April 9, 2024

Video - DaVinci Resolve - using ffmpeg to convert codecs

The ffmpeg program is a command line tool.
The "handbrake" program is a GUI that uses ffmpeg libraries.

ffmpeg has a good man page. The basic command is: 

ffmpeg -i input-file [options] output-file
It is all about the options. I have used these options to convert an mp4 video file giving the output a ".mkv" extension. 
-vcodec h264 -acodec pcm_s16le
Apparently ffmpeg can figure out what is going on with the input file all by itself. You need to tell it what you want done about the output file.

I have seen these options recommended (giving the output a ".mov" extension): 

 -c:v prores -profile:v 3 -c:a pcm_s24le
Near as I can tell -c:v is the same as -vcodec and -c:a is the same as -acodec. So what then does the -profile option do? It is specific to prores and is "HQ".

The "prores" codec is from apple, but my copy of ffmpeg on Fedora 39 does not support it.

Fedora ships ffmpeg 6.1.1 with F39 -- the current version is 7.0

Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Digital Photography Info / tom@mmto.org