Converting .mp4 to .264 using FFmpeg

conversionffmpegterminalvideo conversion

I am completely new to FFmpeg and am trying to convert my test.mp4 to (it has to be specifically) a .h264 file.

I have tried the following in Terminal:

ffmpeg -i test.mp4 -c:v libx264 test.h264

but get the following back: command not found

I tried directing it to my desktop as followed:

~/Bureaublad/media$ ./ffmpeg -i test.mp4 -c:v libx264 test.h264

But then got back: No such file or directory

Can someone please help me out?

Best Answer

try this: ffmpeg -i test.mp4 -an -vcodec libx264 -crf 23 test.h264

source: https://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-user/2012-May/006647.html

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FFmpeg Encoding – How to Use DivX Settings to Encode to MP4

You should first upgrade to at least FFmpeg 0.9. vpre is not really encouraged to be used for preset control anymore. This is why the ffpreset files have been removed from newer versions. Preset control for libx264 now happens through x264 itself, not through FFmpeg.

That being said, setting an average bitrate for x264 is the worst rate control mode there is. Rather than an average bitrate, you should consider using two-pass encoding if you are targeting a specific output file size, or setting a Constant Rate Factor (CRF) if you just care about achieving a specific quality. If in doubt, use CRF.

You generally want the following syntax for using FFmpeg and x264:

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vcodec libx264 <options> out.mp4

… with the following non-mandatory options. It is important to specify them before the output and after the vcodec switch. Those are just some (see also the options mapping for more):

-vprofile: Set h.264 profile constraints, e.g. baseline, main, high
-preset: Set an encoding preset, which generally enables optimization strategies. You can choose from veryslow, slow, fast, ultrafast, and many more. Slower presets result in better compression at a cost of slower encoding. You generally use the slowest preset you have patience for.
-tune: Set a special tune factor, e.g. for movies: film
-b: Set the bitrate. As already said, this is not really what you want with a one-pass encoding, but if you need to, this should work. Possible values are in Bits, or rather 500K, 1M, et cetera.
-crf: Set quality. Mutually exclusive with -b. A good starting value is 24. A lower value is higher quality. Use the highest value that still looks good to you.

Two-pass example, H.264 video, AAC audio in MP4:

ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -preset slow -b:v 500k -pass 1 -an -f mp4 -y NUL
ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -preset slow -b:v 500k -pass 2 -c:a libfaac -b:a 128k output.mp4

CRF example, H.264 video, MP3 audio in MKV:

ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 24 -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 4 output.mkv

H.264 multi-pass encoding with FFmpeg

Windows doesn't have /dev/null. Use NUL instead.

For more details, see the FFmpeg Wiki post on H.264 encoding.

Best Answer

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FFmpeg Encoding – How to Use DivX Settings to Encode to MP4

H.264 multi-pass encoding with FFmpeg

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