ffmpeg -Terminal based Audio/Video Converter
 Linux

ffmpeg

I was looking for a way for flv to mp3 format conversion in my linux machine so that I can use them in my ipod and my search ended with this powerful tool “ ffmpeg “.

ffmpeg is one my favorite terminal based tool for various video and audio conversion,it is very small ,fast and easy to perform the audio / video format conversions , cutting trimming and compressing very fast.It is good enough to handle almost all kind of audio and video formats.

ffmpeg after installation comes with two more tools ffplay and ffserver. ffplay can play a file right through from the terminal and ffserver has live streaming capability for your local video live. ffmpeg is very small about 1.7 mb in size and performs various Audio/Video conversion very fast. You can browse through vide range of option to perform trimming and cutting your video and audio files. With some extra options command you can control the frame rate , bitrate and much more.You can even extract images from your Video.It is very fast audio and video conversion tool.

Installation

You need to be the root user to install ffmpeg video converter.Launch your terminal

#su root
#password:
#apt-get install ffmpeg

- After you are done with installation u can check for manual for ffmpeg by running man command

#man ffmpeg

ffmpeg Music and video Conversions and Editing Commands

To convert a FLV to mp3

# ffmpeg -i video.flv -f -an -acodec copy output.mp3

To convert flv to mpg

# ffmpeg -i video.flv -f output.mpg
# ffmpeg -i video.flv -f output.avi

To set the video bitrate of the output file to 64kbit/s:

# ffmpeg -i input.avi -b 64k output.avi

For extracting images from a video:

# ffmpeg -i foo.avi -r 1 -s WxH -f image2 foo-%03d.jpeg

For creating a video from many images:

# ffmpeg -f image2 -i foo-%03d.jpeg -r 12 -s WxH foo.avi

To force the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:

# ffmpeg -i input.avi -r 24 output.avi

To force the frame rate of the input file (valid for raw formats only)to 1 fps and the frame rate of the output file to 24 fps:

# ffmpeg -r 1 -i input.m2v -r 24 output.avi

You can input from a raw YUV420P file:

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

You can output to a raw YUV420P file:

# ffmpeg -i mydivx.avi hugefile.yuv

Audio and video conversions at the same time:

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

Encode to several formats at the same time and define a mapping from input stream to output streams:

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

You can transcode decrypted VOBs:

# ffmpeg -i snatch_1.vob -f avi -vcodec mpeg4 -b 800k -g 300 -bf 2 -acodec libmp3lame -ab 128k snatch.avi

Screen shot

ffmpeg Installation on Ubuntu 11.04

Thanks for reading
Rakesh Mondal
ron