ffmpeg examples
75ffmpeg is a great command line tool for converting between video and audio formats. But good examples are hard to find.
(more ffmpeg examples on my site www.smallsoftware.co.uk)
My main use of ffmpeg is for converting MPEG2 files (typically recorded from DVB-T/Freeview) either into DivX (to play on an Archos portable video player), or lower bitrate MPEG2. When I was learning to use it, I was constantly frustrated by the lack of good examples for commonly used video format. If you're looking for something similar, hopefully this will be useful to you.
Convert to DivX
This creates a DivX file, 4:3 aspect ratio, 320x240 resolution, bit rate of 690k for video, 128k for audio. The right sort of size for my Archos AV420 player.
ffmpeg -i inputfile.mpg -vtag DIVX -f avi -vcodec mpeg4
-aspect 4:3 -s 320x240 -b 690000 -acodec mp3
-ab 128000 -ar 48000 -ac 2 outputfile.avi
and the same thing for 16:9 ratio.
ffmpeg -i inputfile.mpg -vtag DIVX -f avi -vcodec mpeg4
-aspect 16:9 -s 320x192 -b 690000 -acodec mp3
-ab 128000 -ar 48000 -ac 2 outputfile.avi
Convert lower-rate MPEG2
I've got a Netgem iPlayer in the kitchen for the children to watch cartoons on. Cartoons don't need a very high bitrate (and the children are too small to care about a bit of pixellation anyway), so I lower the bitrate to save disk space (I've still got more than 200Gb of cartoons though...).
This will lower the bitrate to 1536k... that's equivalent to about 5 hours on a single layer DVD. At that low a rate, it's best to take a little longer doing the encoding, so I do two passes.
ffmpeg -i inputfile.mpg -vcodec mpeg2video -b 1536000
-ab 128000 -ar 48000 -ac 2 -pass 1 outputfile.mpg
rm outputfile.mpg
ffmpeg -i inputfile.mpg -vcodec mpeg2video -b 1536000
-ab 128000 -ar 48000 -ac 2 -pass 2 outputfile.mpg
CommentsLoading...
tambrab2007, why would you use a jackhammer where a pick is ample?
50 MB vs. 70KB and besides, what's the point of trying to push M$ Windoze software at Linux People.. NOT bloody much, go back to your Virus Ridden, Crash Prone Trojan and let REAL computer users use REAL software NOT useless BLOATWARE.
Just because MS-Window's holds 90% of the market doesn't mean it's superior. Remember 90% of all animals are insects.
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Hi,
How can I download ffmpeg.exe file or how can I produce the file?
Thanks very much for your useful examples here. The first DIVX example was exactly what I was looking for. I bought a Sony DVD player some years back hoping that I could play MPEG4 AVI, only to find that it insisted on having "genuine DIVX" encoded files before it would work. Your example with the -vtag DIVX worked wonderfully :)
"The Bear 2 years ago
tambrab2007, why would you use a jackhammer where a pick is ample?
50 MB vs. 70KB and besides, what's the point of trying to push M$ Windoze software at Linux People.. NOT bloody much, go back to your Virus Ridden, Crash Prone Trojan and let REAL computer users use REAL software NOT useless BLOATWARE.
Just because MS-Window's holds 90% of the market doesn't mean it's superior. Remember 90% of all animals are insects."
boy, angry much? do you have a blocked colon or something?
LOLWUT? That can't be right. Your remove your "first pass". A more likely scenario is that you first encode with a single pass, remove the result, and then do it with a double pass
Thank you!!!!!!!!!
tambrab2007 3 years ago
Divx works fine for this, but I do think that AVS tools works much better; however, that is just my opinion.