Ubuntu Manpage: ffmpeg-codecs

Provided by: ffmpeg_3.4.11-0ubuntu0.1_amd64

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 nonsensical 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
Only write platform-, build- and time-independent data. (except (I)DCT). This ensures that file
and data checksums are reproducible and match between platforms. Its primary use is for
regression testing.

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 (GOP) 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. (Supported only by selected encoders, see their respective documentation
sections.)

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 an 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

ignore_err
ignore decoding errors, and continue decoding. This is useful if you want to analyze the content
of a video and thus want everything to be decoded no matter what. This option will not result in
a video that is pleasing to watch in case of errors.

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
simpleauto
Automatically pick a IDCT compatible with the simple one

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

favor_inter
favor predicting from the previous frame instead of the current

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.

sar rational number (encoding,video)
Set sample aspect ratio. Alias to aspect.

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
green_metadata
display complexity metadata for the upcoming frame, GoP or for a given duration.

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

nomc
skip motion compensation

vismv integer (decoding,video)
Visualize motion vectors (MVs).

This option is deprecated, see the codecview filter instead.

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.

export_mvs
Export motion vectors into frame side-data (see "AV_FRAME_DATA_MOTION_VECTORS") for codecs that
support it. See also doc/examples/export_mvs.c.

error integer (encoding,video)
qns integer (encoding,video)
Deprecated, use mpegvideo private options instead.

threads integer (decoding/encoding,video)
Set the number of threads to be used, in case the selected codec implementation supports multi-
threading.

Possible values:

auto, 0
automatically select the number of threads to set

Default value is auto.

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
mpeg4_sp
mpeg4_core
mpeg4_main
mpeg4_asp
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 primarily 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)
Possible values:

bt709
BT.709

bt470m
BT.470 M

bt470bg
BT.470 BG

smpte170m
SMPTE 170 M

smpte240m
SMPTE 240 M

film
Film

bt2020
BT.2020

smpte428
smpte428_1
SMPTE ST 428-1

smpte431
SMPTE 431-2

smpte432
SMPTE 432-1

jedec-p22
JEDEC P22

color_trc integer (decoding/encoding,video)
Possible values:

bt709
BT.709

gamma22
BT.470 M

gamma28
BT.470 BG

smpte170m
SMPTE 170 M

smpte240m
SMPTE 240 M

linear
Linear

log
log100
Log

log_sqrt
log316
Log square root

iec61966_2_4
iec61966-2-4
IEC 61966-2-4

bt1361
bt1361e
BT.1361

iec61966_2_1
iec61966-2-1
IEC 61966-2-1

bt2020_10
bt2020_10bit
BT.2020 - 10 bit

bt2020_12
bt2020_12bit
BT.2020 - 12 bit

smpte2084
SMPTE ST 2084

smpte428
smpte428_1
SMPTE ST 428-1

arib-std-b67
ARIB STD-B67

colorspace integer (decoding/encoding,video)
Possible values:

rgb RGB

bt709
BT.709

fcc FCC

bt470bg
BT.470 BG

smpte170m
SMPTE 170 M

smpte240m
SMPTE 240 M

ycocg
YCOCG

bt2020nc
bt2020_ncl
BT.2020 NCL

bt2020c
bt2020_cl
BT.2020 CL

smpte2085
SMPTE 2085

color_range integer (decoding/encoding,video)
If used as input parameter, it serves as a hint to the decoder, which color_range the input has.
Possible values:

tv
mpeg
MPEG (219*2^(n-8))

pc
jpeg
JPEG (2^n-1)

chroma_sample_location integer (decoding/encoding,video)
Possible values:

left
center
topleft
top
bottomleft
bottom
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 which multithreading methods to use.

Use of frame will increase decoding delay by one frame per thread, so clients which cannot provide
future frames should not use it.

Possible values:

slice
Decode more than one part of a single frame at once.

Multithreading using slices works only when the video was encoded with slices.

frame
Decode more than one frame at once.

Default value is 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 bool (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.

codec_whitelist list (input)
"," separated list of allowed decoders. By default all are allowed.

dump_separator string (input)
Separator used to separate the fields printed on the command line about the Stream parameters. For
example to separate the fields with newlines and indention:

ffprobe -dump_separator "
" -i ~/videos/matrixbench_mpeg2.mpg

max_pixels integer (decoding/encoding,video)
Maximum number of pixels per image. This value can be used to avoid out of memory failures due to
large images.

apply_cropping bool (decoding,video)
Enable cropping if cropping parameters are multiples of the required alignment for the left and top
parameters. If the alignment is not met the cropping will be partially applied to maintain alignment.
Default is 1 (enabled). Note: The required alignment depends on if "AV_CODEC_FLAG_UNALIGNED" is set
and the CPU. "AV_CODEC_FLAG_UNALIGNED" cannot be changed from the command line. Also hardware
decoders will not apply left/top Cropping.

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.

   hevc
       HEVC / H.265 decoder.

       Note: the skip_loop_filter option has effect only at level "all".

   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.

flac
FLAC audio decoder.

This decoder aims to implement the complete FLAC specification from Xiph.

FLAC Decoder options

-use_buggy_lpc
The lavc FLAC encoder used to produce buggy streams with high lpc values (like the default value).
This option makes it possible to decode such streams correctly by using lavc's old buggy lpc logic
for decoding.

ffwavesynth
Internal wave synthesizer.

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".

An FFmpeg native decoder for Opus exists, so users can decode Opus without this library.

SUBTITLES DECODERS

dvbsub
Options

compute_clut
-1 Compute clut if no matching CLUT is in the stream.

0 Never compute CLUT

1 Always compute CLUT and override the one provided in the stream.

dvb_substream
Selects the dvb substream, or all substreams if -1 which is default.

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".

ifo_palette
Specify the IFO file from which the global palette is obtained. (experimental)

forced_subs_only
Only decode subtitle entries marked as forced. Some titles have forced and non-forced subtitles in
the same track. Setting this flag to 1 will only keep the forced subtitles. Default value is 0.

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
characters. Default value is 1.

txt_duration
Sets the display duration of the decoded teletext pages or subtitles in milliseconds. 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 background.

txt_opacity
Sets the opacity (0-255) of the teletext background. If txt_transparent is not set, it only affects
characters between a start box and an end box, typically subtitles. Default value is 0 if
txt_transparent is set, 255 otherwise.

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 the default AAC encoder, natively implemented into FFmpeg. Its quality is on par or
better than libfdk_aac at the default bitrate of 128kbps. This encoder also implements more options,
profiles and samplerates than other encoders (with only the AAC-HE profile pending to be implemented) so
this encoder has become the default and is the recommended choice.

Options

b Set bit rate in bits/s. Setting this automatically activates constant bit rate (CBR) mode. If this
option is unspecified it is set to 128kbps.

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.

cutoff
Set cutoff frequency. If unspecified will allow the encoder to dynamically adjust the cutoff to
improve clarity on low bitrates.

aac_coder
Set AAC encoder coding method. Possible values:

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. Will tune itself based on whether aac_is, aac_ms and aac_pns are
enabled. This is the default choice for a coder.

anmr
Average noise to mask ratio (ANMR) trellis-based solution.

This is an experimental coder which currently produces a lower quality, is more unstable and is
slower than the default twoloop coder but has potential. Currently has no support for the aac_is
or aac_pns options. Not currently recommended.

fast
Constant quantizer method.

This method sets a constant quantizer for all bands. This is the fastest of all the methods and
has no rate control or support for aac_is or aac_pns. Not recommended.

aac_ms
Sets mid/side coding mode. The default value of "auto" will automatically use M/S with bands which
will benefit from such coding. Can be forced for all bands using the value "enable", which is mainly
useful for debugging or disabled using "disable".

aac_is
Sets intensity stereo coding tool usage. By default, it's enabled and will automatically toggle IS
for similar pairs of stereo bands if it's beneficial. Can be disabled for debugging by setting the
value to "disable".

aac_pns
Uses perceptual noise substitution to replace low entropy high frequency bands with imperceptible
white noise during the decoding process. By default, it's enabled, but can be disabled for debugging
purposes by using "disable".

aac_tns
Enables the use of a multitap FIR filter which spans through the high frequency bands to hide
quantization noise during the encoding process and is reverted by the decoder. As well as decreasing
unpleasant artifacts in the high range this also reduces the entropy in the high bands and allows for
more bits to be used by the mid-low bands. By default it's enabled but can be disabled for debugging
by setting the option to "disable".

aac_ltp
Enables the use of the long term prediction extension which increases coding efficiency in very low
bandwidth situations such as encoding of voice or solo piano music by extending constant harmonic
peaks in bands throughout frames. This option is implied by profile:a aac_low and is incompatible
with aac_pred. Use in conjunction with -ar to decrease the samplerate.

aac_pred
Enables the use of a more traditional style of prediction where the spectral coefficients transmitted
are replaced by the difference of the current coefficients minus the previous "predicted"
coefficients. In theory and sometimes in practice this can improve quality for low to mid bitrate
audio. This option implies the aac_main profile and is incompatible with aac_ltp.

profile
Sets the encoding profile, possible values:

aac_low
The default, AAC "Low-complexity" profile. Is the most compatible and produces decent quality.

mpeg2_aac_low
Equivalent to "-profile:a aac_low -aac_pns 0". PNS was introduced with the MPEG4 specifications.

aac_ltp
Long term prediction profile, is enabled by and will enable the aac_ltp option. Introduced in
MPEG4.

aac_main
Main-type prediction profile, is enabled by and will enable the aac_pred option. Introduced in
MPEG2.

If this option is unspecified it is set to aac_low.

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.

*<<http://www.atsc.org/cms/standards/a_52-2010.pdf>>
*<<http://www.atsc.org/cms/standards/a_54a_with_corr_1.pdf>>
*<<http://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/zz-_Shared_Assets/English_PDFs/Professional/18_Metadata.Guide.pdf>>
*<<http://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/zz-_Shared_Assets/English_PDFs/Professional/46_DDEncodingGuidelines.pdf>>

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.

cutoff frequency
Set lowpass cutoff frequency. If unspecified, the encoder selects a default determined by various
other encoding parameters.

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)

flac
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) Encoder

Options

The following options are supported by FFmpeg's flac encoder.

compression_level
Sets the compression level, which chooses defaults for many other options if they are not set
explicitly. Valid values are from 0 to 12, 5 is the default.

frame_size
Sets the size of the frames in samples per channel.

lpc_coeff_precision
Sets the LPC coefficient precision, valid values are from 1 to 15, 15 is the default.

lpc_type
Sets the first stage LPC algorithm

none
LPC is not used

fixed
fixed LPC coefficients

levinson
cholesky
lpc_passes
Number of passes to use for Cholesky factorization during LPC analysis

min_partition_order
The minimum partition order

max_partition_order
The maximum partition order

prediction_order_method
estimation
2level
4level
8level
search
Bruteforce search

log
ch_mode
Channel mode

auto
The mode is chosen automatically for each frame

indep
Channels are independently coded

left_side
right_side
mid_side
exact_rice_parameters
Chooses if rice parameters are calculated exactly or approximately. if set to 1 then they are chosen
exactly, which slows the code down slightly and improves compression slightly.

multi_dim_quant
Multi Dimensional Quantization. If set to 1 then a 2nd stage LPC algorithm is applied after the first
stage to finetune the coefficients. This is quite slow and slightly improves compression.

opus
Opus encoder.

This is a native FFmpeg encoder for the Opus format. Currently its in development and only implements the
CELT part of the codec. Its quality is usually worse and at best is equal to the libopus encoder.

Options

b Set bit rate in bits/s. If unspecified it uses the number of channels and the layout to make a good
guess.

opus_delay
Sets the maximum delay in milliseconds. Lower delays than 20ms will very quickly decrease quality.

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 produce output on par or worse at 128kbps to the the native FFmpeg AAC
encoder but can often produce better sounding audio at identical or lower bitrates and has support for
the AAC-HE profiles.

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 <http://sourceforge.net/p/opencore-amr/fdk-aac/>.

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.

cutoff (--lowpass)
Set lowpass cutoff frequency. If unspecified, the encoder dynamically adjusts the cutoff.

reservoir
Enable use of bit reservoir when set to 1. Default value is 1. LAME has this enabled by default, but
can be overridden 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).

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 modelled 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 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).

mapping_family (mapping_family)
Set channel mapping family to be used by the encoder. The default value of -1 uses mapping family 0
for mono and stereo inputs, and mapping family 1 otherwise. The default also disables the surround
masking and LFE bandwidth optimzations in libopus, and requires that the input contains 8 channels or
fewer.

Other values include 0 for mono and stereo, 1 for surround sound with masking and LFE bandwidth
optimizations, and 255 for independent streams with an unspecified channel layout.

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 <http://sourceforge.net/projects/libshine-fxp/>.
We only support the updated fork by the Savonet/Liquidsoap project at <https://github.com/savonet/shine>.

Requires the presence of the libshine headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly
configure the build with "--enable-libshine".

VIDEO ENCODERS

A description of some of the currently available video encoders follows.

Hap
Vidvox Hap video encoder.

Options

format integer
Specifies the Hap format to encode.

hap
hap_alpha
hap_q

Default value is hap.

chunks integer
Specifies the number of chunks to split frames into, between 1 and 64. This permits multithreaded
decoding of large frames, potentially at the cost of data-rate. The encoder may modify this value to
divide frames evenly.

Default value is 1.

compressor integer
Specifies the second-stage compressor to use. If set to none, chunks will be limited to 1, as chunked
uncompressed frames offer no benefit.

none
snappy

Default value is snappy.

jpeg2000
The native jpeg 2000 encoder is lossy by default, the "-q:v" option can be used to set the encoding
quality. Lossless encoding can be selected with "-pred 1".

Options

format
Can be set to either "j2k" or "jp2" (the default) that makes it possible to store non-rgb pix_fmts.

libkvazaar
Kvazaar H.265/HEVC encoder.

Requires the presence of the libkvazaar headers and library during configuration. You need to explicitly
configure the build with --enable-libkvazaar.

Options

b Set target video bitrate in bit/s and enable rate control.

kvazaar-params
Set kvazaar parameters as a list of name=value pairs separated by commas (,). See kvazaar
documentation for a list of options.

libopenh264
Cisco libopenh264 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoder wrapper.

This encoder requires the presence of the libopenh264 headers and library during configuration. You need
to explicitly configure the build with "--enable-libopenh264". The library is detected using pkg-config.

For more information about the library see <http://www.openh264.org>.

Options

The following FFmpeg global options affect the configurations of the libopenh264 encoder.

b Set the bitrate (as a number of bits per second).

g Set the GOP size.

maxrate
Set the max bitrate (as a number of bits per second).

flags +global_header
Set global header in the bitstream.

slices
Set the number of slices, used in parallelized encoding. Default value is 0. This is only used when
slice_mode is set to fixed.

slice_mode
Set slice mode. Can assume one of the following possible values:

fixed
a fixed number of slices

rowmb
one slice per row of macroblocks

auto
automatic number of slices according to number of threads

dyn dynamic slicing

Default value is auto.

loopfilter
Enable loop filter, if set to 1 (automatically enabled). To disable set a value of 0.

profile
Set profile restrictions. If set to the value of main enable CABAC (set the
"SEncParamExt.iEntropyCodingModeFlag" flag to 1).

max_nal_size
Set maximum NAL size in bytes.

allow_skip_frames
Allow skipping frames to hit the target bitrate if set to 1.

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 <http://www.theora.org/>.

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/VP9 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

The following options are supported by the libvpx wrapper. The vpxenc-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 more documentation of the libvpx options, invoke the command ffmpeg -h encoder=libvpx, ffmpeg -h
encoder=libvpx-vp9 or vpxenc --help. Further information is available in the libvpx API documentation.

b (target-bitrate)
Set bitrate in bits/s. Note that FFmpeg's b option is expressed in bits/s, while vpxenc's target-
bitrate is in kilobits/s.

g (kf-max-dist)
keyint_min (kf-min-dist)
qmin (min-q)
qmax (max-q)
bufsize (buf-sz, buf-optimal-sz)
Set ratecontrol buffer size (in bits). Note vpxenc's options are specified in milliseconds, the
libvpx wrapper converts this value as follows: "buf-sz = bufsize * 1000 / bitrate", "buf-optimal-sz =
bufsize * 1000 / bitrate * 5 / 6".

rc_init_occupancy (buf-initial-sz)
Set number of bits which should be loaded into the rc buffer before decoding starts. Note vpxenc's
option is specified in milliseconds, the libvpx wrapper converts this value as follows:
"rc_init_occupancy * 1000 / bitrate".

undershoot-pct
Set datarate undershoot (min) percentage of the target bitrate.

overshoot-pct
Set datarate overshoot (max) percentage of the target bitrate.

skip_threshold (drop-frame)
qcomp (bias-pct)
maxrate (maxsection-pct)
Set GOP max bitrate in bits/s. Note vpxenc's option is specified as a percentage of the target
bitrate, the libvpx wrapper converts this value as follows: "(maxrate * 100 / bitrate)".

minrate (minsection-pct)
Set GOP min bitrate in bits/s. Note vpxenc's option is specified as a percentage of the target
bitrate, the libvpx wrapper converts this value as follows: "(minrate * 100 / bitrate)".

minrate, maxrate, b end-usage=cbr
"(minrate == maxrate == bitrate)".

crf (end-usage=cq, cq-level)
tune (tune)
psnr (psnr)
ssim (ssim)
quality, deadline (deadline)
best
Use best quality deadline. Poorly named and quite slow, this option should be avoided as it may
give worse quality output than good.

good
Use good quality deadline. This is a good trade-off between speed and quality when used with the
cpu-used option.

realtime
Use realtime quality deadline.

speed, cpu-used (cpu-used)
Set quality/speed ratio modifier. Higher values speed up the encode at the cost of quality.

nr (noise-sensitivity)
static-thresh
Set a change threshold on blocks below which they will be skipped by the encoder.

slices (token-parts)
Note that FFmpeg's slices option gives the total number of partitions, while vpxenc's token-parts is
given as "log2(partitions)".

max-intra-rate
Set maximum I-frame bitrate as a percentage of the target bitrate. A value of 0 means unlimited.

force_key_frames
"VPX_EFLAG_FORCE_KF"

Alternate reference frame related
auto-alt-ref
Enable use of alternate reference frames (2-pass only).

arnr-max-frames
Set altref noise reduction max frame count.

arnr-type
Set altref noise reduction filter type: backward, forward, centered.

arnr-strength
Set altref noise reduction filter strength.

rc-lookahead, lag-in-frames (lag-in-frames)
Set number of frames to look ahead for frametype and ratecontrol.

error-resilient
Enable error resiliency features.

VP9-specific options
lossless
Enable lossless mode.

tile-columns
Set number of tile columns to use. Note this is given as "log2(tile_columns)". For example, 8
tile columns would be requested by setting the tile-columns option to 3.

tile-rows
Set number of tile rows to use. Note this is given as "log2(tile_rows)". For example, 4 tile
rows would be requested by setting the tile-rows option to 2.

frame-parallel
Enable frame parallel decodability features.

aq-mode
Set adaptive quantization mode (0: off (default), 1: variance 2: complexity, 3: cyclic refresh,
4: equator360).

colorspace color-space
Set input color space. The VP9 bitstream supports signaling the following colorspaces:

rgb sRGB
bt709 bt709
unspecified unknown
bt470bg bt601
smpte170m smpte170
smpte240m smpte240
bt2020_ncl bt2020
row-mt boolean
Enable row based multi-threading.

For more information about libvpx see: <http://www.webmproject.org/>

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 one to
pass a list of key=value tuples as accepted by the libx264 "x264_param_parse" function.

The x264 project website is at <http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html>.

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 get a more accurate and extensive documentation of the libx264 options, invoke the command x264
--fullhelp 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)
qmin (qpmin)
Minimum quantizer scale.

qmax (qpmax)
Maximum quantizer scale.

qdiff (qpstep)
Maximum difference between quantizer scales.

qblur (qblur)
Quantizer curve blur

qcomp (qcomp)
Quantizer curve compression factor

refs (ref)
Number of reference frames each P-frame can use. The range is from 0-16.

sc_threshold (scenecut)
Sets the threshold for the scene change detection.

trellis (trellis)
Performs Trellis quantization to increase efficiency. Enabled by default.

nr (nr)
me_range (merange)
Maximum range of the motion search in pixels.

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).

forced-idr
Normally, when forcing a I-frame type, the encoder can select any type of I-frame. This option forces
it to choose an IDR-frame.

subq (subme)
Sub-pixel motion estimation method.

b_strategy (b-adapt)
Adaptive B-frame placement decision algorithm. Use only on first-pass.

keyint_min (min-keyint)
Minimum GOP size.

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 comparison 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)
Number of encoding 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.

avcintra-class (class)
Configure the encoder to generate AVC-Intra. Valid values are 50,100 and 200

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 -c:v libx264 -x264opts keyint=123:min-keyint=20 -an out.mkv

a53cc boolean
Import closed captions (which must be ATSC compatible format) into output. Only the mpeg2 and h264
decoders provide these. Default is 1 (on).

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 compatibility 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).

libx265
x265 H.265/HEVC encoder wrapper.

This encoder requires the presence of the libx265 headers and library during configuration. You need to
explicitly configure the build with --enable-libx265.

Options

preset
Set the x265 preset.

tune
Set the x265 tune parameter.

forced-idr
Normally, when forcing a I-frame type, the encoder can select any type of I-frame. This option forces
it to choose an IDR-frame.

x265-params
Set x265 options using a list of key=value couples separated by ":". See x265 --help for a list of
options.

For example to specify libx265 encoding options with -x265-params:

ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx265 -x265-params crf=26:psy-rd=1 output.mp4

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.

mpeg2
MPEG-2 video encoder.

Options

seq_disp_ext integer
Specifies if the encoder should write a sequence_display_extension to the output.

-1
auto
Decide automatically to write it or not (this is the default) by checking if the data to be
written is different from the default or unspecified values.

0
never
Never write it.

1
always
Always write it.

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 chosen
with the "-vcodec" option.

Private Options for prores-ks

profile integer
Select the ProRes profile to encode

proxy
lt
standard
hq
4444
4444xq
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 produce 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.

QSV encoders
The family of Intel QuickSync Video encoders (MPEG-2, H.264 and HEVC)

The ratecontrol method is selected as follows:

• When global_quality is specified, a quality-based mode is used. Specifically this means either

- CQP - constant quantizer scale, when the qscale codec flag is also set (the -qscale ffmpeg
option).

- LA_ICQ - intelligent constant quality with lookahead, when the look_ahead option is also set.

- ICQ -- intelligent constant quality otherwise.

• Otherwise, a bitrate-based mode is used. For all of those, you should specify at least the desired
average bitrate with the b option.

- LA - VBR with lookahead, when the look_ahead option is specified.

- VCM - video conferencing mode, when the vcm option is set.

- CBR - constant bitrate, when maxrate is specified and equal to the average bitrate.

- VBR - variable bitrate, when maxrate is specified, but is higher than the average bitrate.

- AVBR - average VBR mode, when maxrate is not specified. This mode is further configured by the
avbr_accuracy and avbr_convergence options.

Note that depending on your system, a different mode than the one you specified may be selected by the
encoder. Set the verbosity level to verbose or higher to see the actual settings used by the QSV runtime.

Additional libavcodec global options are mapped to MSDK options as follows:

• g/gop_size -> GopPicSize

• bf/max_b_frames+1 -> GopRefDist

• rc_init_occupancy/rc_initial_buffer_occupancy -> InitialDelayInKB

• slices -> NumSlice

• refs -> NumRefFrame

• b_strategy/b_frame_strategy -> BRefType

• cgop/CLOSED_GOP codec flag -> GopOptFlag

• For the CQP mode, the i_qfactor/i_qoffset and b_qfactor/b_qoffset set the difference between QPP and
QPI, and QPP and QPB respectively.

• Setting the coder option to the value vlc will make the H.264 encoder use CAVLC instead of CABAC.

snow
Options

iterative_dia_size
dia size for the iterative motion estimation

VAAPI encoders
Wrappers for hardware encoders accessible via VAAPI.

These encoders only accept input in VAAPI hardware surfaces. If you have input in software frames, use
the hwupload filter to upload them to the GPU.

The following standard libavcodec options are used:

• g / gop_size

• bf / max_b_frames

• profile

• level

• b / bit_rate

• maxrate / rc_max_rate

• bufsize / rc_buffer_size

• rc_init_occupancy / rc_initial_buffer_occupancy

• compression_level

Speed / quality tradeoff: higher values are faster / worse quality.

• q / global_quality

Size / quality tradeoff: higher values are smaller / worse quality.

• qmin (only: qmax is not supported)

• i_qfactor / i_quant_factor

• i_qoffset / i_quant_offset

• b_qfactor / b_quant_factor

• b_qoffset / b_quant_offset

h264_vaapi
profile sets the value of profile_idc and the constraint_set*_flags. level sets the value of
level_idc.

low_power
Use low-power encoding mode.

coder
Set entropy encoder (default is cabac). Possible values:

ac
cabac
Use CABAC.

vlc
cavlc
Use CAVLC.

hevc_vaapi
profile and level set the values of general_profile_idc and general_level_idc respectively.

mjpeg_vaapi
Always encodes using the standard quantisation and huffman tables - global_quality scales the
standard quantisation table (range 1-100).

mpeg2_vaapi
profile and level set the value of profile_and_level_indication.

No rate control is supported.

vp8_vaapi
B-frames are not supported.

global_quality sets the q_idx used for non-key frames (range 0-127).

loop_filter_level
loop_filter_sharpness
Manually set the loop filter parameters.

vp9_vaapi
global_quality sets the q_idx used for P-frames (range 0-255).

loop_filter_level
loop_filter_sharpness
Manually set the loop filter parameters.

B-frames are supported, but the output stream is always in encode order rather than display order.
If B-frames are enabled, it may be necessary to use the vp9_raw_reorder bitstream filter to modify
the output stream to display frames in the correct order.

Only normal frames are produced - the vp9_superframe bitstream filter may be required to produce a
stream usable with all decoders.

vc2
SMPTE VC-2 (previously BBC Dirac Pro). This codec was primarily aimed at professional broadcasting but
since it supports yuv420, yuv422 and yuv444 at 8 (limited range or full range), 10 or 12 bits, this makes
it suitable for other tasks which require low overhead and low compression (like screen recording).

Options

b Sets target video bitrate. Usually that's around 1:6 of the uncompressed video bitrate (e.g. for
1920x1080 50fps yuv422p10 that's around 400Mbps). Higher values (close to the uncompressed bitrate)
turn on lossless compression mode.

field_order
Enables field coding when set (e.g. to tt - top field first) for interlaced inputs. Should increase
compression with interlaced content as it splits the fields and encodes each separately.

wavelet_depth
Sets the total amount of wavelet transforms to apply, between 1 and 5 (default). Lower values reduce
compression and quality. Less capable decoders may not be able to handle values of wavelet_depth over
3.

wavelet_type
Sets the transform type. Currently only 5_3 (LeGall) and 9_7 (Deslauriers-Dubuc) are implemented,
with 9_7 being the one with better compression and thus is the default.

slice_width
slice_height
Sets the slice size for each slice. Larger values result in better compression. For compatibility
with other more limited decoders use slice_width of 32 and slice_height of 8.

tolerance
Sets the undershoot tolerance of the rate control system in percent. This is to prevent an expensive
search from being run.

qm Sets the quantization matrix preset to use by default or when wavelet_depth is set to 5

- default Uses the default quantization matrix from the specifications, extended with values for
the fifth level. This provides a good balance between keeping detail and omitting artifacts.

- flat Use a completely zeroed out quantization matrix. This increases PSNR but might reduce
perception. Use in bogus benchmarks.

- color Reduces detail but attempts to preserve color at extremely low bitrates.

SUBTITLES ENCODERS

   dvdsub
       This codec encodes the bitmap subtitle format that is used in DVDs.  Typically they are stored in VOBSUB
       file pairs (*.idx + *.sub), and they can also be used in Matroska files.

       Options

       even_rows_fix
           When set to 1, enable a work-around that makes the number of pixel rows even in all subtitles.  This
           fixes a problem with some players that cut off the bottom row if the number is odd.  The work-around
           just adds a fully transparent row if needed.  The overhead is low, typically one byte per subtitle on
           average.

           By default, this work-around is disabled.

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
       <http://source.ffmpeg.org>.

       Maintainers for the specific components are listed in the file MAINTAINERS in the source code tree.

                                                                                                FFMPEG-CODECS(1)

NAME

DESCRIPTION

CODEC OPTIONS

DECODERS

VIDEO DECODERS

AUDIO DECODERS

SUBTITLES DECODERS

ENCODERS

AUDIO ENCODERS

VIDEO ENCODERS

SUBTITLES ENCODERS

SEE ALSO

AUTHORS