FFMPEG-DEVICES(1)FFMPEG-DEVICES(1)NAMEffmpeg-devices - FFmpeg devices
DESCRIPTION
This document describes the input and output devices provided by the
libavdevice library.
DEVICE OPTIONS
The libavdevice library provides the same interface as libavformat.
Namely, an input device is considered like a demuxer, and an output
device like a muxer, and the interface and generic device options are
the same provided by libavformat (see the ffmpeg-formats manual).
In addition each input or output device may support so-called private
options, which are specific for that component.
Options may be set by specifying -option value in the FFmpeg tools, or
by setting the value explicitly in the device "AVFormatContext" options
or using the libavutil/opt.h API for programmatic use.
INPUT DEVICES
Input devices are configured elements in FFmpeg which allow to access
the data coming from a multimedia device attached to your system.
When you configure your FFmpeg build, all the supported input devices
are enabled by default. You can list all available ones using the
configure option "--list-indevs".
You can disable all the input devices using the configure option
"--disable-indevs", and selectively enable an input device using the
option "--enable-indev=INDEV", or you can disable a particular input
device using the option "--disable-indev=INDEV".
The option "-formats" of the ff* tools will display the list of
supported input devices (amongst the demuxers).
A description of the currently available input devices follows.
alsa
ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) input device.
To enable this input device during configuration you need libasound
installed on your system.
This device allows capturing from an ALSA device. The name of the
device to capture has to be an ALSA card identifier.
An ALSA identifier has the syntax:
hw:<CARD>[,<DEV>[,<SUBDEV>]]
where the DEV and SUBDEV components are optional.
The three arguments (in order: CARD,DEV,SUBDEV) specify card number or
identifier, device number and subdevice number (-1 means any).
To see the list of cards currently recognized by your system check the
files /proc/asound/cards and /proc/asound/devices.
For example to capture with ffmpeg from an ALSA device with card id 0,
you may run the command:
ffmpeg -f alsa -i hw:0 alsaout.wav
For more information see:
<http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/pcm.html>
bktr
BSD video input device.
dshow
Windows DirectShow input device.
DirectShow support is enabled when FFmpeg is built with the mingw-w64
project. Currently only audio and video devices are supported.
Multiple devices may be opened as separate inputs, but they may also be
opened on the same input, which should improve synchronism between
them.
The input name should be in the format:
<TYPE>=<NAME>[:<TYPE>=<NAME>]
where TYPE can be either audio or video, and NAME is the device's name.
Options
If no options are specified, the device's defaults are used. If the
device does not support the requested options, it will fail to open.
video_size
Set the video size in the captured video.
framerate
Set the frame rate in the captured video.
sample_rate
Set the sample rate (in Hz) of the captured audio.
sample_size
Set the sample size (in bits) of the captured audio.
channels
Set the number of channels in the captured audio.
list_devices
If set to true, print a list of devices and exit.
list_options
If set to true, print a list of selected device's options and exit.
video_device_number
Set video device number for devices with same name (starts at 0,
defaults to 0).
audio_device_number
Set audio device number for devices with same name (starts at 0,
defaults to 0).
pixel_format
Select pixel format to be used by DirectShow. This may only be set
when the video codec is not set or set to rawvideo.
audio_buffer_size
Set audio device buffer size in milliseconds (which can directly
impact latency, depending on the device). Defaults to using the
audio device's default buffer size (typically some multiple of
500ms). Setting this value too low can degrade performance. See
also
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd377582(v=vs.85).aspx>
Examples
· Print the list of DirectShow supported devices and exit:
$ ffmpeg -list_devices true -f dshow -i dummy
· Open video device Camera:
$ ffmpeg -f dshow -i video="Camera"
· Open second video device with name Camera:
$ ffmpeg -f dshow -video_device_number 1 -i video="Camera"
· Open video device Camera and audio device Microphone:
$ ffmpeg -f dshow -i video="Camera":audio="Microphone"
· Print the list of supported options in selected device and exit:
$ ffmpeg -list_options true -f dshow -i video="Camera"
dv1394
Linux DV 1394 input device.
fbdev
Linux framebuffer input device.
The Linux framebuffer is a graphic hardware-independent abstraction
layer to show graphics on a computer monitor, typically on the console.
It is accessed through a file device node, usually /dev/fb0.
For more detailed information read the file
Documentation/fb/framebuffer.txt included in the Linux source tree.
To record from the framebuffer device /dev/fb0 with ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -f fbdev -r 10 -i /dev/fb0 out.avi
You can take a single screenshot image with the command:
ffmpeg -f fbdev -frames:v 1 -r 1 -i /dev/fb0 screenshot.jpeg
See also <http://linux-fbdev.sourceforge.net/>, and fbset(1).
iec61883
FireWire DV/HDV input device using libiec61883.
To enable this input device, you need libiec61883, libraw1394 and
libavc1394 installed on your system. Use the configure option
"--enable-libiec61883" to compile with the device enabled.
The iec61883 capture device supports capturing from a video device
connected via IEEE1394 (FireWire), using libiec61883 and the new Linux
FireWire stack (juju). This is the default DV/HDV input method in Linux
Kernel 2.6.37 and later, since the old FireWire stack was removed.
Specify the FireWire port to be used as input file, or "auto" to choose
the first port connected.
Options
dvtype
Override autodetection of DV/HDV. This should only be used if auto
detection does not work, or if usage of a different device type
should be prohibited. Treating a DV device as HDV (or vice versa)
will not work and result in undefined behavior. The values auto,
dv and hdv are supported.
dvbuffer
Set maxiumum size of buffer for incoming data, in frames. For DV,
this is an exact value. For HDV, it is not frame exact, since HDV
does not have a fixed frame size.
dvguid
Select the capture device by specifying it's GUID. Capturing will
only be performed from the specified device and fails if no device
with the given GUID is found. This is useful to select the input if
multiple devices are connected at the same time. Look at
/sys/bus/firewire/devices to find out the GUIDs.
Examples
· Grab and show the input of a FireWire DV/HDV device.
ffplay -f iec61883 -i auto
· Grab and record the input of a FireWire DV/HDV device, using a
packet buffer of 100000 packets if the source is HDV.
ffmpeg -f iec61883 -i auto -hdvbuffer 100000 out.mpg
jack
JACK input device.
To enable this input device during configuration you need libjack
installed on your system.
A JACK input device creates one or more JACK writable clients, one for
each audio channel, with name client_name:input_N, where client_name is
the name provided by the application, and N is a number which
identifies the channel. Each writable client will send the acquired
data to the FFmpeg input device.
Once you have created one or more JACK readable clients, you need to
connect them to one or more JACK writable clients.
To connect or disconnect JACK clients you can use the jack_connect and
jack_disconnect programs, or do it through a graphical interface, for
example with qjackctl.
To list the JACK clients and their properties you can invoke the
command jack_lsp.
Follows an example which shows how to capture a JACK readable client
with ffmpeg.
# Create a JACK writable client with name "ffmpeg".
$ ffmpeg -f jack -i ffmpeg -y out.wav
# Start the sample jack_metro readable client.
$ jack_metro -b 120 -d 0.2 -f 4000
# List the current JACK clients.
$ jack_lsp -c
system:capture_1
system:capture_2
system:playback_1
system:playback_2
ffmpeg:input_1
metro:120_bpm
# Connect metro to the ffmpeg writable client.
$ jack_connect metro:120_bpm ffmpeg:input_1
For more information read: <http://jackaudio.org/>
lavfi
Libavfilter input virtual device.
This input device reads data from the open output pads of a libavfilter
filtergraph.
For each filtergraph open output, the input device will create a
corresponding stream which is mapped to the generated output. Currently
only video data is supported. The filtergraph is specified through the
option graph.
Options
graph
Specify the filtergraph to use as input. Each video open output
must be labelled by a unique string of the form "outN", where N is
a number starting from 0 corresponding to the mapped input stream
generated by the device. The first unlabelled output is
automatically assigned to the "out0" label, but all the others need
to be specified explicitly.
If not specified defaults to the filename specified for the input
device.
graph_file
Set the filename of the filtergraph to be read and sent to the
other filters. Syntax of the filtergraph is the same as the one
specified by the option graph.
Examples
· Create a color video stream and play it back with ffplay:
ffplay -f lavfi -graph "color=c=pink [out0]" dummy
· As the previous example, but use filename for specifying the graph
description, and omit the "out0" label:
ffplay -f lavfi color=c=pink
· Create three different video test filtered sources and play them:
ffplay -f lavfi -graph "testsrc [out0]; testsrc,hflip [out1]; testsrc,negate [out2]" test3
· Read an audio stream from a file using the amovie source and play
it back with ffplay:
ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=test.wav"
· Read an audio stream and a video stream and play it back with
ffplay:
ffplay -f lavfi "movie=test.avi[out0];amovie=test.wav[out1]"
libdc1394
IIDC1394 input device, based on libdc1394 and libraw1394.
openal
The OpenAL input device provides audio capture on all systems with a
working OpenAL 1.1 implementation.
To enable this input device during configuration, you need OpenAL
headers and libraries installed on your system, and need to configure
FFmpeg with "--enable-openal".
OpenAL headers and libraries should be provided as part of your OpenAL
implementation, or as an additional download (an SDK). Depending on
your installation you may need to specify additional flags via the
"--extra-cflags" and "--extra-ldflags" for allowing the build system to
locate the OpenAL headers and libraries.
An incomplete list of OpenAL implementations follows:
Creative
The official Windows implementation, providing hardware
acceleration with supported devices and software fallback. See
<http://openal.org/>.
OpenAL Soft
Portable, open source (LGPL) software implementation. Includes
backends for the most common sound APIs on the Windows, Linux,
Solaris, and BSD operating systems. See
<http://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal.html>.
Apple
OpenAL is part of Core Audio, the official Mac OS X Audio
interface. See
<http://developer.apple.com/technologies/mac/audio-and-video.html>
This device allows to capture from an audio input device handled
through OpenAL.
You need to specify the name of the device to capture in the provided
filename. If the empty string is provided, the device will
automatically select the default device. You can get the list of the
supported devices by using the option list_devices.
Options
channels
Set the number of channels in the captured audio. Only the values 1
(monaural) and 2 (stereo) are currently supported. Defaults to 2.
sample_size
Set the sample size (in bits) of the captured audio. Only the
values 8 and 16 are currently supported. Defaults to 16.
sample_rate
Set the sample rate (in Hz) of the captured audio. Defaults to
44.1k.
list_devices
If set to true, print a list of devices and exit. Defaults to
false.
Examples
Print the list of OpenAL supported devices and exit:
$ ffmpeg -list_devices true -f openal -i dummy out.ogg
Capture from the OpenAL device DR-BT101 via PulseAudio:
$ ffmpeg -f openal -i 'DR-BT101 via PulseAudio' out.ogg
Capture from the default device (note the empty string '' as filename):
$ ffmpeg -f openal -i '' out.ogg
Capture from two devices simultaneously, writing to two different
files, within the same ffmpeg command:
$ ffmpeg -f openal -i 'DR-BT101 via PulseAudio' out1.ogg -f openal -i 'ALSA Default' out2.ogg
Note: not all OpenAL implementations support multiple simultaneous
capture - try the latest OpenAL Soft if the above does not work.
oss
Open Sound System input device.
The filename to provide to the input device is the device node
representing the OSS input device, and is usually set to /dev/dsp.
For example to grab from /dev/dsp using ffmpeg use the command:
ffmpeg -f oss -i /dev/dsp /tmp/oss.wav
For more information about OSS see:
<http://manuals.opensound.com/usersguide/dsp.html>
pulse
PulseAudio input device.
To enable this output device you need to configure FFmpeg with
"--enable-libpulse".
The filename to provide to the input device is a source device or the
string "default"
To list the PulseAudio source devices and their properties you can
invoke the command pactl list sources.
More information about PulseAudio can be found on
<http://www.pulseaudio.org>.
Options
server
Connect to a specific PulseAudio server, specified by an IP
address. Default server is used when not provided.
name
Specify the application name PulseAudio will use when showing
active clients, by default it is the "LIBAVFORMAT_IDENT" string.
stream_name
Specify the stream name PulseAudio will use when showing active
streams, by default it is "record".
sample_rate
Specify the samplerate in Hz, by default 48kHz is used.
channels
Specify the channels in use, by default 2 (stereo) is set.
frame_size
Specify the number of bytes per frame, by default it is set to
1024.
fragment_size
Specify the minimal buffering fragment in PulseAudio, it will
affect the audio latency. By default it is unset.
Examples
Record a stream from default device:
ffmpeg -f pulse -i default /tmp/pulse.wav
sndio
sndio input device.
To enable this input device during configuration you need libsndio
installed on your system.
The filename to provide to the input device is the device node
representing the sndio input device, and is usually set to /dev/audio0.
For example to grab from /dev/audio0 using ffmpeg use the command:
ffmpeg -f sndio -i /dev/audio0 /tmp/oss.wav
video4linux2, v4l2
Video4Linux2 input video device.
"v4l2" can be used as alias for "video4linux2".
If FFmpeg is built with v4l-utils support (by using the
"--enable-libv4l2" configure option), it is possible to use it with the
"-use_libv4l2" input device option.
The name of the device to grab is a file device node, usually Linux
systems tend to automatically create such nodes when the device (e.g.
an USB webcam) is plugged into the system, and has a name of the kind
/dev/videoN, where N is a number associated to the device.
Video4Linux2 devices usually support a limited set of widthxheight
sizes and frame rates. You can check which are supported using
-list_formats all for Video4Linux2 devices. Some devices, like TV
cards, support one or more standards. It is possible to list all the
supported standards using -list_standards all.
The time base for the timestamps is 1 microsecond. Depending on the
kernel version and configuration, the timestamps may be derived from
the real time clock (origin at the Unix Epoch) or the monotonic clock
(origin usually at boot time, unaffected by NTP or manual changes to
the clock). The -timestamps abs or -ts abs option can be used to force
conversion into the real time clock.
Some usage examples of the video4linux2 device with ffmpeg and ffplay:
· Grab and show the input of a video4linux2 device:
ffplay -f video4linux2 -framerate 30 -video_size hd720 /dev/video0
· Grab and record the input of a video4linux2 device, leave the frame
rate and size as previously set:
ffmpeg -f video4linux2 -input_format mjpeg -i /dev/video0 out.mpeg
For more information about Video4Linux, check <http://linuxtv.org/>.
Options
standard
Set the standard. Must be the name of a supported standard. To get
a list of the supported standards, use the list_standards option.
channel
Set the input channel number. Default to -1, which means using the
previously selected channel.
video_size
Set the video frame size. The argument must be a string in the form
WIDTHxHEIGHT or a valid size abbreviation.
pixel_format
Select the pixel format (only valid for raw video input).
input_format
Set the preferred pixel format (for raw video) or a codec name.
This option allows to select the input format, when several are
available.
framerate
Set the preferred video frame rate.
list_formats
List available formats (supported pixel formats, codecs, and frame
sizes) and exit.
Available values are:
all Show all available (compressed and non-compressed) formats.
raw Show only raw video (non-compressed) formats.
compressed
Show only compressed formats.
list_standards
List supported standards and exit.
Available values are:
all Show all supported standards.
timestamps, ts
Set type of timestamps for grabbed frames.
Available values are:
default
Use timestamps from the kernel.
abs Use absolute timestamps (wall clock).
mono2abs
Force conversion from monotonic to absolute timestamps.
Default value is "default".
vfwcap
VfW (Video for Windows) capture input device.
The filename passed as input is the capture driver number, ranging from
0 to 9. You may use "list" as filename to print a list of drivers. Any
other filename will be interpreted as device number 0.
x11grab
X11 video input device.
This device allows to capture a region of an X11 display.
The filename passed as input has the syntax:
[<hostname>]:<display_number>.<screen_number>[+<x_offset>,<y_offset>]
hostname:display_number.screen_number specifies the X11 display name of
the screen to grab from. hostname can be omitted, and defaults to
"localhost". The environment variable DISPLAY contains the default
display name.
x_offset and y_offset specify the offsets of the grabbed area with
respect to the top-left border of the X11 screen. They default to 0.
Check the X11 documentation (e.g. man X) for more detailed information.
Use the dpyinfo program for getting basic information about the
properties of your X11 display (e.g. grep for "name" or "dimensions").
For example to grab from :0.0 using ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -f x11grab -framerate 25 -video_size cif -i :0.0 out.mpg
Grab at position "10,20":
ffmpeg -f x11grab -framerate 25 -video_size cif -i :0.0+10,20 out.mpg
Options
draw_mouse
Specify whether to draw the mouse pointer. A value of 0 specify not
to draw the pointer. Default value is 1.
follow_mouse
Make the grabbed area follow the mouse. The argument can be
"centered" or a number of pixels PIXELS.
When it is specified with "centered", the grabbing region follows
the mouse pointer and keeps the pointer at the center of region;
otherwise, the region follows only when the mouse pointer reaches
within PIXELS (greater than zero) to the edge of region.
For example:
ffmpeg -f x11grab -follow_mouse centered -framerate 25 -video_size cif -i :0.0 out.mpg
To follow only when the mouse pointer reaches within 100 pixels to
edge:
ffmpeg -f x11grab -follow_mouse 100 -framerate 25 -video_size cif -i :0.0 out.mpg
framerate
Set the grabbing frame rate. Default value is "ntsc", corresponding
to a frame rate of "30000/1001".
show_region
Show grabbed region on screen.
If show_region is specified with 1, then the grabbing region will
be indicated on screen. With this option, it is easy to know what
is being grabbed if only a portion of the screen is grabbed.
For example:
ffmpeg -f x11grab -show_region 1 -framerate 25 -video_size cif -i :0.0+10,20 out.mpg
With follow_mouse:
ffmpeg -f x11grab -follow_mouse centered -show_region 1 -framerate 25 -video_size cif -i :0.0 out.mpg
video_size
Set the video frame size. Default value is "vga".
OUTPUT DEVICES
Output devices are configured elements in FFmpeg that can write
multimedia data to an output device attached to your system.
When you configure your FFmpeg build, all the supported output devices
are enabled by default. You can list all available ones using the
configure option "--list-outdevs".
You can disable all the output devices using the configure option
"--disable-outdevs", and selectively enable an output device using the
option "--enable-outdev=OUTDEV", or you can disable a particular input
device using the option "--disable-outdev=OUTDEV".
The option "-formats" of the ff* tools will display the list of enabled
output devices (amongst the muxers).
A description of the currently available output devices follows.
alsa
ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) output device.
caca
CACA output device.
This output device allows to show a video stream in CACA window. Only
one CACA window is allowed per application, so you can have only one
instance of this output device in an application.
To enable this output device you need to configure FFmpeg with
"--enable-libcaca". libcaca is a graphics library that outputs text
instead of pixels.
For more information about libcaca, check:
<http://caca.zoy.org/wiki/libcaca>
Options
window_title
Set the CACA window title, if not specified default to the filename
specified for the output device.
window_size
Set the CACA window size, can be a string of the form widthxheight
or a video size abbreviation. If not specified it defaults to the
size of the input video.
driver
Set display driver.
algorithm
Set dithering algorithm. Dithering is necessary because the picture
being rendered has usually far more colours than the available
palette. The accepted values are listed with "-list_dither
algorithms".
antialias
Set antialias method. Antialiasing smoothens the rendered image and
avoids the commonly seen staircase effect. The accepted values are
listed with "-list_dither antialiases".
charset
Set which characters are going to be used when rendering text. The
accepted values are listed with "-list_dither charsets".
color
Set color to be used when rendering text. The accepted values are
listed with "-list_dither colors".
list_drivers
If set to true, print a list of available drivers and exit.
list_dither
List available dither options related to the argument. The
argument must be one of "algorithms", "antialiases", "charsets",
"colors".
Examples
· The following command shows the ffmpeg output is an CACA window,
forcing its size to 80x25:
ffmpeg -i INPUT -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt rgb24 -window_size 80x25 -f caca -
· Show the list of available drivers and exit:
ffmpeg -i INPUT -pix_fmt rgb24 -f caca -list_drivers true -
· Show the list of available dither colors and exit:
ffmpeg -i INPUT -pix_fmt rgb24 -f caca -list_dither colors -
fbdev
Linux framebuffer output device.
The Linux framebuffer is a graphic hardware-independent abstraction
layer to show graphics on a computer monitor, typically on the console.
It is accessed through a file device node, usually /dev/fb0.
For more detailed information read the file
Documentation/fb/framebuffer.txt included in the Linux source tree.
Options
xoffset
yoffset
Set x/y coordinate of top left corner. Default is 0.
Examples
Play a file on framebuffer device /dev/fb0. Required pixel format
depends on current framebuffer settings.
ffmpeg -re -i INPUT -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt bgra -f fbdev /dev/fb0
See also <http://linux-fbdev.sourceforge.net/>, and fbset(1).
oss
OSS (Open Sound System) output device.
pulse
PulseAudio output device.
To enable this output device you need to configure FFmpeg with
"--enable-libpulse".
More information about PulseAudio can be found on
<http://www.pulseaudio.org>
Options
server
Connect to a specific PulseAudio server, specified by an IP
address. Default server is used when not provided.
name
Specify the application name PulseAudio will use when showing
active clients, by default it is the "LIBAVFORMAT_IDENT" string.
stream_name
Specify the stream name PulseAudio will use when showing active
streams, by default it is set to the specified output name.
device
Specify the device to use. Default device is used when not
provided. List of output devices can be obtained with command
pactl list sinks.
Examples
Play a file on default device on default server:
ffmpeg -i INPUT -f pulse "stream name"
sdl
SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) output device.
This output device allows to show a video stream in an SDL window. Only
one SDL window is allowed per application, so you can have only one
instance of this output device in an application.
To enable this output device you need libsdl installed on your system
when configuring your build.
For more information about SDL, check: <http://www.libsdl.org/>
Options
window_title
Set the SDL window title, if not specified default to the filename
specified for the output device.
icon_title
Set the name of the iconified SDL window, if not specified it is
set to the same value of window_title.
window_size
Set the SDL window size, can be a string of the form widthxheight
or a video size abbreviation. If not specified it defaults to the
size of the input video, downscaled according to the aspect ratio.
window_fullscreen
Set fullscreen mode when non-zero value is provided. Zero is a
default.
Examples
The following command shows the ffmpeg output is an SDL window, forcing
its size to the qcif format:
ffmpeg -i INPUT -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p -window_size qcif -f sdl "SDL output"
sndio
sndio audio output device.
xv
XV (XVideo) output device.
This output device allows to show a video stream in a X Window System
window.
Options
display_name
Specify the hardware display name, which determines the display and
communications domain to be used.
The display name or DISPLAY environment variable can be a string in
the format hostname[:number[.screen_number]].
hostname specifies the name of the host machine on which the
display is physically attached. number specifies the number of the
display server on that host machine. screen_number specifies the
screen to be used on that server.
If unspecified, it defaults to the value of the DISPLAY environment
variable.
For example, "dual-headed:0.1" would specify screen 1 of display 0
on the machine named ``dual-headed''.
Check the X11 specification for more detailed information about the
display name format.
window_size
Set the created window size, can be a string of the form
widthxheight or a video size abbreviation. If not specified it
defaults to the size of the input video.
window_x
window_y
Set the X and Y window offsets for the created window. They are
both set to 0 by default. The values may be ignored by the window
manager.
window_title
Set the window title, if not specified default to the filename
specified for the output device.
For more information about XVideo see <http://www.x.org/>.
Examples
· Decode, display and encode video input with ffmpeg at the same
time:
ffmpeg -i INPUT OUTPUT -f xv display
· Decode and display the input video to multiple X11 windows:
ffmpeg -i INPUT -f xv normal -vf negate -f xv negated
SEE ALSOffmpeg(1), ffplay(1), ffprobe(1), ffserver(1), libavdevice(3)AUTHORS
The FFmpeg developers.
For details about the authorship, see the Git history of the project
(git://source.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg), e.g. by typing the command git log in
the FFmpeg source directory, or browsing the online repository at
<http://source.ffmpeg.org>.
Maintainers for the specific components are listed in the file
MAINTAINERS in the source code tree.
2014-02-24 FFMPEG-DEVICES(1)