DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages

AVPROBE(1) AVPROBE(1)

avprobe - avprobe media prober

avprobe [options] [input_file]

avprobe gathers information from multimedia streams and prints it in
human- and machine-readable fashion.

For example it can be used to check the format of the container used by
a multimedia stream and the format and type of each media stream
contained in it.

If a filename is specified in input, avprobe will try to open and probe
the file content. If the file cannot be opened or recognized as a
multimedia file, a positive exit code is returned.

avprobe may be employed both as a standalone application or in
combination with a textual filter, which may perform more sophisticated
processing, e.g. statistical processing or plotting.

Options are used to list some of the formats supported by avprobe or
for specifying which information to display, and for setting how
avprobe will show it.

avprobe output is designed to be easily parsable by any INI or JSON
parsers.

All the numerical options, if not specified otherwise, accept in input
a string representing a number, which may contain one of the SI unit
prefixes, for example 'K', 'M', 'G'. If 'i' is appended after the
prefix, binary prefixes are used, which are based on powers of 1024
instead of powers of 1000. The 'B' postfix multiplies the value by 8,
and can be appended after a unit prefix or used alone. This allows
using for example 'KB', 'MiB', 'G' and 'B' as number postfix.

Options which do not take arguments are boolean options, and set the
corresponding value to true. They can be set to false by prefixing with
"no" the option name, for example using "-nofoo" in the command line
will set to false the boolean option with name "foo".

Stream specifiers
Some options are applied per-stream, e.g. bitrate or codec. Stream
specifiers are used to precisely specify which stream(s) does a given
option belong to.

A stream specifier is a string generally appended to the option name
and separated from it by a colon. E.g. "-codec:a:1 ac3" option contains
"a:1" stream specifer, which matches the second audio stream. Therefore
it would select the ac3 codec for the second audio stream.

A stream specifier can match several stream, the option is then applied
to all of them. E.g. the stream specifier in "-b:a 128k" matches all
audio streams.

An empty stream specifier matches all streams, for example "-codec
copy" or "-codec: copy" would copy all the streams without reencoding.

Possible forms of stream specifiers are:

stream_index
Matches the stream with this index. E.g. "-threads:1 4" would set
the thread count for the second stream to 4.

stream_type[:stream_index]
stream_type is one of: 'v' for video, 'a' for audio, 's' for
subtitle, 'd' for data and 't' for attachments. If stream_index is
given, then matches stream number stream_index of this type.
Otherwise matches all streams of this type.

p:program_id[:stream_index]
If stream_index is given, then matches stream number stream_index
in program with id program_id. Otherwise matches all streams in
this program.

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

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

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

Generic options
These options are shared amongst the av* tools.

-L Show license.

-h, -?, -help, --help [arg]
Show help. An optional parameter may be specified to print help
about a specific item.

Possible values of arg are:

decoder=decoder_name
Print detailed information about the decoder named
decoder_name. Use the -decoders option to get a list of all
decoders.

encoder=encoder_name
Print detailed information about the encoder named
encoder_name. Use the -encoders option to get a list of all
encoders.

demuxer=demuxer_name
Print detailed information about the demuxer named
demuxer_name. Use the -formats option to get a list of all
demuxers and muxers.

muxer=muxer_name
Print detailed information about the muxer named muxer_name.
Use the -formats option to get a list of all muxers and
demuxers.

filter=filter_name
Print detailed information about the filter name filter_name.
Use the -filters option to get a list of all filters.

-version
Show version.

-formats
Show available formats.

The fields preceding the format names have the following meanings:

D Decoding available

E Encoding available

-codecs
Show all codecs known to libavcodec.

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

-decoders
Show available decoders.

-encoders
Show all available encoders.

-bsfs
Show available bitstream filters.

-protocols
Show available protocols.

-filters
Show available libavfilter filters.

-pix_fmts
Show available pixel formats.

-sample_fmts
Show available sample formats.

-loglevel loglevel | -v loglevel
Set the logging level used by the library. loglevel is a number or
a string containing one of the following values:

quiet
panic
fatal
error
warning
info
verbose
debug

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
AV_LOG_FORCE_NOCOLOR or NO_COLOR, or can be forced setting the
environment variable AV_LOG_FORCE_COLOR. The use of the
environment variable NO_COLOR is deprecated and will be dropped in
a following Libav version.

-cpuflags mask (global)
Set a mask that's applied to autodetected CPU flags. This option is
intended for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're
doing.

AVOptions
These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and
libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the
-help option. They are separated into two categories:

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

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

For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to
an MP3 file, use the id3v2_version private option of the MP3 muxer:

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

All codec AVOptions are obviously per-stream, so the chapter on stream
specifiers applies to them

Note -nooption syntax cannot be used for boolean AVOptions, use -option
0/-option 1.

Note2 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.

Codec AVOptions
-b[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)
set bitrate (in bits/s)

-bt[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
Set video bitrate tolerance (in bits/s). In 1-pass mode, bitrate
tolerance specifies how far ratecontrol is willing to deviate from
the target average bitrate value. This is not related to
minimum/maximum bitrate. Lowering tolerance too much has an adverse
effect on quality.

-flags[:stream_specifier] flags (input/output,audio,video)
Possible values:

unaligned
allow decoders to produce unaligned output

mv4 use four motion vectors per macroblock (MPEG-4)

qpel
use 1/4-pel motion compensation

loop
use loop filter

qscale
use fixed qscale

gmc use gmc

mv0 always try a mb with mv=<0,0>

input_preserved
pass1
use internal 2-pass ratecontrol in first pass mode

pass2
use internal 2-pass ratecontrol in second pass mode

gray
only decode/encode grayscale

emu_edge
do not draw edges

psnr
error[?] variables will be set during encoding

truncated
naq normalize adaptive quantization

ildct
use interlaced DCT

low_delay
force low delay

global_header
place global headers in extradata instead of every keyframe

bitexact
use only bitexact functions (except (I)DCT)

aic H.263 advanced intra coding / MPEG-4 AC prediction

ilme
interlaced motion estimation

cgop
closed GOP

output_corrupt
Output even potentially corrupted frames

-me_method[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
set motion estimation method

Possible values:

zero
zero motion estimation (fastest)

full
full motion estimation (slowest)

epzs
EPZS motion estimation (default)

esa esa motion estimation (alias for full)

tesa
tesa motion estimation

dia diamond motion estimation (alias for EPZS)

log log motion estimation

phods
phods motion estimation

x1 X1 motion estimation

hex hex motion estimation

umh umh motion estimation

-g[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
set the group of picture (GOP) size

-ar[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,audio)
set audio sampling rate (in Hz)

-ac[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,audio)
set number of audio channels

-cutoff[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio)
set cutoff bandwidth

-frame_size[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio)
-qcomp[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
video quantizer scale compression (VBR). Constant of ratecontrol
equation. Recommended range for default rc_eq: 0.0-1.0

-qblur[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
video quantizer scale blur (VBR)

-qmin[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
minimum video quantizer scale (VBR)

-qmax[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
maximum video quantizer scale (VBR)

-qdiff[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
maximum difference between the quantizer scales (VBR)

-bf[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
use 'frames' B frames

-b_qfactor[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
QP factor between P- and B-frames

-rc_strategy[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
ratecontrol method

-b_strategy[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
strategy to choose between I/P/B-frames

-ps[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
RTP payload size in bytes

-bug[:stream_specifier] flags (input,video)
work around not autodetected encoder bugs

Possible values:

autodetect
old_msmpeg4
some old lavc-generated MSMPEG4v3 files (no autodetection)

xvid_ilace
Xvid interlacing bug (autodetected if FOURCC == XVIX)

ump4
(autodetected if FOURCC == UMP4)

no_padding
padding bug (autodetected)

amv
ac_vlc
illegal VLC bug (autodetected per FOURCC)

qpel_chroma
std_qpel
old standard qpel (autodetected per FOURCC/version)

qpel_chroma2
direct_blocksize
direct-qpel-blocksize bug (autodetected per FOURCC/version)

edge
edge padding bug (autodetected per FOURCC/version)

hpel_chroma
dc_clip
ms work around various bugs in Microsoft's broken decoders

trunc
truncated frames

-strict[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,audio,video)
how strictly to follow the standards

Possible values:

very
strictly conform to a older more strict version of the spec or
reference software

strict
strictly conform to all the things in the spec no matter what
the consequences

normal
unofficial
allow unofficial extensions

experimental
allow non-standardized experimental things

-b_qoffset[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
QP offset between P- and B-frames

-err_detect[:stream_specifier] flags (input,audio,video)
set error detection flags

Possible values:

crccheck
verify embedded CRCs

bitstream
detect bitstream specification deviations

buffer
detect improper bitstream length

explode
abort decoding on minor error detection

-mpeg_quant[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
use MPEG quantizers instead of H.263

-qsquish[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
how to keep quantizer between qmin and qmax (0 = clip, 1 = use
differentiable function)

-rc_qmod_amp[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
experimental quantizer modulation

-rc_qmod_freq[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
experimental quantizer modulation

-rc_eq[:stream_specifier] string (output,video)
Set rate control equation. When computing the expression, besides
the standard functions defined in the section 'Expression
Evaluation', the following functions are available: bits2qp(bits),
qp2bits(qp). Also the following constants are available: iTex pTex
tex mv fCode iCount mcVar var isI isP isB avgQP qComp avgIITex
avgPITex avgPPTex avgBPTex avgTex.

-maxrate[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)
Set maximum bitrate tolerance (in bits/s). Requires bufsize to be
set.

-minrate[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)
Set minimum bitrate tolerance (in bits/s). Most useful in setting
up a CBR encode. It is of little use otherwise.

-bufsize[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)
set ratecontrol buffer size (in bits)

-rc_buf_aggressivity[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
currently useless

-i_qfactor[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
QP factor between P- and I-frames

-i_qoffset[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
QP offset between P- and I-frames

-rc_init_cplx[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
initial complexity for 1-pass encoding

-dct[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
DCT algorithm

Possible values:

auto
autoselect a good one (default)

fastint
fast integer

int accurate integer

mmx
altivec
faan
floating point AAN DCT

-lumi_mask[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
compresses bright areas stronger than medium ones

-tcplx_mask[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
temporal complexity masking

-scplx_mask[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
spatial complexity masking

-p_mask[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
inter masking

-dark_mask[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
compresses dark areas stronger than medium ones

-idct[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,video)
select IDCT implementation

Possible values:

auto
int
simple
simplemmx
arm
altivec
sh4
simplearm
simplearmv5te
simplearmv6
simpleneon
simplealpha
ipp
xvid
xvidmmx
faani
floating point AAN IDCT

-ec[:stream_specifier] flags (input,video)
set error concealment strategy

Possible values:

guess_mvs
iterative motion vector (MV) search (slow)

deblock
use strong deblock filter for damaged MBs

-pred[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
prediction method

Possible values:

left
plane
median
-aspect[:stream_specifier] rational number (output,video)
sample aspect ratio

-debug[:stream_specifier] flags (input/output,audio,video,subtitles)
print specific debug info

Possible values:

pict
picture info

rc rate control

bitstream
mb_type
macroblock (MB) type

qp per-block quantization parameter (QP)

mv motion vector

dct_coeff
skip
startcode
pts
er error recognition

mmco
memory management control operations (H.264)

bugs
vis_qp
visualize quantization parameter (QP), lower QP are tinted
greener

vis_mb_type
visualize block types

buffers
picture buffer allocations

thread_ops
threading operations

-vismv[:stream_specifier] integer (input,video)
visualize motion vectors (MVs)

Possible values:

pf forward predicted MVs of P-frames

bf forward predicted MVs of B-frames

bb backward predicted MVs of B-frames

-cmp[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
full-pel ME compare function

Possible values:

sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default)

sse sum of squared errors

satd
sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences

dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences

psnr
sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality)

bit number of bits needed for the block

rd rate distortion optimal, slow

zero
0

vsad
sum of absolute vertical differences

vsse
sum of squared vertical differences

nsse
noise preserving sum of squared differences

dctmax
chroma
-subcmp[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
sub-pel ME compare function

Possible values:

sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default)

sse sum of squared errors

satd
sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences

dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences

psnr
sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality)

bit number of bits needed for the block

rd rate distortion optimal, slow

zero
0

vsad
sum of absolute vertical differences

vsse
sum of squared vertical differences

nsse
noise preserving sum of squared differences

dctmax
chroma
-mbcmp[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
macroblock compare function

Possible values:

sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default)

sse sum of squared errors

satd
sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences

dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences

psnr
sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality)

bit number of bits needed for the block

rd rate distortion optimal, slow

zero
0

vsad
sum of absolute vertical differences

vsse
sum of squared vertical differences

nsse
noise preserving sum of squared differences

dctmax
chroma
-ildctcmp[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
interlaced DCT compare function

Possible values:

sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default)

sse sum of squared errors

satd
sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences

dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences

psnr
sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality)

bit number of bits needed for the block

rd rate distortion optimal, slow

zero
0

vsad
sum of absolute vertical differences

vsse
sum of squared vertical differences

nsse
noise preserving sum of squared differences

dctmax
chroma
-dia_size[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
diamond type & size for motion estimation

-last_pred[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
amount of motion predictors from the previous frame

-preme[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
pre motion estimation

-precmp[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
pre motion estimation compare function

Possible values:

sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default)

sse sum of squared errors

satd
sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences

dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences

psnr
sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality)

bit number of bits needed for the block

rd rate distortion optimal, slow

zero
0

vsad
sum of absolute vertical differences

vsse
sum of squared vertical differences

nsse
noise preserving sum of squared differences

dctmax
chroma
-pre_dia_size[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
diamond type & size for motion estimation pre-pass

-subq[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
sub-pel motion estimation quality

-me_range[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
limit motion vectors range (1023 for DivX player)

-ibias[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
intra quant bias

-pbias[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
inter quant bias

-global_quality[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)
-coder[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
Possible values:

vlc variable length coder / Huffman coder

ac arithmetic coder

raw raw (no encoding)

rle run-length coder

deflate
deflate-based coder

-context[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
context model

-mbd[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
macroblock decision algorithm (high quality mode)

Possible values:

simple
use mbcmp (default)

bits
use fewest bits

rd use best rate distortion

-sc_threshold[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
scene change threshold

-lmin[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
minimum Lagrange factor (VBR)

-lmax[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
maximum Lagrange factor (VBR)

-nr[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
noise reduction

-rc_init_occupancy[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
number of bits which should be loaded into the rc buffer before
decoding starts

-flags2[:stream_specifier] flags (input/output,audio,video)
Possible values:

fast
allow non-spec-compliant speedup tricks

noout
skip bitstream encoding

ignorecrop
ignore cropping information from sps

local_header
place global headers at every keyframe instead of in extradata

-error[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
-threads[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,video)
Possible values:

auto
autodetect a suitable number of threads to use

-me_threshold[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
motion estimation threshold

-mb_threshold[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
macroblock threshold

-dc[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
intra_dc_precision

-nssew[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
nsse weight

-skip_top[:stream_specifier] integer (input,video)
number of macroblock rows at the top which are skipped

-skip_bottom[:stream_specifier] integer (input,video)
number of macroblock rows at the bottom which are skipped

-profile[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)
Possible values:

unknown
aac_main
aac_low
aac_ssr
aac_ltp
aac_he
aac_he_v2
aac_ld
aac_eld
mpeg2_aac_low
mpeg2_aac_he
dts
dts_es
dts_96_24
dts_hd_hra
dts_hd_ma
-level[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)
Possible values:

unknown
-skip_threshold[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
frame skip threshold

-skip_factor[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
frame skip factor

-skip_exp[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
frame skip exponent

-skipcmp[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
frame skip compare function

Possible values:

sad sum of absolute differences, fast (default)

sse sum of squared errors

satd
sum of absolute Hadamard transformed differences

dct sum of absolute DCT transformed differences

psnr
sum of squared quantization errors (avoid, low quality)

bit number of bits needed for the block

rd rate distortion optimal, slow

zero
0

vsad
sum of absolute vertical differences

vsse
sum of squared vertical differences

nsse
noise preserving sum of squared differences

dctmax
chroma
-border_mask[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
increase the quantizer for macroblocks close to borders

-mblmin[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
minimum macroblock Lagrange factor (VBR)

-mblmax[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
maximum macroblock Lagrange factor (VBR)

-mepc[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
motion estimation bitrate penalty compensation (1.0 = 256)

-skip_loop_filter[:stream_specifier] integer (input,video)
Possible values:

none
default
noref
bidir
nokey
all
-skip_idct[:stream_specifier] integer (input,video)
Possible values:

none
default
noref
bidir
nokey
all
-skip_frame[:stream_specifier] integer (input,video)
Possible values:

none
default
noref
bidir
nokey
all
-bidir_refine[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
refine the two motion vectors used in bidirectional macroblocks

-brd_scale[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
downscale frames for dynamic B-frame decision

-keyint_min[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
minimum interval between IDR-frames (x264)

-refs[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
reference frames to consider for motion compensation

-chromaoffset[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
chroma QP offset from luma

-trellis[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)
rate-distortion optimal quantization

-sc_factor[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
multiplied by qscale for each frame and added to scene_change_score

-mv0_threshold[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
-b_sensitivity[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
adjust sensitivity of b_frame_strategy 1

-compression_level[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)
-min_prediction_order[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio)
-max_prediction_order[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio)
-timecode_frame_start[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
GOP timecode frame start number, in non-drop-frame format

-request_channels[:stream_specifier] integer (input,audio)
set desired number of audio channels

-channel_layout[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,audio)
Possible values:

-request_channel_layout[:stream_specifier] integer (input,audio)
Possible values:

-rc_max_vbv_use[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
-rc_min_vbv_use[:stream_specifier] float (output,video)
-ticks_per_frame[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,audio,video)
-color_primaries[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,video)
color primaries

Possible values:

bt709
BT.709

unspecified
Unspecified

bt470m
BT.470 M

bt470bg
BT.470 BG

smpte170m
SMPTE 170 M

smpte240m
SMPTE 240 M

film
Film

bt2020
BT.2020

-color_trc[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,video)
color transfert characteristic

Possible values:

bt709
BT.709

unspecified
Unspecified

gamma22
Gamma 2.2

gamma28
Gamma 2.8

smpte170m
SMPTE 170 M

smpte240m
SMPTE 240 M

linear
Linear

log SMPTE 240 M

log_sqrt
SMPTE 240 M

iec61966_2_4
SMPTE 240 M

bt1361
BT.1361

iec61966_2_1
SMPTE 240 M

bt2020_10bit
BT.2020 - 10 bit

bt2020_12bit
BT.2020 - 12 bit

-colorspace[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,video)
colorspace

Possible values:

rgb RGB

bt709
BT.709

unspecified
Unspecified

fcc FourCC

bt470bg
BT.470 BG

smpte170m
SMPTE 170 M

smpte240m
SMPTE 240 M

ycocg
YCOCG

bt2020_ncl
BT.2020 NCL

bt2020_cl
BT.2020 CL

-color_range[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,video)
color range

Possible values:

unspecified
Unspecified

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

jpeg
JPEG (2^n-1)

-chroma_sample_location[:stream_specifier] integer (input/output,video)
-slices[:stream_specifier] integer (output,video)
number of slices, used in parallelized encoding

-thread_type[:stream_specifier] flags (input/output,video)
select multithreading type

Possible values:

slice
frame
-audio_service_type[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio)
audio service type

Possible values:

ma Main Audio Service

ef Effects

vi Visually Impaired

hi Hearing Impaired

di Dialogue

co Commentary

em Emergency

vo Voice Over

ka Karaoke

-request_sample_fmt[:stream_specifier] integer (input,audio)
Possible values:

u8 8-bit unsigned integer

s16 16-bit signed integer

s32 32-bit signed integer

flt 32-bit float

dbl 64-bit double

u8p 8-bit unsigned integer planar

s16p
16-bit signed integer planar

s32p
32-bit signed integer planar

fltp
32-bit float planar

dblp
64-bit double planar

-refcounted_frames[:stream_specifier] integer (input,audio,video)
-side_data_only_packets[:stream_specifier] integer (output,audio,video)

Format AVOptions
-probesize integer (input)
set probing size

-packetsize integer (output)
set packet size

-fflags flags (input/output)
Possible values:

flush_packets
reduce the latency by flushing out packets immediately

ignidx
ignore index

genpts
generate pts

nofillin
do not fill in missing values that can be exactly calculated

noparse
disable AVParsers, this needs nofillin too

igndts
ignore dts

discardcorrupt
discard corrupted frames

nobuffer
reduce the latency introduced by optional buffering

bitexact
do not write random/volatile data

-analyzeduration integer (input)
how many microseconds are analyzed to estimate duration

-cryptokey hexadecimal string (input)
decryption key

-indexmem integer (input)
max memory used for timestamp index (per stream)

-rtbufsize integer (input)
max memory used for buffering real-time frames

-fdebug flags (input/output)
print specific debug info

Possible values:

ts
-max_delay integer (input/output)
maximum muxing or demuxing delay in microseconds

-fpsprobesize integer (input)
number of frames used to probe fps

-f_err_detect flags (input)
set error detection flags (deprecated; use err_detect, save via
avconv)

Possible values:

crccheck
verify embedded CRCs

bitstream
detect bitstream specification deviations

buffer
detect improper bitstream length

explode
abort decoding on minor error detection

-err_detect flags (input)
set error detection flags

Possible values:

crccheck
verify embedded CRCs

bitstream
detect bitstream specification deviations

buffer
detect improper bitstream length

explode
abort decoding on minor error detection

-max_interleave_delta integer (output)
maximum buffering duration for interleaving

-f_strict integer (input/output)
how strictly to follow the standards (deprecated; use strict, save
via avconv)

Possible values:

strict
strictly conform to all the things in the spec no matter what
the consequences

normal
experimental
allow non-standardized experimental variants

-strict integer (input/output)
how strictly to follow the standards

Possible values:

strict
strictly conform to all the things in the spec no matter what
the consequences

normal
experimental
allow non-standardized experimental variants

Main options
-f format
Force format to use.

-of formatter
Use a specific formatter to output the document. The following
formatters are available

ini
json
old Pseudo-INI format that used to be the only one available in old
avprobe versions.

-unit
Show the unit of the displayed values.

-prefix
Use SI prefixes for the displayed values. Unless the
"-byte_binary_prefix" option is used all the prefixes are decimal.

-byte_binary_prefix
Force the use of binary prefixes for byte values.

-sexagesimal
Use sexagesimal format HH:MM:SS.MICROSECONDS for time values.

-pretty
Prettify the format of the displayed values, it corresponds to the
options "-unit -prefix -byte_binary_prefix -sexagesimal".

-show_format
Show information about the container format of the input multimedia
stream.

All the container format information is printed within a section
with name "FORMAT".

-show_format_entry name
Like -show_format, but only prints the specified entry of the
container format information, rather than all. This option may be
given more than once, then all specified entries will be shown.

-show_packets
Show information about each packet contained in the input
multimedia stream.

The information for each single packet is printed within a
dedicated section with name "PACKET".

-show_streams
Show information about each media stream contained in the input
multimedia stream.

Each media stream information is printed within a dedicated section
with name "STREAM".

Demuxers are configured elements in Libav which allow to read the
multimedia streams from a particular type of file.

When you configure your Libav build, all the supported demuxers are
enabled by default. You can list all available ones using the configure
option "--list-demuxers".

You can disable all the demuxers using the configure option
"--disable-demuxers", and selectively enable a single demuxer with the
option "--enable-demuxer=DEMUXER", or disable it with the option
"--disable-demuxer=DEMUXER".

The option "-formats" of the av* tools will display the list of enabled
demuxers.

The description of some of the currently available demuxers follows.

image2
Image file demuxer.

This demuxer reads from a list of image files specified by a pattern.

The pattern may contain the string "%d" or "%0Nd", which specifies the
position of the characters representing a sequential number in each
filename matched by the pattern. If the form "%d0Nd" is used, the
string representing the number in each filename is 0-padded and N is
the total number of 0-padded digits representing the number. The
literal character '%' can be specified in the pattern with the string
"%%".

If the pattern contains "%d" or "%0Nd", the first filename of the file
list specified by the pattern must contain a number inclusively
contained between 0 and 4, all the following numbers must be
sequential. This limitation may be hopefully fixed.

The pattern may contain a suffix which is used to automatically
determine the format of the images contained in the files.

For example the pattern "img-%03d.bmp" will match a sequence of
filenames of the form img-001.bmp, img-002.bmp, ..., img-010.bmp, etc.;
the pattern "i%%m%%g-%d.jpg" will match a sequence of filenames of the
form i%m%g-1.jpg, i%m%g-2.jpg, ..., i%m%g-10.jpg, etc.

The size, the pixel format, and the format of each image must be the
same for all the files in the sequence.

The following example shows how to use avconv for creating a video from
the images in the file sequence img-001.jpeg, img-002.jpeg, ...,
assuming an input framerate of 10 frames per second:

avconv -i 'img-%03d.jpeg' -r 10 out.mkv

Note that the pattern must not necessarily contain "%d" or "%0Nd", for
example to convert a single image file img.jpeg you can employ the
command:

avconv -i img.jpeg img.png

-pixel_format format
Set the pixel format (for raw image)

-video_size size
Set the frame size (for raw image)

-framerate rate
Set the frame rate

-loop bool
Loop over the images

-start_number start
Specify the first number in the sequence

applehttp
Apple HTTP Live Streaming demuxer.

This demuxer presents all AVStreams from all variant streams. The id
field is set to the bitrate variant index number. By setting the
discard flags on AVStreams (by pressing 'a' or 'v' in avplay), the
caller can decide which variant streams to actually receive. The total
bitrate of the variant that the stream belongs to is available in a
metadata key named "variant_bitrate".

flv
Adobe Flash Video Format demuxer.

This demuxer is used to demux FLV files and RTMP network streams.

-flv_metadata bool
Allocate the streams according to the onMetaData array content.

asf
Advanced Systems Format demuxer.

This demuxer is used to demux ASF files and MMS network streams.

-no_resync_search bool
Do not try to resynchronize by looking for a certain optional start
code.

Muxers are configured elements in Libav which allow writing multimedia
streams to a particular type of file.

When you configure your Libav build, all the supported muxers are
enabled by default. You can list all available muxers using the
configure option "--list-muxers".

You can disable all the muxers with the configure option
"--disable-muxers" and selectively enable / disable single muxers with
the options "--enable-muxer=MUXER" / "--disable-muxer=MUXER".

The option "-formats" of the av* tools will display the list of enabled
muxers.

A description of some of the currently available muxers follows.

crc
CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) testing format.

This muxer computes and prints the Adler-32 CRC of all the input audio
and video frames. By default audio frames are converted to signed
16-bit raw audio and video frames to raw video before computing the
CRC.

The output of the muxer consists of a single line of the form:
CRC=0xCRC, where CRC is a hexadecimal number 0-padded to 8 digits
containing the CRC for all the decoded input frames.

For example to compute the CRC of the input, and store it in the file
out.crc:

avconv -i INPUT -f crc out.crc

You can print the CRC to stdout with the command:

avconv -i INPUT -f crc -

You can select the output format of each frame with avconv by
specifying the audio and video codec and format. For example to compute
the CRC of the input audio converted to PCM unsigned 8-bit and the
input video converted to MPEG-2 video, use the command:

avconv -i INPUT -c:a pcm_u8 -c:v mpeg2video -f crc -

See also the crc muxer.

hls
Apple HTTP Live Streaming muxer that segments MPEG-TS according to the
HTTP Live Streaming specification.

It creates a playlist file and numbered segment files. The output
filename specifies the playlist filename; the segment filenames receive
the same basename as the playlist, a sequential number and a .ts
extension.

avconv -i in.nut out.m3u8

-hls_time seconds
Set the segment length in seconds.

-hls_list_size size
Set the maximum number of playlist entries.

-hls_wrap wrap
Set the number after which index wraps.

-start_number number
Start the sequence from number.

-hls_base_url baseurl
Append baseurl to every entry in the playlist. Useful to generate
playlists with absolute paths.

image2
Image file muxer.

The image file muxer writes video frames to image files.

The output filenames are specified by a pattern, which can be used to
produce sequentially numbered series of files. The pattern may contain
the string "%d" or "%0Nd", this string specifies the position of the
characters representing a numbering in the filenames. If the form
"%0Nd" is used, the string representing the number in each filename is
0-padded to N digits. The literal character '%' can be specified in the
pattern with the string "%%".

If the pattern contains "%d" or "%0Nd", the first filename of the file
list specified will contain the number 1, all the following numbers
will be sequential.

The pattern may contain a suffix which is used to automatically
determine the format of the image files to write.

For example the pattern "img-%03d.bmp" will specify a sequence of
filenames of the form img-001.bmp, img-002.bmp, ..., img-010.bmp, etc.
The pattern "img%%-%d.jpg" will specify a sequence of filenames of the
form img%-1.jpg, img%-2.jpg, ..., img%-10.jpg, etc.

The following example shows how to use avconv for creating a sequence
of files img-001.jpeg, img-002.jpeg, ..., taking one image every second
from the input video:

avconv -i in.avi -vsync 1 -r 1 -f image2 'img-%03d.jpeg'

Note that with avconv, if the format is not specified with the "-f"
option and the output filename specifies an image file format, the
image2 muxer is automatically selected, so the previous command can be
written as:

avconv -i in.avi -vsync 1 -r 1 'img-%03d.jpeg'

Note also that the pattern must not necessarily contain "%d" or "%0Nd",
for example to create a single image file img.jpeg from the input video
you can employ the command:

avconv -i in.avi -f image2 -frames:v 1 img.jpeg

-start_number number
Start the sequence from number.

-update number
If number is nonzero, the filename will always be interpreted as
just a filename, not a pattern, and this file will be continuously
overwritten with new images.

matroska
Matroska container muxer.

This muxer implements the matroska and webm container specs.

The recognized metadata settings in this muxer are:

title=title name
Name provided to a single track

language=language name
Specifies the language of the track in the Matroska languages form

STEREO_MODE=mode
Stereo 3D video layout of two views in a single video track

mono
video is not stereo

left_right
Both views are arranged side by side, Left-eye view is on the
left

bottom_top
Both views are arranged in top-bottom orientation, Left-eye
view is at bottom

top_bottom
Both views are arranged in top-bottom orientation, Left-eye
view is on top

checkerboard_rl
Each view is arranged in a checkerboard interleaved pattern,
Left-eye view being first

checkerboard_lr
Each view is arranged in a checkerboard interleaved pattern,
Right-eye view being first

row_interleaved_rl
Each view is constituted by a row based interleaving, Right-eye
view is first row

row_interleaved_lr
Each view is constituted by a row based interleaving, Left-eye
view is first row

col_interleaved_rl
Both views are arranged in a column based interleaving manner,
Right-eye view is first column

col_interleaved_lr
Both views are arranged in a column based interleaving manner,
Left-eye view is first column

anaglyph_cyan_red
All frames are in anaglyph format viewable through red-cyan
filters

right_left
Both views are arranged side by side, Right-eye view is on the
left

anaglyph_green_magenta
All frames are in anaglyph format viewable through green-
magenta filters

block_lr
Both eyes laced in one Block, Left-eye view is first

block_rl
Both eyes laced in one Block, Right-eye view is first

For example a 3D WebM clip can be created using the following command
line:

avconv -i sample_left_right_clip.mpg -an -c:v libvpx -metadata STEREO_MODE=left_right -y stereo_clip.webm

This muxer supports the following options:

reserve_index_space
By default, this muxer writes the index for seeking (called cues in
Matroska terms) at the end of the file, because it cannot know in
advance how much space to leave for the index at the beginning of
the file. However for some use cases -- e.g. streaming where
seeking is possible but slow -- it is useful to put the index at
the beginning of the file.

If this option is set to a non-zero value, the muxer will reserve a
given amount of space in the file header and then try to write the
cues there when the muxing finishes. If the available space does
not suffice, muxing will fail. A safe size for most use cases
should be about 50kB per hour of video.

Note that cues are only written if the output is seekable and this
option will have no effect if it is not.

mov, mp4, ismv
The mov/mp4/ismv muxer supports fragmentation. Normally, a MOV/MP4 file
has all the metadata about all packets stored in one location (written
at the end of the file, it can be moved to the start for better
playback using the qt-faststart tool). A fragmented file consists of a
number of fragments, where packets and metadata about these packets are
stored together. Writing a fragmented file has the advantage that the
file is decodable even if the writing is interrupted (while a normal
MOV/MP4 is undecodable if it is not properly finished), and it requires
less memory when writing very long files (since writing normal MOV/MP4
files stores info about every single packet in memory until the file is
closed). The downside is that it is less compatible with other
applications.

Fragmentation is enabled by setting one of the AVOptions that define
how to cut the file into fragments:

-movflags frag_keyframe
Start a new fragment at each video keyframe.

-frag_duration duration
Create fragments that are duration microseconds long.

-frag_size size
Create fragments that contain up to size bytes of payload data.

-movflags frag_custom
Allow the caller to manually choose when to cut fragments, by
calling "av_write_frame(ctx, NULL)" to write a fragment with the
packets written so far. (This is only useful with other
applications integrating libavformat, not from avconv.)

-min_frag_duration duration
Don't create fragments that are shorter than duration microseconds
long.

If more than one condition is specified, fragments are cut when one of
the specified conditions is fulfilled. The exception to this is
"-min_frag_duration", which has to be fulfilled for any of the other
conditions to apply.

Additionally, the way the output file is written can be adjusted
through a few other options:

-movflags empty_moov
Write an initial moov atom directly at the start of the file,
without describing any samples in it. Generally, an mdat/moov pair
is written at the start of the file, as a normal MOV/MP4 file,
containing only a short portion of the file. With this option set,
there is no initial mdat atom, and the moov atom only describes the
tracks but has a zero duration.

Files written with this option set do not work in QuickTime. This
option is implicitly set when writing ismv (Smooth Streaming)
files.

-movflags separate_moof
Write a separate moof (movie fragment) atom for each track.
Normally, packets for all tracks are written in a moof atom (which
is slightly more efficient), but with this option set, the muxer
writes one moof/mdat pair for each track, making it easier to
separate tracks.

This option is implicitly set when writing ismv (Smooth Streaming)
files.

-movflags faststart
Run a second pass moving the index (moov atom) to the beginning of
the file. This operation can take a while, and will not work in
various situations such as fragmented output, thus it is not
enabled by default.

-movflags disable_chpl
Disable Nero chapter markers (chpl atom). Normally, both Nero
chapters and a QuickTime chapter track are written to the file.
With this option set, only the QuickTime chapter track will be
written. Nero chapters can cause failures when the file is
reprocessed with certain tagging programs.

Smooth Streaming content can be pushed in real time to a publishing
point on IIS with this muxer. Example:

avconv -re <<normal input/transcoding options>> -movflags isml+frag_keyframe -f ismv http://server/publishingpoint.isml/Streams(Encoder1)

mp3
The MP3 muxer writes a raw MP3 stream with an ID3v2 header at the
beginning and optionally an ID3v1 tag at the end. ID3v2.3 and ID3v2.4
are supported, the "id3v2_version" option controls which one is used.
Setting "id3v2_version" to 0 will disable the ID3v2 header completely.
The legacy ID3v1 tag is not written by default, but may be enabled with
the "write_id3v1" option.

The muxer may also write a Xing frame at the beginning, which contains
the number of frames in the file. It is useful for computing duration
of VBR files. The Xing frame is written if the output stream is
seekable and if the "write_xing" option is set to 1 (the default).

The muxer supports writing ID3v2 attached pictures (APIC frames). The
pictures are supplied to the muxer in form of a video stream with a
single packet. There can be any number of those streams, each will
correspond to a single APIC frame. The stream metadata tags title and
comment map to APIC description and picture type respectively. See
<http://id3.org/id3v2.4.0-frames> for allowed picture types.

Note that the APIC frames must be written at the beginning, so the
muxer will buffer the audio frames until it gets all the pictures. It
is therefore advised to provide the pictures as soon as possible to
avoid excessive buffering.

Examples:

Write an mp3 with an ID3v2.3 header and an ID3v1 footer:

avconv -i INPUT -id3v2_version 3 -write_id3v1 1 out.mp3

Attach a picture to an mp3:

avconv -i input.mp3 -i cover.png -c copy -metadata:s:v title="Album cover"
-metadata:s:v comment="Cover (Front)" out.mp3

Write a "clean" MP3 without any extra features:

avconv -i input.wav -write_xing 0 -id3v2_version 0 out.mp3

mpegts
MPEG transport stream muxer.

This muxer implements ISO 13818-1 and part of ETSI EN 300 468.

The muxer options are:

-mpegts_original_network_id number
Set the original_network_id (default 0x0001). This is unique
identifier of a network in DVB. Its main use is in the unique
identification of a service through the path Original_Network_ID,
Transport_Stream_ID.

-mpegts_transport_stream_id number
Set the transport_stream_id (default 0x0001). This identifies a
transponder in DVB.

-mpegts_service_id number
Set the service_id (default 0x0001) also known as program in DVB.

-mpegts_pmt_start_pid number
Set the first PID for PMT (default 0x1000, max 0x1f00).

-mpegts_start_pid number
Set the first PID for data packets (default 0x0100, max 0x0f00).

-muxrate number
Set a constant muxrate (default VBR).

-pcr_period numer
Override the default PCR retransmission time (default 20ms),
ignored if variable muxrate is selected.

The recognized metadata settings in mpegts muxer are "service_provider"
and "service_name". If they are not set the default for
"service_provider" is "Libav" and the default for "service_name" is
"Service01".

avconv -i file.mpg -c copy \
-mpegts_original_network_id 0x1122 \
-mpegts_transport_stream_id 0x3344 \
-mpegts_service_id 0x5566 \
-mpegts_pmt_start_pid 0x1500 \
-mpegts_start_pid 0x150 \
-metadata service_provider="Some provider" \
-metadata service_name="Some Channel" \
-y out.ts

null
Null muxer.

This muxer does not generate any output file, it is mainly useful for
testing or benchmarking purposes.

For example to benchmark decoding with avconv you can use the command:

avconv -benchmark -i INPUT -f null out.null

Note that the above command does not read or write the out.null file,
but specifying the output file is required by the avconv syntax.

Alternatively you can write the command as:

avconv -benchmark -i INPUT -f null -

nut
-syncpoints flags
Change the syncpoint usage in nut:

default use the normal low-overhead seeking aids.
none do not use the syncpoints at all, reducing the overhead but
making the stream non-seekable;
timestamped extend the syncpoint with a wallclock field.

The none and timestamped flags are experimental.

avconv -i INPUT -f_strict experimental -syncpoints none - | processor

ogg
Ogg container muxer.

-page_duration duration
Preferred page duration, in microseconds. The muxer will attempt to
create pages that are approximately duration microseconds long.
This allows the user to compromise between seek granularity and
container overhead. The default is 1 second. A value of 0 will fill
all segments, making pages as large as possible. A value of 1 will
effectively use 1 packet-per-page in most situations, giving a
small seek granularity at the cost of additional container
overhead.

segment
Basic stream segmenter.

The segmenter muxer outputs streams to a number of separate files of
nearly fixed duration. Output filename pattern can be set in a fashion
similar to image2.

Every segment starts with a video keyframe, if a video stream is
present. The segment muxer works best with a single constant frame
rate video.

Optionally it can generate a flat list of the created segments, one
segment per line.

segment_format format
Override the inner container format, by default it is guessed by
the filename extension.

segment_time t
Set segment duration to t seconds.

segment_list name
Generate also a listfile named name.

segment_list_type type
Select the listing format.

flat use a simple flat list of entries.
hls use a m3u8-like structure.
segment_list_size size
Overwrite the listfile once it reaches size entries.

segment_list_entry_prefix prefix
Prepend prefix to each entry. Useful to generate absolute paths.

segment_wrap limit
Wrap around segment index once it reaches limit.

avconv -i in.mkv -c copy -map 0 -f segment -list out.list out%03d.nut

Protocols are configured elements in Libav which allow to access
resources which require the use of a particular protocol.

When you configure your Libav build, all the supported protocols are
enabled by default. You can list all available ones using the configure
option "--list-protocols".

You can disable all the protocols using the configure option
"--disable-protocols", and selectively enable a protocol using the
option "--enable-protocol=PROTOCOL", or you can disable a particular
protocol using the option "--disable-protocol=PROTOCOL".

The option "-protocols" of the av* tools will display the list of
supported protocols.

A description of the currently available protocols follows.

concat
Physical concatenation protocol.

Allow to read and seek from many resource in sequence as if they were a
unique resource.

A URL accepted by this protocol has the syntax:

concat:<URL1>|<URL2>|...|<URLN>

where URL1, URL2, ..., URLN are the urls of the resource to be
concatenated, each one possibly specifying a distinct protocol.

For example to read a sequence of files split1.mpeg, split2.mpeg,
split3.mpeg with avplay use the command:

avplay concat:split1.mpeg\|split2.mpeg\|split3.mpeg

Note that you may need to escape the character "|" which is special for
many shells.

file
File access protocol.

Allow to read from or read to a file.

For example to read from a file input.mpeg with avconv use the command:

avconv -i file:input.mpeg output.mpeg

The av* tools default to the file protocol, that is a resource
specified with the name "FILE.mpeg" is interpreted as the URL
"file:FILE.mpeg".

gopher
Gopher protocol.

hls
Read Apple HTTP Live Streaming compliant segmented stream as a uniform
one. The M3U8 playlists describing the segments can be remote HTTP
resources or local files, accessed using the standard file protocol.
The nested protocol is declared by specifying "+proto" after the hls
URI scheme name, where proto is either "file" or "http".

hls+http://host/path/to/remote/resource.m3u8
hls+file://path/to/local/resource.m3u8

Using this protocol is discouraged - the hls demuxer should work just
as well (if not, please report the issues) and is more complete. To
use the hls demuxer instead, simply use the direct URLs to the m3u8
files.

http
HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol).

This protocol accepts the following options:

chunked_post
If set to 1 use chunked Transfer-Encoding for posts, default is 1.

content_type
Set a specific content type for the POST messages.

headers
Set custom HTTP headers, can override built in default headers. The
value must be a string encoding the headers.

multiple_requests
Use persistent connections if set to 1, default is 0.

post_data
Set custom HTTP post data.

user_agent
Override the User-Agent header. If not specified a string of the
form "Lavf/<version>" will be used.

mime_type
Export the MIME type.

icy If set to 1 request ICY (SHOUTcast) metadata from the server. If
the server supports this, the metadata has to be retrieved by the
application by reading the icy_metadata_headers and
icy_metadata_packet options. The default is 1.

icy_metadata_headers
If the server supports ICY metadata, this contains the ICY-specific
HTTP reply headers, separated by newline characters.

icy_metadata_packet
If the server supports ICY metadata, and icy was set to 1, this
contains the last non-empty metadata packet sent by the server. It
should be polled in regular intervals by applications interested in
mid-stream metadata updates.

offset
Set initial byte offset.

end_offset
Try to limit the request to bytes preceding this offset.

Icecast
Icecast (stream to Icecast servers)

This protocol accepts the following options:

ice_genre
Set the stream genre.

ice_name
Set the stream name.

ice_description
Set the stream description.

ice_url
Set the stream website URL.

ice_public
Set if the stream should be public or not. The default is 0 (not
public).

user_agent
Override the User-Agent header. If not specified a string of the
form "Lavf/<version>" will be used.

password
Set the Icecast mountpoint password.

content_type
Set the stream content type. This must be set if it is different
from audio/mpeg.

legacy_icecast
This enables support for Icecast versions < 2.4.0, that do not
support the HTTP PUT method but the SOURCE method.

mmst
MMS (Microsoft Media Server) protocol over TCP.

mmsh
MMS (Microsoft Media Server) protocol over HTTP.

The required syntax is:

mmsh://<server>[:<port>][/<app>][/<playpath>]

md5
MD5 output protocol.

Computes the MD5 hash of the data to be written, and on close writes
this to the designated output or stdout if none is specified. It can be
used to test muxers without writing an actual file.

Some examples follow.

# Write the MD5 hash of the encoded AVI file to the file output.avi.md5.
avconv -i input.flv -f avi -y md5:output.avi.md5

# Write the MD5 hash of the encoded AVI file to stdout.
avconv -i input.flv -f avi -y md5:

Note that some formats (typically MOV) require the output protocol to
be seekable, so they will fail with the MD5 output protocol.

pipe
UNIX pipe access protocol.

Allow to read and write from UNIX pipes.

The accepted syntax is:

pipe:[<number>]

number is the number corresponding to the file descriptor of the pipe
(e.g. 0 for stdin, 1 for stdout, 2 for stderr). If number is not
specified, by default the stdout file descriptor will be used for
writing, stdin for reading.

For example to read from stdin with avconv:

cat test.wav | avconv -i pipe:0
# ...this is the same as...
cat test.wav | avconv -i pipe:

For writing to stdout with avconv:

avconv -i test.wav -f avi pipe:1 | cat > test.avi
# ...this is the same as...
avconv -i test.wav -f avi pipe: | cat > test.avi

Note that some formats (typically MOV), require the output protocol to
be seekable, so they will fail with the pipe output protocol.

rtmp
Real-Time Messaging Protocol.

The Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) is used for streaming
multimedia content across a TCP/IP network.

The required syntax is:

rtmp://[<username>:<password>@]<server>[:<port>][/<app>][/<instance>][/<playpath>]

The accepted parameters are:

username
An optional username (mostly for publishing).

password
An optional password (mostly for publishing).

server
The address of the RTMP server.

port
The number of the TCP port to use (by default is 1935).

app It is the name of the application to access. It usually corresponds
to the path where the application is installed on the RTMP server
(e.g. /ondemand/, /flash/live/, etc.). You can override the value
parsed from the URI through the "rtmp_app" option, too.

playpath
It is the path or name of the resource to play with reference to
the application specified in app, may be prefixed by "mp4:". You
can override the value parsed from the URI through the
"rtmp_playpath" option, too.

listen
Act as a server, listening for an incoming connection.

timeout
Maximum time to wait for the incoming connection. Implies listen.

Additionally, the following parameters can be set via command line
options (or in code via "AVOption"s):

rtmp_app
Name of application to connect on the RTMP server. This option
overrides the parameter specified in the URI.

rtmp_buffer
Set the client buffer time in milliseconds. The default is 3000.

rtmp_conn
Extra arbitrary AMF connection parameters, parsed from a string,
e.g. like "B:1 S:authMe O:1 NN:code:1.23 NS:flag:ok O:0". Each
value is prefixed by a single character denoting the type, B for
Boolean, N for number, S for string, O for object, or Z for null,
followed by a colon. For Booleans the data must be either 0 or 1
for FALSE or TRUE, respectively. Likewise for Objects the data
must be 0 or 1 to end or begin an object, respectively. Data items
in subobjects may be named, by prefixing the type with 'N' and
specifying the name before the value (i.e. "NB:myFlag:1"). This
option may be used multiple times to construct arbitrary AMF
sequences.

rtmp_flashver
Version of the Flash plugin used to run the SWF player. The default
is LNX 9,0,124,2. (When publishing, the default is FMLE/3.0
(compatible; <libavformat version>).)

rtmp_flush_interval
Number of packets flushed in the same request (RTMPT only). The
default is 10.

rtmp_live
Specify that the media is a live stream. No resuming or seeking in
live streams is possible. The default value is "any", which means
the subscriber first tries to play the live stream specified in the
playpath. If a live stream of that name is not found, it plays the
recorded stream. The other possible values are "live" and
"recorded".

rtmp_pageurl
URL of the web page in which the media was embedded. By default no
value will be sent.

rtmp_playpath
Stream identifier to play or to publish. This option overrides the
parameter specified in the URI.

rtmp_subscribe
Name of live stream to subscribe to. By default no value will be
sent. It is only sent if the option is specified or if rtmp_live
is set to live.

rtmp_swfhash
SHA256 hash of the decompressed SWF file (32 bytes).

rtmp_swfsize
Size of the decompressed SWF file, required for SWFVerification.

rtmp_swfurl
URL of the SWF player for the media. By default no value will be
sent.

rtmp_swfverify
URL to player swf file, compute hash/size automatically.

rtmp_tcurl
URL of the target stream. Defaults to proto://host[:port]/app.

For example to read with avplay a multimedia resource named "sample"
from the application "vod" from an RTMP server "myserver":

avplay rtmp://myserver/vod/sample

To publish to a password protected server, passing the playpath and app
names separately:

avconv -re -i <input> -f flv -rtmp_playpath some/long/path -rtmp_app long/app/name rtmp://username:password@myserver/

rtmpe
Encrypted Real-Time Messaging Protocol.

The Encrypted Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMPE) is used for
streaming multimedia content within standard cryptographic primitives,
consisting of Diffie-Hellman key exchange and HMACSHA256, generating a
pair of RC4 keys.

rtmps
Real-Time Messaging Protocol over a secure SSL connection.

The Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMPS) is used for streaming
multimedia content across an encrypted connection.

rtmpt
Real-Time Messaging Protocol tunneled through HTTP.

The Real-Time Messaging Protocol tunneled through HTTP (RTMPT) is used
for streaming multimedia content within HTTP requests to traverse
firewalls.

rtmpte
Encrypted Real-Time Messaging Protocol tunneled through HTTP.

The Encrypted Real-Time Messaging Protocol tunneled through HTTP
(RTMPTE) is used for streaming multimedia content within HTTP requests
to traverse firewalls.

rtmpts
Real-Time Messaging Protocol tunneled through HTTPS.

The Real-Time Messaging Protocol tunneled through HTTPS (RTMPTS) is
used for streaming multimedia content within HTTPS requests to traverse
firewalls.

librtmp rtmp, rtmpe, rtmps, rtmpt, rtmpte
Real-Time Messaging Protocol and its variants supported through
librtmp.

Requires the presence of the librtmp headers and library during
configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with
"--enable-librtmp". If enabled this will replace the native RTMP
protocol.

This protocol provides most client functions and a few server functions
needed to support RTMP, RTMP tunneled in HTTP (RTMPT), encrypted RTMP
(RTMPE), RTMP over SSL/TLS (RTMPS) and tunneled variants of these
encrypted types (RTMPTE, RTMPTS).

The required syntax is:

<rtmp_proto>://<server>[:<port>][/<app>][/<playpath>] <options>

where rtmp_proto is one of the strings "rtmp", "rtmpt", "rtmpe",
"rtmps", "rtmpte", "rtmpts" corresponding to each RTMP variant, and
server, port, app and playpath have the same meaning as specified for
the RTMP native protocol. options contains a list of space-separated
options of the form key=val.

See the librtmp manual page (man 3 librtmp) for more information.

For example, to stream a file in real-time to an RTMP server using
avconv:

avconv -re -i myfile -f flv rtmp://myserver/live/mystream

To play the same stream using avplay:

avplay "rtmp://myserver/live/mystream live=1"

rtp
Real-Time Protocol.

rtsp
RTSP is not technically a protocol handler in libavformat, it is a
demuxer and muxer. The demuxer supports both normal RTSP (with data
transferred over RTP; this is used by e.g. Apple and Microsoft) and
Real-RTSP (with data transferred over RDT).

The muxer can be used to send a stream using RTSP ANNOUNCE to a server
supporting it (currently Darwin Streaming Server and Mischa
Spiegelmock's
RTSP server ("http://github.com/revmischa/rtsp-server")).

The required syntax for a RTSP url is:

rtsp://<hostname>[:<port>]/<path>

The following options (set on the avconv/avplay command line, or set in
code via "AVOption"s or in "avformat_open_input"), are supported:

Flags for "rtsp_transport":

udp Use UDP as lower transport protocol.

tcp Use TCP (interleaving within the RTSP control channel) as lower
transport protocol.

udp_multicast
Use UDP multicast as lower transport protocol.

http
Use HTTP tunneling as lower transport protocol, which is useful for
passing proxies.

Multiple lower transport protocols may be specified, in that case they
are tried one at a time (if the setup of one fails, the next one is
tried). For the muxer, only the "tcp" and "udp" options are supported.

Flags for "rtsp_flags":

filter_src
Accept packets only from negotiated peer address and port.

listen
Act as a server, listening for an incoming connection.

When receiving data over UDP, the demuxer tries to reorder received
packets (since they may arrive out of order, or packets may get lost
totally). This can be disabled by setting the maximum demuxing delay to
zero (via the "max_delay" field of AVFormatContext).

When watching multi-bitrate Real-RTSP streams with avplay, the streams
to display can be chosen with "-vst" n and "-ast" n for video and audio
respectively, and can be switched on the fly by pressing "v" and "a".

Example command lines:

To watch a stream over UDP, with a max reordering delay of 0.5 seconds:

avplay -max_delay 500000 -rtsp_transport udp rtsp://server/video.mp4

To watch a stream tunneled over HTTP:

avplay -rtsp_transport http rtsp://server/video.mp4

To send a stream in realtime to a RTSP server, for others to watch:

avconv -re -i <input> -f rtsp -muxdelay 0.1 rtsp://server/live.sdp

To receive a stream in realtime:

avconv -rtsp_flags listen -i rtsp://ownaddress/live.sdp <output>

sap
Session Announcement Protocol (RFC 2974). This is not technically a
protocol handler in libavformat, it is a muxer and demuxer. It is used
for signalling of RTP streams, by announcing the SDP for the streams
regularly on a separate port.

Muxer

The syntax for a SAP url given to the muxer is:

sap://<destination>[:<port>][?<options>]

The RTP packets are sent to destination on port port, or to port 5004
if no port is specified. options is a "&"-separated list. The
following options are supported:

announce_addr=address
Specify the destination IP address for sending the announcements
to. If omitted, the announcements are sent to the commonly used
SAP announcement multicast address 224.2.127.254 (sap.mcast.net),
or ff0e::2:7ffe if destination is an IPv6 address.

announce_port=port
Specify the port to send the announcements on, defaults to 9875 if
not specified.

ttl=ttl
Specify the time to live value for the announcements and RTP
packets, defaults to 255.

same_port=0|1
If set to 1, send all RTP streams on the same port pair. If zero
(the default), all streams are sent on unique ports, with each
stream on a port 2 numbers higher than the previous. VLC/Live555
requires this to be set to 1, to be able to receive the stream.
The RTP stack in libavformat for receiving requires all streams to
be sent on unique ports.

Example command lines follow.

To broadcast a stream on the local subnet, for watching in VLC:

avconv -re -i <input> -f sap sap://224.0.0.255?same_port=1

Similarly, for watching in avplay:

avconv -re -i <input> -f sap sap://224.0.0.255

And for watching in avplay, over IPv6:

avconv -re -i <input> -f sap sap://[ff0e::1:2:3:4]

Demuxer

The syntax for a SAP url given to the demuxer is:

sap://[<address>][:<port>]

address is the multicast address to listen for announcements on, if
omitted, the default 224.2.127.254 (sap.mcast.net) is used. port is the
port that is listened on, 9875 if omitted.

The demuxers listens for announcements on the given address and port.
Once an announcement is received, it tries to receive that particular
stream.

Example command lines follow.

To play back the first stream announced on the normal SAP multicast
address:

avplay sap://

To play back the first stream announced on one the default IPv6 SAP
multicast address:

avplay sap://[ff0e::2:7ffe]

tcp
Trasmission Control Protocol.

The required syntax for a TCP url is:

tcp://<hostname>:<port>[?<options>]

listen
Listen for an incoming connection

avconv -i <input> -f <format> tcp://<hostname>:<port>?listen
avplay tcp://<hostname>:<port>

tls
Transport Layer Security (TLS) / Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

The required syntax for a TLS url is:

tls://<hostname>:<port>

The following parameters can be set via command line options (or in
code via "AVOption"s):

ca_file
A file containing certificate authority (CA) root certificates to
treat as trusted. If the linked TLS library contains a default this
might not need to be specified for verification to work, but not
all libraries and setups have defaults built in.

tls_verify=1|0
If enabled, try to verify the peer that we are communicating with.
Note, if using OpenSSL, this currently only makes sure that the
peer certificate is signed by one of the root certificates in the
CA database, but it does not validate that the certificate actually
matches the host name we are trying to connect to. (With GnuTLS,
the host name is validated as well.)

This is disabled by default since it requires a CA database to be
provided by the caller in many cases.

cert_file
A file containing a certificate to use in the handshake with the
peer. (When operating as server, in listen mode, this is more
often required by the peer, while client certificates only are
mandated in certain setups.)

key_file
A file containing the private key for the certificate.

listen=1|0
If enabled, listen for connections on the provided port, and assume
the server role in the handshake instead of the client role.

udp
User Datagram Protocol.

The required syntax for a UDP url is:

udp://<hostname>:<port>[?<options>]

options contains a list of &-separated options of the form key=val.
Follow the list of supported options.

buffer_size=size
set the UDP buffer size in bytes

localport=port
override the local UDP port to bind with

localaddr=addr
Choose the local IP address. This is useful e.g. if sending
multicast and the host has multiple interfaces, where the user can
choose which interface to send on by specifying the IP address of
that interface.

pkt_size=size
set the size in bytes of UDP packets

reuse=1|0
explicitly allow or disallow reusing UDP sockets

ttl=ttl
set the time to live value (for multicast only)

connect=1|0
Initialize the UDP socket with "connect()". In this case, the
destination address can't be changed with ff_udp_set_remote_url
later. If the destination address isn't known at the start, this
option can be specified in ff_udp_set_remote_url, too. This allows
finding out the source address for the packets with getsockname,
and makes writes return with AVERROR(ECONNREFUSED) if "destination
unreachable" is received. For receiving, this gives the benefit of
only receiving packets from the specified peer address/port.

sources=address[,address]
Only receive packets sent to the multicast group from one of the
specified sender IP addresses.

block=address[,address]
Ignore packets sent to the multicast group from the specified
sender IP addresses.

Some usage examples of the udp protocol with avconv follow.

To stream over UDP to a remote endpoint:

avconv -i <input> -f <format> udp://<hostname>:<port>

To stream in mpegts format over UDP using 188 sized UDP packets, using
a large input buffer:

avconv -i <input> -f mpegts udp://<hostname>:<port>?pkt_size=188&buffer_size=65535

To receive over UDP from a remote endpoint:

avconv -i udp://[<multicast-address>]:<port>

unix
Unix local socket

The required syntax for a Unix socket URL is:

unix://<filepath>

The following parameters can be set via command line options (or in
code via "AVOption"s):

timeout
Timeout in ms.

listen
Create the Unix socket in listening mode.

Input devices are configured elements in Libav which allow to access
the data coming from a multimedia device attached to your system.

When you configure your Libav build, all the supported input devices
are enabled by default. You can list all available ones using the
configure option "--list-indevs".

You can disable all the input devices using the configure option
"--disable-indevs", and selectively enable an input device using the
option "--enable-indev=INDEV", or you can disable a particular input
device using the option "--disable-indev=INDEV".

The option "-formats" of the av* tools will display the list of
supported input devices (amongst the demuxers).

A description of the currently available input devices follows.

alsa
ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) input device.

To enable this input device during configuration you need libasound
installed on your system.

This device allows capturing from an ALSA device. The name of the
device to capture has to be an ALSA card identifier.

An ALSA identifier has the syntax:

hw:<CARD>[,<DEV>[,<SUBDEV>]]

where the DEV and SUBDEV components are optional.

The three arguments (in order: CARD,DEV,SUBDEV) specify card number or
identifier, device number and subdevice number (-1 means any).

To see the list of cards currently recognized by your system check the
files /proc/asound/cards and /proc/asound/devices.

For example to capture with avconv from an ALSA device with card id 0,
you may run the command:

avconv -f alsa -i hw:0 alsaout.wav

For more information see:
<http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/pcm.html>

bktr
BSD video input device.

dv1394
Linux DV 1394 input device.

fbdev
Linux framebuffer input device.

The Linux framebuffer is a graphic hardware-independent abstraction
layer to show graphics on a computer monitor, typically on the console.
It is accessed through a file device node, usually /dev/fb0.

For more detailed information read the file
Documentation/fb/framebuffer.txt included in the Linux source tree.

To record from the framebuffer device /dev/fb0 with avconv:

avconv -f fbdev -r 10 -i /dev/fb0 out.avi

You can take a single screenshot image with the command:

avconv -f fbdev -frames:v 1 -r 1 -i /dev/fb0 screenshot.jpeg

See also <http://linux-fbdev.sourceforge.net/>, and fbset(1).

jack
JACK input device.

To enable this input device during configuration you need libjack
installed on your system.

A JACK input device creates one or more JACK writable clients, one for
each audio channel, with name client_name:input_N, where client_name is
the name provided by the application, and N is a number which
identifies the channel. Each writable client will send the acquired
data to the Libav input device.

Once you have created one or more JACK readable clients, you need to
connect them to one or more JACK writable clients.

To connect or disconnect JACK clients you can use the jack_connect and
jack_disconnect programs, or do it through a graphical interface, for
example with qjackctl.

To list the JACK clients and their properties you can invoke the
command jack_lsp.

Follows an example which shows how to capture a JACK readable client
with avconv.

# Create a JACK writable client with name "libav".
$ avconv -f jack -i libav -y out.wav

# Start the sample jack_metro readable client.
$ jack_metro -b 120 -d 0.2 -f 4000

# List the current JACK clients.
$ jack_lsp -c
system:capture_1
system:capture_2
system:playback_1
system:playback_2
libav:input_1
metro:120_bpm

# Connect metro to the avconv writable client.
$ jack_connect metro:120_bpm libav:input_1

For more information read: <http://jackaudio.org/>

libdc1394
IIDC1394 input device, based on libdc1394 and libraw1394.

oss
Open Sound System input device.

The filename to provide to the input device is the device node
representing the OSS input device, and is usually set to /dev/dsp.

For example to grab from /dev/dsp using avconv use the command:

avconv -f oss -i /dev/dsp /tmp/oss.wav

For more information about OSS see:
<http://manuals.opensound.com/usersguide/dsp.html>

pulse
pulseaudio input device.

To enable this input device during configuration you need libpulse-
simple installed in your system.

The filename to provide to the input device is a source device or the
string "default"

To list the pulse source devices and their properties you can invoke
the command pactl list sources.

avconv -f pulse -i default /tmp/pulse.wav

server AVOption

The syntax is:

-server <server name>

Connects to a specific server.

name AVOption

The syntax is:

-name <application name>

Specify the application name pulse will use when showing active
clients, by default it is "libav"

stream_name AVOption

The syntax is:

-stream_name <stream name>

Specify the stream name pulse will use when showing active streams, by
default it is "record"

sample_rate AVOption

The syntax is:

-sample_rate <samplerate>

Specify the samplerate in Hz, by default 48kHz is used.

channels AVOption

The syntax is:

-channels <N>

Specify the channels in use, by default 2 (stereo) is set.

frame_size AVOption

The syntax is:

-frame_size <bytes>

Specify the number of byte per frame, by default it is set to 1024.

fragment_size AVOption

The syntax is:

-fragment_size <bytes>

Specify the minimal buffering fragment in pulseaudio, it will affect
the audio latency. By default it is unset.

sndio
sndio input device.

To enable this input device during configuration you need libsndio
installed on your system.

The filename to provide to the input device is the device node
representing the sndio input device, and is usually set to /dev/audio0.

For example to grab from /dev/audio0 using avconv use the command:

avconv -f sndio -i /dev/audio0 /tmp/oss.wav

video4linux2
Video4Linux2 input video device.

The name of the device to grab is a file device node, usually Linux
systems tend to automatically create such nodes when the device (e.g.
an USB webcam) is plugged into the system, and has a name of the kind
/dev/videoN, where N is a number associated to the device.

Video4Linux2 devices usually support a limited set of widthxheight
sizes and framerates. You can check which are supported using
-list_formats all for Video4Linux2 devices.

Some usage examples of the video4linux2 devices with avconv and avplay:

# Grab and show the input of a video4linux2 device.
avplay -f video4linux2 -framerate 30 -video_size hd720 /dev/video0

# Grab and record the input of a video4linux2 device, leave the
framerate and size as previously set.
avconv -f video4linux2 -input_format mjpeg -i /dev/video0 out.mpeg

vfwcap
VfW (Video for Windows) capture input device.

The filename passed as input is the capture driver number, ranging from
0 to 9. You may use "list" as filename to print a list of drivers. Any
other filename will be interpreted as device number 0.

x11grab
X11 video input device.

This device allows to capture a region of an X11 display.

The filename passed as input has the syntax:

[<hostname>]:<display_number>.<screen_number>[+<x_offset>,<y_offset>]

hostname:display_number.screen_number specifies the X11 display name of
the screen to grab from. hostname can be omitted, and defaults to
"localhost". The environment variable DISPLAY contains the default
display name.

x_offset and y_offset specify the offsets of the grabbed area with
respect to the top-left border of the X11 screen. They default to 0.

Check the X11 documentation (e.g. man X) for more detailed information.

Use the dpyinfo program for getting basic information about the
properties of your X11 display (e.g. grep for "name" or "dimensions").

For example to grab from :0.0 using avconv:

avconv -f x11grab -r 25 -s cif -i :0.0 out.mpg

# Grab at position 10,20.
avconv -f x11grab -r 25 -s cif -i :0.0+10,20 out.mpg

follow_mouse AVOption

The syntax is:

-follow_mouse centered|<PIXELS>

When it is specified with "centered", the grabbing region follows the
mouse pointer and keeps the pointer at the center of region; otherwise,
the region follows only when the mouse pointer reaches within PIXELS
(greater than zero) to the edge of region.

For example:

avconv -f x11grab -follow_mouse centered -r 25 -s cif -i :0.0 out.mpg

# Follows only when the mouse pointer reaches within 100 pixels to edge
avconv -f x11grab -follow_mouse 100 -r 25 -s cif -i :0.0 out.mpg

show_region AVOption

The syntax is:

-show_region 1

If show_region AVOption is specified with 1, then the grabbing region
will be indicated on screen. With this option, it's easy to know what
is being grabbed if only a portion of the screen is grabbed.

For example:

avconv -f x11grab -show_region 1 -r 25 -s cif -i :0.0+10,20 out.mpg

# With follow_mouse
avconv -f x11grab -follow_mouse centered -show_region 1 -r 25 -s cif -i :0.0 out.mpg

avconv(1), avplay(1) and the Libav HTML documentation

The Libav developers

2016-02-19 AVPROBE(1)