All the numerical options, if not specified otherwise, accept in input a string representing a number, which may contain one of the SI unit prefixes, for example 'K', 'M', 'G'. If 'i' is appended after the prefix, binary prefixes are used, which are based on powers of 1024 instead of powers of 1000. The 'B' postfix multiplies the value by 8, and can be appended after a unit prefix or used alone. This allows using for example 'KB', 'MiB', 'G' and 'B' as number postfix. Options which do not take arguments are boolean options, and set the corresponding value to true. They can be set to false by prefixing with "no" the option name, for example using "-nofoo" in the command line will set to false the boolean option with name "foo". @anchor{Stream specifiers} @section Stream specifiers Some options are applied per-stream, e.g. bitrate or codec. Stream specifiers are used to precisely specify which stream(s) does a given option belong to. A stream specifier is a string generally appended to the option name and separated from it by a colon. E.g. @code{-codec:a:1 ac3} option contains @code{a:1} stream specifier, which matches the second audio stream. Therefore it would select the ac3 codec for the second audio stream. A stream specifier can match several streams, the option is then applied to all of them. E.g. the stream specifier in @code{-b:a 128k} matches all audio streams. An empty stream specifier matches all streams, for example @code{-codec copy} or @code{-codec: copy} would copy all the streams without reencoding. Possible forms of stream specifiers are: @table @option @item @var{stream_index} Matches the stream with this index. E.g. @code{-threads:1 4} would set the thread count for the second stream to 4. @item @var{stream_type}[:@var{stream_index}] @var{stream_type} is one of: 'v' for video, 'a' for audio, 's' for subtitle, 'd' for data and 't' for attachments. If @var{stream_index} is given, then matches stream number @var{stream_index} of this type. Otherwise matches all streams of this type. @item p:@var{program_id}[:@var{stream_index}] If @var{stream_index} is given, then matches stream number @var{stream_index} in program with id @var{program_id}. Otherwise matches all streams in this program. @item #@var{stream_id} Matches the stream by format-specific ID. @end table @section Generic options These options are shared amongst the ff* tools. @table @option @item -L Show license. @item -h, -?, -help, --help [@var{arg}] Show help. An optional parameter may be specified to print help about a specific item. Possible values of @var{arg} are: @table @option @item decoder=@var{decoder_name} Print detailed information about the decoder named @var{decoder_name}. Use the @option{-decoders} option to get a list of all decoders. @item encoder=@var{encoder_name} Print detailed information about the encoder named @var{encoder_name}. Use the @option{-encoders} option to get a list of all encoders. @item demuxer=@var{demuxer_name} Print detailed information about the demuxer named @var{demuxer_name}. Use the @option{-formats} option to get a list of all demuxers and muxers. @item muxer=@var{muxer_name} Print detailed information about the muxer named @var{muxer_name}. Use the @option{-formats} option to get a list of all muxers and demuxers. @end table @item -version Show version. @item -formats Show available formats. @item -codecs Show all codecs known to libavcodec. Note that the term 'codec' is used throughout this documentation as a shortcut for what is more correctly called a media bitstream format. @item -decoders Show available decoders. @item -encoders Show all available encoders. @item -bsfs Show available bitstream filters. @item -protocols Show available protocols. @item -filters Show available libavfilter filters. @item -pix_fmts Show available pixel formats. @item -sample_fmts Show available sample formats. @item -layouts Show channel names and standard channel layouts. @item -loglevel @var{loglevel} | -v @var{loglevel} Set the logging level used by the library. @var{loglevel} is a number or a string containing one of the following values: @table @samp @item quiet @item panic @item fatal @item error @item warning @item info @item verbose @item debug @end table By default the program logs to stderr, if coloring is supported by the terminal, colors are used to mark errors and warnings. Log coloring can be disabled setting the environment variable @env{AV_LOG_FORCE_NOCOLOR} or @env{NO_COLOR}, or can be forced setting the environment variable @env{AV_LOG_FORCE_COLOR}. The use of the environment variable @env{NO_COLOR} is deprecated and will be dropped in a following FFmpeg version. @item -report Dump full command line and console output to a file named @code{@var{program}-@var{YYYYMMDD}-@var{HHMMSS}.log} in the current directory. This file can be useful for bug reports. It also implies @code{-loglevel verbose}. Setting the environment variable @code{FFREPORT} to any value has the same effect. If the value is a ':'-separated key=value sequence, these options will affect the report; options values must be escaped if they contain special characters or the options delimiter ':' (see the ``Quoting and escaping'' section in the ffmpeg-utils manual). The following option is recognized: @table @option @item file set the file name to use for the report; @code{%p} is expanded to the name of the program, @code{%t} is expanded to a timestamp, @code{%%} is expanded to a plain @code{%} @end table Errors in parsing the environment variable are not fatal, and will not appear in the report. @item -cpuflags flags (@emph{global}) Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing. @example ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx ... ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx ... ffmpeg -cpuflags 0 ... @end example @end table @section AVOptions These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the @option{-help} option. They are separated into two categories: @table @option @item generic These options can be set for any container, codec or device. Generic options are listed under AVFormatContext options for containers/devices and under AVCodecContext options for codecs. @item private These options are specific to the given container, device or codec. Private options are listed under their corresponding containers/devices/codecs. @end table For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to an MP3 file, use the @option{id3v2_version} private option of the MP3 muxer: @example ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3 @end example All codec AVOptions are obviously per-stream, so the chapter on stream specifiers applies to them Note @option{-nooption} syntax cannot be used for boolean AVOptions, use @option{-option 0}/@option{-option 1}. Note2 old undocumented way of specifying per-stream AVOptions by prepending v/a/s to the options name is now obsolete and will be removed soon.