FFmpeg is frequently used by different studios for encoding their media, however the documentation for ffmpeg is often poor, or cryptic so its often harder than it should be to come up with a good starting point. We are aiming to come up with recommendations for different scenarios as well as document what the different flags are doing with the aim to make this easier to get to a good baseline.
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| Name | Target Usage | Source | ffmpeg flags | Description | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x264 -pix_fmt yuv420p | Proxy playback, for web review, and non-color critical workflows, e.g. animation, modeling, etc. | This should be a lightweight compression, capable of supporting HD with a reasonable bit-rate, hopefully supporting a wide range of web browsers. Final review, e.g. lighting | |||
| x264 -pix_fmt yuv444p10le | Final review, e.g. lighting | https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/colorspace | -c:v libx264 -preset placebo -qp 0 -x264-params "keyint=15:no-deblock=1" -pix_fmt yuv444p10le -sws_flags spline+accurate_rnd+full_chroma_int -vf "colorspace=bt709:iall=bt601-6-625:fast=1" -color_range 1 -colorspace 1 -color_primaries 1 -color_trc 1 | ||
| x264rgb | x264rgbFinal review, e.g. lighting | This is a variant of the above, its essentially using x264, but not converting to YCrCb. | |||
| Prores 4444 | For delivery to editorial | -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 4444 -qscale:v 1 -pix_fmt yuv444p10le -sws_flags spline+accurate_rnd+full_chroma_int -vf "colorspace=bt709:iall=bt601-6-625:fast=1" -color_range 1 -colorspace 1 -color_primaries 1 -color_trc 1 | |||
| -profile:v 4444 is equivalent to -profile:v 4 | |||||
| shotgun_diy_encode | https://support.shotgunsoftware.com/hc/en-us/articles/219030418-Do-it-yourself-DIY-transcoding', | -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 30 -vprofile high -bf 0 -crf 2 | |||
DnxHD | For delivery to editorial | ||||
| Prores 422 HQ | For delivery to editorial | Some FFMpeg commands I need to remember for converting footage for video editing. http://bit.ly/vidsnippets · GitHub |
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Note the -profile:v 3 is equivalent to -profile:v hq | |||||
x264
Key flags (see https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264 )
- -crf 23 - This is the constant rate factor, controlling the default quality (see: https://slhck.info/video/2017/02/24/crf-guide.html ) where -crf 0 is uncompressed. By default this is set to 23, which is probably good enough for our needs.
- -qp 23 - Quantization Parameter - it is recommended that you do not use this, in preference to -crf above (see: https://slhck.info/video/2017/03/01/rate-control.html )
- -preset slower - https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264#FAQ
- -tune film - Optionally use the tune option to change settings based on specific inputs - https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264#FAQ
- -qscale:v 1 - Generic quality scale flag: https://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#toc-Main-options - not sure if its needed?
-preset slow -crf 18 level 4 profile high.
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