How to convert AVCHD (MTS/M2TS) to MP4 losslessly.

**pHr34kY** · September 11th, 2010

I'll start with the end:

Code:

mencoder infile.mts -demuxer lavf -oac copy -ovc copy -of lavf=mp4 -o outfile.mp4

..and now to explain myself:

AVCHD (MTS) is basically a container format for MPEG4-AVC video and AC-3 Audio. It's commonly found on modern camcorders. I have pulled files off a Sony Camcorder (I forget which model), which records in 1080i@50Hz. It seems there are timestamp problems, and both the even and odd fields are stamped with the same time, and not 1/50th of a second apart as you'd expect. This currently breaks ffmpeg (0.6~svn20100711), and the mencoder (SVN-r31722) internal demuxer doesn't like it either. The libavformat (lavf 0.6~svn20100711) demuxer/muxer seems to handle it, so that's what we'll use.

If you run 'mediainfo' over an MTS file, you'll see something like this:

Code:

General
ID                               : 0
Complete name                    : infile.mts
Format                           : BDAV
Format/Info                      : Blu-ray Video
File size                        : 62.6 MiB
Duration                         : 56s 72ms
Overall bit rate                 : 9 364 Kbps
Maximum Overall bit rate         : 18.0 Mbps

Video
ID                               : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 2 frames
Duration                         : 56s 0ms
Bit rate                         : 8 726 Kbps
Width                            : 1 440 pixels
Height                           : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Resolution                       : 8 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Interlaced
Scan order                       : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.224
Stream size                      : 58.3 MiB (93%)

Audio
ID                               : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Duration                         : 56s 128ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 256 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L R
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Video delay                      : -80ms
Stream size                      : 1.71 MiB (3%)

Text
ID                               : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : PGS
Duration                         : 55s 575ms
Video delay                      : -80ms

Once you run it through the above command, the resultant container will look like this. The audio/video codec details will be the same because it's a straight (lossless) copy. Also note that the headers have been corrected from 25i to 50i.

Code:

General
Complete name                    : outfile.mp4
Format                           : MPEG-4
Format profile                   : Base Media
Codec ID                         : isom
File size                        : 58.7 MiB
Duration                         : 56s 160ms
Overall bit rate                 : 8 761 Kbps
Writing application              : Lavf52.73.0

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 2 frames
Format_Settings_FrameMode        : Frame tripling
Codec ID                         : avc1
Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                         : 56s 140ms
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 8 504 Kbps
Width                            : 1 440 pixels
Height                           : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 4:3
Original display aspect ratio    : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 50.000 fps
Original frame rate              : 8.333 fps
Resolution                       : 8 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Interlaced
Scan order                       : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.109
Stream size                      : 56.9 MiB (97%)

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID                         : ac-3
Duration                         : 56s 160ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 256 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L R
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 1.71 MiB (3%)

Note that the final video will still be interlaced. Removing the interlacing requires re-encoding.

This was tested on 10.04 with the VDPAU team's cutting-edge-multimedia PPA installed.

**excetara2** · September 14th, 2010

I want to do this on files from a canon hg-21. Here is my output from mediainfo:

General
ID : 0
Complete name : 00069.MTS
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : BluRay Video
File size : 272 MiB
Duration : 1mn 36s
Overall bit rate : 23.8 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 24.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Duration : 1mn 35s
Bit rate : 22.6 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.363

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 1mn 36s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -66ms

This is after conversion:

General
Complete name : RyanFreakout.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 260 MiB
Duration : 1mn 36s
Overall bit rate : 22.7 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Tagged date : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Writing application : Lavf52.31.0

Video
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1mn 36s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 22.4 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 59.940 fps
Original frame rate : 29.970 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.181
Stream size : 257 MiB (99%)
Encoded date : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Tagged date : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00

Audio
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID : ac-3
Duration : 1mn 36s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 2.93 MiB (1%)
Encoded date : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Tagged date : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00

Does everything look right? The playback on .mp4 is still obviously interlaced but it seems to be worse than before. When usually I get better playback. Previously, I had always used Adobe Media Encoder on Windows (deinterlaces the file). Can I deinterlace this file (reencode with mencoder)? Are my settings right for converting this like yours?

Cheers

**webdevelopment** · September 17th, 2010

looking to convert MTS into a usable format too...

WinFF gives this error when trying to convert MTS files:

Input #0, mpegts, from '/home/admin1/Pictures/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM/00000.MTS':
Duration: 00:04:56.32, start: 1.000067, bitrate: 17173 kb/s
Program 1
Stream #0.0[0x1011]: Video: h264, yuv420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 59.94 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0.1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 256 kb/s
Unknown encoder 'libmp3lame'
Press Enter to Continue

**andrew.46** · September 17th, 2010

Hi web,

Originally Posted by webdevelopment

Code:

Unknown encoder 'libmp3lame'

Looks like your copy of FFmpeg has not been compiled for mp3 encoding, have a look here for the fix:

HOWTO: Easily enable MP3, MPEG4, AAC, and other restricted encoders in FFmpeg
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1117283

Andrew

**webdevelopment** · September 17th, 2010

Originally Posted by andrew.46

Hi web,

Looks like your copy of FFmpeg has not been compiled for mp3 encoding, have a look here for the fix:

HOWTO: Easily enable MP3, MPEG4, AAC, and other restricted encoders in FFmpeg
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1117283

Andrew

thanks!

this worked...

solution was to download winff then install the medibuntu codecs

but i converted to mp4 and the output is only 15fps (using winff)

i'm almost certain the source vidoe is 30fps 1080p HD video...

how do i get a better output? (i guess the term is lossless?)

i'd like the highest quality source that i can use from the MTS files...

**ron999** · September 17th, 2010

Use MediaInfo to show your before and after files.

**control_guy** · November 18th, 2010

Very good post. Very useful. It solved one of my problems. Now my question is how do you include the text stream as well, the PGS?

Thanks

Originally Posted by pHr34kY

I'll start with the end:

Code:

mencoder infile.mts -demuxer lavf -oac copy -ovc copy -of lavf=mp4 -o outfile.mp4

..

**whytenoiz** · June 1st, 2012

How would you adapt your command for a media info output such as :

$ mediainfo 00047.MTS
General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : 00047.MTS
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 25.8 MiB
Duration : 20s 974ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 10.3 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 18.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=15
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 20s 954ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 9 432 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 16.0 Mbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.202
Stream size : 23.6 MiB (91%)

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 21s 24ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -67ms
Stream size : 1.12 MiB (4%)

Text
ID : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PGS
Codec ID : 144
Duration : 20s 455ms
Delay relative to video : -67ms