HOWTO: Install and use the latest FFmpeg and x264

[Ng Oon-Ee]

Hey, I recently tried to install OpenCV, specifically libcv-dev, libcvaux-dev, and libhighgui-dev. They depend on libavcodec-dev, libavformat-dev, libavutil-dev, which clashes with ffmpeg as I've compiled following this guide.

So, I get these errors:-

E: /var/cache/apt/archives/libavutil-dev_3%3a0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/pkgconfig/libavutil.pc', which is also in package ffmpeg
E: /var/cache/apt/archives/libavcodec-dev_3%3a0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/pkgconfig/libavcodec.pc', which is also in package ffmpeg
E: /var/cache/apt/archives/libavformat-dev_3%3a0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/pkgconfig/libavformat.pc', which is also in package ffmpeg

Any way I can tell the package to simply reuse what's available? Or do I need to recompile OpenCV itself from source?

In answer to my own question, I discovered that the ffmpeg executable that's built within ~/ffmpeg in this guide is fully useable even without being installed. That saves me a lot of headache dealing with the packaging system and all, only difference being I have to call the ffmpeg executable directly (I could also symlink into /usr/bin I guess).

[philc]

Using ffmpeg and x264
The easiest method for high quality video encoding is by using the ffmpeg presets that are included with the source code. First copy the presets to your home folder. This will create a folder that may be hidden in your file manager because it is preceded with a period. Use "ls -al" in the terminal or "ctrl + h" in Nautilus to view the folder if it is hidden.

mkdir ~/.ffmpeg

Now copy the presets to the folder you just created:

cp ~/ffmpeg/ffpresets/* ~/.ffmpeg

Now you can use the presets. This example uses the fastfirstpass and hq presets for a two-pass encode:

ffmpeg -y -i input.avi -pass 1 -vcodec libx264 -vpre fastfirstpass -s 640x480 -b 512k -bt 512k -threads 0 -bf 16 -f mp4 -an /dev/null && ffmpeg -i input.avi -pass 2 -acodec libfaac -ab 128k -ac 2 -vcodec libx264 -vpre hq -s 640x480 -b 512k -bt 512k -threads 0 -f mp4 output.mp4

You will have to add -bf 16 to your first-pass command or bf=16 to ~/.ffmpeg/libx264-fastfirstpass.ffpreset when used with the normal, max, and hq presets.

I also had to add -bf 16 to my second pass command when using the presets, or FFMpeg exists with an error that the second pass is using a different number of B Frames - 4 vs 16 in the the first pass.

[FakeOutdoorsman]

I also had to add -bf 16 to my second pass command when using the presets, or FFMpeg exists with an error that the second pass is using a different number of B Frames - 4 vs 16 in the the first pass.

Thanks for the update. The presets were modified three days ago to:

Be consistent and use b-frames throughout the presets to avoid confusion about whether they have to be specified in the first pass as well.

All of the non-lossless presets, including fastfirstpass, now use -bf 4. I have updated the guide. In addition, new lossless presets have been added, but I haven't used these yet. Has anyone tried lossless x264 encoding yet?

[Kinetic^]

"ffmpeg: symbol lookup error: /usr/local/lib/libavcodec.so.52: undefined symbol: av_lfg_init"

I'm also getting this error.

The output of

dpkg --get-selections | grep libav

is

libavahi-client3                install
libavahi-common-data                install
libavahi-common3                install
libavahi-compat-libdnssd1            install
libavahi-core5                    install
libavahi-glib1                    install
libavahi-gobject0                install
libavahi-ui0                    install
libavc1394-0                    install
libavcodec-unstripped-51            install
libavcodec51                    deinstall
libavdevice-unstripped-52            install
libavformat-unstripped-52            install
libavformat52                    deinstall
libavutil-unstripped-49                install
libavutil49                    deinstall

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[tsh]

Following this guide on 8.10, I don't seem to get a .so file for libx264. I have /usr/lib/libx264.a but that's all.

[FakeOutdoorsman]

I'm also getting this error.

...

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

You have one or several packages that are conflicting with the compiled ffmpeg. Try removing them:

sudo apt-get purge libavcodec-unstripped-51 libavdevice-unstripped-52 libavformat-unstripped-52 libavutil-unstripped-49

Following this guide on 8.10, I don't seem to get a .so file for libx264. I have /usr/lib/libx264.a but that's all.

Did you use ./configure --enable-shared for x264? It should install as:

/usr/local/lib/libx264.so.65

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Install FFmpeg and x264 on Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 LTS.

Dapper is unsupported and this guide will not be updated.

1. Make sure the Ubuntu universe and multiverse repositories are enabled. For help doing this, refer to Adding the Universe and Multiverse Repositories on the Ubuntu Wiki.

2. Uninstall x264-bin, libx264-dev, and ffmpeg if they are already installed. Open a terminal and run the following:

sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg x264-bin libx264-dev

3. Next, get all of the packages you will need to install ffmpeg and x264:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential subversion git-core checkinstall texi2html libfaac-dev libsdl1.2-dev libx11-dev libxfixes-dev libxvidcore4-dev zlib1g-dev

4. Install yasm:

cd
wget http://www.tortall.net/projects/yasm/releases/yasm-1.1.0.tar.gz
tar xzvf yasm-1.1.0.tar.gz
cd yasm-1.1.0
./configure
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgname=yasm --pkgversion "1.1.0" --backup=no --default

5. Install x264:

cd
git clone git://git.videolan.org/x264.git
cd ~/x264
./configure
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgversion "1:0.cvs`date +%Y%m%d`-0.0ubuntu1" --default

6. Install libopencore-amr. This will allow you to decode and encode AMR audio:

cd
wget http://transact.dl.sourceforge.net/project/opencore-amr/opencore-amr/0.1.2/opencore-amr-0.1.2.tar.gz
tar xvf opencore-amr-0.1.2.tar.gz
cd opencore-amr-0.1.2
./configure -disable-shared
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgname="libopencore-amr" --pkgversion="0.1.2" --backup=no --default

7. Install libtheora to encode to Theora, the video type usually found in OGG files. The repository libtheora is too old, so it must be compiled. Alternatively, you could skip this step and omit --enable-libtheora in step 8 if you don't plan on encoding to Theora video:

sudo apt-get install libogg-dev
cd
wget http://downloads.xiph.org/releases/theora/libtheora-1.1.1.tar.gz
tar xzvf libtheora-1.1.1.tar.gz
cd libtheora-1.1.1
./configure --disable-shared
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgname=libtheora --pkgversion "1.1.1" --backup=no --default

8. Install ffmpeg:

cd
svn checkout svn://svn.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg
cd ~/ffmpeg
./configure --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-libfaac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab
make
sudo checkinstall --pkgversion "3:0.cvs`date +%Y%m%d`-5ubuntu1.2" --default
hash x264 ffmpeg

That's it! Now head back to the FFmpeg guide for usage instructions and more.

To Revert Changes Made by This Guide

sudo apt-get remove build-essential subversion git-core checkinstall texi2html libfaac-dev libopencore-amr libsdl1.2-dev libtheora libx11-dev libxfixes-dev libxvidcore4-dev zlib1g-dev x264 ffmpeg

[WinterWeaver]

I followed your guide to get ffmpeg. Everything is working as it should, except that I dont have PNG codec anymore. I used to use ffmpeg to create a thumbnail of a movie, and save it as mpeg, but now I get a error.

ffmpeg -y -i /home/andre/Projects/ask/ask/ask.media/videos/IT_Pro.wmv -vframes 1 -ss 00:00:02 -an -vcodec png -f rawvideo -s 320x240 /home/andre/Projects/ask/ask/ask.media/videos/flv/test.png

Ffmpeg resulting output:

FFmpeg version SVN-r16661, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid
  libavutil     49.13. 0 / 49.13. 0
  libavcodec    52.11. 0 / 52.11. 0
  libavformat   52.24. 1 / 52.24. 1
  libavdevice   52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Jan 17 2009 23:46:11, gcc: 4.3.2
[wmv3 @ 0xa476130]Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0

Seems stream 1 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 1000.00 (1000/1) -> 15.00 (15/1)
Input #0, asf, from '/home/andre/Projects/ask/ask/ask.media/videos/IT_Pro.wmv':
  Duration: 00:02:35.84, start: 5.000000, bitrate: 154 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Audio: wmav2, 16000 Hz, mono, s16, 16 kb/s
    Stream #0.1: Video: wmv3, yuv420p, 320x240, 134 kb/s, 15.00 tb(r)
Unknown encoder 'png'

I tried to see if maybe the name chaned with the new version and did:

$ ffmpeg -formats | grep png
FFmpeg version SVN-r16661, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid
  libavutil     49.13. 0 / 49.13. 0
  libavcodec    52.11. 0 / 52.11. 0
  libavformat   52.24. 1 / 52.24. 1
  libavdevice   52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Jan 17 2009 23:46:11, gcc: 4.3.2

.... as you can see with no result

Manually digging through the -formats output, and I didn't find anything related to png.

Do you perhaps know what the issue is here?

EDIT: sorry forgot to say, I'm running 8.10 32-bit on Macbook 4,1

Thanks,
WW

[FakeOutdoorsman]

Do you perhaps know what the issue is here?

You need to install the zlib1g-dev package then reinstall ffmpeg:

sudo apt-get purge ffmpeg
cd ~/ffmpeg
make distclean
svn up
./configure --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid
make
sudo checkinstall --fstrans=no --install=yes --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion "3:0.svn`date +%Y%m%d`-12ubuntu3"

This will enable the following encoders/decoders: camtasia, dxa, flashsv, png, zlib, zmbv. I will add this to the guide.

[WinterWeaver]

GREAT! That works

Thank a million!

Too bad the thanks feature is not working on the forum atm