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FFmpeg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| FFmpeg | |
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| Developer: | FFmpeg team |
| Latest release: | 0.4.9-pre1 |
| OS: | Cross-platform |
| Genre: | Multimedia framework |
| License: | GNU Lesser General Public License |
| Website: | http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/ |
FFmpeg is a collection of software libraries that can record, convert and stream digital audio and video in numerous formats. It includes libavcodec, an audio/video codec library used by several other projects, and libavformat, an audio/video container mux and demux library. The name of the project comes from the MPEG video standards group, together with "FF" for "fast forward".[1]
The project was started by Fabrice Bellard (using the pseudonym “Gerard Lantau”), and is now maintained by Michael Niedermayer. Most FFmpeg developers are also part of the MPlayer and VideoLAN projects, and FFmpeg is hosted at the MPlayer project server.
FFmpeg is developed under Linux, but it can be compiled under most operating systems, including Microsoft Windows. There are no formal releases. Instead, FFmpeg developers recommend using the latest Subversion snapshot as development maintains a constantly stable trunk. Released under the GNU Lesser General Public License or GNU General Public License (depending on which sub-libraries one would include), FFmpeg is free software.
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The project is made of several components:
- ffmpeg is a command line tool to convert one video file format to another. It also supports grabbing and encoding in real time from a TV card.
- ffserver is an HTTP (RTSP is being developed) multimedia streaming server for live broadcasts. Time shifting of live broadcast is also supported.
- ffplay is a simple media player based on SDL and on the FFmpeg libraries.
- libavcodec is a library containing all the FFmpeg audio/video encoders and decoders. Most codecs were developed from scratch to ensure best performance and high code reusability.
- libavformat is a library containing demuxers and muxers for audio/video container formats.
- libavutil is a helper library containing routines common to different parts of FFmpeg.
- libpostproc is a library containing video postprocessing routines.
- libswscale is a library containing video image scaling routines.
The FFmpeg developers have reverse-engineered and/or reimplemented, among others:
See libavcodec for more details.
- ATRAC3[2]
- H.261,[2] H.263[2] and h.264/MPEG-4 AVC[2]
- Indeo 2 and 3[2]
- QDesign Music Codec 2, used by many QuickTime movies prior to QuickTime 7.
- Sorenson 3 Codec used by many QuickTime movies
- Theora (together with Vorbis makes a base for the .ogg format)
- Truespeech
- TXD[3]
- VP5[2] and VP6[2]
- Vorbis
- Windows Media Audio
- Windows Media Video
The default MPEG-4 codec used by FFmpeg for encoding has the FourCC of FMP4.
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
FFmpeg's legal status varies by country. Some included codecs, (such as Sorenson 3), are claimed by patent owners. Such claims may be enforceable in countries like the United States which recognize software patents. Furthermore, many of these codecs are only released under terms that forbid reverse engineering, even for purposes of interoperability. However, these terms of use are forbidden in certain countries. For example, some European Union nations do not recognize software patents and/or have laws expressly allowing reverse engineering for purposes of interoperability[4]. In any case, many Linux distributions do not include FFmpeg to avoid legal complications. You can read FFmpeg team statement here.
- ^ Bellard, Fabrice (18 February 2006). FFmpeg naming and logo. FFmpeg developer mailing list. Mplayer website. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g banan (17 April 2007). Changelog. FFmpeg trunk SVN. FFmpeg website. Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
- ^ a b banan (7 May 2007). FFmpeg development mailing list. FFmpeg development. FFmpeg website. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
- ^ . Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on the legal protection of computer programs.
