path: root/doc/fftools-common-opts.texi (plain)
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1	All the numerical options, if not specified otherwise, accept a string
2	representing a number as input, which may be followed by one of the SI
3	unit prefixes, for example: 'K', 'M', or 'G'.
4
5	If 'i' is appended to the SI unit prefix, the complete prefix will be
6	interpreted as a unit prefix for binary multiples, which are based on
7	powers of 1024 instead of powers of 1000. Appending 'B' to the SI unit
8	prefix multiplies the value by 8. This allows using, for example:
9	'KB', 'MiB', 'G' and 'B' as number suffixes.
10
11	Options which do not take arguments are boolean options, and set the
12	corresponding value to true. They can be set to false by prefixing
13	the option name with "no". For example using "-nofoo"
14	will set the boolean option with name "foo" to false.
15
16	@anchor{Stream specifiers}
17	@section Stream specifiers
18	Some options are applied per-stream, e.g. bitrate or codec. Stream specifiers
19	are used to precisely specify which stream(s) a given option belongs to.
20
21	A stream specifier is a string generally appended to the option name and
22	separated from it by a colon. E.g. @code{-codec:a:1 ac3} contains the
23	@code{a:1} stream specifier, which matches the second audio stream. Therefore, it
24	would select the ac3 codec for the second audio stream.
25
26	A stream specifier can match several streams, so that the option is applied to all
27	of them. E.g. the stream specifier in @code{-b:a 128k} matches all audio
28	streams.
29
30	An empty stream specifier matches all streams. For example, @code{-codec copy}
31	or @code{-codec: copy} would copy all the streams without reencoding.
32
33	Possible forms of stream specifiers are:
34	@table @option
35	@item @var{stream_index}
36	Matches the stream with this index. E.g. @code{-threads:1 4} would set the
37	thread count for the second stream to 4.
38	@item @var{stream_type}[:@var{stream_index}]
39	@var{stream_type} is one of following: 'v' or 'V' for video, 'a' for audio, 's'
40	for subtitle, 'd' for data, and 't' for attachments. 'v' matches all video
41	streams, 'V' only matches video streams which are not attached pictures, video
42	thumbnails or cover arts. If @var{stream_index} is given, then it matches
43	stream number @var{stream_index} of this type. Otherwise, it matches all
44	streams of this type.
45	@item p:@var{program_id}[:@var{stream_index}]
46	If @var{stream_index} is given, then it matches the stream with number @var{stream_index}
47	in the program with the id @var{program_id}. Otherwise, it matches all streams in the
48	program.
49	@item #@var{stream_id} or i:@var{stream_id}
50	Match the stream by stream id (e.g. PID in MPEG-TS container).
51	@item m:@var{key}[:@var{value}]
52	Matches streams with the metadata tag @var{key} having the specified value. If
53	@var{value} is not given, matches streams that contain the given tag with any
54	value.
55	@item u
56	Matches streams with usable configuration, the codec must be defined and the
57	essential information such as video dimension or audio sample rate must be present.
58
59	Note that in @command{ffmpeg}, matching by metadata will only work properly for
60	input files.
61	@end table
62
63	@section Generic options
64
65	These options are shared amongst the ff* tools.
66
67	@table @option
68
69	@item -L
70	Show license.
71
72	@item -h, -?, -help, --help [@var{arg}]
73	Show help. An optional parameter may be specified to print help about a specific
74	item. If no argument is specified, only basic (non advanced) tool
75	options are shown.
76
77	Possible values of @var{arg} are:
78	@table @option
79	@item long
80	Print advanced tool options in addition to the basic tool options.
81
82	@item full
83	Print complete list of options, including shared and private options
84	for encoders, decoders, demuxers, muxers, filters, etc.
85
86	@item decoder=@var{decoder_name}
87	Print detailed information about the decoder named @var{decoder_name}. Use the
88	@option{-decoders} option to get a list of all decoders.
89
90	@item encoder=@var{encoder_name}
91	Print detailed information about the encoder named @var{encoder_name}. Use the
92	@option{-encoders} option to get a list of all encoders.
93
94	@item demuxer=@var{demuxer_name}
95	Print detailed information about the demuxer named @var{demuxer_name}. Use the
96	@option{-formats} option to get a list of all demuxers and muxers.
97
98	@item muxer=@var{muxer_name}
99	Print detailed information about the muxer named @var{muxer_name}. Use the
100	@option{-formats} option to get a list of all muxers and demuxers.
101
102	@item filter=@var{filter_name}
103	Print detailed information about the filter name @var{filter_name}. Use the
104	@option{-filters} option to get a list of all filters.
105	@end table
106
107	@item -version
108	Show version.
109
110	@item -formats
111	Show available formats (including devices).
112
113	@item -demuxers
114	Show available demuxers.
115
116	@item -muxers
117	Show available muxers.
118
119	@item -devices
120	Show available devices.
121
122	@item -codecs
123	Show all codecs known to libavcodec.
124
125	Note that the term 'codec' is used throughout this documentation as a shortcut
126	for what is more correctly called a media bitstream format.
127
128	@item -decoders
129	Show available decoders.
130
131	@item -encoders
132	Show all available encoders.
133
134	@item -bsfs
135	Show available bitstream filters.
136
137	@item -protocols
138	Show available protocols.
139
140	@item -filters
141	Show available libavfilter filters.
142
143	@item -pix_fmts
144	Show available pixel formats.
145
146	@item -sample_fmts
147	Show available sample formats.
148
149	@item -layouts
150	Show channel names and standard channel layouts.
151
152	@item -colors
153	Show recognized color names.
154
155	@item -sources @var{device}[,@var{opt1}=@var{val1}[,@var{opt2}=@var{val2}]...]
156	Show autodetected sources of the intput device.
157	Some devices may provide system-dependent source names that cannot be autodetected.
158	The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
159	@example
160	ffmpeg -sources pulse,server=192.168.0.4
161	@end example
162
163	@item -sinks @var{device}[,@var{opt1}=@var{val1}[,@var{opt2}=@var{val2}]...]
164	Show autodetected sinks of the output device.
165	Some devices may provide system-dependent sink names that cannot be autodetected.
166	The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
167	@example
168	ffmpeg -sinks pulse,server=192.168.0.4
169	@end example
170
171	@item -loglevel [repeat+]@var{loglevel} | -v [repeat+]@var{loglevel}
172	Set the logging level used by the library.
173	Adding "repeat+" indicates that repeated log output should not be compressed
174	to the first line and the "Last message repeated n times" line will be
175	omitted. "repeat" can also be used alone.
176	If "repeat" is used alone, and with no prior loglevel set, the default
177	loglevel will be used. If multiple loglevel parameters are given, using
178	'repeat' will not change the loglevel.
179	@var{loglevel} is a string or a number containing one of the following values:
180	@table @samp
181	@item quiet, -8
182	Show nothing at all; be silent.
183	@item panic, 0
184	Only show fatal errors which could lead the process to crash, such as
185	an assertion failure. This is not currently used for anything.
186	@item fatal, 8
187	Only show fatal errors. These are errors after which the process absolutely
188	cannot continue.
189	@item error, 16
190	Show all errors, including ones which can be recovered from.
191	@item warning, 24
192	Show all warnings and errors. Any message related to possibly
193	incorrect or unexpected events will be shown.
194	@item info, 32
195	Show informative messages during processing. This is in addition to
196	warnings and errors. This is the default value.
197	@item verbose, 40
198	Same as @code{info}, except more verbose.
199	@item debug, 48
200	Show everything, including debugging information.
201	@item trace, 56
202	@end table
203
204	By default the program logs to stderr. If coloring is supported by the
205	terminal, colors are used to mark errors and warnings. Log coloring
206	can be disabled setting the environment variable
207	@env{AV_LOG_FORCE_NOCOLOR} or @env{NO_COLOR}, or can be forced setting
208	the environment variable @env{AV_LOG_FORCE_COLOR}.
209	The use of the environment variable @env{NO_COLOR} is deprecated and
210	will be dropped in a future FFmpeg version.
211
212	@item -report
213	Dump full command line and console output to a file named
214	@code{@var{program}-@var{YYYYMMDD}-@var{HHMMSS}.log} in the current
215	directory.
216	This file can be useful for bug reports.
217	It also implies @code{-loglevel verbose}.
218
219	Setting the environment variable @env{FFREPORT} to any value has the
220	same effect. If the value is a ':'-separated key=value sequence, these
221	options will affect the report; option values must be escaped if they
222	contain special characters or the options delimiter ':' (see the
223	``Quoting and escaping'' section in the ffmpeg-utils manual).
224
225	The following options are recognized:
226	@table @option
227	@item file
228	set the file name to use for the report; @code{%p} is expanded to the name
229	of the program, @code{%t} is expanded to a timestamp, @code{%%} is expanded
230	to a plain @code{%}
231	@item level
232	set the log verbosity level using a numerical value (see @code{-loglevel}).
233	@end table
234
235	For example, to output a report to a file named @file{ffreport.log}
236	using a log level of @code{32} (alias for log level @code{info}):
237
238	@example
239	FFREPORT=file=ffreport.log:level=32 ffmpeg -i input output
240	@end example
241
242	Errors in parsing the environment variable are not fatal, and will not
243	appear in the report.
244
245	@item -hide_banner
246	Suppress printing banner.
247
248	All FFmpeg tools will normally show a copyright notice, build options
249	and library versions. This option can be used to suppress printing
250	this information.
251
252	@item -cpuflags flags (@emph{global})
253	Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended
254	for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing.
255	@example
256	ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx ...
257	ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx ...
258	ffmpeg -cpuflags 0 ...
259	@end example
260	Possible flags for this option are:
261	@table @samp
262	@item x86
263	@table @samp
264	@item mmx
265	@item mmxext
266	@item sse
267	@item sse2
268	@item sse2slow
269	@item sse3
270	@item sse3slow
271	@item ssse3
272	@item atom
273	@item sse4.1
274	@item sse4.2
275	@item avx
276	@item avx2
277	@item xop
278	@item fma3
279	@item fma4
280	@item 3dnow
281	@item 3dnowext
282	@item bmi1
283	@item bmi2
284	@item cmov
285	@end table
286	@item ARM
287	@table @samp
288	@item armv5te
289	@item armv6
290	@item armv6t2
291	@item vfp
292	@item vfpv3
293	@item neon
294	@item setend
295	@end table
296	@item AArch64
297	@table @samp
298	@item armv8
299	@item vfp
300	@item neon
301	@end table
302	@item PowerPC
303	@table @samp
304	@item altivec
305	@end table
306	@item Specific Processors
307	@table @samp
308	@item pentium2
309	@item pentium3
310	@item pentium4
311	@item k6
312	@item k62
313	@item athlon
314	@item athlonxp
315	@item k8
316	@end table
317	@end table
318
319	@item -opencl_bench
320	This option is used to benchmark all available OpenCL devices and print the
321	results. This option is only available when FFmpeg has been compiled with
322	@code{--enable-opencl}.
323
324	When FFmpeg is configured with @code{--enable-opencl}, the options for the
325	global OpenCL context are set via @option{-opencl_options}. See the
326	"OpenCL Options" section in the ffmpeg-utils manual for the complete list of
327	supported options. Amongst others, these options include the ability to select
328	a specific platform and device to run the OpenCL code on. By default, FFmpeg
329	will run on the first device of the first platform. While the options for the
330	global OpenCL context provide flexibility to the user in selecting the OpenCL
331	device of their choice, most users would probably want to select the fastest
332	OpenCL device for their system.
333
334	This option assists the selection of the most efficient configuration by
335	identifying the appropriate device for the user's system. The built-in
336	benchmark is run on all the OpenCL devices and the performance is measured for
337	each device. The devices in the results list are sorted based on their
338	performance with the fastest device listed first. The user can subsequently
339	invoke @command{ffmpeg} using the device deemed most appropriate via
340	@option{-opencl_options} to obtain the best performance for the OpenCL
341	accelerated code.
342
343	Typical usage to use the fastest OpenCL device involve the following steps.
344
345	Run the command:
346	@example
347	ffmpeg -opencl_bench
348	@end example
349	Note down the platform ID (@var{pidx}) and device ID (@var{didx}) of the first
350	i.e. fastest device in the list.
351	Select the platform and device using the command:
352	@example
353	ffmpeg -opencl_options platform_idx=@var{pidx}:device_idx=@var{didx} ...
354	@end example
355
356	@item -opencl_options options (@emph{global})
357	Set OpenCL environment options. This option is only available when
358	FFmpeg has been compiled with @code{--enable-opencl}.
359
360	@var{options} must be a list of @var{key}=@var{value} option pairs
361	separated by ':'. See the ``OpenCL Options'' section in the
362	ffmpeg-utils manual for the list of supported options.
363	@end table
364
365	@section AVOptions
366
367	These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and
368	libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the
369	@option{-help} option. They are separated into two categories:
370	@table @option
371	@item generic
372	These options can be set for any container, codec or device. Generic options
373	are listed under AVFormatContext options for containers/devices and under
374	AVCodecContext options for codecs.
375	@item private
376	These options are specific to the given container, device or codec. Private
377	options are listed under their corresponding containers/devices/codecs.
378	@end table
379
380	For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to
381	an MP3 file, use the @option{id3v2_version} private option of the MP3
382	muxer:
383	@example
384	ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3
385	@end example
386
387	All codec AVOptions are per-stream, and thus a stream specifier
388	should be attached to them.
389
390	Note: the @option{-nooption} syntax cannot be used for boolean
391	AVOptions, use @option{-option 0}/@option{-option 1}.
392
393	Note: the old undocumented way of specifying per-stream AVOptions by
394	prepending v/a/s to the options name is now obsolete and will be
395	removed soon.
396