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FFmpeg

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FFmpeg
Developer(s)FFmpeg team
Stable release
0.6.1 / October 18, 2010; 13 years ago (2010-10-18)
Preview release
Repository
Written inC[1]
Operating systemCross-platform
PlatformMulti-platform
TypeMultimedia framework
LicenseGNU LGPL 2.1+
GNU GPL 2+
Websitehttp://FFmpeg.org/

FFmpeg is a free software / open source project that produces libraries and programs for handling multimedia data. The most notable parts of FFmpeg are libavcodec, an audio/video codec library used by several other projects, libavformat, an audio/video container mux and demux library, and the ffmpeg command line program for transcoding multimedia files. FFmpeg is published under the GNU Lesser General Public License 2.1+ or GNU General Public License 2+ (depending on which options are enabled).[2]

History

The project was started by Fabrice Bellard[2] (using the pseudonym “Gerard Lantau”), and was maintained by Michael Niedermayer from 2004 to 2011. On January 18, 2011, a group of 18 FFmpeg developers announced a new team of seven maintainers that would review and approve all patches.[3] Many FFmpeg developers are also part of the MPlayer project. The name of the project comes from the MPEG video standards group, together with "FF" for "fast forward".[4] The logo uses a zigzag pattern that shows how MPEG video codecs handle entropy encoding.

FFmpeg is developed under GNU/Linux, but it can be compiled under most operating systems, including Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, AmigaOS and its heir MorphOS. Most computing platforms and microprocessor instruction set architectures are also supported, like x86 (IA-32 and x86-64), PPC (PowerPC), ARM, DEC Alpha, SPARC, and MIPS architecture.[5]

FFmpeg version 0.5 appeared after a long time without formal releases. FFmpeg developers still always recommend using the latest neutral build from their source code Git version control system.

There are two video codecs and one video container invented in the FFmpeg project during its development. The two video codecs are the lossless "FFV1", and the lossless and lossy "Snow codec", the development of which has stalled, while its bitstream format hasn't been finalized yet, making it experimental for now (February 2011), and the multimedia container is "NUT" which is also not being actively developed anymore, but is still maintained.

On June 17, 2010, with version 0.6 FFmpeg also supports WebM and VP8.[6]

On July 23, 2010 Jason Garrett-Glaser, Ronald Bultje, and David Conrad of the FFmpeg Team announced the ffvp8 decoder. Through testing they determined that ffvp8 was faster than Google's own libvpx decoder.[7][8]

On March 13, 2011 a group of FFmpeg developers decided to fork the project under the name Libav.[9] [10] The events seem related to a recent issue in project management[11]. Future of both projects is yet unknown.

Components

Diagram showing different applications (VDR, MPlayer, Xine and VideoLAN) using FFmpeg

The project is made of several components:

  • ffmpeg is a command line tool to convert one video file format to another. It can also grab and encode in real time from a TV card.
  • ffserver is an HTTP and RTSP multimedia streaming server for live broadcasts. It can also time shift live broadcast.
  • ffplay is a simple media player based on SDL and on the FFmpeg libraries.
  • ffprobe is a command line tool to show media information.
  • 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. This library includes adler32, crc, md5, sha1, lzo decompressor, Base64 encoder/decoder, des encrypter/decrypter, rc4 encrypter/decrypter and aes encrypter/decrypter.
  • libpostproc is a library containing video postprocessing routines.
  • libswscale is a library containing video image scaling and colorspace/pixelformat conversion routines.
  • libavfilter is the substitute for vhook which allows the video/audio to be modified or examined between the decoder and the encoder.

Codecs, formats and protocols supported

Codecs

Further information: libavcodec

Codecs with the origin in the project:

The FFmpeg developers have implemented among others:

The default MPEG-4 codec used by FFmpeg for encoding has the FourCC of FMP4.

Formats

Protocols

  • IETF standards: TCP, UDP, Gopher, HTTP, RTP, RTSP and SDP
  • Apple related protocols: HTTP Live Streaming
  • RealMedia related protocols: RealMedia RTSP/RDT
  • Adobe related protocols: RTMP, RTMPT (via librtmp), RTMPE (via librtmp), RTMPTE (via librtmp) and RTMPS (via librtmp)
  • Microsoft related protocols: MMS over TCP and MMS over HTTP

Projects using FFmpeg

FFmpeg is used by many open source (and proprietary) projects, including ffmpeg2theora, VLC, MPlayer, HandBrake, Blender, Google Chrome, and others.[20]

FFmpeg handles the HTML5 Video and Audio media content in the Origyn Web Browser for MorphOS Operating System.[21][22]

Multimedia frameworks using FFmpeg

FFmpeg contains more than 100 codecs [23] most of which do not just store uncompressed data. At least all codecs that compress information could be claimed by patent holders.[24] Such claims may be enforceable in countries like the United States which have implemented software patents, but are considered unenforceable or void in countries that have not implemented software patents. Furthermore, many of these codecs are only released under terms that forbid reverse engineering, even for purposes of interoperability. These terms of use are forbidden in certain countries. For example, some European Union nations have not implemented software patents and have laws expressly allowing reverse engineering for purposes of interoperability.[25]

Most GNU/Linux distributions include a stripped version of FFmpeg only including certain codecs to avoid legal complications, instead contributors maintain unofficial repositories containing such software.[26][27]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ohloh Analysis Summary - FFmpeg". Ohloh. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
  2. ^ New FFmpeg maintainership gmane.comp.video.ffmpeg.devel (Jan. 18, 2010).
  3. ^ Bellard, Fabrice (18 February 2006). "FFmpeg naming and logo". FFmpeg developer mailing list. Mplayer website. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
  4. ^ FFmpeg Automated Testing Environment
  5. ^ Jun. 17, 2010, newteevee.com: FFmpeg Goes WebM, Enabling VP8 for Boxee & Co. Quote: "...with VLC, Boxee, MythTV, Handbrake and MPlayer being some of the more popular projects utilizing FFmpeg..."
  6. ^ Diary Of An x264 Developer: Announcing the world’s fastest VP8 decoder
  7. ^ http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/07/24/1227241/FFmpeg-Announces-High-Performance-VP8-Decoder?from=rss {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "Slashdot: FFmpeg Announces High-Performance VP8 Decoder" ignored (help)
  8. ^ http://www.libav.org/ {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "Libav project site" ignored (help)
  9. ^ http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.ffmpeg.devel/129579 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "[ANN] Project renamed to Libav" ignored (help)
  10. ^ https://lwn.net/Articles/423702/ {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "FFMpeg turnoil" ignored (help)
  11. ^ a b c d e f g banan (17 April 2007). "Changelog". FFmpeg trunk SVN. FFmpeg website. Retrieved 26 April 2007.
  12. ^ a b ivo (7 May 2007). "FFmpeg development mailing list". FFmpeg development. FFmpeg website. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
  13. ^ vitor (13 April 2008). "FFmpeg development mailing list". FFmpeg development. FFmpeg website. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
  14. ^ vitor (30 March 2008). "FFmpeg development mailing list". FFmpeg development. FFmpeg website. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  15. ^ faust3 (21 March 2008). "FFmpeg development mailing list". FFmpeg development. FFmpeg website. Retrieved 21 March 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ benoit (14 April 2008). "FFmpeg development mailing list". FFmpeg development. FFmpeg website. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
  17. ^ ramiro (18 March 2008). "FFmpeg development mailing list". FFmpeg development. FFmpeg website. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
  18. ^ banan (8 June 2008). "FFmpeg development mailing list". FFmpeg development. FFmpeg website. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  19. ^ http://ffmpeg.org/projects.html
  20. ^ "Origyn Web Browser for MorphOS". Fabian Coeurjoly. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate 2010-01-04" ignored (help)
  21. ^ Thom Holwerda (March 8, 2010). "Origyn Web Browser 1.7 Supports HTML5 Media, More". OSNews. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate 2010-03-08" ignored (help)
  22. ^ "Codecs list".
  23. ^ "Legal information on FFmpeg's website".
  24. ^ . Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on the legal protection of computer programs. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  25. ^ http://en.opensuse.org/Restricted_formats
  26. ^ https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats
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