path: root/doc/avtools-common-opts.texi

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".

@anchor{Stream specifiers}
@section 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. @code{-codec:a:1 ac3} option contains
@code{a:1} stream specifier, which matches the second audio stream. Therefore it
would select the ac3 codec for the second audio stream.

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

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

Possible forms of stream specifiers are:
@table @option
@item @var{stream_index}
Matches the stream with this index. E.g. @code{-threads:1 4} would set the
thread count for the second stream to 4.
@item @var{stream_type}[:@var{stream_index}]
@var{stream_type} is one of: 'v' for video, 'a' for audio, 's' for subtitle,
'd' for data and 't' for attachments. If @var{stream_index} is given, then
matches stream number @var{stream_index} of this type. Otherwise matches all
streams of this type.
@item p:@var{program_id}[:@var{stream_index}]
If @var{stream_index} is given, then matches stream number @var{stream_index} in
program with id @var{program_id}. Otherwise matches all streams in this program.
@item #@var{stream_id}
Matches the stream by format-specific ID.
@end table

@section Generic options

These options are shared amongst the ff* tools.

@table @option

@item -L
Show license.

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

Possible values of @var{arg} are:
@table @option
@item decoder=@var{decoder_name}
Print detailed information about the decoder named @var{decoder_name}. Use the
@option{-decoders} option to get a list of all decoders.

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

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

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

@end table

@item -version
Show version.

@item -formats
Show available formats.

@item -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.

@item -decoders
Show available decoders.

@item -encoders
Show all available encoders.

@item -bsfs
Show available bitstream filters.

@item -protocols
Show available protocols.

@item -filters
Show available libavfilter filters.

@item -pix_fmts
Show available pixel formats.

@item -sample_fmts
Show available sample formats.

@item -layouts
Show channel names and standard channel layouts.

@item -loglevel @var{loglevel} | -v @var{loglevel}
Set the logging level used by the library.
@var{loglevel} is a number or a string containing one of the following values:
@table @samp
@item quiet
Show nothing at all; be silent.
@item panic
Only show fatal errors which could lead the process to crash, such as
and assert failure. This is not currently used for anything.
@item fatal
Only show fatal errors. These are errors after which the process absolutely
cannot continue after.
@item error
Show all errors, including ones which can be recovered from.
@item warning
Show all warnings and errors. Any message related to possibly
incorrect or unexpected events will be shown.
@item info
Show informative messages during processing. This is in addition to
warnings and errors. This is the default value.
@item verbose
Same as @code{info}, except more verbose.
@item debug
Show everything, including debugging information.
@end table

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

@item -report
Dump full command line and console output to a file named
@code{@var{program}-@var{YYYYMMDD}-@var{HHMMSS}.log} in the current
directory.
This file can be useful for bug reports.
It also implies @code{-loglevel verbose}.

Setting the environment variable @code{FFREPORT} to any value has the
same effect. If the value is a ':'-separated key=value sequence, these
options will affect the report; options values must be escaped if they
contain special characters or the options delimiter ':' (see the
``Quoting and escaping'' section in the ffmpeg-utils manual). The
following option is recognized:
@table @option
@item file
set the file name to use for the report; @code{%p} is expanded to the name
of the program, @code{%t} is expanded to a timestamp, @code{%%} is expanded
to a plain @code{%}
@end table

Errors in parsing the environment variable are not fatal, and will not
appear in the report.

@item -cpuflags flags (@emph{global})
Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended
for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing.
@example
ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx ...
ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx ...
ffmpeg -cpuflags 0 ...
@end example
Possible flags for this option are:
@table @samp
@item x86
@table @samp
@item mmx
@item mmxext
@item sse
@item sse2
@item sse2slow
@item sse3
@item sse3slow
@item ssse3
@item atom
@item sse4.1
@item sse4.2
@item avx
@item xop
@item fma4
@item 3dnow
@item 3dnowext
@item cmov
@end table
@item ARM
@table @samp
@item armv5te
@item armv6
@item armv6t2
@item vfp
@item vfpv3
@item neon
@end table
@item PowerPC
@table @samp
@item altivec
@end table
@item Specific Processors
@table @samp
@item pentium2
@item pentium3
@item pentium4
@item k6
@item k62
@item athlon
@item athlonxp
@item k8
@end table
@end table

@end table

@section AVOptions

These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and
libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the
@option{-help} option. They are separated into two categories:
@table @option
@item 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.
@item private
These options are specific to the given container, device or codec. Private
options are listed under their corresponding containers/devices/codecs.
@end table

For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to
an MP3 file, use the @option{id3v2_version} private option of the MP3
muxer:
@example
ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3
@end example

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

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