This file is indexed.

/usr/share/doc/ffmpeg/manual/ffmpeg.html is in ffmpeg-doc 7:2.8.6-1ubuntu2.

This file is owned by root:root, with mode 0o644.

The actual contents of the file can be viewed below.

   1
   2
   3
   4
   5
   6
   7
   8
   9
  10
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  16
  17
  18
  19
  20
  21
  22
  23
  24
  25
  26
  27
  28
  29
  30
  31
  32
  33
  34
  35
  36
  37
  38
  39
  40
  41
  42
  43
  44
  45
  46
  47
  48
  49
  50
  51
  52
  53
  54
  55
  56
  57
  58
  59
  60
  61
  62
  63
  64
  65
  66
  67
  68
  69
  70
  71
  72
  73
  74
  75
  76
  77
  78
  79
  80
  81
  82
  83
  84
  85
  86
  87
  88
  89
  90
  91
  92
  93
  94
  95
  96
  97
  98
  99
 100
 101
 102
 103
 104
 105
 106
 107
 108
 109
 110
 111
 112
 113
 114
 115
 116
 117
 118
 119
 120
 121
 122
 123
 124
 125
 126
 127
 128
 129
 130
 131
 132
 133
 134
 135
 136
 137
 138
 139
 140
 141
 142
 143
 144
 145
 146
 147
 148
 149
 150
 151
 152
 153
 154
 155
 156
 157
 158
 159
 160
 161
 162
 163
 164
 165
 166
 167
 168
 169
 170
 171
 172
 173
 174
 175
 176
 177
 178
 179
 180
 181
 182
 183
 184
 185
 186
 187
 188
 189
 190
 191
 192
 193
 194
 195
 196
 197
 198
 199
 200
 201
 202
 203
 204
 205
 206
 207
 208
 209
 210
 211
 212
 213
 214
 215
 216
 217
 218
 219
 220
 221
 222
 223
 224
 225
 226
 227
 228
 229
 230
 231
 232
 233
 234
 235
 236
 237
 238
 239
 240
 241
 242
 243
 244
 245
 246
 247
 248
 249
 250
 251
 252
 253
 254
 255
 256
 257
 258
 259
 260
 261
 262
 263
 264
 265
 266
 267
 268
 269
 270
 271
 272
 273
 274
 275
 276
 277
 278
 279
 280
 281
 282
 283
 284
 285
 286
 287
 288
 289
 290
 291
 292
 293
 294
 295
 296
 297
 298
 299
 300
 301
 302
 303
 304
 305
 306
 307
 308
 309
 310
 311
 312
 313
 314
 315
 316
 317
 318
 319
 320
 321
 322
 323
 324
 325
 326
 327
 328
 329
 330
 331
 332
 333
 334
 335
 336
 337
 338
 339
 340
 341
 342
 343
 344
 345
 346
 347
 348
 349
 350
 351
 352
 353
 354
 355
 356
 357
 358
 359
 360
 361
 362
 363
 364
 365
 366
 367
 368
 369
 370
 371
 372
 373
 374
 375
 376
 377
 378
 379
 380
 381
 382
 383
 384
 385
 386
 387
 388
 389
 390
 391
 392
 393
 394
 395
 396
 397
 398
 399
 400
 401
 402
 403
 404
 405
 406
 407
 408
 409
 410
 411
 412
 413
 414
 415
 416
 417
 418
 419
 420
 421
 422
 423
 424
 425
 426
 427
 428
 429
 430
 431
 432
 433
 434
 435
 436
 437
 438
 439
 440
 441
 442
 443
 444
 445
 446
 447
 448
 449
 450
 451
 452
 453
 454
 455
 456
 457
 458
 459
 460
 461
 462
 463
 464
 465
 466
 467
 468
 469
 470
 471
 472
 473
 474
 475
 476
 477
 478
 479
 480
 481
 482
 483
 484
 485
 486
 487
 488
 489
 490
 491
 492
 493
 494
 495
 496
 497
 498
 499
 500
 501
 502
 503
 504
 505
 506
 507
 508
 509
 510
 511
 512
 513
 514
 515
 516
 517
 518
 519
 520
 521
 522
 523
 524
 525
 526
 527
 528
 529
 530
 531
 532
 533
 534
 535
 536
 537
 538
 539
 540
 541
 542
 543
 544
 545
 546
 547
 548
 549
 550
 551
 552
 553
 554
 555
 556
 557
 558
 559
 560
 561
 562
 563
 564
 565
 566
 567
 568
 569
 570
 571
 572
 573
 574
 575
 576
 577
 578
 579
 580
 581
 582
 583
 584
 585
 586
 587
 588
 589
 590
 591
 592
 593
 594
 595
 596
 597
 598
 599
 600
 601
 602
 603
 604
 605
 606
 607
 608
 609
 610
 611
 612
 613
 614
 615
 616
 617
 618
 619
 620
 621
 622
 623
 624
 625
 626
 627
 628
 629
 630
 631
 632
 633
 634
 635
 636
 637
 638
 639
 640
 641
 642
 643
 644
 645
 646
 647
 648
 649
 650
 651
 652
 653
 654
 655
 656
 657
 658
 659
 660
 661
 662
 663
 664
 665
 666
 667
 668
 669
 670
 671
 672
 673
 674
 675
 676
 677
 678
 679
 680
 681
 682
 683
 684
 685
 686
 687
 688
 689
 690
 691
 692
 693
 694
 695
 696
 697
 698
 699
 700
 701
 702
 703
 704
 705
 706
 707
 708
 709
 710
 711
 712
 713
 714
 715
 716
 717
 718
 719
 720
 721
 722
 723
 724
 725
 726
 727
 728
 729
 730
 731
 732
 733
 734
 735
 736
 737
 738
 739
 740
 741
 742
 743
 744
 745
 746
 747
 748
 749
 750
 751
 752
 753
 754
 755
 756
 757
 758
 759
 760
 761
 762
 763
 764
 765
 766
 767
 768
 769
 770
 771
 772
 773
 774
 775
 776
 777
 778
 779
 780
 781
 782
 783
 784
 785
 786
 787
 788
 789
 790
 791
 792
 793
 794
 795
 796
 797
 798
 799
 800
 801
 802
 803
 804
 805
 806
 807
 808
 809
 810
 811
 812
 813
 814
 815
 816
 817
 818
 819
 820
 821
 822
 823
 824
 825
 826
 827
 828
 829
 830
 831
 832
 833
 834
 835
 836
 837
 838
 839
 840
 841
 842
 843
 844
 845
 846
 847
 848
 849
 850
 851
 852
 853
 854
 855
 856
 857
 858
 859
 860
 861
 862
 863
 864
 865
 866
 867
 868
 869
 870
 871
 872
 873
 874
 875
 876
 877
 878
 879
 880
 881
 882
 883
 884
 885
 886
 887
 888
 889
 890
 891
 892
 893
 894
 895
 896
 897
 898
 899
 900
 901
 902
 903
 904
 905
 906
 907
 908
 909
 910
 911
 912
 913
 914
 915
 916
 917
 918
 919
 920
 921
 922
 923
 924
 925
 926
 927
 928
 929
 930
 931
 932
 933
 934
 935
 936
 937
 938
 939
 940
 941
 942
 943
 944
 945
 946
 947
 948
 949
 950
 951
 952
 953
 954
 955
 956
 957
 958
 959
 960
 961
 962
 963
 964
 965
 966
 967
 968
 969
 970
 971
 972
 973
 974
 975
 976
 977
 978
 979
 980
 981
 982
 983
 984
 985
 986
 987
 988
 989
 990
 991
 992
 993
 994
 995
 996
 997
 998
 999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064
1065
1066
1067
1068
1069
1070
1071
1072
1073
1074
1075
1076
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
1086
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140
1141
1142
1143
1144
1145
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
1154
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159
1160
1161
1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
1190
1191
1192
1193
1194
1195
1196
1197
1198
1199
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
1206
1207
1208
1209
1210
1211
1212
1213
1214
1215
1216
1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243
1244
1245
1246
1247
1248
1249
1250
1251
1252
1253
1254
1255
1256
1257
1258
1259
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
1283
1284
1285
1286
1287
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292
1293
1294
1295
1296
1297
1298
1299
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307
1308
1309
1310
1311
1312
1313
1314
1315
1316
1317
1318
1319
1320
1321
1322
1323
1324
1325
1326
1327
1328
1329
1330
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
1338
1339
1340
1341
1342
1343
1344
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
1359
1360
1361
1362
1363
1364
1365
1366
1367
1368
1369
1370
1371
1372
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377
1378
1379
1380
1381
1382
1383
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
1395
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413
1414
1415
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420
1421
1422
1423
1424
1425
1426
1427
1428
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
1434
1435
1436
1437
1438
1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453
1454
1455
1456
1457
1458
1459
1460
1461
1462
1463
1464
1465
1466
1467
1468
1469
1470
1471
1472
1473
1474
1475
1476
1477
1478
1479
1480
1481
1482
1483
1484
1485
1486
1487
1488
1489
1490
1491
1492
1493
1494
1495
1496
1497
1498
1499
1500
1501
1502
1503
1504
1505
1506
1507
1508
1509
1510
1511
1512
1513
1514
1515
1516
1517
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522
1523
1524
1525
1526
1527
1528
1529
1530
1531
1532
1533
1534
1535
1536
1537
1538
1539
1540
1541
1542
1543
1544
1545
1546
1547
1548
1549
1550
1551
1552
1553
1554
1555
1556
1557
1558
1559
1560
1561
1562
1563
1564
1565
1566
1567
1568
1569
1570
1571
1572
1573
1574
1575
1576
1577
1578
1579
1580
1581
1582
1583
1584
1585
1586
1587
1588
1589
1590
1591
1592
1593
1594
1595
1596
1597
1598
1599
1600
1601
1602
1603
1604
1605
1606
1607
1608
1609
1610
1611
1612
1613
1614
1615
1616
1617
1618
1619
1620
1621
1622
1623
1624
1625
1626
1627
1628
1629
1630
1631
1632
1633
1634
1635
1636
1637
1638
1639
1640
1641
1642
1643
1644
1645
1646
1647
1648
1649
1650
1651
1652
1653
1654
1655
1656
1657
1658
1659
1660
1661
1662
1663
1664
1665
1666
1667
1668
1669
1670
1671
1672
1673
1674
1675
1676
1677
1678
1679
1680
1681
1682
1683
1684
1685
1686
1687
1688
1689
1690
1691
1692
1693
1694
1695
1696
1697
1698
1699
1700
1701
1702
1703
1704
1705
1706
1707
1708
1709
1710
1711
1712
1713
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737
1738
1739
1740
1741
1742
1743
1744
1745
1746
1747
1748
1749
1750
1751
1752
1753
1754
1755
1756
1757
1758
1759
1760
1761
1762
1763
1764
1765
1766
1767
1768
1769
1770
1771
1772
1773
1774
1775
1776
1777
1778
1779
1780
1781
1782
1783
1784
1785
1786
1787
1788
1789
1790
1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
1799
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
2037
2038
2039
2040
2041
2042
2043
2044
2045
2046
2047
2048
2049
2050
2051
2052
2053
2054
2055
2056
2057
2058
2059
2060
2061
2062
2063
2064
2065
2066
2067
2068
2069
2070
2071
2072
2073
2074
2075
2076
2077
2078
2079
2080
2081
2082
2083
2084
2085
2086
2087
2088
2089
2090
2091
2092
2093
2094
2095
2096
2097
2098
2099
2100
2101
2102
2103
2104
2105
2106
2107
2108
2109
2110
2111
2112
2113
2114
2115
2116
2117
2118
2119
2120
2121
2122
2123
2124
2125
2126
2127
2128
2129
2130
2131
2132
2133
2134
2135
2136
2137
2138
2139
2140
2141
2142
2143
2144
2145
2146
2147
2148
2149
2150
2151
2152
2153
2154
2155
2156
2157
2158
2159
2160
2161
2162
2163
2164
2165
2166
2167
2168
2169
2170
2171
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 6.1, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ -->
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>
      ffmpeg Documentation
    </title>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0">
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="bootstrap.min.css">
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.min.css">
  </head>
  <body>
    <div style="width: 95%; margin: auto">
      <h1>
      ffmpeg Documentation
      </h1>
<div align="center">
</div>


<a name="SEC_Top"></a>

<a name="SEC_Contents"></a>
<h2 class="contents-heading">Table of Contents</h2>

<div class="contents">

<ul class="no-bullet">
  <li><a name="toc-Synopsis" href="#Synopsis">1 Synopsis</a></li>
  <li><a name="toc-Description" href="#Description">2 Description</a></li>
  <li><a name="toc-Detailed-description" href="#Detailed-description">3 Detailed description</a>
  <ul class="no-bullet">
    <li><a name="toc-Filtering" href="#Filtering">3.1 Filtering</a>
    <ul class="no-bullet">
      <li><a name="toc-Simple-filtergraphs" href="#Simple-filtergraphs">3.1.1 Simple filtergraphs</a></li>
      <li><a name="toc-Complex-filtergraphs" href="#Complex-filtergraphs">3.1.2 Complex filtergraphs</a></li>
    </ul></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Stream-copy" href="#Stream-copy">3.2 Stream copy</a></li>
  </ul></li>
  <li><a name="toc-Stream-selection" href="#Stream-selection">4 Stream selection</a></li>
  <li><a name="toc-Options" href="#Options">5 Options</a>
  <ul class="no-bullet">
    <li><a name="toc-Stream-specifiers-1" href="#Stream-specifiers-1">5.1 Stream specifiers</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Generic-options" href="#Generic-options">5.2 Generic options</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-AVOptions" href="#AVOptions">5.3 AVOptions</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Main-options" href="#Main-options">5.4 Main options</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Video-Options" href="#Video-Options">5.5 Video Options</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Advanced-Video-options" href="#Advanced-Video-options">5.6 Advanced Video options</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Audio-Options" href="#Audio-Options">5.7 Audio Options</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Advanced-Audio-options" href="#Advanced-Audio-options">5.8 Advanced Audio options</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Subtitle-options" href="#Subtitle-options">5.9 Subtitle options</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Advanced-Subtitle-options" href="#Advanced-Subtitle-options">5.10 Advanced Subtitle options</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Advanced-options" href="#Advanced-options">5.11 Advanced options</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Preset-files" href="#Preset-files">5.12 Preset files</a>
    <ul class="no-bullet">
      <li><a name="toc-ffpreset-files" href="#ffpreset-files">5.12.1 ffpreset files</a></li>
      <li><a name="toc-avpreset-files" href="#avpreset-files">5.12.2 avpreset files</a></li>
    </ul></li>
  </ul></li>
  <li><a name="toc-Examples" href="#Examples">6 Examples</a>
  <ul class="no-bullet">
    <li><a name="toc-Video-and-Audio-grabbing" href="#Video-and-Audio-grabbing">6.1 Video and Audio grabbing</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-X11-grabbing" href="#X11-grabbing">6.2 X11 grabbing</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Video-and-Audio-file-format-conversion" href="#Video-and-Audio-file-format-conversion">6.3 Video and Audio file format conversion</a></li>
  </ul></li>
  <li><a name="toc-See-Also" href="#See-Also">7 See Also</a></li>
  <li><a name="toc-Authors" href="#Authors">8 Authors</a></li>
</ul>
</div>


<a name="Synopsis"></a>
<h2 class="chapter">1 Synopsis<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Synopsis" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Synopsis" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h2>

<p>ffmpeg [<var>global_options</var>] {[<var>input_file_options</var>] -i <samp>input_file</samp>} ... {[<var>output_file_options</var>] <samp>output_file</samp>} ...
</p>
<a name="Description"></a>
<h2 class="chapter">2 Description<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Description" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Description" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h2>

<p><code>ffmpeg</code> is a very fast video and audio converter that can also grab from
a live audio/video source. It can also convert between arbitrary sample
rates and resize video on the fly with a high quality polyphase filter.
</p>
<p><code>ffmpeg</code> reads from an arbitrary number of input &quot;files&quot; (which can be regular
files, pipes, network streams, grabbing devices, etc.), specified by the
<code>-i</code> option, and writes to an arbitrary number of output &quot;files&quot;, which are
specified by a plain output filename. Anything found on the command line which
cannot be interpreted as an option is considered to be an output filename.
</p>
<p>Each input or output file can, in principle, contain any number of streams of
different types (video/audio/subtitle/attachment/data). The allowed number and/or
types of streams may be limited by the container format. Selecting which
streams from which inputs will go into which output is either done automatically
or with the <code>-map</code> option (see the Stream selection chapter).
</p>
<p>To refer to input files in options, you must use their indices (0-based). E.g.
the first input file is <code>0</code>, the second is <code>1</code>, etc. Similarly, streams
within a file are referred to by their indices. E.g. <code>2:3</code> refers to the
fourth stream in the third input file. Also see the Stream specifiers chapter.
</p>
<p>As a general rule, options are applied to the next specified
file. Therefore, order is important, and you can have the same
option on the command line multiple times. Each occurrence is
then applied to the next input or output file.
Exceptions from this rule are the global options (e.g. verbosity level),
which should be specified first.
</p>
<p>Do not mix input and output files &ndash; first specify all input files, then all
output files. Also do not mix options which belong to different files. All
options apply ONLY to the next input or output file and are reset between files.
</p>
<ul>
<li> To set the video bitrate of the output file to 64 kbit/s:
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i input.avi -b:v 64k -bufsize 64k output.avi
</pre></div>

</li><li> To force the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i input.avi -r 24 output.avi
</pre></div>

</li><li> To force the frame rate of the input file (valid for raw formats only)
to 1 fps and the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -r 1 -i input.m2v -r 24 output.avi
</pre></div>
</li></ul>

<p>The format option may be needed for raw input files.
</p>

<a name="Detailed-description"></a>
<h2 class="chapter">3 Detailed description<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Detailed-description" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Detailed-description" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h2>

<p>The transcoding process in <code>ffmpeg</code> for each output can be described by
the following diagram:
</p>
<pre class="verbatim"> _______              ______________
|       |            |              |
| input |  demuxer   | encoded data |   decoder
| file  | ---------&gt; | packets      | -----+
|_______|            |______________|      |
                                           v
                                       _________
                                      |         |
                                      | decoded |
                                      | frames  |
                                      |_________|
 ________             ______________       |
|        |           |              |      |
| output | &lt;-------- | encoded data | &lt;----+
| file   |   muxer   | packets      |   encoder
|________|           |______________|


</pre>
<p><code>ffmpeg</code> calls the libavformat library (containing demuxers) to read
input files and get packets containing encoded data from them. When there are
multiple input files, <code>ffmpeg</code> tries to keep them synchronized by
tracking lowest timestamp on any active input stream.
</p>
<p>Encoded packets are then passed to the decoder (unless streamcopy is selected
for the stream, see further for a description). The decoder produces
uncompressed frames (raw video/PCM audio/...) which can be processed further by
filtering (see next section). After filtering, the frames are passed to the
encoder, which encodes them and outputs encoded packets. Finally those are
passed to the muxer, which writes the encoded packets to the output file.
</p>
<a name="Filtering"></a>
<h3 class="section">3.1 Filtering<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Filtering" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Filtering" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>
<p>Before encoding, <code>ffmpeg</code> can process raw audio and video frames using
filters from the libavfilter library. Several chained filters form a filter
graph. <code>ffmpeg</code> distinguishes between two types of filtergraphs:
simple and complex.
</p>
<a name="Simple-filtergraphs"></a>
<h4 class="subsection">3.1.1 Simple filtergraphs<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Simple-filtergraphs" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Simple-filtergraphs" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h4>
<p>Simple filtergraphs are those that have exactly one input and output, both of
the same type. In the above diagram they can be represented by simply inserting
an additional step between decoding and encoding:
</p>
<pre class="verbatim"> _________                        ______________
|         |                      |              |
| decoded |                      | encoded data |
| frames  |\                   _ | packets      |
|_________| \                  /||______________|
             \   __________   /
  simple     _\||          | /  encoder
  filtergraph   | filtered |/
                | frames   |
                |__________|

</pre>
<p>Simple filtergraphs are configured with the per-stream <samp>-filter</samp> option
(with <samp>-vf</samp> and <samp>-af</samp> aliases for video and audio respectively).
A simple filtergraph for video can look for example like this:
</p>
<pre class="verbatim"> _______        _____________        _______        ________
|       |      |             |      |       |      |        |
| input | ---&gt; | deinterlace | ---&gt; | scale | ---&gt; | output |
|_______|      |_____________|      |_______|      |________|

</pre>
<p>Note that some filters change frame properties but not frame contents. E.g. the
<code>fps</code> filter in the example above changes number of frames, but does not
touch the frame contents. Another example is the <code>setpts</code> filter, which
only sets timestamps and otherwise passes the frames unchanged.
</p>
<a name="Complex-filtergraphs"></a>
<h4 class="subsection">3.1.2 Complex filtergraphs<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Complex-filtergraphs" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Complex-filtergraphs" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h4>
<p>Complex filtergraphs are those which cannot be described as simply a linear
processing chain applied to one stream. This is the case, for example, when the graph has
more than one input and/or output, or when output stream type is different from
input. They can be represented with the following diagram:
</p>
<pre class="verbatim"> _________
|         |
| input 0 |\                    __________
|_________| \                  |          |
             \   _________    /| output 0 |
              \ |         |  / |__________|
 _________     \| complex | /
|         |     |         |/
| input 1 |----&gt;| filter  |\
|_________|     |         | \   __________
               /| graph   |  \ |          |
              / |         |   \| output 1 |
 _________   /  |_________|    |__________|
|         | /
| input 2 |/
|_________|

</pre>
<p>Complex filtergraphs are configured with the <samp>-filter_complex</samp> option.
Note that this option is global, since a complex filtergraph, by its nature,
cannot be unambiguously associated with a single stream or file.
</p>
<p>The <samp>-lavfi</samp> option is equivalent to <samp>-filter_complex</samp>.
</p>
<p>A trivial example of a complex filtergraph is the <code>overlay</code> filter, which
has two video inputs and one video output, containing one video overlaid on top
of the other. Its audio counterpart is the <code>amix</code> filter.
</p>
<a name="Stream-copy"></a>
<h3 class="section">3.2 Stream copy<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Stream-copy" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Stream-copy" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>
<p>Stream copy is a mode selected by supplying the <code>copy</code> parameter to the
<samp>-codec</samp> option. It makes <code>ffmpeg</code> omit the decoding and encoding
step for the specified stream, so it does only demuxing and muxing. It is useful
for changing the container format or modifying container-level metadata. The
diagram above will, in this case, simplify to this:
</p>
<pre class="verbatim"> _______              ______________            ________
|       |            |              |          |        |
| input |  demuxer   | encoded data |  muxer   | output |
| file  | ---------&gt; | packets      | -------&gt; | file   |
|_______|            |______________|          |________|

</pre>
<p>Since there is no decoding or encoding, it is very fast and there is no quality
loss. However, it might not work in some cases because of many factors. Applying
filters is obviously also impossible, since filters work on uncompressed data.
</p>

<a name="Stream-selection"></a>
<h2 class="chapter">4 Stream selection<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Stream-selection" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Stream-selection" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h2>

<p>By default, <code>ffmpeg</code> includes only one stream of each type (video, audio, subtitle)
present in the input files and adds them to each output file.  It picks the
&quot;best&quot; of each based upon the following criteria: for video, it is the stream
with the highest resolution, for audio, it is the stream with the most channels, for
subtitles, it is the first subtitle stream. In the case where several streams of
the same type rate equally, the stream with the lowest index is chosen.
</p>
<p>You can disable some of those defaults by using the <code>-vn/-an/-sn</code> options. For
full manual control, use the <code>-map</code> option, which disables the defaults just
described.
</p>

<a name="Options"></a>
<h2 class="chapter">5 Options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h2>

<p>All the numerical options, if not specified otherwise, accept a string
representing a number as input, which may be followed by one of the SI
unit prefixes, for example: &rsquo;K&rsquo;, &rsquo;M&rsquo;, or &rsquo;G&rsquo;.
</p>
<p>If &rsquo;i&rsquo; is appended to the SI unit prefix, the complete prefix will be
interpreted as a unit prefix for binary multiples, which are based on
powers of 1024 instead of powers of 1000. Appending &rsquo;B&rsquo; to the SI unit
prefix multiplies the value by 8. This allows using, for example:
&rsquo;KB&rsquo;, &rsquo;MiB&rsquo;, &rsquo;G&rsquo; and &rsquo;B&rsquo; as number suffixes.
</p>
<p>Options which do not take arguments are boolean options, and set the
corresponding value to true. They can be set to false by prefixing
the option name with &quot;no&quot;. For example using &quot;-nofoo&quot;
will set the boolean option with name &quot;foo&quot; to false.
</p>
<a name="Stream-specifiers"></a><a name="Stream-specifiers-1"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.1 Stream specifiers<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Stream-specifiers-1" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Stream-specifiers-1" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>
<p>Some options are applied per-stream, e.g. bitrate or codec. Stream specifiers
are used to precisely specify which stream(s) a given option belongs to.
</p>
<p>A stream specifier is a string generally appended to the option name and
separated from it by a colon. E.g. <code>-codec:a:1 ac3</code> contains the
<code>a:1</code> stream specifier, which matches the second audio stream. Therefore, it
would select the ac3 codec for the second audio stream.
</p>
<p>A stream specifier can match several streams, so that the option is applied to all
of them. E.g. the stream specifier in <code>-b:a 128k</code> matches all audio
streams.
</p>
<p>An empty stream specifier matches all streams. For example, <code>-codec copy</code>
or <code>-codec: copy</code> would copy all the streams without reencoding.
</p>
<p>Possible forms of stream specifiers are:
</p><dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp><var>stream_index</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Matches the stream with this index. E.g. <code>-threads:1 4</code> would set the
thread count for the second stream to 4.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp><var>stream_type</var>[:<var>stream_index</var>]</samp></dt>
<dd><p><var>stream_type</var> is one of following: &rsquo;v&rsquo; or &rsquo;V&rsquo; for video, &rsquo;a&rsquo; for audio, &rsquo;s&rsquo;
for subtitle, &rsquo;d&rsquo; for data, and &rsquo;t&rsquo; for attachments. &rsquo;v&rsquo; matches all video
streams, &rsquo;V&rsquo; only matches video streams which are not attached pictures, video
thumbnails or cover arts.  If <var>stream_index</var> is given, then it matches
stream number <var>stream_index</var> of this type. Otherwise, it matches all
streams of this type.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>p:<var>program_id</var>[:<var>stream_index</var>]</samp></dt>
<dd><p>If <var>stream_index</var> is given, then it matches the stream with number <var>stream_index</var>
in the program with the id <var>program_id</var>. Otherwise, it matches all streams in the
program.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>#<var>stream_id</var> or i:<var>stream_id</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Match the stream by stream id (e.g. PID in MPEG-TS container).
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>m:<var>key</var>[:<var>value</var>]</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Matches streams with the metadata tag <var>key</var> having the specified value. If
<var>value</var> is not given, matches streams that contain the given tag with any
value.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>u</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Matches streams with usable configuration, the codec must be defined and the
essential information such as video dimension or audio sample rate must be present.
</p>
<p>Note that in <code>ffmpeg</code>, matching by metadata will only work properly for
input files.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<a name="Generic-options"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.2 Generic options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Generic-options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Generic-options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<p>These options are shared amongst the ff* tools.
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>-L</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show license.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-h, -?, -help, --help [<var>arg</var>]</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show help. An optional parameter may be specified to print help about a specific
item. If no argument is specified, only basic (non advanced) tool
options are shown.
</p>
<p>Possible values of <var>arg</var> are:
</p><dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>long</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print advanced tool options in addition to the basic tool options.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>full</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print complete list of options, including shared and private options
for encoders, decoders, demuxers, muxers, filters, etc.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>decoder=<var>decoder_name</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print detailed information about the decoder named <var>decoder_name</var>. Use the
<samp>-decoders</samp> option to get a list of all decoders.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>encoder=<var>encoder_name</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print detailed information about the encoder named <var>encoder_name</var>. Use the
<samp>-encoders</samp> option to get a list of all encoders.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>demuxer=<var>demuxer_name</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print detailed information about the demuxer named <var>demuxer_name</var>. Use the
<samp>-formats</samp> option to get a list of all demuxers and muxers.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>muxer=<var>muxer_name</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print detailed information about the muxer named <var>muxer_name</var>. Use the
<samp>-formats</samp> option to get a list of all muxers and demuxers.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>filter=<var>filter_name</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print detailed information about the filter name <var>filter_name</var>. Use the
<samp>-filters</samp> option to get a list of all filters.
</p></dd>
</dl>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-version</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show version.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-formats</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show available formats (including devices).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-devices</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show available devices.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-codecs</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show all codecs known to libavcodec.
</p>
<p>Note that the term &rsquo;codec&rsquo; is used throughout this documentation as a shortcut
for what is more correctly called a media bitstream format.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-decoders</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show available decoders.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-encoders</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show all available encoders.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-bsfs</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show available bitstream filters.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-protocols</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show available protocols.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-filters</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show available libavfilter filters.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-pix_fmts</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show available pixel formats.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-sample_fmts</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show available sample formats.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-layouts</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show channel names and standard channel layouts.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-colors</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show recognized color names.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-sources <var>device</var>[,<var>opt1</var>=<var>val1</var>[,<var>opt2</var>=<var>val2</var>]...]</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show autodetected sources of the intput device.
Some devices may provide system-dependent source names that cannot be autodetected.
The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -sources pulse,server=192.168.0.4
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-sinks <var>device</var>[,<var>opt1</var>=<var>val1</var>[,<var>opt2</var>=<var>val2</var>]...]</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show autodetected sinks of the output device.
Some devices may provide system-dependent sink names that cannot be autodetected.
The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -sinks pulse,server=192.168.0.4
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-loglevel [repeat+]<var>loglevel</var> | -v [repeat+]<var>loglevel</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the logging level used by the library.
Adding &quot;repeat+&quot; indicates that repeated log output should not be compressed
to the first line and the &quot;Last message repeated n times&quot; line will be
omitted. &quot;repeat&quot; can also be used alone.
If &quot;repeat&quot; is used alone, and with no prior loglevel set, the default
loglevel will be used. If multiple loglevel parameters are given, using
&rsquo;repeat&rsquo; will not change the loglevel.
<var>loglevel</var> is a string or a number containing one of the following values:
</p><dl compact="compact">
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>quiet, -8</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><p>Show nothing at all; be silent.
</p></dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>panic, 0</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><p>Only show fatal errors which could lead the process to crash, such as
and assert failure. This is not currently used for anything.
</p></dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>fatal, 8</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><p>Only show fatal errors. These are errors after which the process absolutely
cannot continue after.
</p></dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>error, 16</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><p>Show all errors, including ones which can be recovered from.
</p></dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>warning, 24</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><p>Show all warnings and errors. Any message related to possibly
incorrect or unexpected events will be shown.
</p></dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>info, 32</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><p>Show informative messages during processing. This is in addition to
warnings and errors. This is the default value.
</p></dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>verbose, 40</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><p>Same as <code>info</code>, except more verbose.
</p></dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>debug, 48</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><p>Show everything, including debugging information.
</p></dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>trace, 56</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
</dl>

<p>By default the program logs to stderr, if coloring is supported by the
terminal, colors are used to mark errors and warnings. Log coloring
can be disabled setting the environment variable
<code>AV_LOG_FORCE_NOCOLOR</code> or <code>NO_COLOR</code>, or can be forced setting
the environment variable <code>AV_LOG_FORCE_COLOR</code>.
The use of the environment variable <code>NO_COLOR</code> is deprecated and
will be dropped in a following FFmpeg version.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-report</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Dump full command line and console output to a file named
<code><var>program</var>-<var>YYYYMMDD</var>-<var>HHMMSS</var>.log</code> in the current
directory.
This file can be useful for bug reports.
It also implies <code>-loglevel verbose</code>.
</p>
<p>Setting the environment variable <code>FFREPORT</code> to any value has the
same effect. If the value is a &rsquo;:&rsquo;-separated key=value sequence, these
options will affect the report; option values must be escaped if they
contain special characters or the options delimiter &rsquo;:&rsquo; (see the
&ldquo;Quoting and escaping&rdquo; section in the ffmpeg-utils manual).
</p>
<p>The following options are recognized:
</p><dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>file</samp></dt>
<dd><p>set the file name to use for the report; <code>%p</code> is expanded to the name
of the program, <code>%t</code> is expanded to a timestamp, <code>%%</code> is expanded
to a plain <code>%</code>
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>level</samp></dt>
<dd><p>set the log verbosity level using a numerical value (see <code>-loglevel</code>).
</p></dd>
</dl>

<p>For example, to output a report to a file named <samp>ffreport.log</samp>
using a log level of <code>32</code> (alias for log level <code>info</code>):
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">FFREPORT=file=ffreport.log:level=32 ffmpeg -i input output
</pre></div>

<p>Errors in parsing the environment variable are not fatal, and will not
appear in the report.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-hide_banner</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Suppress printing banner.
</p>
<p>All FFmpeg tools will normally show a copyright notice, build options
and library versions. This option can be used to suppress printing
this information.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-cpuflags flags (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended
for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you&rsquo;re doing.
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx ...
ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx ...
ffmpeg -cpuflags 0 ...
</pre></div>
<p>Possible flags for this option are:
</p><dl compact="compact">
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>x86</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><dl compact="compact">
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>mmx</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>mmxext</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>sse</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>sse2</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>sse2slow</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>sse3</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>sse3slow</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>ssse3</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>atom</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>sse4.1</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>sse4.2</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>avx</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>avx2</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>xop</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>fma3</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>fma4</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>3dnow</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>3dnowext</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>bmi1</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>bmi2</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>cmov</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>ARM</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><dl compact="compact">
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>armv5te</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>armv6</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>armv6t2</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>vfp</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>vfpv3</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>neon</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>setend</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>AArch64</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><dl compact="compact">
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>armv8</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>vfp</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>neon</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>PowerPC</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><dl compact="compact">
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>altivec</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>Specific Processors</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dd><dl compact="compact">
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>pentium2</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>pentium3</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>pentium4</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>k6</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>k62</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>athlon</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>athlonxp</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp>k8</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-opencl_bench</samp></dt>
<dd><p>This option is used to benchmark all available OpenCL devices and print the
results. This option is only available when FFmpeg has been compiled with
<code>--enable-opencl</code>.
</p>
<p>When FFmpeg is configured with <code>--enable-opencl</code>, the options for the
global OpenCL context are set via <samp>-opencl_options</samp>. See the
&quot;OpenCL Options&quot; section in the ffmpeg-utils manual for the complete list of
supported options. Amongst others, these options include the ability to select
a specific platform and device to run the OpenCL code on. By default, FFmpeg
will run on the first device of the first platform. While the options for the
global OpenCL context provide flexibility to the user in selecting the OpenCL
device of their choice, most users would probably want to select the fastest
OpenCL device for their system.
</p>
<p>This option assists the selection of the most efficient configuration by
identifying the appropriate device for the user&rsquo;s system. The built-in
benchmark is run on all the OpenCL devices and the performance is measured for
each device. The devices in the results list are sorted based on their
performance with the fastest device listed first. The user can subsequently
invoke <code>ffmpeg</code> using the device deemed most appropriate via
<samp>-opencl_options</samp> to obtain the best performance for the OpenCL
accelerated code.
</p>
<p>Typical usage to use the fastest OpenCL device involve the following steps.
</p>
<p>Run the command:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -opencl_bench
</pre></div>
<p>Note down the platform ID (<var>pidx</var>) and device ID (<var>didx</var>) of the first
i.e. fastest device in the list.
Select the platform and device using the command:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -opencl_options platform_idx=<var>pidx</var>:device_idx=<var>didx</var> ...
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-opencl_options options (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set OpenCL environment options. This option is only available when
FFmpeg has been compiled with <code>--enable-opencl</code>.
</p>
<p><var>options</var> must be a list of <var>key</var>=<var>value</var> option pairs
separated by &rsquo;:&rsquo;. See the &ldquo;OpenCL Options&rdquo; section in the
ffmpeg-utils manual for the list of supported options.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<a name="AVOptions"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.3 AVOptions<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#AVOptions" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-AVOptions" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<p>These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and
libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the
<samp>-help</samp> option. They are separated into two categories:
</p><dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>generic</samp></dt>
<dd><p>These options can be set for any container, codec or device. Generic options
are listed under AVFormatContext options for containers/devices and under
AVCodecContext options for codecs.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>private</samp></dt>
<dd><p>These options are specific to the given container, device or codec. Private
options are listed under their corresponding containers/devices/codecs.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<p>For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to
an MP3 file, use the <samp>id3v2_version</samp> private option of the MP3
muxer:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3
</pre></div>

<p>All codec AVOptions are per-stream, and thus a stream specifier
should be attached to them.
</p>
<p>Note: the <samp>-nooption</samp> syntax cannot be used for boolean
AVOptions, use <samp>-option 0</samp>/<samp>-option 1</samp>.
</p>
<p>Note: the old undocumented way of specifying per-stream AVOptions by
prepending v/a/s to the options name is now obsolete and will be
removed soon.
</p>
<a name="Main-options"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.4 Main options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Main-options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Main-options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>-f <var>fmt</var> (<em>input/output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Force input or output file format. The format is normally auto detected for input
files and guessed from the file extension for output files, so this option is not
needed in most cases.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-i <var>filename</var> (<em>input</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>input file name
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-y (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Overwrite output files without asking.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-n (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Do not overwrite output files, and exit immediately if a specified
output file already exists.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-c[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>codec</var> (<em>input/output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dt><samp>-codec[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>codec</var> (<em>input/output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Select an encoder (when used before an output file) or a decoder (when used
before an input file) for one or more streams. <var>codec</var> is the name of a
decoder/encoder or a special value <code>copy</code> (output only) to indicate that
the stream is not to be re-encoded.
</p>
<p>For example
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c:v libx264 -c:a copy OUTPUT
</pre></div>
<p>encodes all video streams with libx264 and copies all audio streams.
</p>
<p>For each stream, the last matching <code>c</code> option is applied, so
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c copy -c:v:1 libx264 -c:a:137 libvorbis OUTPUT
</pre></div>
<p>will copy all the streams except the second video, which will be encoded with
libx264, and the 138th audio, which will be encoded with libvorbis.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-t <var>duration</var> (<em>input/output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>When used as an input option (before <code>-i</code>), limit the <var>duration</var> of
data read from the input file.
</p>
<p>When used as an output option (before an output filename), stop writing the
output after its duration reaches <var>duration</var>.
</p>
<p><var>duration</var> must be a time duration specification,
see <a href="ffmpeg-utils.html#time-duration-syntax">(ffmpeg-utils)the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual</a>.
</p>
<p>-to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-to <var>position</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Stop writing the output at <var>position</var>.
<var>position</var> must be a time duration specification,
see <a href="ffmpeg-utils.html#time-duration-syntax">(ffmpeg-utils)the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual</a>.
</p>
<p>-to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-fs <var>limit_size</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the file size limit, expressed in bytes.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-ss <var>position</var> (<em>input/output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>When used as an input option (before <code>-i</code>), seeks in this input file to
<var>position</var>. Note that in most formats it is not possible to seek exactly,
so <code>ffmpeg</code> will seek to the closest seek point before <var>position</var>.
When transcoding and <samp>-accurate_seek</samp> is enabled (the default), this
extra segment between the seek point and <var>position</var> will be decoded and
discarded. When doing stream copy or when <samp>-noaccurate_seek</samp> is used, it
will be preserved.
</p>
<p>When used as an output option (before an output filename), decodes but discards
input until the timestamps reach <var>position</var>.
</p>
<p><var>position</var> must be a time duration specification,
see <a href="ffmpeg-utils.html#time-duration-syntax">(ffmpeg-utils)the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual</a>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-sseof <var>position</var> (<em>input/output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd>
<p>Like the <code>-ss</code> option but relative to the &quot;end of file&quot;. That is negative
values are earlier in the file, 0 is at EOF.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-itsoffset <var>offset</var> (<em>input</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the input time offset.
</p>
<p><var>offset</var> must be a time duration specification,
see <a href="ffmpeg-utils.html#time-duration-syntax">(ffmpeg-utils)the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual</a>.
</p>
<p>The offset is added to the timestamps of the input files. Specifying
a positive offset means that the corresponding streams are delayed by
the time duration specified in <var>offset</var>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-timestamp <var>date</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the recording timestamp in the container.
</p>
<p><var>date</var> must be a date specification,
see <a href="ffmpeg-utils.html#date-syntax">(ffmpeg-utils)the Date section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual</a>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-metadata[:metadata_specifier] <var>key</var>=<var>value</var> (<em>output,per-metadata</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set a metadata key/value pair.
</p>
<p>An optional <var>metadata_specifier</var> may be given to set metadata
on streams or chapters. See <code>-map_metadata</code> documentation for
details.
</p>
<p>This option overrides metadata set with <code>-map_metadata</code>. It is
also possible to delete metadata by using an empty value.
</p>
<p>For example, for setting the title in the output file:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i in.avi -metadata title=&quot;my title&quot; out.flv
</pre></div>

<p>To set the language of the first audio stream:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -metadata:s:a:0 language=eng OUTPUT
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-target <var>type</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Specify target file type (<code>vcd</code>, <code>svcd</code>, <code>dvd</code>, <code>dv</code>,
<code>dv50</code>). <var>type</var> may be prefixed with <code>pal-</code>, <code>ntsc-</code> or
<code>film-</code> to use the corresponding standard. All the format options
(bitrate, codecs, buffer sizes) are then set automatically. You can just type:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd /tmp/vcd.mpg
</pre></div>

<p>Nevertheless you can specify additional options as long as you know
they do not conflict with the standard, as in:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd -bf 2 /tmp/vcd.mpg
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-dframes <var>number</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the number of data frames to output. This is an alias for <code>-frames:d</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-frames[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>framecount</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Stop writing to the stream after <var>framecount</var> frames.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-q[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>q</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dt><samp>-qscale[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>q</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Use fixed quality scale (VBR). The meaning of <var>q</var>/<var>qscale</var> is
codec-dependent.
If <var>qscale</var> is used without a <var>stream_specifier</var> then it applies only
to the video stream, this is to maintain compatibility with previous behavior
and as specifying the same codec specific value to 2 different codecs that is
audio and video generally is not what is intended when no stream_specifier is
used.
</p>
<a name="filter_005foption"></a></dd>
<dt><samp>-filter[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>filtergraph</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Create the filtergraph specified by <var>filtergraph</var> and use it to
filter the stream.
</p>
<p><var>filtergraph</var> is a description of the filtergraph to apply to
the stream, and must have a single input and a single output of the
same type of the stream. In the filtergraph, the input is associated
to the label <code>in</code>, and the output to the label <code>out</code>. See
the ffmpeg-filters manual for more information about the filtergraph
syntax.
</p>
<p>See the <a href="#filter_005fcomplex_005foption">-filter_complex option</a> if you
want to create filtergraphs with multiple inputs and/or outputs.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-filter_script[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>filename</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>This option is similar to <samp>-filter</samp>, the only difference is that its
argument is the name of the file from which a filtergraph description is to be
read.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-pre[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>preset_name</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Specify the preset for matching stream(s).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-stats (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print encoding progress/statistics. It is on by default, to explicitly
disable it you need to specify <code>-nostats</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-progress <var>url</var> (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Send program-friendly progress information to <var>url</var>.
</p>
<p>Progress information is written approximately every second and at the end of
the encoding process. It is made of &quot;<var>key</var>=<var>value</var>&quot; lines. <var>key</var>
consists of only alphanumeric characters. The last key of a sequence of
progress information is always &quot;progress&quot;.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-stdin</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Enable interaction on standard input. On by default unless standard input is
used as an input. To explicitly disable interaction you need to specify
<code>-nostdin</code>.
</p>
<p>Disabling interaction on standard input is useful, for example, if
ffmpeg is in the background process group. Roughly the same result can
be achieved with <code>ffmpeg ... &lt; /dev/null</code> but it requires a
shell.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-debug_ts (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print timestamp information. It is off by default. This option is
mostly useful for testing and debugging purposes, and the output
format may change from one version to another, so it should not be
employed by portable scripts.
</p>
<p>See also the option <code>-fdebug ts</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-attach <var>filename</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Add an attachment to the output file. This is supported by a few formats
like Matroska for e.g. fonts used in rendering subtitles. Attachments
are implemented as a specific type of stream, so this option will add
a new stream to the file. It is then possible to use per-stream options
on this stream in the usual way. Attachment streams created with this
option will be created after all the other streams (i.e. those created
with <code>-map</code> or automatic mappings).
</p>
<p>Note that for Matroska you also have to set the mimetype metadata tag:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -attach DejaVuSans.ttf -metadata:s:2 mimetype=application/x-truetype-font out.mkv
</pre></div>
<p>(assuming that the attachment stream will be third in the output file).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-dump_attachment[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>filename</var> (<em>input,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Extract the matching attachment stream into a file named <var>filename</var>. If
<var>filename</var> is empty, then the value of the <code>filename</code> metadata tag
will be used.
</p>
<p>E.g. to extract the first attachment to a file named &rsquo;out.ttf&rsquo;:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t:0 out.ttf -i INPUT
</pre></div>
<p>To extract all attachments to files determined by the <code>filename</code> tag:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t &quot;&quot; -i INPUT
</pre></div>

<p>Technical note &ndash; attachments are implemented as codec extradata, so this
option can actually be used to extract extradata from any stream, not just
attachments.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-noautorotate</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Disable automatically rotating video based on file metadata.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>

<a name="Video-Options"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.5 Video Options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Video-Options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Video-Options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>-vframes <var>number</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the number of video frames to output. This is an alias for <code>-frames:v</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-r[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>fps</var> (<em>input/output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set frame rate (Hz value, fraction or abbreviation).
</p>
<p>As an input option, ignore any timestamps stored in the file and instead
generate timestamps assuming constant frame rate <var>fps</var>.
This is not the same as the <samp>-framerate</samp> option used for some input formats
like image2 or v4l2 (it used to be the same in older versions of FFmpeg).
If in doubt use <samp>-framerate</samp> instead of the input option <samp>-r</samp>.
</p>
<p>As an output option, duplicate or drop input frames to achieve constant output
frame rate <var>fps</var>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-s[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>size</var> (<em>input/output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set frame size.
</p>
<p>As an input option, this is a shortcut for the <samp>video_size</samp> private
option, recognized by some demuxers for which the frame size is either not
stored in the file or is configurable &ndash; e.g. raw video or video grabbers.
</p>
<p>As an output option, this inserts the <code>scale</code> video filter to the
<em>end</em> of the corresponding filtergraph. Please use the <code>scale</code> filter
directly to insert it at the beginning or some other place.
</p>
<p>The format is &lsquo;<samp>wxh</samp>&rsquo; (default - same as source).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-aspect[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>aspect</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the video display aspect ratio specified by <var>aspect</var>.
</p>
<p><var>aspect</var> can be a floating point number string, or a string of the
form <var>num</var>:<var>den</var>, where <var>num</var> and <var>den</var> are the
numerator and denominator of the aspect ratio. For example &quot;4:3&quot;,
&quot;16:9&quot;, &quot;1.3333&quot;, and &quot;1.7777&quot; are valid argument values.
</p>
<p>If used together with <samp>-vcodec copy</samp>, it will affect the aspect ratio
stored at container level, but not the aspect ratio stored in encoded
frames, if it exists.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-vn (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Disable video recording.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-vcodec <var>codec</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the video codec. This is an alias for <code>-codec:v</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-pass[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>n</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Select the pass number (1 or 2). It is used to do two-pass
video encoding. The statistics of the video are recorded in the first
pass into a log file (see also the option -passlogfile),
and in the second pass that log file is used to generate the video
at the exact requested bitrate.
On pass 1, you may just deactivate audio and set output to null,
examples for Windows and Unix:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i foo.mov -c:v libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y NUL
ffmpeg -i foo.mov -c:v libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y /dev/null
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-passlogfile[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>prefix</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set two-pass log file name prefix to <var>prefix</var>, the default file name
prefix is &ldquo;ffmpeg2pass&rdquo;. The complete file name will be
<samp>PREFIX-N.log</samp>, where N is a number specific to the output
stream
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-vf <var>filtergraph</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Create the filtergraph specified by <var>filtergraph</var> and use it to
filter the stream.
</p>
<p>This is an alias for <code>-filter:v</code>, see the <a href="#filter_005foption">-filter option</a>.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<a name="Advanced-Video-options"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.6 Advanced Video options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Advanced-Video-options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Advanced-Video-options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>-pix_fmt[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>format</var> (<em>input/output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set pixel format. Use <code>-pix_fmts</code> to show all the supported
pixel formats.
If the selected pixel format can not be selected, ffmpeg will print a
warning and select the best pixel format supported by the encoder.
If <var>pix_fmt</var> is prefixed by a <code>+</code>, ffmpeg will exit with an error
if the requested pixel format can not be selected, and automatic conversions
inside filtergraphs are disabled.
If <var>pix_fmt</var> is a single <code>+</code>, ffmpeg selects the same pixel format
as the input (or graph output) and automatic conversions are disabled.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-sws_flags <var>flags</var> (<em>input/output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set SwScaler flags.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-vdt <var>n</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Discard threshold.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-rc_override[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>override</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Rate control override for specific intervals, formatted as &quot;int,int,int&quot;
list separated with slashes. Two first values are the beginning and
end frame numbers, last one is quantizer to use if positive, or quality
factor if negative.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-ilme</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Force interlacing support in encoder (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 only).
Use this option if your input file is interlaced and you want
to keep the interlaced format for minimum losses.
The alternative is to deinterlace the input stream with
<samp>-deinterlace</samp>, but deinterlacing introduces losses.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-psnr</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Calculate PSNR of compressed frames.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-vstats</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Dump video coding statistics to <samp>vstats_HHMMSS.log</samp>.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-vstats_file <var>file</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Dump video coding statistics to <var>file</var>.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-top[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>n</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>top=1/bottom=0/auto=-1 field first
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-dc <var>precision</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Intra_dc_precision.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-vtag <var>fourcc/tag</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Force video tag/fourcc. This is an alias for <code>-tag:v</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-qphist (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show QP histogram
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-vbsf <var>bitstream_filter</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Deprecated see -bsf
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-force_key_frames[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>time</var>[,<var>time</var>...] (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dt><samp>-force_key_frames[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] expr:<var>expr</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Force key frames at the specified timestamps, more precisely at the first
frames after each specified time.
</p>
<p>If the argument is prefixed with <code>expr:</code>, the string <var>expr</var>
is interpreted like an expression and is evaluated for each frame. A
key frame is forced in case the evaluation is non-zero.
</p>
<p>If one of the times is &quot;<code>chapters</code>[<var>delta</var>]&quot;, it is expanded into
the time of the beginning of all chapters in the file, shifted by
<var>delta</var>, expressed as a time in seconds.
This option can be useful to ensure that a seek point is present at a
chapter mark or any other designated place in the output file.
</p>
<p>For example, to insert a key frame at 5 minutes, plus key frames 0.1 second
before the beginning of every chapter:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">-force_key_frames 0:05:00,chapters-0.1
</pre></div>

<p>The expression in <var>expr</var> can contain the following constants:
</p><dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>n</samp></dt>
<dd><p>the number of current processed frame, starting from 0
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>n_forced</samp></dt>
<dd><p>the number of forced frames
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>prev_forced_n</samp></dt>
<dd><p>the number of the previous forced frame, it is <code>NAN</code> when no
keyframe was forced yet
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>prev_forced_t</samp></dt>
<dd><p>the time of the previous forced frame, it is <code>NAN</code> when no
keyframe was forced yet
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>t</samp></dt>
<dd><p>the time of the current processed frame
</p></dd>
</dl>

<p>For example to force a key frame every 5 seconds, you can specify:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">-force_key_frames expr:gte(t,n_forced*5)
</pre></div>

<p>To force a key frame 5 seconds after the time of the last forced one,
starting from second 13:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">-force_key_frames expr:if(isnan(prev_forced_t),gte(t,13),gte(t,prev_forced_t+5))
</pre></div>

<p>Note that forcing too many keyframes is very harmful for the lookahead
algorithms of certain encoders: using fixed-GOP options or similar
would be more efficient.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-copyinkf[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>When doing stream copy, copy also non-key frames found at the
beginning.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-hwaccel[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>hwaccel</var> (<em>input,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Use hardware acceleration to decode the matching stream(s). The allowed values
of <var>hwaccel</var> are:
</p><dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>none</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Do not use any hardware acceleration (the default).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>auto</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Automatically select the hardware acceleration method.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>vda</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Use Apple VDA hardware acceleration.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>vdpau</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Use VDPAU (Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix) hardware acceleration.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>dxva2</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Use DXVA2 (DirectX Video Acceleration) hardware acceleration.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<p>This option has no effect if the selected hwaccel is not available or not
supported by the chosen decoder.
</p>
<p>Note that most acceleration methods are intended for playback and will not be
faster than software decoding on modern CPUs. Additionally, <code>ffmpeg</code>
will usually need to copy the decoded frames from the GPU memory into the system
memory, resulting in further performance loss. This option is thus mainly
useful for testing.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-hwaccel_device[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>hwaccel_device</var> (<em>input,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Select a device to use for hardware acceleration.
</p>
<p>This option only makes sense when the <samp>-hwaccel</samp> option is also
specified. Its exact meaning depends on the specific hardware acceleration
method chosen.
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>vdpau</samp></dt>
<dd><p>For VDPAU, this option specifies the X11 display/screen to use. If this option
is not specified, the value of the <var>DISPLAY</var> environment variable is used
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>dxva2</samp></dt>
<dd><p>For DXVA2, this option should contain the number of the display adapter to use.
If this option is not specified, the default adapter is used.
</p></dd>
</dl>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-hwaccels</samp></dt>
<dd><p>List all hardware acceleration methods supported in this build of ffmpeg.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>

<a name="Audio-Options"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.7 Audio Options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Audio-Options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Audio-Options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>-aframes <var>number</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the number of audio frames to output. This is an alias for <code>-frames:a</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-ar[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>freq</var> (<em>input/output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the audio sampling frequency. For output streams it is set by
default to the frequency of the corresponding input stream. For input
streams this option only makes sense for audio grabbing devices and raw
demuxers and is mapped to the corresponding demuxer options.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-aq <var>q</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the audio quality (codec-specific, VBR). This is an alias for -q:a.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-ac[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>channels</var> (<em>input/output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the number of audio channels. For output streams it is set by
default to the number of input audio channels. For input streams
this option only makes sense for audio grabbing devices and raw demuxers
and is mapped to the corresponding demuxer options.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-an (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Disable audio recording.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-acodec <var>codec</var> (<em>input/output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the audio codec. This is an alias for <code>-codec:a</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-sample_fmt[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>sample_fmt</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the audio sample format. Use <code>-sample_fmts</code> to get a list
of supported sample formats.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-af <var>filtergraph</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Create the filtergraph specified by <var>filtergraph</var> and use it to
filter the stream.
</p>
<p>This is an alias for <code>-filter:a</code>, see the <a href="#filter_005foption">-filter option</a>.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<a name="Advanced-Audio-options"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.8 Advanced Audio options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Advanced-Audio-options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Advanced-Audio-options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>-atag <var>fourcc/tag</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Force audio tag/fourcc. This is an alias for <code>-tag:a</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-absf <var>bitstream_filter</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Deprecated, see -bsf
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-guess_layout_max <var>channels</var> (<em>input,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>If some input channel layout is not known, try to guess only if it
corresponds to at most the specified number of channels. For example, 2
tells to <code>ffmpeg</code> to recognize 1 channel as mono and 2 channels as
stereo but not 6 channels as 5.1. The default is to always try to guess. Use
0 to disable all guessing.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<a name="Subtitle-options"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.9 Subtitle options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Subtitle-options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Subtitle-options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>-scodec <var>codec</var> (<em>input/output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the subtitle codec. This is an alias for <code>-codec:s</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-sn (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Disable subtitle recording.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-sbsf <var>bitstream_filter</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Deprecated, see -bsf
</p></dd>
</dl>

<a name="Advanced-Subtitle-options"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.10 Advanced Subtitle options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Advanced-Subtitle-options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Advanced-Subtitle-options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>-fix_sub_duration</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Fix subtitles durations. For each subtitle, wait for the next packet in the
same stream and adjust the duration of the first to avoid overlap. This is
necessary with some subtitles codecs, especially DVB subtitles, because the
duration in the original packet is only a rough estimate and the end is
actually marked by an empty subtitle frame. Failing to use this option when
necessary can result in exaggerated durations or muxing failures due to
non-monotonic timestamps.
</p>
<p>Note that this option will delay the output of all data until the next
subtitle packet is decoded: it may increase memory consumption and latency a
lot.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-canvas_size <var>size</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the size of the canvas used to render subtitles.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>

<a name="Advanced-options"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.11 Advanced options<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Advanced-options" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Advanced-options" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>-map [-]<var>input_file_id</var>[:<var>stream_specifier</var>][,<var>sync_file_id</var>[:<var>stream_specifier</var>]] | <var>[linklabel]</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd>
<p>Designate one or more input streams as a source for the output file. Each input
stream is identified by the input file index <var>input_file_id</var> and
the input stream index <var>input_stream_id</var> within the input
file. Both indices start at 0. If specified,
<var>sync_file_id</var>:<var>stream_specifier</var> sets which input stream
is used as a presentation sync reference.
</p>
<p>The first <code>-map</code> option on the command line specifies the
source for output stream 0, the second <code>-map</code> option specifies
the source for output stream 1, etc.
</p>
<p>A <code>-</code> character before the stream identifier creates a &quot;negative&quot; mapping.
It disables matching streams from already created mappings.
</p>
<p>An alternative <var>[linklabel]</var> form will map outputs from complex filter
graphs (see the <samp>-filter_complex</samp> option) to the output file.
<var>linklabel</var> must correspond to a defined output link label in the graph.
</p>
<p>For example, to map ALL streams from the first input file to output
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 output
</pre></div>

<p>For example, if you have two audio streams in the first input file,
these streams are identified by &quot;0:0&quot; and &quot;0:1&quot;. You can use
<code>-map</code> to select which streams to place in an output file. For
example:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:1 out.wav
</pre></div>
<p>will map the input stream in <samp>INPUT</samp> identified by &quot;0:1&quot; to
the (single) output stream in <samp>out.wav</samp>.
</p>
<p>For example, to select the stream with index 2 from input file
<samp>a.mov</samp> (specified by the identifier &quot;0:2&quot;), and stream with
index 6 from input <samp>b.mov</samp> (specified by the identifier &quot;1:6&quot;),
and copy them to the output file <samp>out.mov</samp>:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i a.mov -i b.mov -c copy -map 0:2 -map 1:6 out.mov
</pre></div>

<p>To select all video and the third audio stream from an input file:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:v -map 0:a:2 OUTPUT
</pre></div>

<p>To map all the streams except the second audio, use negative mappings
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -map -0:a:1 OUTPUT
</pre></div>

<p>To pick the English audio stream:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:m:language:eng OUTPUT
</pre></div>

<p>Note that using this option disables the default mappings for this output file.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-ignore_unknown</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Ignore input streams with unknown type instead of failing if copying
such streams is attempted.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-copy_unknown</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Allow input streams with unknown type to be copied instead of failing if copying
such streams is attempted.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-map_channel [<var>input_file_id</var>.<var>stream_specifier</var>.<var>channel_id</var>|-1][:<var>output_file_id</var>.<var>stream_specifier</var>]</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Map an audio channel from a given input to an output. If
<var>output_file_id</var>.<var>stream_specifier</var> is not set, the audio channel will
be mapped on all the audio streams.
</p>
<p>Using &quot;-1&quot; instead of
<var>input_file_id</var>.<var>stream_specifier</var>.<var>channel_id</var> will map a muted
channel.
</p>
<p>For example, assuming <var>INPUT</var> is a stereo audio file, you can switch the
two audio channels with the following command:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.1 -map_channel 0.0.0 OUTPUT
</pre></div>

<p>If you want to mute the first channel and keep the second:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel -1 -map_channel 0.0.1 OUTPUT
</pre></div>

<p>The order of the &quot;-map_channel&quot; option specifies the order of the channels in
the output stream. The output channel layout is guessed from the number of
channels mapped (mono if one &quot;-map_channel&quot;, stereo if two, etc.). Using &quot;-ac&quot;
in combination of &quot;-map_channel&quot; makes the channel gain levels to be updated if
input and output channel layouts don&rsquo;t match (for instance two &quot;-map_channel&quot;
options and &quot;-ac 6&quot;).
</p>
<p>You can also extract each channel of an input to specific outputs; the following
command extracts two channels of the <var>INPUT</var> audio stream (file 0, stream 0)
to the respective <var>OUTPUT_CH0</var> and <var>OUTPUT_CH1</var> outputs:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.0 OUTPUT_CH0 -map_channel 0.0.1 OUTPUT_CH1
</pre></div>

<p>The following example splits the channels of a stereo input into two separate
streams, which are put into the same output file:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i stereo.wav -map 0:0 -map 0:0 -map_channel 0.0.0:0.0 -map_channel 0.0.1:0.1 -y out.ogg
</pre></div>

<p>Note that currently each output stream can only contain channels from a single
input stream; you can&rsquo;t for example use &quot;-map_channel&quot; to pick multiple input
audio channels contained in different streams (from the same or different files)
and merge them into a single output stream. It is therefore not currently
possible, for example, to turn two separate mono streams into a single stereo
stream. However splitting a stereo stream into two single channel mono streams
is possible.
</p>
<p>If you need this feature, a possible workaround is to use the <em>amerge</em>
filter. For example, if you need to merge a media (here <samp>input.mkv</samp>) with 2
mono audio streams into one single stereo channel audio stream (and keep the
video stream), you can use the following command:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i input.mkv -filter_complex &quot;[0:1] [0:2] amerge&quot; -c:a pcm_s16le -c:v copy output.mkv
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-map_metadata[:<var>metadata_spec_out</var>] <var>infile</var>[:<var>metadata_spec_in</var>] (<em>output,per-metadata</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set metadata information of the next output file from <var>infile</var>. Note that
those are file indices (zero-based), not filenames.
Optional <var>metadata_spec_in/out</var> parameters specify, which metadata to copy.
A metadata specifier can have the following forms:
</p><dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp><var>g</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>global metadata, i.e. metadata that applies to the whole file
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp><var>s</var>[:<var>stream_spec</var>]</samp></dt>
<dd><p>per-stream metadata. <var>stream_spec</var> is a stream specifier as described
in the <a href="#Stream-specifiers">Stream specifiers</a> chapter. In an input metadata specifier, the first
matching stream is copied from. In an output metadata specifier, all matching
streams are copied to.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp><var>c</var>:<var>chapter_index</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>per-chapter metadata. <var>chapter_index</var> is the zero-based chapter index.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp><var>p</var>:<var>program_index</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>per-program metadata. <var>program_index</var> is the zero-based program index.
</p></dd>
</dl>
<p>If metadata specifier is omitted, it defaults to global.
</p>
<p>By default, global metadata is copied from the first input file,
per-stream and per-chapter metadata is copied along with streams/chapters. These
default mappings are disabled by creating any mapping of the relevant type. A negative
file index can be used to create a dummy mapping that just disables automatic copying.
</p>
<p>For example to copy metadata from the first stream of the input file to global metadata
of the output file:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i in.ogg -map_metadata 0:s:0 out.mp3
</pre></div>

<p>To do the reverse, i.e. copy global metadata to all audio streams:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i in.mkv -map_metadata:s:a 0:g out.mkv
</pre></div>
<p>Note that simple <code>0</code> would work as well in this example, since global
metadata is assumed by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-map_chapters <var>input_file_index</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Copy chapters from input file with index <var>input_file_index</var> to the next
output file. If no chapter mapping is specified, then chapters are copied from
the first input file with at least one chapter. Use a negative file index to
disable any chapter copying.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-benchmark (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show benchmarking information at the end of an encode.
Shows CPU time used and maximum memory consumption.
Maximum memory consumption is not supported on all systems,
it will usually display as 0 if not supported.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-benchmark_all (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Show benchmarking information during the encode.
Shows CPU time used in various steps (audio/video encode/decode).
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-timelimit <var>duration</var> (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Exit after ffmpeg has been running for <var>duration</var> seconds.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-dump (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Dump each input packet to stderr.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-hex (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>When dumping packets, also dump the payload.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-re (<em>input</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Read input at native frame rate. Mainly used to simulate a grab device.
or live input stream (e.g. when reading from a file). Should not be used
with actual grab devices or live input streams (where it can cause packet
loss).
By default <code>ffmpeg</code> attempts to read the input(s) as fast as possible.
This option will slow down the reading of the input(s) to the native frame rate
of the input(s). It is useful for real-time output (e.g. live streaming).
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-loop_input</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Loop over the input stream. Currently it works only for image
streams. This option is used for automatic FFserver testing.
This option is deprecated, use -loop 1.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-loop_output <var>number_of_times</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Repeatedly loop output for formats that support looping such as animated GIF
(0 will loop the output infinitely).
This option is deprecated, use -loop.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-vsync <var>parameter</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Video sync method.
For compatibility reasons old values can be specified as numbers.
Newly added values will have to be specified as strings always.
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>0, passthrough</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Each frame is passed with its timestamp from the demuxer to the muxer.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>1, cfr</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Frames will be duplicated and dropped to achieve exactly the requested
constant frame rate.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>2, vfr</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Frames are passed through with their timestamp or dropped so as to
prevent 2 frames from having the same timestamp.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>drop</samp></dt>
<dd><p>As passthrough but destroys all timestamps, making the muxer generate
fresh timestamps based on frame-rate.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-1, auto</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Chooses between 1 and 2 depending on muxer capabilities. This is the
default method.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<p>Note that the timestamps may be further modified by the muxer, after this.
For example, in the case that the format option <samp>avoid_negative_ts</samp>
is enabled.
</p>
<p>With -map you can select from which stream the timestamps should be
taken. You can leave either video or audio unchanged and sync the
remaining stream(s) to the unchanged one.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-frame_drop_threshold <var>parameter</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Frame drop threshold, which specifies how much behind video frames can
be before they are dropped. In frame rate units, so 1.0 is one frame.
The default is -1.1. One possible usecase is to avoid framedrops in case
of noisy timestamps or to increase frame drop precision in case of exact
timestamps.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-async <var>samples_per_second</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Audio sync method. &quot;Stretches/squeezes&quot; the audio stream to match the timestamps,
the parameter is the maximum samples per second by which the audio is changed.
-async 1 is a special case where only the start of the audio stream is corrected
without any later correction.
</p>
<p>Note that the timestamps may be further modified by the muxer, after this.
For example, in the case that the format option <samp>avoid_negative_ts</samp>
is enabled.
</p>
<p>This option has been deprecated. Use the <code>aresample</code> audio filter instead.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-copyts</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Do not process input timestamps, but keep their values without trying
to sanitize them. In particular, do not remove the initial start time
offset value.
</p>
<p>Note that, depending on the <samp>vsync</samp> option or on specific muxer
processing (e.g. in case the format option <samp>avoid_negative_ts</samp>
is enabled) the output timestamps may mismatch with the input
timestamps even when this option is selected.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-start_at_zero</samp></dt>
<dd><p>When used with <samp>copyts</samp>, shift input timestamps so they start at zero.
</p>
<p>This means that using e.g. <code>-ss 50</code> will make output timestamps start at
50 seconds, regardless of what timestamp the input file started at.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-copytb <var>mode</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Specify how to set the encoder timebase when stream copying.  <var>mode</var> is an
integer numeric value, and can assume one of the following values:
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>1</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Use the demuxer timebase.
</p>
<p>The time base is copied to the output encoder from the corresponding input
demuxer. This is sometimes required to avoid non monotonically increasing
timestamps when copying video streams with variable frame rate.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>0</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Use the decoder timebase.
</p>
<p>The time base is copied to the output encoder from the corresponding input
decoder.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-1</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Try to make the choice automatically, in order to generate a sane output.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<p>Default value is -1.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-shortest (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Finish encoding when the shortest input stream ends.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-dts_delta_threshold</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Timestamp discontinuity delta threshold.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-muxdelay <var>seconds</var> (<em>input</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the maximum demux-decode delay.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-muxpreload <var>seconds</var> (<em>input</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set the initial demux-decode delay.
</p></dd>
<dt><samp>-streamid <var>output-stream-index</var>:<var>new-value</var> (<em>output</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Assign a new stream-id value to an output stream. This option should be
specified prior to the output filename to which it applies.
For the situation where multiple output files exist, a streamid
may be reassigned to a different value.
</p>
<p>For example, to set the stream 0 PID to 33 and the stream 1 PID to 36 for
an output mpegts file:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i infile -streamid 0:33 -streamid 1:36 out.ts
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-bsf[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>bitstream_filters</var> (<em>output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Set bitstream filters for matching streams. <var>bitstream_filters</var> is
a comma-separated list of bitstream filters. Use the <code>-bsfs</code> option
to get the list of bitstream filters.
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i h264.mp4 -c:v copy -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -an out.h264
</pre></div>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i file.mov -an -vn -bsf:s mov2textsub -c:s copy -f rawvideo sub.txt
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-tag[:<var>stream_specifier</var>] <var>codec_tag</var> (<em>input/output,per-stream</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Force a tag/fourcc for matching streams.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-timecode <var>hh</var>:<var>mm</var>:<var>ss</var>SEP<var>ff</var></samp></dt>
<dd><p>Specify Timecode for writing. <var>SEP</var> is &rsquo;:&rsquo; for non drop timecode and &rsquo;;&rsquo;
(or &rsquo;.&rsquo;) for drop.
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i input.mpg -timecode 01:02:03.04 -r 30000/1001 -s ntsc output.mpg
</pre></div>

<a name="filter_005fcomplex_005foption"></a></dd>
<dt><samp>-filter_complex <var>filtergraph</var> (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Define a complex filtergraph, i.e. one with arbitrary number of inputs and/or
outputs. For simple graphs &ndash; those with one input and one output of the same
type &ndash; see the <samp>-filter</samp> options. <var>filtergraph</var> is a description of
the filtergraph, as described in the &ldquo;Filtergraph syntax&rdquo; section of the
ffmpeg-filters manual.
</p>
<p>Input link labels must refer to input streams using the
<code>[file_index:stream_specifier]</code> syntax (i.e. the same as <samp>-map</samp>
uses). If <var>stream_specifier</var> matches multiple streams, the first one will be
used. An unlabeled input will be connected to the first unused input stream of
the matching type.
</p>
<p>Output link labels are referred to with <samp>-map</samp>. Unlabeled outputs are
added to the first output file.
</p>
<p>Note that with this option it is possible to use only lavfi sources without
normal input files.
</p>
<p>For example, to overlay an image over video
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex '[0:v][1:v]overlay[out]' -map
'[out]' out.mkv
</pre></div>
<p>Here <code>[0:v]</code> refers to the first video stream in the first input file,
which is linked to the first (main) input of the overlay filter. Similarly the
first video stream in the second input is linked to the second (overlay) input
of overlay.
</p>
<p>Assuming there is only one video stream in each input file, we can omit input
labels, so the above is equivalent to
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex 'overlay[out]' -map
'[out]' out.mkv
</pre></div>

<p>Furthermore we can omit the output label and the single output from the filter
graph will be added to the output file automatically, so we can simply write
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i video.mkv -i image.png -filter_complex 'overlay' out.mkv
</pre></div>

<p>To generate 5 seconds of pure red video using lavfi <code>color</code> source:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -filter_complex 'color=c=red' -t 5 out.mkv
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-lavfi <var>filtergraph</var> (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Define a complex filtergraph, i.e. one with arbitrary number of inputs and/or
outputs. Equivalent to <samp>-filter_complex</samp>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-filter_complex_script <var>filename</var> (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>This option is similar to <samp>-filter_complex</samp>, the only difference is that
its argument is the name of the file from which a complex filtergraph
description is to be read.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-accurate_seek (<em>input</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>This option enables or disables accurate seeking in input files with the
<samp>-ss</samp> option. It is enabled by default, so seeking is accurate when
transcoding. Use <samp>-noaccurate_seek</samp> to disable it, which may be useful
e.g. when copying some streams and transcoding the others.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-seek_timestamp (<em>input</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>This option enables or disables seeking by timestamp in input files with the
<samp>-ss</samp> option. It is disabled by default. If enabled, the argument
to the <samp>-ss</samp> option is considered an actual timestamp, and is not
offset by the start time of the file. This matters only for files which do
not start from timestamp 0, such as transport streams.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-thread_queue_size <var>size</var> (<em>input</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>This option sets the maximum number of queued packets when reading from the
file or device. With low latency / high rate live streams, packets may be
discarded if they are not read in a timely manner; raising this value can
avoid it.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-override_ffserver (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Overrides the input specifications from <code>ffserver</code>. Using this
option you can map any input stream to <code>ffserver</code> and control
many aspects of the encoding from <code>ffmpeg</code>. Without this
option <code>ffmpeg</code> will transmit to <code>ffserver</code> what is
requested by <code>ffserver</code>.
</p>
<p>The option is intended for cases where features are needed that cannot be
specified to <code>ffserver</code> but can be to <code>ffmpeg</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-sdp_file <var>file</var> (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Print sdp information for an output stream to <var>file</var>.
This allows dumping sdp information when at least one output isn&rsquo;t an
rtp stream. (Requires at least one of the output formats to be rtp).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>-discard (<em>input</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Allows discarding specific streams or frames of streams at the demuxer.
Not all demuxers support this.
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt><samp>none</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Discard no frame.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>default</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Default, which discards no frames.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>noref</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Discard all non-reference frames.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>bidir</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Discard all bidirectional frames.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>nokey</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Discard all frames excepts keyframes.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><samp>all</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Discard all frames.
</p></dd>
</dl>

</dd>
<dt><samp>-xerror (<em>global</em>)</samp></dt>
<dd><p>Stop and exit on error
</p>
</dd>
</dl>

<p>As a special exception, you can use a bitmap subtitle stream as input: it
will be converted into a video with the same size as the largest video in
the file, or 720x576 if no video is present. Note that this is an
experimental and temporary solution. It will be removed once libavfilter has
proper support for subtitles.
</p>
<p>For example, to hardcode subtitles on top of a DVB-T recording stored in
MPEG-TS format, delaying the subtitles by 1 second:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i input.ts -filter_complex \
  '[#0x2ef] setpts=PTS+1/TB [sub] ; [#0x2d0] [sub] overlay' \
  -sn -map '#0x2dc' output.mkv
</pre></div>
<p>(0x2d0, 0x2dc and 0x2ef are the MPEG-TS PIDs of respectively the video,
audio and subtitles streams; 0:0, 0:3 and 0:7 would have worked too)
</p>
<a name="Preset-files"></a>
<h3 class="section">5.12 Preset files<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Preset-files" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Preset-files" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>
<p>A preset file contains a sequence of <var>option</var>=<var>value</var> pairs,
one for each line, specifying a sequence of options which would be
awkward to specify on the command line. Lines starting with the hash
(&rsquo;#&rsquo;) character are ignored and are used to provide comments. Check
the <samp>presets</samp> directory in the FFmpeg source tree for examples.
</p>
<p>There are two types of preset files: ffpreset and avpreset files.
</p>
<a name="ffpreset-files"></a>
<h4 class="subsection">5.12.1 ffpreset files<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#ffpreset-files" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-ffpreset-files" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h4>
<p>ffpreset files are specified with the <code>vpre</code>, <code>apre</code>,
<code>spre</code>, and <code>fpre</code> options. The <code>fpre</code> option takes the
filename of the preset instead of a preset name as input and can be
used for any kind of codec. For the <code>vpre</code>, <code>apre</code>, and
<code>spre</code> options, the options specified in a preset file are
applied to the currently selected codec of the same type as the preset
option.
</p>
<p>The argument passed to the <code>vpre</code>, <code>apre</code>, and <code>spre</code>
preset options identifies the preset file to use according to the
following rules:
</p>
<p>First ffmpeg searches for a file named <var>arg</var>.ffpreset in the
directories <samp>$FFMPEG_DATADIR</samp> (if set), and <samp>$HOME/.ffmpeg</samp>, and in
the datadir defined at configuration time (usually <samp>PREFIX/share/ffmpeg</samp>)
or in a <samp>ffpresets</samp> folder along the executable on win32,
in that order. For example, if the argument is <code>libvpx-1080p</code>, it will
search for the file <samp>libvpx-1080p.ffpreset</samp>.
</p>
<p>If no such file is found, then ffmpeg will search for a file named
<var>codec_name</var>-<var>arg</var>.ffpreset in the above-mentioned
directories, where <var>codec_name</var> is the name of the codec to which
the preset file options will be applied. For example, if you select
the video codec with <code>-vcodec libvpx</code> and use <code>-vpre 1080p</code>,
then it will search for the file <samp>libvpx-1080p.ffpreset</samp>.
</p>
<a name="avpreset-files"></a>
<h4 class="subsection">5.12.2 avpreset files<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#avpreset-files" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-avpreset-files" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h4>
<p>avpreset files are specified with the <code>pre</code> option. They work similar to
ffpreset files, but they only allow encoder- specific options. Therefore, an
<var>option</var>=<var>value</var> pair specifying an encoder cannot be used.
</p>
<p>When the <code>pre</code> option is specified, ffmpeg will look for files with the
suffix .avpreset in the directories <samp>$AVCONV_DATADIR</samp> (if set), and
<samp>$HOME/.avconv</samp>, and in the datadir defined at configuration time (usually
<samp>PREFIX/share/ffmpeg</samp>), in that order.
</p>
<p>First ffmpeg searches for a file named <var>codec_name</var>-<var>arg</var>.avpreset in
the above-mentioned directories, where <var>codec_name</var> is the name of the codec
to which the preset file options will be applied. For example, if you select the
video codec with <code>-vcodec libvpx</code> and use <code>-pre 1080p</code>, then it will
search for the file <samp>libvpx-1080p.avpreset</samp>.
</p>
<p>If no such file is found, then ffmpeg will search for a file named
<var>arg</var>.avpreset in the same directories.
</p>

<a name="Examples"></a>
<h2 class="chapter">6 Examples<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Examples" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Examples" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h2>

<a name="Video-and-Audio-grabbing"></a>
<h3 class="section">6.1 Video and Audio grabbing<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Video-and-Audio-grabbing" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Video-and-Audio-grabbing" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<p>If you specify the input format and device then ffmpeg can grab video
and audio directly.
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -f oss -i /dev/dsp -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg
</pre></div>

<p>Or with an ALSA audio source (mono input, card id 1) instead of OSS:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -f alsa -ac 1 -i hw:1 -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg
</pre></div>

<p>Note that you must activate the right video source and channel before
launching ffmpeg with any TV viewer such as
<a href="http://linux.bytesex.org/xawtv/">xawtv</a> by Gerd Knorr. You also
have to set the audio recording levels correctly with a
standard mixer.
</p>
<a name="X11-grabbing"></a>
<h3 class="section">6.2 X11 grabbing<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#X11-grabbing" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-X11-grabbing" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<p>Grab the X11 display with ffmpeg via
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -f x11grab -video_size cif -framerate 25 -i :0.0 /tmp/out.mpg
</pre></div>

<p>0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as
the DISPLAY environment variable.
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -f x11grab -video_size cif -framerate 25 -i :0.0+10,20 /tmp/out.mpg
</pre></div>

<p>0.0 is display.screen number of your X11 server, same as the DISPLAY environment
variable. 10 is the x-offset and 20 the y-offset for the grabbing.
</p>
<a name="Video-and-Audio-file-format-conversion"></a>
<h3 class="section">6.3 Video and Audio file format conversion<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Video-and-Audio-file-format-conversion" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Video-and-Audio-file-format-conversion" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h3>

<p>Any supported file format and protocol can serve as input to ffmpeg:
</p>
<p>Examples:
</p><ul>
<li> You can use YUV files as input:

<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i /tmp/test%d.Y /tmp/out.mpg
</pre></div>

<p>It will use the files:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">/tmp/test0.Y, /tmp/test0.U, /tmp/test0.V,
/tmp/test1.Y, /tmp/test1.U, /tmp/test1.V, etc...
</pre></div>

<p>The Y files use twice the resolution of the U and V files. They are
raw files, without header. They can be generated by all decent video
decoders. You must specify the size of the image with the <samp>-s</samp> option
if ffmpeg cannot guess it.
</p>
</li><li> You can input from a raw YUV420P file:

<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i /tmp/test.yuv /tmp/out.avi
</pre></div>

<p>test.yuv is a file containing raw YUV planar data. Each frame is composed
of the Y plane followed by the U and V planes at half vertical and
horizontal resolution.
</p>
</li><li> You can output to a raw YUV420P file:

<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i mydivx.avi hugefile.yuv
</pre></div>

</li><li> You can set several input files and output files:

<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -s 640x480 -i /tmp/a.yuv /tmp/a.mpg
</pre></div>

<p>Converts the audio file a.wav and the raw YUV video file a.yuv
to MPEG file a.mpg.
</p>
</li><li> You can also do audio and video conversions at the same time:

<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -ar 22050 /tmp/a.mp2
</pre></div>

<p>Converts a.wav to MPEG audio at 22050 Hz sample rate.
</p>
</li><li> You can encode to several formats at the same time and define a
mapping from input stream to output streams:

<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.wav -map 0:a -b:a 64k /tmp/a.mp2 -map 0:a -b:a 128k /tmp/b.mp2
</pre></div>

<p>Converts a.wav to a.mp2 at 64 kbits and to b.mp2 at 128 kbits. &rsquo;-map
file:index&rsquo; specifies which input stream is used for each output
stream, in the order of the definition of output streams.
</p>
</li><li> You can transcode decrypted VOBs:

<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i snatch_1.vob -f avi -c:v mpeg4 -b:v 800k -g 300 -bf 2 -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 128k snatch.avi
</pre></div>

<p>This is a typical DVD ripping example; the input is a VOB file, the
output an AVI file with MPEG-4 video and MP3 audio. Note that in this
command we use B-frames so the MPEG-4 stream is DivX5 compatible, and
GOP size is 300 which means one intra frame every 10 seconds for 29.97fps
input video. Furthermore, the audio stream is MP3-encoded so you need
to enable LAME support by passing <code>--enable-libmp3lame</code> to configure.
The mapping is particularly useful for DVD transcoding
to get the desired audio language.
</p>
<p>NOTE: To see the supported input formats, use <code>ffmpeg -formats</code>.
</p>
</li><li> You can extract images from a video, or create a video from many images:

<p>For extracting images from a video:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i foo.avi -r 1 -s WxH -f image2 foo-%03d.jpeg
</pre></div>

<p>This will extract one video frame per second from the video and will
output them in files named <samp>foo-001.jpeg</samp>, <samp>foo-002.jpeg</samp>,
etc. Images will be rescaled to fit the new WxH values.
</p>
<p>If you want to extract just a limited number of frames, you can use the
above command in combination with the -vframes or -t option, or in
combination with -ss to start extracting from a certain point in time.
</p>
<p>For creating a video from many images:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -f image2 -framerate 12 -i foo-%03d.jpeg -s WxH foo.avi
</pre></div>

<p>The syntax <code>foo-%03d.jpeg</code> specifies to use a decimal number
composed of three digits padded with zeroes to express the sequence
number. It is the same syntax supported by the C printf function, but
only formats accepting a normal integer are suitable.
</p>
<p>When importing an image sequence, -i also supports expanding
shell-like wildcard patterns (globbing) internally, by selecting the
image2-specific <code>-pattern_type glob</code> option.
</p>
<p>For example, for creating a video from filenames matching the glob pattern
<code>foo-*.jpeg</code>:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -f image2 -pattern_type glob -framerate 12 -i 'foo-*.jpeg' -s WxH foo.avi
</pre></div>

</li><li> You can put many streams of the same type in the output:

<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i test1.avi -i test2.avi -map 1:1 -map 1:0 -map 0:1 -map 0:0 -c copy -y test12.nut
</pre></div>

<p>The resulting output file <samp>test12.nut</samp> will contain the first four streams
from the input files in reverse order.
</p>
</li><li> To force CBR video output:
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -b 4000k -minrate 4000k -maxrate 4000k -bufsize 1835k out.m2v
</pre></div>

</li><li> The four options lmin, lmax, mblmin and mblmax use &rsquo;lambda&rsquo; units,
but you may use the QP2LAMBDA constant to easily convert from &rsquo;q&rsquo; units:
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">ffmpeg -i src.ext -lmax 21*QP2LAMBDA dst.ext
</pre></div>

</li></ul>


<a name="See-Also"></a>
<h2 class="chapter">7 See Also<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#See-Also" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-See-Also" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h2>

<p><a href="ffmpeg-all.html">ffmpeg-all</a>,
<a href="ffplay.html">ffplay</a>, <a href="ffprobe.html">ffprobe</a>, <a href="ffserver.html">ffserver</a>,
<a href="ffmpeg-utils.html">ffmpeg-utils</a>,
<a href="ffmpeg-scaler.html">ffmpeg-scaler</a>,
<a href="ffmpeg-resampler.html">ffmpeg-resampler</a>,
<a href="ffmpeg-codecs.html">ffmpeg-codecs</a>,
<a href="ffmpeg-bitstream-filters.html">ffmpeg-bitstream-filters</a>,
<a href="ffmpeg-formats.html">ffmpeg-formats</a>,
<a href="ffmpeg-devices.html">ffmpeg-devices</a>,
<a href="ffmpeg-protocols.html">ffmpeg-protocols</a>,
<a href="ffmpeg-filters.html">ffmpeg-filters</a>
</p>

<a name="Authors"></a>
<h2 class="chapter">8 Authors<span class="pull-right"><a class="anchor hidden-xs" href="#Authors" aria-hidden="true">#</a> <a class="anchor hidden-xs"href="#toc-Authors" aria-hidden="true">TOC</a></span></h2>

<p>The FFmpeg developers.
</p>
<p>For details about the authorship, see the Git history of the project
(git://source.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg), e.g. by typing the command
<code>git log</code> in the FFmpeg source directory, or browsing the
online repository at <a href="http://source.ffmpeg.org">http://source.ffmpeg.org</a>.
</p>
<p>Maintainers for the specific components are listed in the file
<samp>MAINTAINERS</samp> in the source code tree.
</p>


      <p style="font-size: small;">
        This document was generated using <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/"><em>makeinfo</em></a>.
      </p>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>