13.1. Selecting codecs and container formats13.1. Selecting codecs and container formatsPrev Chapter 13. Basic usage of MEncoder Next13.1. Selecting codecs and container formats
Audio and video codecs for encoding are selected with the
-oac and -ovc options, respectively.
Type for instance:
mencoder -ovc help
to list all video codecs supported by the version of
MEncoder on your machine.
The following choices are available:

Audio Codecs:
Audio codec nameDescriptionmp3lameencode to VBR, ABR or CBR MP3 with LAMElavcuse one of libavcodec's audio codecsfaacFAAC AAC audio encodertoolameMPEG Audio Layer 2 encodertwolameMPEG Audio Layer 2 encoder based on tooLAMEpcmuncompressed PCM audiocopydo not reencode, just copy compressed frames

Video codecs:
Video codec nameDescriptionlavcuse one of libavcodec's video codecsxvidXvid, MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP) codecx264x264, MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC), AKA H.264 codecnuvnuppel video, used by some realtime applicationsrawuncompressed video framescopydo not reencode, just copy compressed framesframenoused for 3-pass encoding (not recommended)

Output container formats are selected with the -of
option.
Type:
mencoder -of help
to list all containers supported by the version of
MEncoder on your machine.
The following choices are available:

Container formats:
Container format nameDescriptionlavfone of the containers supported by
libavformataviAudio-Video InterleavedmpegMPEG-1 and MPEG-2 PSrawvideoraw video stream (no muxing - one video stream only)rawaudioraw audio stream (no muxing - one audio stream only)
The AVI container is the native container format for
MEncoder, which means that it's the one that
is best handled, and the one for which MEncoder
was designed.
As noted above, other container formats are usable, but you may
experience problems when using them.

libavformat containers:

If you selected libavformat
to do the muxing of the output file (by using the -of lavf),
the appropriate container format will be determined by the file extension
of the output file.
You may force a particular container format with
libavformat's
format option.

libavformat container nameDescriptionmpgMPEG-1 and MPEG-2 PSasfAdvanced Streaming FormataviAudio-Video InterleavedwavWaveform AudioswfMacromedia FlashflvMacromedia Flash videormRealMediaauSUN AUnutNUT open container (experimental and not yet spec-compliant)movQuickTimemp4MPEG-4 formatdvSony Digital Video containermkvMatroska open audio/video container
As you can see, libavformat
allows MEncoder to mux into a considerable
variety of containers.
Unfortunately, as MEncoder was not designed
from the beginning to support container formats other than AVI,
your should really be paranoid about the resulting file.
Please check to be sure that the audio/video synchronization is OK
and that the file can be played correctly by players other than
MPlayer.
Example 13.1. encode to Macromedia Flash format
Creating a Macromedia Flash video suitable for playback in a web browser
with the Macromedia Flash plugin:

mencoder input.avi -o output.flv -of lavf \
-oac mp3lame -lameopts abr:br=56 -srate 22050 -ovc lavc \
-lavcopts vcodec=flv:vbitrate=500:mbd=2:mv0:trell:v4mv:cbp:last_pred=3

Prev Up NextChapter 13. Basic usage of MEncoder Home 13.2. Selecting input file or device