HOWTO: Easily enable MP3, MPEG4, AAC, and other restricted encoding in FFmpeg

[FakeOutdoorsman]

A common question is "why doesn't the repository FFmpeg convert to mp3, aac, mpeg4, etc?". Ubuntu doesn't make it very clear to the general user as to why to repo FFmpeg is so limited or how to fix this issue. This is reflected in the number of forum questions relating to this topic.

Why is FFmpeg from the repository so limited?
Legal reasons. Some software is limited due to geographical differences in software patents, legal restrictions on free speech, and restrictions on certain technologies. Ubuntu sidesteps these legal restrictions by not including some restricted packages by default. Users must install these packages on their own. See Restricted Formats Ubuntu Community Documentation and FFmpeg License and Legal Considerations for more details.


How do I fix FFmpeg?
There are several options:

A. Compile FFmpeg yourself
B. Install the unstripped or extra libraries from the repository
C. Install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package
D. Install FFmpeg from Medibuntu

A. Compiling FFmpeg yourself (for all Ubuntu versions)
The official FFmpeg answer is to compile it yourself, giving you the power to get what you want with the big-fixes, enhancements, and benefits of the most recent FFmpeg revision. This is an excellent solution and is explained here:

HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

However, this isn't for everyone. Sometimes you want an official package that works right now. Off to the other options...


B. Installing the unstripped or extra libraries from the repository
This is the quickest option for most users. FFmpeg from the repository does not include many restricted encoders, formats, and codecs including: h261, h263, h263p, aac (libfaac), mp3 (libmp3lame), h264 (libx264), xvid (libxvid), mpeg2video, mpeg4, msmpeg4, msmpeg4v1, and msmpeg4v2. You can fix this by installing the unstripped or extra (Ubuntu Karmic renamed unstripped to extra) FFmpeg libraries that will enable these restricted encoders. Open up Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and enter:

Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libavcodec-extra-52

Note: Right now there is no way to encode AAC audio with FFmpeg from the Karmic Koala repository. You will have to compile FFmpeg yourself to do so. Refer to option A. Compile FFmpeg yourself if you would like to encode to AAC audio with FFmpeg. Another option is to use a separate encoder and then combine the video and audio.

Originally Posted by paul.gevers For Karmic the libfaac codec has been disabled in the "extra" (formerly known as unstripped) libraries because it is considered non-free. The only way to get it (AFAICT) is to compile ffmpeg yourself.

Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope 9.04

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libavcodec-unstripped-52

Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex 8.10

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libavcodec-unstripped-51

Alternatively, you can search for these packages in the Synaptic Package Manager.


C. Installing the ubuntu-restricted-extras package
Another option for Jaunty and Ibex is to install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package (this is not an option for Karmic). This is a metapackage, which means that it will install multiple packages including the "unstripped" FFmpeg libraries. This is a sledgehammer approach, especially if you are bandwidth limited, and will install a large amount of other packages that you may not want. To install this package, open up Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and enter:

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg ubuntu-restricted-extras

D. Installing FFmpeg from Medibuntu
This option is only available for Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04. Medibuntu is a third-party repository that contains packages that are unable to be included in the official Ubuntu repositories. To install FFmpeg from Medibuntu open Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and run the following:

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/`lsb_release -cs`.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list && sudo apt-get -q update && sudo apt-get --yes -q --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get -q update

This huge command (adapted from Medibuntu - Community Ubuntu Documentation) will install the repository information to your computer then update and authenticate the new repository. Now install FFmpeg:

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

That's it. Now you have a non-crippled version of FFmpeg. See some usage examples at the FFmpeg x264 encoding guide.


Undoing Changes Made By This Guide
B. Uninstalling the unstripped or extra libraries

sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg libavcodec-*-5*

C. Uninstalling the ubuntu-restricted-extras package

sudo apt-get remove ubuntu-restricted-extras

D. Uninstalling FFmpeg and the Medibuntu Repository

sudo apt-get autoremove ffmpeg medibuntu-keyring && sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list && sudo apt-get update

Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Thanks to andrew.46 for suggesting this guide.

[mocha]

Well done. This clears up a lot of confusion.

[wittelw]

Excellent guide! My only suggestion is to point people wanting to encode directly to your also most excellent article on compiling the sources: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=786095

This solved my problems perfectly and let me convert some files .mov to .avi and I wasn't able to find the solution anywhere else! Thanks!

[naripela]

Men!!! Great tutorial!! Thanks a lot, I was searching this for a long time!

[jeffers.r]

Hey folks,

I've been having a very difficult time doing some very basic trimming with ffmpeg and was hoping someone might be able to provide a little input. The input video is mpeg2 and the audio is ac3, and the problem is related to the ac3 sound, which no longer plays after the trimming. I've installed ffmpeg based on the examples above, unstripped, and also tried compiling ffmpeg based on FakeOutdoorsman's other tutorial with the latest svn, but still no luck.

I'm running this very simply command:

ffmpeg -i test.mpg -vcodec copy -acodec copy -ss 00:00:00 -t 90 test_trimed.mpg

and I get what appears to be a successful trim:

FFmpeg version git-5d5fb67, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-nonfree --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid
  libavutil     50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
  libavcodec    52.29. 0 / 52.29. 0
  libavformat   52.33. 0 / 52.33. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
  built on May 23 2009 12:47:43, gcc: 4.3.3

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 59.94 (60000/1001) -> 29.97 (30000/1001)
Input #0, mpeg, from 'test.mpg':
  Duration: 00:04:31.23, start: 0.255589, bitrate: 9422 kb/s
    Stream #0.0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 704x480 [PAR 10:11 DAR 4:3], 9510 kb/s, 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
    Stream #0.1[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 256 kb/s
Output #0, mpeg, to 'test_trimed.mpg':
    Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 704x480 [PAR 10:11 DAR 4:3], q=2-31, 9510 kb/s, 90k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 256 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
  Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop encoding
frame= 2702 fps=  0 q=-1.0 Lsize=  100652kB time=90.02 bitrate=9159.9kbits/s    
video:97418kB audio:2813kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.419587%

Yet when I play the video, I have no sound. I'm guessing I must be missing the correct library within my configuration for ac3, but can't seem to pinpoint what that is. I've also done some work with mencoder, which works fine for audio, but it has trouble trimming video instead (I think it has issues with key frames, trimming leaves the video choppy).

Do you think this is related to my configuration?

[mc4man]

While ffplay may playback with sound for other players you probably should add a -target dvd (specify pal or ntsc (edit: in this case ntsc

Ex.
doug@doug-desktop:~$ ffmpeg -i 2.mpg -acodec copy -vcodec copy -t 90 -target ntsc-dvd 2-1.mpg

[jeffers.r]

Wow, that's fantastic. Worked like a charm. Thank you so much!

Originally Posted by mc4man While ffplay may playback with sound for other players you probably should add a -target dvd (specify pal or ntsc Ex. ffmpeg -i 2.mpg -acodec copy -vcodec copy -t 90 -target ntsc-dvd 2-1.mpg

[andrew.46]

Hi,

Just a quick note to thank FakeOutdoorsman for putting this page together which promises to be of great assistance to the many who struggle with the necessary shortcomings of Ubuntu's stock FFmpeg package.

Andrew

[andrew.46]

Hi Fakeoutdoorsman,

Congratulations on Tutorial of the Week for this guide!! A well deserved award.

All the very best,

Andrew

[Ralph Corderoy]

Originally Posted by FakeOutdoorsman D. Installing FFmpeg from Medibuntu This option is only available for Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 and Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10.

That's wrong, e.g. it's available for 9.04. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Originally Posted by FakeOutdoorsman sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/`lsb_release -cs`.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list; sudo apt-get -q update; sudo apt-get --yes -q --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring; sudo apt-get -q update

It would be better to use "&&" instead of ";" where possible since "cmd1 && cmd2 && cmd3" only executes cmd2 if cmd1 succeeded, etc.