Help:Converting video

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

Jump to: navigation, search
Video conversion help in other languages:

English | Español | Français | Galego | 日本語 | +/-

Wikimedia accepts only video files in the Theora Ogg format. Only a few video-management tools support it just yet. On this page, you'll find a collection of tools and methods for converting your videos to the Theora format.

Contents

[edit] Ogg-Theora conversion

At this moment, there are a couple of tools that are capable of converting videos to Theora from various formats. However, depending on the source format (and especially when working with videos taken with a digital photo camera), the conversion may lead to the audio track being out of sync. Usually, you can overcome this problem by converting the source video to the MPEG format first, followed by converting the MPEG to Theora.

For the first step, you might have to use manufacturer-specific operating-system tools. If this is not the case, you can use either of the following:

[edit] Ogg-Theora - Multi-platform solutions

[edit] ffmpeg2theora

ffmpeg2theora is probably the most popular converter and is recommended at the Theora project page.

It has versions for many operating systems. It's a command line tool. In most cases you will only need a simple command indicating the name of the file to convert.

ffmpeg2theora file.avi

In most cases, one pass with ffmpeg2theora is enough. But if you have some audio problems, you can do a first transcoding using tovid.

If the video has lower quality, you can use the -dvd-vcd option. For higher quality ones, the -dvd option is better.

Examples:

$ tovid -dvd-vcd -pal -full -in original.avi -out target

$ tovid -dvd -pal -full -in original.avi -out target

After this step, you directly use ffmpeg2theora with the generated file target.mpg.

$ ffmpeg2theora target.mpg

To create a small picture, the x and y options (x for width, y for height) are useful; x and y must be a multiple of 8, for example:

$ ffmpeg2theora -x 272 -y 200 target.mpg

For more options, please see the ffmpeg2theora page.

[edit] VLC media player

VLC is a GUI version media player with conversion capabilities. It can convert to theora format but some audio problems have been observed at least in Linux versions. If you also have some problems with audio, consider a first step converting to mpeg before convert to Theora.

[edit] XiphQT

Xiph's QuickTime Components can be used to add OGG support to QuickTime Pro, under both OSX (version 10.3.9 or later) and Windows. Download and install the component, and it will add a "Movie to OGG" option to the File->Export dialog.


[edit] Ogg-Theora - Tools for Macs

[edit] Simple Theora Encoder

Simple Theora Encoder is an easy to use program.

[edit] Instructions

  1. Open "Simple Theora Encoder"
  2. Click the "Add…" button.
  3. Select the file you wish to convert. Note: Simple Theora Encoder does not accept files with out extensions (e.g. ".mov" ".mpg" ".avi" ".wmv") If the file you wish to convert does not have an extension, please add the appropriate extension before attempting to select it with Simple Theora Encoder. Additional note: Although Simple Theora Encoder will accept many video files, they will appear to be low-quality unless they have been encoded with an MPEG codec. For optimal video quality, please save your video with an MPEG codec such as MPEG-4.
  4. Add any additional files that you wish to be included in the Ogg. Simple Theora Encoder will concatenate them together for you.
  5. Click the "Encode…" button to convert your file(s) into an Ogg Theora file. Note: Files that you are going to will have a status that reads "waiting…." You do not have to wait for them. The "waiting…" status means that the program is waiting for you.

[edit] Simple Theora Encoder problems and solutions

  • Problem: Simple Theora Encoder creates poor-quality video files
    • Solution: Your source file is probably not compressed with an MPEG codec. Simple Theora Encoder works much much better with video files encoded in an MPEG codec. Try converting your source file into a file using an MPEG codec, such as a QuickTime video with the MPEG-4 video codec that is available in programs such as iMovie, GraphicConverter, and QuickTime Pro.
  • Problem: Simple Theora Encoder won't open my file.
    • Solution: Make sure your file has a file extension such as ".mov" ".mpg" ".avi" and ".wmv." If it still won't open it them it must not like your file format.
  • Problem: Simple Theora Encoder is stuck. It says "waiting…" and is not doing anything.
    • Solution: Simple Theora Encoder says, "waiting…" when the file has been successfully been added to the conversion queue. The program is not frozen. Press "Encode…" to save the file as an Ogg, or press "Add…" to add more files to convert.
  • Problem: Simple Theora Encoder is stuck. It says "encoding…" and is not doing anything.
    • Solution: You probably tried to convert a QuickTime movie with audio. Simple Theora Encoder can't convert QuickTime movies with audio tracks.

[edit] Comparison with ffmpeg2theora

Simple Theora Encoder is a much much easier option for Mac users than the ffmpeg2theora command-line program. Simple Theora Encoder is possibly a graphical shell for ffmpeg2theora as they are both subject to the same bug (both programs stretch the video vertically), however, Simple Theora Encoder seems to be compatible with more files than ffmpeg2theora. Perhaps it has an additional program to convert files into MPEG before converting then to Ogg. One disadvantage of Simple Theora Encoder is its lack of options. There are no options at all, unless you count its capability of concatenating several files together into one Ogg file. The ffmpeg2theora program includes video and audio compression options as well as many other options.

[edit] ffmpeg2theora

[edit] Manual installation

Manual installation instruction for those that the installer failed and for those that do not wish to wait on the installer program.

Note:This was written for version 0.19 of ffmpeg2theora; it may not work with other versions.

  1. Download the Mac version of ffmpeg2theora.
  2. Decompress the downloaded file if it has not already been so. (Decompress it by double-clicking it - open it.) A package file will appear.
  3. Right click (or cntr-click) on the pkg file.
  4. Select "Show Package Contents." A window will open.
  5. Open the "Contents" folder in this new window.
  6. Decompress the file "Archive.pax.gz" by opening it (double-click it.) The folder "usr" will appear.
  7. Open the folder "usr."
  8. Open the folder "local."
  9. Open the folder "bin."
  10. You have found the command-line application! Copy "ffmpeg2theora" to the "bin" folder inside the "usr" folder of the root directory of your startup disc. To get to this folder, copy and paste "file:///usr/bin" into the address bar of your browser and hit return. Due to imposed limits of WikiMedia onto MediaWiki, I could not provide you with a direct link. WikiMedia can be a real douche sometimes.
  11. A window will appear asking you for authorisation to perform this manual installation. You must have an administrator username and password to perform the installation.
  12. Click "Authenticate."
  13. Enter the username and password of an administrator of your computer. (You may be an administrator. Try your own username and password.)
  14. After you have copied "ffmpeg2theora" into the "file:///usr/bin" folder, the ffmpeg2theora program has been installed. Congratulations!

[edit] Operational instructions

These are instructions on using ffmpeg2theora. ffmpeg2theora must be installed for this to work. Important: I've never gotten audio to work in this. Files with audio were either mutilated or froze the program.

  1. Open the Terminal. It is located within the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  2. Within the terminal, type "ffmpeg2theora " including the space and without the quotes, of course.
  3. To adjust the video quality, type "-v " including the space and then enter a number from 0 through 10. 10 is maximum quality and 0 is minimal quality. Note: This is case sensitive.
  4. To adjust the audio quality, type "-a " including the space and then enter a number from 0 through 10. 10 is maximum quality and 0 is minimal quality. Note: This is case sensitive.
  5. Additional commands can be found (at time of writting) at the Ffmpeg2theora article at en.linuxreviews.org.
  6. Drag the file you wish to convert into the terminal. Important note: You cannot convert files that are not encoded with an MPEG codec. The ffmpeg2theora program only accepts video files that have been encoded with an MPEG codec, such as a QuickTime .mov file with the MPEG-4 codec. QuickTime movies with audio will freeze the program. Please remove the audio from QuickTime files or convert them into MPEG files to convert them. Audio will still not convert in the MPEG format, but it will not freeze the program.
  7. Hit return.
  8. File should now be saved to the location of the original file with the ".ogg" extension.

[edit] Ogg-Theora - Tools for Windows

[edit] Using MediaCoder

MediaCoder is a free gui-based tool with which one can convert between various encodings.

[edit] Using RAD tools

Here's a method for converting Quicktime movies into Ogg Theora videos. It does require two transcodings (instead of the ideal single-step).

  1. Download and install RAD Video Tools [1]
  2. Download and install the Quicktime alternative codec [2]
  3. Download and install Virtualdub [3]
  4. Download ffmpeg2theora [4]
  5. Using the Rad video tools, convert the movie from Quicktime (.mov) to uncompressed AVI
  6. (Optional) Use Virtualdub to do any necessary editing (such as rotating the video using the "rotate" filter) and save as an uncompressed AVI
  7. Use ffmpeg2theora to convert from uncompressed AVI to Ogg theora

[edit] Using Quicktime Pro

If you have Quicktime Pro with an Export function, here's how you can convert Quicktime movies with it:

  1. Export to MPEG-4. For video, use passthrough (i.e. don't re-sample).
  2. Then use ffmpeg2theora, but you may have to use the --inputfps flag to manually override the input file's fps setting. Just experiment until it becomes the right length.

[edit] How to use ffmpeg2theora

For those of us who don't understand a single word at the "examples" page of the ffmpeg2theora site, it would be nice with a hint on how to use it. Jon Harald Søby \ no na 18:36, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Here's the super-executive summary of how to use ff2mpeg for windows:

  1. Save ffmpeg2theora to your desktop
  2. Go to start -> run
  3. Type "cmd" and hit enter. A black screen will pop up. This is the command prompt
  4. Drag the ffmpeg2theora icon (the one on your desktop) into the window. The ffmpeg2theora's location will be copied into the command prompt window
  5. Click the window and hit the space bar once (to put a space a after the address)
  6. Drag the file you want decoded (let's call it xyz.mpg) into the command prompt window
  7. Click the command prompt window and hit enter
  8. Assuming you did everything correct, ffmpeg2theora will convert the file. The new location will be xyz.ogg. →Raul654 19:45, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

copied from [5] Pschemp 23:02, 25 February 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Web Online solutions

[edit] mux


[edit] Conversion into DV-format

The following shell script is maybe useful for import of video files into video editing programs such as iMovie.

[edit] See also

  • Commons:Software: If you need help with viewing or creating these formats, please see the useful sofgware.
  • Commons:Tools：　Additional Functionality Tools on Wikimedia Commons daily work.
Retrieved from "http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Converting_video"
Personal tools