specifier] q (output,per-stream)

Use fixed quality scale (VBR). The meaning of q/qscale is codec-dependent. If qscale is used without a stream_specifier then it applies only to the video stream, this is to maintain compatibility with previous behavior and as specifying the same codec specific value to 2 different codecs that is audio and video generally is not what is intended when no stream_specifier is used.

-filter[:stream_specifier] filtergraph (output,per-stream)

Create the filtergraph specified by filtergraph and use it to filter the stream.

 

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 "in", and the output to the label "out". See the ffmpeg-filters manual for more information about the filtergraph syntax.

 

See the -filter_complex option if you want to create filtergraphs with multiple inputs and/or outputs.

-filter_script[:stream_specifier] filename (output,per-stream)

This option is similar to -filter, the only difference is that its argument is the name of the file from which a filtergraph description is to be read.

-filter_threads nb_threads (global )

Defines how many threads are used to process a filter pipeline. Each pipeline will produce a thread pool with this many threads available for parallel processing. The default is the number of available CPUs.

-pre[:stream_specifier] preset_name (output,per-stream)

Specify the preset for matching stream(s).

-stats (global)

Print encoding progress/statistics. It is on by default, to explicitly disable it you need to specify "-nostats".

-progress url (global)

Send program-friendly progress information to url.

 

Progress information is written approximately every second and at the end of the encoding process. It is made of " key=value" lines. key consists of only alphanumeric characters. The last key of a sequence of progress information is always "progress".

-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 "-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 "ffmpeg ... < /dev/null" but it requires a shell.

-debug_ts (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 "-fdebug ts".

-attach filename (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 "-map" or automatic mappings).

 

Note that for Matroska you also have to set the mimetype metadata tag:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -attach DejaVuSans.ttf -metadata:s:2 mimetype=application/x-truetype-font out.mkv
    

 

(assuming that the attachment stream will be third in the output file).

-dump_attachment[:stream_specifier] filename (input,per-stream)

Extract the matching attachment stream into a file named filename. If filename is empty, then the value of the "filename" metadata tag will be used.

 

E.g. to extract the first attachment to a file named 'out.ttf':

 

        ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t:0 out.ttf -i INPUT
    

 

To extract all attachments to files determined by the "filename" tag:

 

        ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t "" -i INPUT
    

 

Technical note -- attachments are implemented as codec extradata, so this option can actually be used to extract extradata from any stream, not just attachments.

-noautorotate

Disable automatically rotating video based on file metadata.

Video Options

-vframes number (output)

Set the number of video frames to output. This is an obsolete alias for "-frames:v", which you should use instead.

-r[:stream_specifier] fps ( 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 fps. This is not the same as the -framerate option used for some input formats like image2 or v4l2 (it used to be the same in older versions of FFmpeg). If in doubt use -framerate instead of the input option -r.

 

As an output option, duplicate or drop input frames to achieve constant output frame rate fps.

-s[:stream_specifier] size ( input/output,per-stream)

Set frame size.

 

As an input option, this is a shortcut for the 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 "scale" video filter to the end of the corresponding filtergraph. Please use the "scale" filter directly to insert it at the beginning or some other place.

 

The format is wxh (default - same as source).

-aspect[:stream_specifier] aspect (output,per-stream)

Set the video display aspect ratio specified by aspect.

 

aspect can be a floating point number string, or a string of the form num:den, where num and 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 -vcodec copy, it will affect the aspect ratio stored at container level, but not the aspect ratio stored in encoded frames, if it exists.

-vn (input/output)

As an input option, blocks all video streams of a file from being filtered or being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See "-discard" option to disable streams individually.

 

As an output option, disables video recording i.e. automatic selection or mapping of any video stream. For full manual control see the "-map" option.

-vcodec codec (output)

Set the video codec. This is an alias for "-codec:v".

-pass[:stream_specifier] n ( 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:

 

        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
    

-passlogfile[:stream_specifier] prefix (output,per-stream)

Set two-pass log file name prefix to prefix, the default file name prefix is ``ffmpeg2pass''. The complete file name will be PREFIX-N.log, where N is a number specific to the output stream

-vf filtergraph (output)

Create the filtergraph specified by filtergraph and use it to filter the stream.

 

This is an alias for "-filter:v", see the -filter option.

Advanced Video options

-pix_fmt[:stream_specifier] format (input/output,per-stream)

Set pixel format. Use "-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 pix_fmt is prefixed by a "+", ffmpeg will exit with an error if the requested pixel format can not be selected, and automatic conversions inside filtergraphs are disabled. If pix_fmt is a single "+", ffmpeg selects the same pixel format as the input (or graph output) and automatic conversions are disabled.

-sws_flags flags (input/output)

Set SwScaler flags.

-rc_override[:stream_specifier] override (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.

-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 -deinterlace, but deinterlacing introduces losses.

-psnr

Calculate PSNR of compressed frames.

-vstats

Dump video coding statistics to vstats_HHMMSS.log.

-vstats_file file

Dump video coding statistics to file.

-vstats_version file

Specifies which version of the vstats format to use. Default is 2.

 

version = 1 :

 

"frame= %5d q= %2.1f PSNR= %6.2f f_size= %6d s_size= %8.0fkB time= %0.3f br= %7.1fkbits/s avg_br= %7.1fkbits/s"

 

version > 1:

 

"out= %2d st= %2d frame= %5d q= %2.1f PSNR= %6.2f f_size= %6d s_size= %8.0fkB time= %0.3f br= %7.1fkbits/s avg_br= %7.1fkbits/s"

-top[:stream_specifier] n ( output,per-stream)

top=1/bottom=0/auto=-1 field first

-dc precision

Intra_dc_precision.

-vtag fourcc/tag (output)

Force video tag/fourcc. This is an alias for "-tag:v".

-qphist (global)

Show QP histogram

-vbsf bitstream_filter

Deprecated see -bsf

-force_key_frames[:stream_specifier] time[,time...] (output,per-stream)

-force_key_frames[:stream_specifier] expr: expr (output,per-stream)

-force_key_frames[:stream_specifier] source ( output,per-stream)

force_key_frames can take arguments of the following form:

        -force_key_frames expr:gte(t,n_forced*5)

        -force_key_frames expr:if(isnan(prev_forced_t),gte(t,13),gte(t,prev_forced_t+5))

-copyinkf[:stream_specifier] (output,per-stream )

When doing stream copy, copy also non-key frames found at the beginning.

-init_hw_device type[=name][: device[,key=value ...]]

Initialise a new hardware device of type type called name, using the given device parameters. If no name is specified it will receive a default name of the form " type%d".

 

The meaning of device and the following arguments depends on the device type:

-init_hw_device type[=name]@ source

Initialise a new hardware device of type type called name, deriving it from the existing device with the name source.

-init_hw_device list

List all hardware device types supported in this build of ffmpeg.

-filter_hw_device name

Pass the hardware device called name to all filters in any filter graph. This can be used to set the device to upload to with the "hwupload" filter, or the device to map to with the "hwmap" filter. Other filters may also make use of this parameter when they require a hardware device. Note that this is typically only required when the input is not already in hardware frames - when it is, filters will derive the device they require from the context of the frames they receive as input.

 

This is a global setting, so all filters will receive the same device.

-hwaccel[:stream_specifier] hwaccel (input,per-stream)

Use hardware acceleration to decode the matching stream(s). The allowed values of hwaccel are:

-hwaccel_device[:stream_specifier] hwaccel_device (input,per-stream)

Select a device to use for hardware acceleration.

 

This option only makes sense when the -hwaccel option is also specified. It can either refer to an existing device created with -init_hw_device by name, or it can create a new device as if -init_hw_device type:hwaccel_device were called immediately before.

-hwaccels

List all hardware acceleration methods supported in this build of ffmpeg.

Audio Options

-aframes number (output)

Set the number of audio frames to output. This is an obsolete alias for "-frames:a", which you should use instead.

-ar[:stream_specifier] freq ( 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.

-aq q (output)

Set the audio quality (codec-specific, VBR). This is an alias for -q:a.

-ac[:stream_specifier] channels (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.

-an (input/output)

As an input option, blocks all audio streams of a file from being filtered or being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See "-discard" option to disable streams individually.

 

As an output option, disables audio recording i.e. automatic selection or mapping of any audio stream. For full manual control see the "-map" option.

-acodec codec (input/output)

Set the audio codec. This is an alias for "-codec:a".

-sample_fmt[:stream_specifier] sample_fmt (output,per-stream)

Set the audio sample format. Use "-sample_fmts" to get a list of supported sample formats.

-af filtergraph (output)

Create the filtergraph specified by filtergraph and use it to filter the stream.

 

This is an alias for "-filter:a", see the -filter option.

Advanced Audio options

-atag fourcc/tag (output)

Force audio tag/fourcc. This is an alias for "-tag:a".

-absf bitstream_filter

Deprecated, see -bsf

-guess_layout_max channels (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 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.

Subtitle options

-scodec codec (input/output)

Set the subtitle codec. This is an alias for "-codec:s".

-sn (input/output)

As an input option, blocks all subtitle streams of a file from being filtered or being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See "-discard" option to disable streams individually.

 

As an output option, disables subtitle recording i.e. automatic selection or mapping of any subtitle stream. For full manual control see the "-map" option.

-sbsf bitstream_filter

Deprecated, see -bsf

Advanced Subtitle options

-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.

-canvas_size size

Set the size of the canvas used to render subtitles.

Advanced options

-map [-]input_file_id[:stream_specifier ][?][,sync_file_id [:stream_specifier]] | [linklabel] (output)

Designate one or more input streams as a source for the output file. Each input stream is identified by the input file index input_file_id and the input stream index input_stream_id within the input file. Both indices start at 0. If specified, sync_file_id: stream_specifier sets which input stream is used as a presentation sync reference.

 

The first "-map" option on the command line specifies the source for output stream 0, the second "-map" option specifies the source for output stream 1, etc.

 

A "-" character before the stream identifier creates a "negative" mapping. It disables matching streams from already created mappings.

 

A trailing "?" after the stream index will allow the map to be optional: if the map matches no streams the map will be ignored instead of failing. Note the map will still fail if an invalid input file index is used; such as if the map refers to a non-existent input.

 

An alternative [linklabel] form will map outputs from complex filter graphs (see the -filter_complex option) to the output file. 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

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 output
    

 

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 "-map" to select which streams to place in an output file. For example:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:1 out.wav
    

 

will map the input stream in INPUT identified by "0:1" to the (single) output stream in out.wav.

 

For example, to select the stream with index 2 from input file a.mov (specified by the identifier "0:2"), and stream with index 6 from input b.mov (specified by the identifier "1:6"), and copy them to the output file out.mov:

 

        ffmpeg -i a.mov -i b.mov -c copy -map 0:2 -map 1:6 out.mov
    

 

To select all video and the third audio stream from an input file:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:v -map 0:a:2 OUTPUT
    

 

To map all the streams except the second audio, use negative mappings

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -map -0:a:1 OUTPUT
    

 

To map the video and audio streams from the first input, and using the trailing "?", ignore the audio mapping if no audio streams exist in the first input:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:v -map 0:a? OUTPUT
    

 

To pick the English audio stream:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:m:language:eng OUTPUT
    

 

Note that using this option disables the default mappings for this output file.

-ignore_unknown

Ignore input streams with unknown type instead of failing if copying such streams is attempted.

-copy_unknown

Allow input streams with unknown type to be copied instead of failing if copying such streams is attempted.

-map_channel [input_file_id.stream_specifier .channel_id |-1][?][:output_file_id.stream_specifier ]

Map an audio channel from a given input to an output. If output_file_id.stream_specifier is not set, the audio channel will be mapped on all the audio streams.

 

Using "-1" instead of input_file_id.stream_specifier. channel_id will map a muted channel.

 

A trailing "?" will allow the map_channel to be optional: if the map_channel matches no channel the map_channel will be ignored instead of failing.

 

For example, assuming INPUT is a stereo audio file, you can switch the two audio channels with the following command:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.1 -map_channel 0.0.0 OUTPUT
    

 

If you want to mute the first channel and keep the second:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel -1 -map_channel 0.0.1 OUTPUT
    

 

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 INPUT audio stream (file 0, stream 0) to the respective OUTPUT_CH0 and OUTPUT_CH1 outputs:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.0 OUTPUT_CH0 -map_channel 0.0.1 OUTPUT_CH1
    

 

The following example splits the channels of a stereo input into two separate streams, which are put into the same output file:

 

        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
    

 

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 amerge filter. For example, if you need to merge a media (here 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:

 

        ffmpeg -i input.mkv -filter_complex "[0:1] [0:2] amerge" -c:a pcm_s16le -c:v copy output.mkv
    

 

To map the first two audio channels from the first input, and using the trailing "?", ignore the audio channel mapping if the first input is mono instead of stereo:

 

        ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.0 -map_channel 0.0.1? OUTPUT
    

-map_metadata[:metadata_spec_out] infile [:metadata_spec_in] (output,per-metadata )

Set metadata information of the next output file from infile. Note that those are file indices (zero-based), not filenames. Optional metadata_spec_in/out parameters specify, which metadata to copy. A metadata specifier can have the following forms:

        ffmpeg -i in.ogg -map_metadata 0:s:0 out.mp3

        ffmpeg -i in.mkv -map_metadata:s:a 0:g out.mkv

-map_chapters input_file_index (output )

Copy chapters from input file with index 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.

-benchmark (global)

Show benchmarking information at the end of an encode. Shows real, system and user time used and maximum memory consumption. Maximum memory consumption is not supported on all systems, it will usually display as 0 if not supported.

-benchmark_all (global)

Show benchmarking information during the encode. Shows real, system and user time used in various steps (audio/video encode/decode).

-timelimit duration (global)

Exit after ffmpeg has been running for duration seconds in CPU user time.

-dump (global)

Dump each input packet to stderr.

-hex (global)

When dumping packets, also dump the payload.

-re (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 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).

-vsync 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.

-frame_drop_threshold parameter

Frame drop threshold, which specifies how much behind video frames can be before they are dropped. In frame rate units, so 1.0 is one frame. The default is -1.1. One possible usecase is to avoid framedrops in case of noisy timestamps or to increase frame drop precision in case of exact timestamps.

-async 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 avoid_negative_ts is enabled.

 

This option has been deprecated. Use the "aresample" audio filter instead.

-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 vsync option or on specific muxer processing (e.g. in case the format option avoid_negative_ts is enabled) the output timestamps may mismatch with the input timestamps even when this option is selected.

-start_at_zero

When used with copyts, shift input timestamps so they start at zero.

 

This means that using e.g. "-ss 50" will make output timestamps start at 50 seconds, regardless of what timestamp the input file started at.

-copytb mode

Specify how to set the encoder timebase when stream copying. mode is an integer numeric value, and can assume one of the following values:

-enc_time_base[:stream_specifier] timebase (output,per-stream)

Set the encoder timebase. timebase is a floating point number, and can assume one of the following values:

-bitexact (input/output)

Enable bitexact mode for (de)muxer and (de/en)coder

-shortest (output)

Finish encoding when the shortest input stream ends.

-dts_delta_threshold

Timestamp discontinuity delta threshold.

-dts_error_threshold seconds

Timestamp error delta threshold. This threshold use to discard crazy/damaged timestamps and the default is 30 hours which is arbitrarily picked and quite conservative.

-muxdelay seconds (output)

Set the maximum demux-decode delay.

-muxpreload seconds (output)

Set the initial demux-decode delay.

-streamid output-stream-index:new-value (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:

 

        ffmpeg -i inurl -streamid 0:33 -streamid 1:36 out.ts
    

-bsf[:stream_specifier] bitstream_filters (output,per-stream)

Set bitstream filters for matching streams. bitstream_filters is a comma-separated list of bitstream filters. Use the "-bsfs" option to get the list of bitstream filters.

 

        ffmpeg -i h264.mp4 -c:v copy -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -an out.h264
        
        ffmpeg -i file.mov -an -vn -bsf:s mov2textsub -c:s copy -f rawvideo sub.txt
    

-tag[:stream_specifier] codec_tag (input/output,per-stream)

Force a tag/fourcc for matching streams.

-timecode hh:mm:ss SEPff

Specify Timecode for writing. SEP is ':' for non drop timecode and ';' (or '.') for drop.

 

        ffmpeg -i input.mpg -timecode 01:02:03.04 -r 30000/1001 -s ntsc output.mpg
    

-filter_complex filtergraph (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 -filter options. 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 "[file_index:stream_specifier]" syntax (i.e. the same as -map uses). If 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 -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

 

        ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex '[0:v][1:v]overlay[out]' -map
        '[out]' out.mkv
    

 

Here "[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

 

        ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex 'overlay[out]' -map
        '[out]' out.mkv
    

 

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

 

        ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex 'overlay' out.mkv
    

 

To generate 5 seconds of pure red video using lavfi "color" source:

 

        ffmpeg -filter_complex 'color=c=red' -t 5 out.mkv
    

-filter_complex_threads nb_threads (global)

Defines how many threads are used to process a filter_complex graph. Similar to filter_threads but used for "-filter_complex" graphs only. The default is the number of available CPUs.

-lavfi filtergraph (global)

Define a complex filtergraph, i.e. one with arbitrary number of inputs and/or outputs. Equivalent to -filter_complex.

-filter_complex_script filename (global )

This option is similar to -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.

-accurate_seek (input)

This option enables or disables accurate seeking in input files with the -ss option. It is enabled by default, so seeking is accurate when transcoding. Use -noaccurate_seek to disable it, which may be useful e.g. when copying some streams and transcoding the others.

-seek_timestamp (input)

This option enables or disables seeking by timestamp in input files with the -ss option. It is disabled by default. If enabled, the argument to the -ss option is considered an actual timestamp, and is not offset by the start time of the file. This matters only for files which do not start from timestamp 0, such as transport streams.

-thread_queue_size size (input)

This option sets the maximum number of queued packets when reading from the file or device. With low latency / high rate live streams, packets may be discarded if they are not read in a timely manner; raising this value can avoid it.

-sdp_file file (global)

Print sdp information for an output stream to file. This allows dumping sdp information when at least one output isn't an rtp stream. (Requires at least one of the output formats to be rtp).

-discard (input)

Allows discarding specific streams or frames from streams. Any input stream can be fully discarded, using value "all" whereas selective discarding of frames from a stream occurs at the demuxer and is not supported by all demuxers.

-abort_on flags (global)

Stop and abort on various conditions. The following flags are available:

-xerror (global)

Stop and exit on error

-max_muxing_queue_size packets (output,per-stream )

When transcoding audio and/or video streams, ffmpeg will not begin writing into the output until it has one packet for each such stream. While waiting for that to happen, packets for other streams are buffered. This option sets the size of this buffer, in packets, for the matching output stream.

 

The default value of this option should be high enough for most uses, so only touch this option if you are sure that you need it.

        ffmpeg -i input.ts -filter_complex \
          '[#0x2ef] setpts=PTS+1/TB [sub] ; [#0x2d0] [sub] overlay' \
          -sn -map '#0x2dc' output.mkv

Preset files

EXAMPLES

Video and Audio grabbing

        ffmpeg -f oss -i /dev/dsp -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg

        ffmpeg -f alsa -ac 1 -i hw:1 -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg

X11 grabbing

        ffmpeg -f x11grab -video_size cif -framerate 25 -i :0.0 /tmp/out.mpg

        ffmpeg -f x11grab -video_size cif -framerate 25 -i :0.0+10,20 /tmp/out.mpg

Video and Audio file format conversion

•

You can use YUV files as input:

 

        ffmpeg -i /tmp/test%d.Y /tmp/out.mpg
    

 

It will use the files:

 

        /tmp/test0.Y, /tmp/test0.U, /tmp/test0.V,
        /tmp/test1.Y, /tmp/test1.U, /tmp/test1.V, etc...
    

 

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 -s option if ffmpeg cannot guess it.

•

You can input from a raw YUV420P file:

 

        ffmpeg -i /tmp/test.yuv /tmp/out.avi
    

 

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:

 

        ffmpeg -i mydivx.avi hugefile.yuv
    

•

You can set several input files and output files:

 

        ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -s 640x480 -i /tmp/a.yuv /tmp/a.mpg
    

 

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:

 

        ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -ar 22050 /tmp/a.mp2
    

 

Converts a.wav to MPEG audio at 22050 Hz sample rate.

•

You can encode to several formats at the same time and define a mapping from input stream to output streams:

 

        ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -map 0:a -b:a 64k /tmp/a.mp2 -map 0:a -b:a 128k /tmp/b.mp2
    

 

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:

 

        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
    

 

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 "--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 "ffmpeg -demuxers".

•

You can extract images from a video, or create a video from many images:

 

For extracting images from a video:

 

        ffmpeg -i foo.avi -r 1 -s WxH -f image2 foo-%03d.jpeg
    

 

This will extract one video frame per second from the video and will output them in files named foo-001.jpeg, 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 "-frames:v" or "-t" option, or in combination with -ss to start extracting from a certain point in time.

 

For creating a video from many images:

 

        ffmpeg -f image2 -framerate 12 -i foo-%03d.jpeg -s WxH foo.avi
    

 

The syntax "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 "-pattern_type glob" option.

 

For example, for creating a video from filenames matching the glob pattern "foo-*.jpeg":

 

        ffmpeg -f image2 -pattern_type glob -framerate 12 -i 'foo-*.jpeg' -s WxH foo.avi
    

•

You can put many streams of the same type in the output:

 

        ffmpeg -i test1.avi -i test2.avi -map 1:1 -map 1:0 -map 0:1 -map 0:0 -c copy -y test12.nut
    

 

The resulting output file test12.nut will contain the first four streams from the input files in reverse order.

•

To force CBR video output:

 

        ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -b 4000k -minrate 4000k -maxrate 4000k -bufsize 1835k out.m2v
    

•

The four options lmin, lmax, mblmin and mblmax use 'lambda' units, but you may use the QP2LAMBDA constant to easily convert from 'q' units:

 

        ffmpeg -i src.ext -lmax 21*QP2LAMBDA dst.ext
    

SEE ALSO

AUTHORS