I'm used to use VirtualDub to encode a video to AVI container with DivX-codec (and MP3 for audio). Now I'm planning to use ffmpeg to encode videos to MP4 container with h264-codec. What I've figured out is that I need to use libx264 and one of those presets to make anything work. However, I'm amazed about the video bitrate ffmpeg uses for encoding.

What I currently have is this little batch file:

@ECHO OFF

SETLOCAL

SET IN=source.avs
SET FFMPEG_PATH=C:\Program Files (x86)\ffmpeg
SET PRESET=-fpre "%FFMPEG_PATH%\presets\libx264-lossless_slow.ffpreset" 
SET AUDIO=-acodec libmp3lame -ab 128000
SET VIDEO=-vcodec libx264 -vb 1978000

"%FFMPEG_PATH%\ffmpeg.exe" -i %IN% %AUDIO% %VIDEO% %PRESET% test.mp4

ENDLOCAL

With this I tell ffmpeg to use 1978k as the bitrate, but ffmpeg uses 15000k+! I tried other presets, but they don't use my specified bitrate. Here are the presets I have:

• libx264-baseline.ffpreset
• libx264-ipod320.ffpreset
• libx264-ipod640.ffpreset
• libx264-lossless_fast.ffpreset
• libx264-lossless_max.ffpreset
• libx264-lossless_medium.ffpreset
• libx264-lossless_slow.ffpreset
• libx264-lossless_slower.ffpreset
• libx264-lossless_ultrafast.ffpreset

ffmpeg version:

FFmpeg git-N-29181-ga304071
libavutil    50. 40. 1 / 50. 40. 1
libavcodec   52.120. 0 / 52.120. 0
libavformat  52.108. 0 / 52.108. 0
libavdevice  52.  4. 0 / 52.  4. 0
libavfilter   1. 79. 0 /  1. 79. 0
libswscale    0. 13. 0 /  0. 13. 0

Note that I don't use the latest version as it has problems with spaces in filenames.

Here's what seems to be the full parameter list DivX 6.9.2 uses:

-bvnn 1978000 -vbv 218691200,100663296,100663296 -dir "C:\Users\sjngm\AppData\Roaming\DivX\DivX Codec" -w -b 1 -use_presets=1 -preset=10 -windowed_fullsearch=2 -thread_delay=1

What command line parameters would that be for ffmpeg?

EDIT:

Going with slhck's suggestion I tried a new 32-bit version. I have no idea if that is 0.9 or newer, I can't find that info.

ffmpeg version N-36890-g67f5650
libavutil      51. 34.100 / 51. 34.100
libavcodec     53. 56.105 / 53. 56.105
libavformat    53. 30.100 / 53. 30.100
libavdevice    53.  4.100 / 53.  4.100
libavfilter     2. 59.100 /  2. 59.100
libswscale      2.  1.100 /  2.  1.100
libswresample   0.  6.100 /  0.  6.100
libpostproc    51.  2.100 / 51.  2.100

I reworked my batch file to look like this (interestingly enough I can't find parameter -vprofile in the documentation):

@ECHO OFF

SETLOCAL

SET IN=VTS_01_1.avs
SET FFMPEG_PATH=C:\Program Files (x86)\ffmpeg
SET PRESET=-vprofile high -preset veryslow
SET AUDIO=-acodec libmp3lame -ab 128000
SET VIDEO=-vcodec libx264 -vb 1978000

"%FFMPEG_PATH%\ffmpeg.exe" -i %IN% %AUDIO% %PRESET% %VIDEO% test.mp4

ENDLOCAL

I see that it now uses the bitrate properly (thanks to LongNeckbeard for pointing out that the lossless-stuff ignores the bitrate!).

Just in case you wonder how I came up with the 1978000, I'm using this formula which I found valid for DivX-files (I'm guessing the bitrate won't change that much for h264):

width * height * 25 * 0.22 / 1000

I'm not sure if the 0.22 correlates with the CRF somehow.

Overall I forgot to say the I will use a two-pass scenario, which is why I don't use the CRF here. I will try to read more about this. Currently I'm just trying to get something running that shows me that I'm doing something right (ffmpeg isn't the easiest tool to understand ;)).

C:\Program Files (x86)\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe" -i VTS_01_1.avs -acodec libmp3lame -ab 128000 -vcodec libx264 -vb 1978000 -vprofile high -preset veryslow test.mp4

The output is now:

ffmpeg version N-36890-g67f5650 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Jan 16 2012 21:57:13 with gcc 4.6.2
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-w32threads --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-frei0r --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-zlib
  libavutil      51. 34.100 / 51. 34.100
  libavcodec     53. 56.105 / 53. 56.105
  libavformat    53. 30.100 / 53. 30.100
  libavdevice    53.  4.100 / 53.  4.100
  libavfilter     2. 59.100 /  2. 59.100
  libswscale      2.  1.100 /  2.  1.100
  libswresample   0.  6.100 /  0.  6.100
  libpostproc    51.  2.100 / 51.  2.100
Input #0, avs, from 'VTS_01_1.avs':
  Duration: 00:58:46.12, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 0 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (YV12 / 0x32315659), yuv420p, 576x448, 77414 kb/s, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s16le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s
File 'test.mp4' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y
w:576 h:448 pixfmt:yuv420p tb:1/1000000 sar:0/1 sws_param:
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast FastShuffle SSEMisalign LZCNT
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] profile High, level 3.1
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] 264 - core 120 r2120 0c7dab9 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2011 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=16 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x133 me=umh subme=10 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=24 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=3 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=8 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=60 rc=abr mbtree=1 bitrate=1978 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
Output #0, mp4, to 'test.mp4':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf53.30.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (![0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuv420p, 576x448, q=-1--1, 1978 kb/s, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (i[0][0][0] / 0x0069), 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 128 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (rawvideo -> libx264)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (pcm_s16le -> libmp3lame)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=    0 fps=  0 q=0.0 size=       0kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate=   0.0kbits/s
frame=    0 fps=  0 q=0.0 size=       0kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate=   0.0kbits/s
frame=    0 fps=  0 q=0.0 size=       0kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate=   0.0kbits/s
frame=    3 fps=  1 q=22.0 size=      39kB time=00:00:00.04 bitrate=8063.8kbits/
frame=    8 fps=  2 q=22.0 size=      82kB time=00:00:00.24 bitrate=2801.3kbits/
frame=   13 fps=  3 q=23.0 size=     120kB time=00:00:00.44 bitrate=2229.5kbits/
frame=   16 fps=  4 q=23.0 size=     147kB time=00:00:00.56 bitrate=2156.7kbits/
frame=   20 fps=  4 q=22.0 size=     175kB time=00:00:00.72 bitrate=1987.4kbits/
:
video:4387kB audio:273kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.260038%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] frame I:2     Avg QP:19.53  size: 29850
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] frame P:76    Avg QP:22.24  size: 19541
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] frame B:359   Avg QP:25.93  size:  8210
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] consecutive B-frames:  0.5%  0.5%  0.0%  8.2% 17.2% 52.2% 16.0%  5.5%  0.0%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] mb I  I16..4:  5.4% 75.3% 19.3%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] mb P  I16..4:  1.3% 16.5%  2.2%  P16..4: 36.3% 28.6% 12.7% 1.8%  0.2%    skip: 0.4%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] mb B  I16..4:  0.4%  3.8%  0.3%  B16..8: 40.0% 18.4%  4.7% direct:18.5%  skip:13.9%  L0:45.4% L1:38.1% BI:16.5%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] final ratefactor: 20.35
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] 8x8 transform intra:83.1% inter:68.5%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] direct mvs  spatial:99.2% temporal:0.8%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 64.9% 83.4% 49.2% inter: 49.0% 50.4% 4.4%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] i16 v,h,dc,p: 25% 22% 27% 26%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 10%  7% 23%  9% 10% 10% 10%10% 13%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 12% 11% 13%  9% 12% 11% 10% 9% 12%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] i8c dc,h,v,p: 42% 28% 16% 14%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] Weighted P-Frames: Y:18.4% UV:7.9%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] ref P L0: 29.1% 11.3% 15.7%  7.3%  6.9%  4.9%  5.1%  3.4%3.9%  2.7%  2.8%  1.8%  1.7%  1.2%  1.4%  0.9%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] ref B L0: 68.8% 11.4%  5.5%  2.9%  2.3%  1.9%  1.5%  1.1%1.1%  1.0%  0.9%  0.7%  0.5%  0.3%  0.1%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] ref B L1: 91.9%  8.1%
[libx264 @ 05A2C400] kb/s:2055.88

As far as I'm concerned it doesn't look that bad to me.