1. Introduction

FFmpeg is a very fast video and audio converter. It can also grab from a live audio/video source.

The command line interface is designed to be intuitive, in the sense that FFmpeg tries to figure out all parameters that can possibly be derived automatically. You usually only have to specify the target bitrate you want.

FFmpeg can also convert from any sample rate to any other, and resize video on the fly with a high quality polyphase filter.

2. Quick Start

2.1 Video and Audio grabbing

FFmpeg can use a video4linux compatible video source and any Open Sound System audio source:

ffmpeg /tmp/out.mpg

Note that you must activate the right video source and channel before launching FFmpeg with any TV viewer such as xawtv (http://bytesex.org/xawtv/) by Gerd Knorr. You also have to set the audio recording levels correctly with a standard mixer.

2.2 Video and Audio file format conversion

* FFmpeg can use any supported file format and protocol as input:

Examples:

* You can use YUV files as input:

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

It will use the files:

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

The Y files use twice the resolution of the U and V files. They are raw files, without header. They can be generated by all decent video decoders. You must specify the size of the image with the `-s' option if FFmpeg cannot guess it.

* You can input from a raw YUV420P file:

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

test.yuv is a file containing raw YUV planar data. Each frame is composed of the Y plane followed by the U and V planes at half vertical and horizontal resolution.

* You can output to a raw YUV420P file:

ffmpeg -i mydivx.avi hugefile.yuv

* You can set several input files and output files:

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

Converts the audio file a.wav and the raw YUV video file a.yuv to MPEG file a.mpg.

* You can also do audio and video conversions at the same time:

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

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

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

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

Converts a.wav to a.mp2 at 64 kbits and to b.mp2 at 128 kbits. '-map file:index' specifies which input stream is used for each output stream, in the order of the definition of output streams.

* You can transcode decrypted VOBs

ffmpeg -i snatch_1.vob -f avi -vcodec mpeg4 -b 800 -g 300 -bf 2 -acodec mp3 -ab 128 snatch.avi

This is a typical DVD ripping example; the input is a VOB file, the output an AVI file with MPEG-4 video and MP3 audio. Note that in this command we use B-frames so the MPEG-4 stream is DivX5 compatible, and GOP size is 300 which means one intra frame every 10 seconds for 29.97fps input video. Furthermore, the audio stream is MP3-encoded so you need to enable LAME support by passing --enable-mp3lame to configure. The mapping is particularly useful for DVD transcoding to get the desired audio language.

NOTE: To see the supported input formats, use ffmpeg -formats.

3. Invocation

3.1 Syntax

The generic syntax is:

ffmpeg [[infile options][`-i' infile]]... {[outfile options] outfile}...

If no input file is given, audio/video grabbing is done.

As a general rule, options are applied to the next specified file. For example, if you give the `-b 64' option, it sets the video bitrate of the next file. The format option may be needed for raw input files.

By default, FFmpeg tries to convert as losslessly as possible: It uses the same audio and video parameters for the outputs as the one specified for the inputs.

3.2 Main options

`-L'

Show license.

`-h'

Show help.

`-formats'

Show available formats, codecs, protocols, ...

`-f fmt'

Force format.

`-i filename'

input filename

`-y'

Overwrite output files.

`-t duration'

Set the recording time in seconds. hh:mm:ss[.xxx] syntax is also supported.

`-ss position'

Seek to given time position in seconds. hh:mm:ss[.xxx] syntax is also supported.

`-title string'

Set the title.

`-author string'

Set the author.

`-copyright string'

Set the copyright.

`-comment string'

Set the comment.

`-target type'

Specify target file type ("vcd", "svcd", "dvd", "dv", "pal-vcd", "ntsc-svcd", ... ). All the format options (bitrate, codecs, buffer sizes) are then set automatically. You can just type:

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

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

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

`-hq'

Activate high quality settings.

`-itsoffset offset'

Set the input time offset in seconds. [-]hh:mm:ss[.xxx] syntax is also supported. This option affects all the input files that follow it. The offset is added to the timestamps of the input files. Specifying a positive offset means that the corresponding streams are delayed by 'offset' seconds.

3.3 Video Options

`-b bitrate'

Set the video bitrate in kbit/s (default = 200 kb/s).

`-r fps'

Set frame rate (default = 25).

`-s size'

Set frame size. The format is `wxh' (default = 160x128). The following abbreviations are recognized:

`sqcif'

128x96

`qcif'

176x144

`cif'

352x288

`4cif'

704x576

`-aspect aspect'

Set aspect ratio (4:3, 16:9 or 1.3333, 1.7777).

`-croptop size'

Set top crop band size (in pixels).

`-cropbottom size'

Set bottom crop band size (in pixels).

`-cropleft size'

Set left crop band size (in pixels).

`-cropright size'

Set right crop band size (in pixels).

`-padtop size'

Set top pad band size (in pixels).

`-padbottom size'

Set bottom pad band size (in pixels).

`-padleft size'

Set left pad band size (in pixels).

`-padright size'

Set right pad band size (in pixels).

`-padcolor (hex color)'

Set color of padded bands. The value for padcolor is expressed as a six digit hexadecimal number where the first two digits represent red, the middle two digits green and last two digits blue (default = 000000 (black)).

`-vn'

Disable video recording.

`-bt tolerance'

Set video bitrate tolerance (in kbit/s).

`-maxrate bitrate'

Set max video bitrate tolerance (in kbit/s).

`-minrate bitrate'

Set min video bitrate tolerance (in kbit/s).

`-bufsize size'

Set rate control buffer size (in kbit).

`-vcodec codec'

Force video codec to codec. Use the copy special value to tell that the raw codec data must be copied as is.

`-sameq'

Use same video quality as source (implies VBR).

`-pass n'

Select the pass number (1 or 2). It is useful to do two pass encoding. The statistics of the video are recorded in the first pass and the video is generated at the exact requested bitrate in the second pass.

`-passlogfile file'

Set two pass logfile name to file.

3.4 Advanced Video Options

`-g gop_size'

Set the group of pictures size.

`-intra'

Use only intra frames.

`-qscale q'

Use fixed video quantiser scale (VBR).

`-qmin q'

minimum video quantiser scale (VBR)

`-qmax q'

maximum video quantiser scale (VBR)

`-qdiff q'

maximum difference between the quantiser scales (VBR)

`-qblur blur'

video quantiser scale blur (VBR)

`-qcomp compression'

video quantiser scale compression (VBR)

`-rc_init_cplx complexity'

initial complexity for single pass encoding

`-b_qfactor factor'

qp factor between P- and B-frames

`-i_qfactor factor'

qp factor between P- and I-frames

`-b_qoffset offset'

qp offset between P- and B-frames

`-i_qoffset offset'

qp offset between P- and I-frames

`-rc_eq equation'

Set rate control equation (see section FFmpeg formula evaluator) (default = tex^qComp).

`-rc_override override'

rate control override for specific intervals

`-me method'

Set motion estimation method to method. Available methods are (from lowest to best quality):

`zero'

Try just the (0, 0) vector.

`phods'

`log'

`x1'

`epzs'

(default method)

`full'

exhaustive search (slow and marginally better than epzs)

`-dct_algo algo'

Set DCT algorithm to algo. Available values are:

`0'

FF_DCT_AUTO (default)

`1'

FF_DCT_FASTINT

`2'

FF_DCT_INT

`3'

FF_DCT_MMX

`4'

FF_DCT_MLIB

`5'

FF_DCT_ALTIVEC

`-idct_algo algo'

Set IDCT algorithm to algo. Available values are:

`0'

FF_IDCT_AUTO (default)

`1'

FF_IDCT_INT

`2'

FF_IDCT_SIMPLE

`3'

FF_IDCT_SIMPLEMMX

`4'

FF_IDCT_LIBMPEG2MMX

`5'

FF_IDCT_PS2

`6'

FF_IDCT_MLIB

`7'

FF_IDCT_ARM

`8'

FF_IDCT_ALTIVEC

`9'

FF_IDCT_SH4

`10'

FF_IDCT_SIMPLEARM

`-er n'

Set error resilience to n.

`1'

FF_ER_CAREFUL (default)

`2'

FF_ER_COMPLIANT

`3'

FF_ER_AGGRESSIVE

`4'

FF_ER_VERY_AGGRESSIVE

`-ec bit_mask'

Set error concealment to bit_mask. bit_mask is a bit mask of the following values:

`1'

FF_EC_GUESS_MVS (default = enabled)

`2'

FF_EC_DEBLOCK (default = enabled)

`-bf frames'

Use 'frames' B-frames (supported for MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4).

`-mbd mode'

macroblock decision

`0'

FF_MB_DECISION_SIMPLE: Use mb_cmp (cannot change it yet in FFmpeg).

`1'

FF_MB_DECISION_BITS: Choose the one which needs the fewest bits.

`2'

FF_MB_DECISION_RD: rate distortion

`-4mv'

Use four motion vector by macroblock (MPEG-4 only).

`-part'

Use data partitioning (MPEG-4 only).

`-bug param'

Work around encoder bugs that are not auto-detected.

`-strict strictness'

How strictly to follow the standards.

`-aic'

Enable Advanced intra coding (h263+).

`-umv'

Enable Unlimited Motion Vector (h263+)

`-deinterlace'

Deinterlace pictures.

`-interlace'

Force interlacing support in encoder (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 only). Use this option if your input file is interlaced and you want to keep the interlaced format for minimum losses. The alternative is to deinterlace the input stream with `-deinterlace', but deinterlacing introduces losses.

`-psnr'

Calculate PSNR of compressed frames.

`-vstats'

Dump video coding statistics to `vstats_HHMMSS.log'.

`-vhook module'

Insert video processing module. module contains the module name and its parameters separated by spaces.

3.5 Audio Options

`-ar freq'

Set the audio sampling frequency (default = 44100 Hz).

`-ab bitrate'

Set the audio bitrate in kbit/s (default = 64).

`-ac channels'

Set the number of audio channels (default = 1).

`-an'

Disable audio recording.

`-acodec codec'

Force audio codec to codec. Use the copy special value to specify that the raw codec data must be copied as is.

3.6 Audio/Video grab options

`-vd device'

sEt video grab device (e.g. `/dev/video0').

`-vc channel'

Set video grab channel (DV1394 only).

`-tvstd standard'

Set television standard (NTSC, PAL (SECAM)).

`-dv1394'

Set DV1394 grab.

`-ad device'

Set audio device (e.g. `/dev/dsp').

3.7 Advanced options

`-map file:stream'

Set input stream mapping.

`-debug'

Print specific debug info.

`-benchmark'

Add timings for benchmarking.

`-hex'

Dump each input packet.

`-bitexact'

Only use bit exact algorithms (for codec testing).

`-ps size'

Set packet size in bits.

`-re'

Read input at native frame rate. Mainly used to simulate a grab device.

`-loop'

Loop over the input stream. Currently it works only for image streams. This option is used for automatic FFserver testing.

`-loop_output number_of_times'

Repeatedly loop output for formats that support looping such as animated GIF (0 will loop the output infinitely).

3.8 FFmpeg formula evaluator

When evaluating a rate control string, FFmpeg uses an internal formula evaluator.

The following binary operators are available: +, -, *, /, ^.

The following unary operators are available: +, -, (...).

The following functions are available:

sinh(x)

cosh(x)

tanh(x)

sin(x)

cos(x)

tan(x)

exp(x)

log(x)

squish(x)

gauss(x)

abs(x)

max(x, y)

min(x, y)

gt(x, y)

lt(x, y)

eq(x, y)

bits2qp(bits)

qp2bits(qp)

The following constants are available:

PI

E

iTex

pTex

tex

mv

fCode

iCount

mcVar

var

isI

isP

isB

avgQP

qComp

avgIITex

avgPITex

avgPPTex

avgBPTex

avgTex

3.9 Protocols

The filename can be `-' to read from standard input or to write to standard output.

FFmpeg also handles many protocols specified with an URL syntax.

Use 'ffmpeg -formats' to see a list of the supported protocols.

The protocol http: is currently used only to communicate with FFserver (see the FFserver documentation). When FFmpeg will be a video player it will also be used for streaming :-)

4. Tips

• For streaming at very low bitrate application, use a low frame rate and a small GOP size. This is especially true for RealVideo where the Linux player does not seem to be very fast, so it can miss frames. An example is:

  ffmpeg -g 3 -r 3 -t 10 -b 50 -s qcif -f rv10 /tmp/b.rm

• The parameter 'q' which is displayed while encoding is the current quantizer. The value 1 indicates that a very good quality could be achieved. The value 31 indicates the worst quality. If q=31 appears too often, it means that the encoder cannot compress enough to meet your bitrate. You must either increase the bitrate, decrease the frame rate or decrease the frame size.
• If your computer is not fast enough, you can speed up the compression at the expense of the compression ratio. You can use '-me zero' to speed up motion estimation, and '-intra' to disable motion estimation completely (you have only I-frames, which means it is about as good as JPEG compression).
• To have very low audio bitrates, reduce the sampling frequency (down to 22050 kHz for MPEG audio, 22050 or 11025 for AC3).
• To have a constant quality (but a variable bitrate), use the option '-qscale n' when 'n' is between 1 (excellent quality) and 31 (worst quality).
• When converting video files, you can use the '-sameq' option which uses the same quality factor in the encoder as in the decoder. It allows almost lossless encoding.

5. Supported File Formats and Codecs

You can use the -formats option to have an exhaustive list.

5.1 File Formats

FFmpeg supports the following file formats through the libavformat library:

X means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.

5.2 Image Formats

FFmpeg can read and write images for each frame of a video sequence. The following image formats are supported:

X means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.

5.3 Video Codecs

X means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.

See http://mplayerhq.hu/~michael/codec-features.html to get a precise comparison of the FFmpeg MPEG-4 codec compared to other implementations.

5.4 Audio Codecs

X means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.

I means that an integer-only version is available, too (ensures high performance on systems without hardware floating point support).

6. Platform Specific information

6.1 Linux

FFmpeg should be compiled with at least GCC 2.95.3. GCC 3.2 is the preferred compiler now for FFmpeg. All future optimizations will depend on features only found in GCC 3.2.

6.2 BSD

BSD make will not build FFmpeg, you need to install and use GNU Make (`gmake').

6.3 Windows

6.3.1 Native Windows compilation

• Install the current versions of MSYS and MinGW from http://www.mingw.org/. You can find detailed installation instructions in the download section and the FAQ.
• If you want to test the FFplay, also download the MinGW development library of SDL 1.2.x (`SDL-devel-1.2.x-mingw32.tar.gz') from http://www.libsdl.org. Unpack it in a temporary directory, and unpack the archive `i386-mingw32msvc.tar.gz' in the MinGW tool directory. Edit the `sdl-config' script so that it gives the correct SDL directory when invoked.
• Extract the current version of FFmpeg.
• Start the MSYS shell (file `msys.bat').
• Change to the FFmpeg directory and follow the instructions of how to compile FFmpeg (file `INSTALL'). Usually, launching `./configure' and `make' suffices. If you have problems using SDL, verify that `sdl-config' can be launched from the MSYS command line.
• You can install FFmpeg in `Program Files/FFmpeg' by typing `make install'. Don't forget to copy `SDL.dll' to the place you launch `ffplay' from.

Notes:

• The target `make wininstaller' can be used to create a Nullsoft based Windows installer for FFmpeg and FFplay. `SDL.dll' must be copied to the FFmpeg directory in order to build the installer.
• By using ./configure --enable-shared when configuring FFmpeg, you can build `avcodec.dll' and `avformat.dll'. With make install you install the FFmpeg DLLs and the associated headers in `Program Files/FFmpeg'.
• Visual C++ compatibility: If you used ./configure --enable-shared when configuring FFmpeg, FFmpeg tries to use the Microsoft Visual C++ lib tool to build avcodec.lib and avformat.lib. With these libraries you can link your Visual C++ code directly with the FFmpeg DLLs (see below).

6.3.2 Visual C++ compatibility

FFmpeg will not compile under Visual C++ - and it has too many dependencies on the GCC compiler to make a port viable. However, if you want to use the FFmpeg libraries in your own applications, you can still compile those applications using Visual C++. An important restriction to this is that you have to use the dynamically linked versions of the FFmpeg libraries (i.e. the DLLs), and you have to make sure that Visual-C++-compatible import libraries are created during the FFmpeg build process.

This description of how to use the FFmpeg libraries with Visual C++ is based on Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition Beta 2. If you have a different version, you might have to modify the procedures slightly.

Here are the step-by-step instructions for building the FFmpeg libraries so they can be used with Visual C++:

1. Install Visual C++ (if you haven't done so already).
2. Install MinGW and MSYS as described above.
3. Add a call to `vcvars32.bat' (which sets up the environment variables for the Visual C++ tools) as the first line of `msys.bat'. The standard location for `vcvars32.bat' is `C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat', and the standard location for `msys.bat' is `C:\msys\1.0\msys.bat'. If this corresponds to your setup, add the following line as the first line of `msys.bat':

   call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat"

4. Start the MSYS shell (file `msys.bat') and type link.exe. If you get a help message with the command line options of link.exe, this means your environment variables are set up correctly, the Microsoft linker is on the path and will be used by FFmpeg to create Visual-C++-compatible import libraries.
5. Extract the current version of FFmpeg and change to the FFmpeg directory.
6. Type the command ./configure --enable-shared --disable-static --enable-memalign-hack to configure and, if that didn't produce any errors, type make to build FFmpeg.
7. The subdirectories `libavformat', `libavcodec', and `libavutil' should now contain the files `avformat.dll', `avformat.lib', `avcodec.dll', `avcodec.lib', `avutil.dll', and `avutil.lib', respectively. Copy the three DLLs to your System32 directory (typically `C:\Windows\System32').

And here is how to use these libraries with Visual C++:

1. Create a new console application ("File / New / Project") and then select "Win32 Console Application". On the appropriate page of the Application Wizard, uncheck the "Precompiled headers" option.
2. Write the source code for your application, or, for testing, just copy the code from an existing sample application into the source file that Visual C++ has already created for you. (Note that your source filehas to have a .cpp extension; otherwise, Visual C++ won't compile the FFmpeg headers correctly because in C mode, it doesn't recognize the inline keyword.) For example, you can copy `output_example.c' from the FFmpeg distribution (but you will have to make minor modifications so the code will compile under C++, see below).
3. Open the "Project / Properties" dialog box. In the "Configuration" combo box, select "All Configurations" so that the changes you make will affect both debug and release builds. In the tree view on the left hand side, select "C/C++ / General", then edit the "Additional Include Directories" setting to contain the complete paths to the `libavformat', `libavcodec', and `libavutil' subdirectories of your FFmpeg directory. Note that the directories have to be separated using semicolons. Now select "Linker / General" from the tree view and edit the "Additional Library Directories" setting to contain the same three directories.
4. Still in the "Project / Properties" dialog box, select "Linker / Input" from the tree view, then add the files `avformat.lib', `avcodec.lib', and `avutil.lib' to the end of the "Additional Dependencies". Note that the names of the libraries have to be separated using spaces.
5. Now, select "C/C++ / Code Generation" from the tree view. S the n external library.

   AMR-WB

   X

   X

   Supported through an external library.

   DV audio

   X

   Id RoQ DPCM

   X

   Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.

   Interplay MVE DPCM

   X

   Used in various Interplay computer games.

   Xan DPCM

   X

   Used in Origin's Wing Commander IV AVI files.

   Sierra Online DPCM

   X

   Used in Sierra Online game audio files.

   Apple MACE 3

   X

   Apple MACE 6

   X

   FLAC lossless audio

   X

   Shorten lossless audio

   X

   Apple lossless audio

   X

   QuickTime fourcc 'alac'

   FFmpeg Sonic

   X

   X

   experimental lossy/lossless codec

   Qdesign QDM2

   X

   there are still some distortions

   Real COOK

   X

   All versions except 5.1 are supported

   DSP Group TrueSpeech

   X

   True Audio (TTA)

   X

   Smacker Audio

   X

   X means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.

   I means that an integer-only version is available, too (ensures high performance on systems without hardware floating point support).

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   6. Platform Specific information

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   6.1 Linux

   FFmpeg should be compiled with at least GCC 2.95.3. GCC 3.2 is the preferred compiler now for FFmpeg. All future optimizations will depend on features only found in GCC 3.2.

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   6.2 BSD

   BSD make will not build FFmpeg, you need to install and use GNU Make (`gmake').

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   6.3 Windows

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   6.3.1 Native Windows compilation

   • Install the current versions of MSYS and MinGW from http://www.mingw.org/. You can find detailed installation instructions in the download section and the FAQ.
   • If you want to test the FFplay, also download the MinGW development library of SDL 1.2.x (`SDL-devel-1.2.x-mingw32.tar.gz') from http://www.libsdl.org. Unpack it in a temporary directory, and unpack the archive `i386-mingw32msvc.tar.gz' in the MinGW tool directory. Edit the `sdl-config' script so that it gives the correct SDL directory when invoked.
   • Extract the current version of FFmpeg.
   • Start the MSYS shell (file `msys.bat').
   • Change to the FFmpeg directory and follow the instructions of how to compile FFmpeg (file `INSTALL'). Usually, launching `./configure' and `make' suffices. If you have problems using SDL, verify that `sdl-config' can be launched from the MSYS command line.
   • You can install FFmpeg in `Program Files/FFmpeg' by typing `make install'. Don't forget to copy `SDL.dll' to the place you launch `ffplay' from.

   Notes:

   • The target `make wininstaller' can be used to create a Nullsoft based Windows installer for FFmpeg and FFplay. `SDL.dll' must be copied to the FFmpeg directory in order to build the installer.
   • By using ./configure --enable-shared when configuring FFmpeg, you can build `avcodec.dll' and `avformat.dll'. With make install you install the FFmpeg DLLs and the associated headers in `Program Files/FFmpeg'.
   • Visual C++ compatibility: If you used ./configure --enable-shared when configuring FFmpeg, FFmpeg tries to use the Microsoft Visual C++ lib tool to build avcodec.lib and avformat.lib. With these libraries you can link your Visual C++ code directly with the FFmpeg DLLs (see below).

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   6.3.2 Visual C++ compatibility

   FFmpeg will not compile under Visual C++ - and it has too many dependencies on the GCC compiler to make a port viable. However, if you want to use the FFmpeg libraries in your own applications, you can still compile those applications using Visual C++. An important restriction to this is that you have to use the dynamically linked versions of the FFmpeg libraries (i.e. the DLLs), and you have to make sure that Visual-C++-compatible import libraries are created during the FFmpeg build process.

   This description of how to use the FFmpeg libraries with Visual C++ is based on Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition Beta 2. If you have a different version, you might have to modify the procedures slightly.

   Here are the step-by-step instructions for building the FFmpeg libraries so they can be used with Visual C++:

   1. Install Visual C++ (if you haven't done so already).
   2. Install MinGW and MSYS as described above.
   3. Add a call to `vcvars32.bat' (which sets up the environment variables for the Visual C++ tools) as the first line of `msys.bat'. The standard location for `vcvars32.bat' is `C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat', and the standard location for `msys.bat' is `C:\msys\1.0\msys.bat'. If this corresponds to your setup, add the following line as the first line of `msys.bat':

      call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat"

   4. Start the MSYS shell (file `msys.bat') and type link.exe. If you get a help message with the command line options of link.exe, this means your environment variables are set up correctly, the Microsoft linker is on the path and will be used by FFmpeg to create Visual-C++-compatible import libraries.
   5. Extract the current version of FFmpeg and change to the FFmpeg directory.
   6. Type the command ./configure --enable-shared --disable-static --enable-memalign-hack to configure and, if that didn't produce any errors, type make to build FFmpeg.
   7. The subdirectories `libavformat', `libavcodec', and `libavutil' should now contain the files `avformat.dll', `avformat.lib', `avcodec.dll', `avcodec.lib', `avutil.dll', and `avutil.lib', respectively. Copy the three DLLs to your System32 directory (typically `C:\Windows\System32').

   And here is how to use these libraries with Visual C++:

   1. Create a new console application ("File / New / Project") and then select "Win32 Console Application". On the appropriate page of the Application Wizard, uncheck the "Precompiled headers" option.
   2. Write the source code for your application, or, for testing, just copy the code from an existing sample application into the source file that Visual C++ has already created for you. (Note that your source filehas to have a .cpp extension; otherwise, Visual C++ won't compile the FFmpeg headers correctly because in C mode, it doesn't recognize the inline keyword.) For example, you can copy `output_example.c' from the FFmpeg distribution (but you will have to make minor modifications so the code will compile under C++, see below).
   3. Open the "Project / Properties" dialog box. In the "Configuration" combo box, select "All Configurations" so that the changes you make will affect both debug and release builds. In the tree view on the left hand side, select "C/C++ / General", then edit the "Additional Include Directories" setting to contain the complete paths to the `libavformat', `libavcodec', and `libavutil' subdirectories of your FFmpeg directory. Note that the directories have to be separated using semicolons. Now select "Linker / General" from the tree view and edit the "Additional Library Directories" setting to contain the same three directories.
   4. Still in the "Project / Properties" dialog box, select "Linker / Input" from the tree view, then add the files `avformat.lib', `avcodec.lib', and `avutil.lib' to the end of the "Additional Dependencies". Note that the names of the libraries have to be separated using spaces.
   5. Now, select "C/C++ / Code Generation" from the tree view. S the n external library.

      AMR-WB

      X

      X

      Supported through an external library.

      DV audio

      X

      Id RoQ DPCM

      X

      Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.

      Interplay MVE DPCM

      X

      Used in various Interplay computer games.

      Xan DPCM

      X

      Used in Origin's Wing Commander IV AVI files.

      Sierra Online DPCM

      X

      Used in Sierra Online game audio files.

      Apple MACE 3

      X

      Apple MACE 6

      X

      FLAC lossless audio

      X

      Shorten lossless audio

      X

      Apple lossless audio

      X

      QuickTime fourcc 'alac'

      FFmpeg Sonic

      X

      X

      experimental lossy/lossless codec

      Qdesign QDM2

      X

      there are still some distortions

      Real COOK

      X

      All versions except 5.1 are supported

      DSP Group TrueSpeech

      X

      True Audio (TTA)

      X

      Smacker Audio

      X

      X means that encoding (resp. decoding) is supported.

      I means that an integer-only version is available, too (ensures high performance on systems without hardware floating point support).

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      6. Platform Specific information

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      6.1 Linux

      FFmpeg should be compiled with at least GCC 2.95.3. GCC 3.2 is the preferred compiler now for FFmpeg. All future optimizations will depend on features only found in GCC 3.2.

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      6.2 BSD

      BSD make will not build FFmpeg, you need to install and use GNU Make (`gmake').

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      6.3 Windows

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      6.3.1 Native Windows compilation

      • Install the current versions of MSYS and MinGW from http://www.mingw.org/. You can find detailed installation instructions in the download section and the FAQ.
      • If you want to test the FFplay, also download the MinGW development library of SDL 1.2.x (`SDL-devel-1.2.x-mingw32.tar.gz') from http://www.libsdl.org. Unpack it in a temporary directory, and unpack the archive `i386-mingw32msvc.tar.gz' in the MinGW tool directory. Edit the `sdl-config' script so that it gives the correct SDL directory when invoked.
      • Extract the current version of FFmpeg.
      • Start the MSYS shell (file `msys.bat').
      • Change to the FFmpeg directory and follow the instructions of how to compile FFmpeg (file `INSTALL'). Usually, launching `./configure' and `make' suffices. If you have problems using SDL, verify that `sdl-config' can be launched from the MSYS command line.
      • You can install FFmpeg in `Program Files/FFmpeg' by typing `make install'. Don't forget to copy `SDL.dll' to the place you launch `ffplay' from.

      Notes:

      • The target `make wininstaller' can be used to create a Nullsoft based Windows installer for FFmpeg and FFplay. `SDL.dll' must be copied to the FFmpeg directory in order to build the installer.
      • By using ./configure --enable-shared when configuring FFmpeg, you can build `avcodec.dll' and `avformat.dll'. With make install you install the FFmpeg DLLs and the associated headers in `Program Files/FFmpeg'.
      • Visual C++ compatibility: If you used ./configure --enable-shared when configuring FFmpeg, FFmpeg tries to use the Microsoft Visual C++ lib tool to build avcodec.lib and avformat.lib. With these libraries you can link your Visual C++ code directly with the FFmpeg DLLs (see below).

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