On 1.1 is mentioned "ffmpeg2theora is probably the most popular converter ...", but I did not have much success with it with my Macintosh computer OS 10.4.10.
I downloaded the binary of ffmpeg2theora-0,19 for macos x(universal) from the page http://www.v2v.cc/~j/ffmpeg2theora/download.html
I installed it on my computer, but I could not find anywhere on the disk the installed file. Contact with the writer of the software did not solve this problem but he had an other piece of software where he was working on. Available from http://v2v.cc/~j/Simple%20Theora%20Encoder.dmg
That program did not work with a Quicktime .mov file. For that reason I had to convert the QuickTime file first with QuickTime Pro to a MPEG-4 file and then the Simple Theora Encoder.
The next step was that I wanted to see the .ogg file on my computer.
I tried that file and indeed it still plays too fast one and a half year after the complaint was summitted.
Further I read from users-forum that the program can affect other programs as far as the sound is concerned.
My conclusion: For Macintosh there is only beta-type software that does not work properly.
My question: Is there other (commercial or shareware) software that works to convert to .ogg files and that is able to play these files.
I want to see something working before I upload files to Wiki. --Wouter22:14, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, the installer of ffmpeg2theora for Macintosh is overly complicated and incompetent. I had manually install the thing. I will post instructions. There is easier software with a GUI now. Although it is easier to use than ffmpeg2theora and more compatible, it has much fewer options, and the files it is more compatible with look horible once converted to OGG. As long as your input is ecoded with MPEG, it will be fine, though. Here's a link for the GUI software Help:Converting_video#SimpleTheoraEncoder. Jecowa10:32, 30 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, yes there is commercial software, You can try QuickTime Pro with the Theora QuickTime plug-ins (I haven't tested this, though, as I am too cheap). You can also use those plug-ins with iMove, but you don't have very many options using the Theora plug-ins with iMovie. You can't choose any audio options. The only video options you get are video quality, data rate, frame rate, key frame rate, sharpness, and optimization. I guess that's quite a bit, but I would trade a few of those for video resolution. It's pretty dumb to convert a 320x240 MPEG into a 720x480 OGG. I agree with you that Theora is beta-quality software. Ogg supporters talk about "freedom" while denying us the freedom to select video codecs ourselves. Jecowa08:02, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, users should be encouraged to convert themselves (to save server resources), but the conversion process is too complicated for many people. Jecowa10:24, 30 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
ffmpeg2theora is converting video just fine, but it is not converting any of the audio channels of the video files that I tell it to convert. Is ffmpeg2theora able to convert the audio channels of video files? If so, what codecs does it support? If not, how is audio added to files converted with ffmprg2theora? Jecowa07:41, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I had a lot of problems trying to convert videos with VLC. Thanks to this site I've tried ffmpeg2theora and it worked immediately. Thanks! --Flominator18:17, 13 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
So, all the newer videos on Commons should use the "ogv" extension. If no one objects, I will adjust this page (and others) and replace "ogg" with "ogv". Robin Stocker (talk) 15:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
OMG
Ok, I got MediaCoder to convert a video to ogg... then? Whato do I have to do? Is there "any" help page? I am not very familiar with video convertion, can anybody help? --Sailko (talk) 08:56, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It is a pretty user friendly tool with its graphical user interface. The latest (stable) version as of today I think is 0.3.1. It can't convert to a different video resolution as FireFogg can though. Anyway there are some experimental work for this to be ported to the Windows Operating Systems, although it requires 3 steps to install(not very user friendly install procedure on Windows) Logictheo (talk) 21:40, 28 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Seeking help using online solutions
I'm trying to convert an AVI file to OGG for Commons. The file is eleven seconds long, 7.69 MB on disk, 640 x 424 pixels, and comes from a Nikon D90. It contains both audio and video. I tried the two online solutions
The first one, mux, uploaded the file and after some minutes produced an ogg file. Unfortunately it had no video, but only audio. (I've already uploaded a sound recording and have no need of this.)
The second one, media-convert, uploaded the file and very quickly produced an ogg file. Unfortunately, the 6 kB ogg file has a length of 0 seconds and contains no video or audio. I also tried using media-convert to make a WAV file (it worked fine) and then convert the WAV to OGG (it was still 6 kB, 0 seconds).
So the two sites I tried because they sounded simple didn't work. Any suggestions?
The first seems to be dead; I have hidden the link to it. The second one has given me similar problems and needs to be reviewed to see if it is actually capable of producing a decent conversion. If anyone knows of any other sites, please provide a link. Richard001 (talk) 10:30, 18 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Update: media-convert worked for me just then. Seems that it's just a little inconsistent, as you come to expect from free online file converters and rippers. Richard001 (talk) 10:52, 18 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Commons video is disaster
I have just one word for what I am experiencing - disaster. There needs to be a lot of work done to make uploading and playing videos on Commons usable. Hope the new usability project (usability.wikimedia.org) will address some issues.--Kozuch (talk) 17:37, 3 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Could we get some instructions for this? I don't find this program very easy to use and the wiki doesn't seem to be very complete. Richard001 (talk) 10:33, 18 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I removed the open source claim for MediaCoder. I left a html comment for anyone who knows more to clarify my rewording though. I am not sure why its "open-source"-ness is important though, does it affect the "freeness" of the videos it creates? I have used closed source SUPER without worrying about this. Is it not sufficient that the output format (OGG or Theora) is acceptable to Commons? -84user (talk) 19:51, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I managed to convert animated GIFs to Theora OGG video files, but I am unsure if this is a good way to do it. Here is how, in case anyone else is trying to do the same. I could not find this mentioned in the help files here.
On Windows Vista I already had IrfanView, SUPER, VirtualDub, ffdshow and VLC version 1.0.1 Goldeneye. However, except for SUPER, none of these could convert GIFs for one reason or another, or else I could not find the right options. SUPER does convert a GIF to an OGV but I could not find how to adjust the frame rate and some ultra-fast pop-up reported that something had crashed.
What gave me more options was to use IrfanView and/or gifsicle ([1]) to extract all the frames from a GIF, and then to use ffmpeg2theora-0.25.exe to combine the frames into an OGV.
Problem
Some animated GIFs have frames that are not constant in height and width. Using IrfanView to "extract all frames" is then a mistake, because ffmpeg2theora-0.25.exe will either crash or output incorrectly rendered OGV files. You can manually "fix" the sizes by extending the canvas, but that changes the palette, which causes ffmpeg2theora other problems. You can of course import palette to fix this, but for more than a few frames this will be tedious work.
Solution
Use the gifsicle option --unoptimize to first make all the GIF's frames the same size. Then use gifsicle option --explode to extract all the frames. Now the frames are all the same size and have the same palette.
Now, gifsicle names these frame files as "text.nnn" where nnn is a number. This is a problem on Windows as ffmpeg2theora-0.25.exe simply refuses to accept such files as valid. Add ".gif" at the end of each, and ffmpeg2theora is happy. On Linux or Unix such renaming is trivial, but how to do it on Windows without requiring the user to download and install yet more programs? Luckily IrfanView has a batch rename tool that does exactly this.
Finally, here is an example of how I converted a largish GIF to a small OGV:
A0. Use gifsicle to create an unoptimized version of the GIF like this:
Do you know how to select multiple files in the CMD window in Windows? I tried doing ffmpeg2theora-0.25.exe --framerate 2 *.gif -o output.ogv and ffmpeg2theora displayed an error message.
[image2 @ 0x1296fc0]Could not find codec parameters (Video: gif, yuv420p) Unable to decode input.
which should take as input, files p0001.gif, p0002.gif and so on in sequence. The sequence does not have to start at 1, but there must be no missing frames.
-84user (talk) 21:48, 8 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Ooops, I did not notice your reply there! I just added my Firefogg experiences below. Although I have created and converted other video types, for conversion to Theora I have only ever (and only in the last 48 hours) tried ffmpeg2theora (mostly good), SUPER (less good but mostly works), and now Firefogg (mostly fails with Quicktime, might be Ok for MPEG). -84user (talk) 02:52, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Like many of the programs here, Firefogg uses ffmpeg2theora as its backend. It seems ffmpeg2theora has some problems with MOV files, especially when they're 15fps or less. I was able to convert the mov you linked (and another one I was having difficulty with) using GFrontend ffmpeg2theora 2007.2 Final. The programs is a couple years old and uses an older version of ffmpeg2theora but it did it's job. mahanga (talk) 16:25, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Just a quick update. I was not able to convert the video using ffmpeg2theora 0.25. Using ffmpeg2theora 0.24, which is about 7 months old, converts the mov file successfully. Looks like it's a bug when the video has variable framerates. A fix is in SVN [2]. I think for mov files, I'd recommend using the older version 0.24. mahanga (talk) 20:01, 2 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Firefogg performance
Here are my test results after installing the Firefogg extension on Firefox 3.5.3 under Windows Vista. Quick summary: it converts MPEG files Ok, but Quicktime poorly.
Test 1. Not OK how well does it convert Quicktime using default settings?
Good testing, 84user. Firefogg has worked well using some video I've taken with my digital camera (.avi files). I did a couple tests using sample files from Apple and it transcoded them successfully. Ideally, with Firefogg soon becoming implemented on Commons, we should have some testing done on which files work best and which don't. mahanga (talk) 19:05, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I was asked if I knew how to convert OGV media to animated GIF. Answer: not at first, but here is what happened while trying. Summary: one-step SUPER converts poorly; two-step via sequence of images is better but only for some videos.
I tested these OGV input files (Firefox 3.5+ plays all with no problem):
I had thought the 0.25 SVN version was was better than 0.25 when converting MOV files to ogv, but that doesn't appear to be the case. However, ffmpeg2theora 0.24 does work on the mov you mentioned above and other ones. direct link here. mahanga (talk) 18:35, 6 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Update: Thank you for the 0.24 link. I have now tested various ffmpeg2theora versions. The "GFrontend ffmpeg2theora 2007.2 Final" version linked above in section "Help talk:Converting video#SUPER directly converts Quicktime movie to OGG" identified itself as "ffmpeg2theora 0.18". Version 0.18 converts the 2000 kilobyte NASA MOV file well. I did not run the installation program; it was sufficient to extract the command-line executable from the archive file.
Program version
converts to OGV?
size q=0
size q=5
size q=6
size q=10
0.18
YES
32
67
81
231
0.24
YES
36
78
98
289
0.25
WRONG RATE
18
50
61
158
0.25 +fps fudge
YES
18
50
61
159
0.25+svn16605
WRONG RATE
18
..
61
158
0.25+svn+fudge
YES
18
..
..
159
Key: size is of converted OGV file in kilobytes; q=number is the --videoquality value passed to ffmpeg2theora (0 is lowest, 10 is best)
fps fudge is a workaround of --inputfps 6 --framerate 6 to both override the input fps and to force the output frame rate, because ffmpeg2theora 0.25 (both current version and with svn16605) appears to convert some Quick Time MOV files to OGV at the wrong frame rate (far too fast).
-84user (talk) 19:21, 6 November 2009 (UTC) (added 2007.2 links -84user (talk) 22:13, 8 November 2009 (UTC))[reply]
Why are you using a 2007 version of SUPER, when there's one released in 2009. Secondly, how did you find the ffmpeg2theora version number in SUPER? I ask b/c I'd like to figure out the version SUPER 2009b36 is using. Thanks. mahanga (talk) 01:22, 7 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
My SUPER version is 2008.build.30 dated Mar 22, 2008. Inertia is why I don't use the 2009 version. I did not intend to claim knowledge of which ffmpeg2theora version SUPER uses, that was just my clumsy grammar. I've just improved the text above. However, inside each OGV file created by SUPER 2008.build.30 I find the text "Xiph.Org libTheora I 20040317 3 2 0" (I use the emacs text editor to open the OGV), while inside OGV created by ffmpef2theora-0.25 I find "Xiph.Org libtheora 1.1 20090822 (Thusnelda)" and inside OGV from ffmpef2theora-0.18 I find "Xiph.Org libTheora I 20060526 3 2 0", so I suspect my SUPER uses an even older library. I may upgrade in a week. -84user (talk) 22:13, 8 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Update: I have now installed SUPER version 2009.build.36, and it has more features and converts MOV files to OGV that play Ok on Firefox and VLC (but not MPC). It makes inconsistent reports on the frame rate - it claims 25 when the original was 6 for example (does this explain why MPC plays some SUPER-generated OGG videos too fast?). Second, it uses green instead of black when padding videos. Third, it still offers too-limited a set of options. Fourth, unlike the 2008 version, SUPER outputs OGV files that do not fully identify the theora library used: they now contain only "based on Xiph.Org's libTheora". I cannot determine what ffmpeg2theora version it uses; the included programs are ff2ogg.exe dated 2008-06-29 which looks like an earlier ffmpeg2theora, and ffmpeg.exe dated 2007-01-16 version 0.5.0-pre1,build 4743 Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Fabrice Bellard. In brief, SUPER looks Ok for standard video conversion, but I prefer the full power that ffmpeg2theora command line gives me. -84user (talk) 22:53, 10 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thoughts on help
My quick thoughts on the content of Wikimedia's help for Converting videos?
be honest - list the known limitations and workarounds
be verifiable - detail the source media used, the system environment and the process
we need a test suite of media files
I feel such Help needs to avoid frustrating users with instructions that may not always work. At the same time, it should give as many different ways as possible as I have not seen one program handle all cases.
Here are some limitations I have experienced:
VLC misses the first 0.3 seconds of any audio input - a showstopper for short sounds
VLC plays some Theora OGV media badly
Media Player Classic with the CCCPack also has problems
firefogg does not provide the user with all the ffmpeg2theora options
SUPER has problems with certain OGV media
What works well?
Firefox 3.5 appears to play all kinds of OGV media correctly, so far.
I wasn't aware there were problems with media players badly playing Theora videos. I'll have to do some testing of my own. What version of VLC are you using that's giving you issues? The same with MPC and the CCCPack. mahanga (talk) 22:31, 6 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I think most of the frustration comes from the conversion tools. Not all videos can be easily converted. There is one program which should handle most cases and that is ffmpeg2theora. It's what SUPER, FFCoder and others use. If a video isn't being converted, then it's likely a bug or maybe a codec that hasn't been implemented yet. We need to list these videos and note their codec, framerate, etc. Then one should try using an older (or preview) release or notify the developer. mahanga (talk) 00:12, 8 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I added a paragraph on limitations to the page. The main issue right now appears .mov files. Also, I guess Indeo IV50 encoded files aren't supported. I read their wiki article and there's many issues involved. I just realized ffmpeg2theora will only convert files that w:ffmpeg is able to decode. If you go to that wiki page, you'll see only Indeo 2 and 3 (IV20, IV30) are supported, not Indeo 5 (IV50). I'll add this to the Limitations section. mahanga (talk) 00:12, 8 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Replying to the 6 November question, I use VLC 1.0.1 Goldeneye, and the Combined-Community-Codec-Pack-2008-09-21.exe I have shows version "2008.09.21.0", last changed 29 March 2009. I have added section Test videos below which shows a few of the problems I have found.
test.avi results
Test.avi converted to Theora
There is a small video test file licensed with Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike at
[3], and I managed to convert it to OGV format (see right).
Results attempting to play the original test.avi file:
ffmpeg2theora (both 0.25 and preview binary) FAILS with "swScaler: Unknown format is not supported as input pixel format"
VLC FAILS: it plays only the audio and reports: "VLC does not support the audio or video format "IV50". Unfortunately there is no way for you to fix this."
MPC plays it
ZOOM plays it
SUPER plays it
SMPlayer plays it
WinAmp plays it
Windows Media Player plays it
GOM plays it
My attempts at converting test.avi to OGV:
SUPER WORKED but only when I set Video Scale Size to 320x240 ("No change" gave ERROR)
Update: After some more tests (see below) I suspect File:test avi.ogv may have an inherent audio sync problem (always out of sync on replay in Firefox and always out of sync at first play and replay in Google Chrome). This eight megabyte BBC test video played and replayed with good audio sync both in Firefox and Chrome (despite buggy replay in Chrome).
Results trying to play the File:Test avi.ogv and a BBC test video in a browser:
Browser
thumb appearance?
click play result?
replay?
plays uploaded file?
replay uploaded file?
Firefox 3.5.5
thumbnail
PASSES: plays Ok
audio slightly out of sync
PASSES
audio slightly out of sync
Firefox 3.5.5 and BBC test
thumbnail
PASSES: plays Ok
PASSES
PASSES
PASSES
Opera 9.63
thumbnail
FAILS: disappears
n/a
FAILS:offers to download
n/a
Opera 9.63 and BBC test
thumbnail
FAILS: disappears
n/a
FAILS:offers to download
n/a
Opera 10.01
thumbnail
FAILS: disappears
n/a
FAILS:offers to download
n/a
Opera 10.01 and BBC test
thumbnail
FAILS: disappears
n/a
FAILS:offers to download
n/a
Google Chrome 3.0.196.2 and test avi.ogv
thumbnail
HALF PASS: video Ok; AUDIO OUT OF SYNC
BUGGY1
AUDIO OUT OF SYNC
BUGGY1
Google Chrome 3.0.196.2 and BBC test
thumbnail
PASSES: video and audio Ok
BUGGY2
FAILS:offers to download
n/a
Google Chrome 3.0.195.32 and test avi.ogv
thumbnail
PASSES but BUGGY3
BUGGY3
PASSES!
FREEZES and BUGGY3
Google Chrome 3.0.195.32 and BBC test
thumbnail
PASSES: video and audio Ok
BUGGY2
PASSES!
AUDIO OUT OF SYNC and BUGGY3
BUGGY1 in Google Chrome means audio always OUT of sync and: the play slider control does not work as expected; play button does not appear when video ends; dragging slider causes pause followed by colour defects followed by incorrect position and out of sync audio with good video; missing volume control - fixed to maximum; slider and context menu controls often contradict
BUGGY2 in Google Chrome means audio always IN sync but: the play slider control does not work as expected; play button does not appear when video ends; dragging slider causes long pause followed by colour defects followed by incorrect position but then correct audio and video; missing volume control - fixed to maximum; slider and context menu controls often contradict
BUGGY3 in Google Chrome 3.0.195.32 means sometimes VIDEO FREEZES on replay and audio is often OUT of sync: the play slider control does not work as expected; play button does not appear when video ends; dragging slider causes pause followed by colour defects followed by incorrect position but then correct video and often incorrect audio; missing volume control - fixed to maximum; slider and context menu controls often contradict
I just tried a fresh download of Google Chrome, but all I got was the same 3.0.196.2 with the same buggy OGG playback. I will now try to upgrade to the latest Opera version 10.01.
-84user (talk) 14:57, 12 November 2009 (UTC) just added Opera 10.01 failure results to table just added Chrome 3.0.195.32 results to table[reply]
Now I just fully deinstalled Google Chrome and retried the Google installer. That gave me version 3.0.195.32 which has subtly different audio sync problems from 3.0.196.2. -84user (talk) 17:08, 12 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Test playback of videos
8 seconds of a pattern flipping each second accompanied by a sound click. This is File cal_2flip2click8khzvbr_ifps25fr25_q6aq0.ogv
YES2 means Firefox plays the file Ok but it plays upscaled videos using a filter that blurs edges, unlike Google Chrome which plays upscaled videos sharply;
YES3 means Google Chrome always plays the file sharply with no blur regardless of any upscaling, but the video gets cropped when any zoom is used (larger or smaller).
BLACK means VLC 1.0.3 played 2 seconds of black
FLAT means MPC displayed a rectangle with aspect ratio 2.66 (??) with a muddy blue green gradient followed by one second of pinkish grey blurry rectangles (abstract art?)
Firefox is version 3.5.5
Google Chrome is version 3.0.195.32;
MPC is Media Player Classic build 1.3.1249.0, complier VS 2008, FFmpeg compiler GCC 4.3.3
A lot of this data would probably be very useful to the Theora developers, ffmpeg2theora project, and the Firefox, Chrome, VLC developers. I'll make a comment on the xiph mailing list. Could you provide version numbers on the applications (Firefox 3.5, Chrome, MPC)? Secondly, does VLC encode properly, compared to ffmpeg2theora? ffmpeg2theora seems to be the standard for encoding so we should try using that whenever we can. mahanga (talk) 17:15, 18 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry for the delay before replying; I wanted to test VLC 1.0.3 first before adding more to this page. I have added version numbers above, they were listed in User:84user/Video tests.
Does VLC encode properly, compared to ffmpeg2theora? Sometimes. I remember VLC producing OGV output with wrongly coloured initial frames, and when I now use VLC 1.0.3 to convert the large NASA movie here the output again has the first two or three seconds wrong. Other programs converted that movie correctly (SUPER and ffmpeg2theora for example). See File:Saturn ring spokes (captured by Cassini).ogv for a selection of ffmpeg2theora conversions. But VLC also converts some correctly: I have just now tested it converting low frame rate test AVI videos generated by VirtualDub 1.93 and the outputs are Ok. It still cannot handle the video codec used in the test.avi file that both SUPER and ffmpeg2theora can, see File:Test avi 64kbps video 32kbps audio.ogv. If there was a freely licensed suite of test videos (I found a very large Microsoft suite but with a restricted license) we could do more tests. -84user (talk) 20:51, 2 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The quality of the encoded vorbis audio produced by VLC is inferior to ffmpeg2theora even at really high bitrates. I suspect that VLC player uses the internal Vorbis encoder present in libavcodec rather than libVorbis. Please avoid using VLC when encoding audio to Vorbis. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.211.25.193 (talk • contribs) 12:59, 15 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Apologies, I installed the latest VLC Player today and the Vorbis encoded output sounds great. It is using libVorbis.
having trouble converting mp4 to ogg
I'm using XP and the video file is encoded with h264 as an mp4. ffmpeg2theora is the only one that comes close to working but it I have 2 issues:
It clips the first few seconds of animation (but not audio)
Well, you won't be able to upload it on Commons if it's fair use. I don't know about Wikipedia's policy, but I've not seen any fair-use videos on there. Can you link to the video you want to upload? As to your converting problem,
Thanks. I'll try those. As for linking I'm not sure if commons allows linking to copyrighted material or not on their talk pages. Wikipedia does have a few video files on it though, but they are rare because the criteria must be that neither audio or a screenshot nor text could adequetly convey the meaning.71.14.177.12104:23, 20 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Beta didn't work (got screwed up video), but .24 did except the parameters to shrink it don't seem to be enforced...or at least MPC isn't enforcing it.71.14.177.12104:31, 20 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I know of no policy that prohibits just linking to a copyrighted video on a discussion page. If you managed to convert it to Theora (.ogv), you can try using oggResize. Alternatively, you can email me a link to the video so I can try a few things. mahanga (talk) 05:04, 20 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Handbrake 0.9.4 can convert to Theora and Vorbis inside MKV
I have just quickly tested the media converter Handbrake version 0.9.4, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it converts M4V to MKV with video codec set to VP3 (Theora) and audio codec set to Vorbis with no errors. For details see User:84user/Video tests#Handbrake 0.9.4 tests.
If others can repeat these tests on other source videos, does this mean we could add the MKV (Matroska) container format to the file types allowed by Commons? -84user (talk) 15:11, 2 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That's a good question. A search shows this has been asked a few times, but with no definite answer. One thing to check with mkv is if it is actually using a free codec such as Theora, as opposed to x264 or something else. I suggest making a post on the Village Pump linking here for more feedback. mahanga (talk) 01:45, 4 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
ffmpeg2theora and audio sync
I experience audio sync problems with various ffmpeg2theora versions and options, and wonder whether anyone has found a cause? Certain combinations ffmpeg2theora versions and options produce audio sync problems but I cannot nail down a cause. It might be --soft-target, and it seems to happen more when I use --starttime and --endtime and --framerate. It is a problem because it discourages me from using any options other than bitrate ones, which is a shame.
Partial results from various programs encoding to File:Making of Elephants Dream.ogv from the same 550 MB CC-licensed "making_of_elephants_dream_3160kbps_2chn_48000Hz.mpg" from orange.blender.org:
sync BAD = The generated OGV's audio track goes very slowly out of sync, such that it is about one second off after 25 minutes. It starts perfect but after 10 minutes the sync error is just about noticeable.
I also tried various options, such as --sync (or --nosync in some builds) which sometimes fixed the audio sync but at the cost of dropping every other video frame.
-84user (talk) 21:50, 5 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
TinyOgg
I just found TinyOgg. I haven't tested it yet, but it might be a usefull resource. // Liftarn (talk)
Only seems to work with YouTube, which unfortunately contains mostly copyrighted works. Works fairly well with a video I tried from IGF on YouTube. mahanga (talk) 17:21, 29 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Using GraphEdit to convert Windows Media Video
I used Graphedit to convert a "Windows Media Video 9 Screen" coded video to Theora OGG video. If anyone knows a good tutorial on GraphEdit muxing to Matroska or Ogg containers I would be grateful, especially if it is possible to mux Lagarith Lossless (or even mpeg4) and FLAC together to MKV. I had used Windows Media Encoder to record my mouse movements on the PC screen and produce a WMV file containing the WMV-9 stream. Nothing would convert it (even the online Total Video Convertor failed) until I randomly tried Graphedit.
I first dragged the input.wmv to Graphedit, replaced the default renderer with a Theora encoder followed by an OGG mux filter. I clicked play, and after some time the OGG mux's output file held a playable theora stream in an OGG container. However, GraphEdit crashed often while I was experimenting. Here is what worked in case anyone is also trying to work with Graphedit.
replace the default renderer filter with a DirectShow Theora Encode Filter followed by an OGG mux filter writing to a file: that created a theora stream in an OGG container
replace the default renderer filter with a DirectShow ffdshow filter followed by a Haali Matroska muxer writing to a file: that created a mpeg4 stream in an MKV container
replace the default renderer filter with a DirectShow Lagarith lossless codec followed by a Haali Matroska muxer writing to a file: that created a Lagarith stream in an MKV container, playable with GOM and ZOOM, badly by MPC and refused by VLC
Here are detailed notes, mostly for my benefit, on how to convert video recorded from a computer screen to Theora using Windows Media Encoder (wmenc) and GraphEdit, both Microsoft products. A Graphedit bug mandates clicking the "New" menu item each time a new conversion is required.
My wmenc.exe was found in C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder, and has version 9.0.0.2980, size 599 KB, last modified 11/12/2002 20:38 (2002-12-11 in ISO format)
I forgot where I got graphedt.exe from, but its version is 9.4.78.0 last modified 04/03/2006 08:22 (2006-03-04 in ISO format) It came with a small windows help file which states "It is provided as an executable with the DirectX SDK."
First, I launched wmenc.exe and set the controls to record the exact region of the screen I wished for, at high quality. I click Start encoding, and then perform mouse and keyboard actions to produce the effects I wish to record and then click Stop encoding. This produces the small file "video.wmv" which Media Player Classic plays back with no problem.
Next, I launch graphedt.exe and the blank "GraphEdit" window appears
I drag the saved "video.wmv" file to the "GraphEdit" window and it displays three boxes shown here in Ascii:
Press the button icon depicted as a green triangle, with tooltip "Play", and GraphEdit will convert the source video.wmv to videowmv.ogv (an OGV containing a Theora video stream), but it may be vertically reflected, see #Fixing vertical flipping in GraphEdit for how to fix this.
First, ensure you have made the filters used in the #GraphEdit example walkthrough as "Favorite Filter", otherwise you will end up repeating a lot of scrolling and searching.
Next, you must start GraphEdit from a blank window by clicking New after each conversion attempt, otherwise GraphEdit simply produces null output with no warnings. So, in short, at each conversion you click "New" and drag the source WMV file to GraphEdit, then insert filters from your Favorites, join them together and press play. There may be an alternative workaround using save as graph, I have not tested this (out of frustration) but that will entail renaming or copying source video files to "video.wmv" and remembering to rename the OGV file produced, each time.
click "New" in GraphEdit
drag video.wmv to GraphEdit
Insert ffdshow raw video filter
If "ffdshow raw video filter" is in your Favorites then just click on it, otherwise:
click on menu item Graph / Insert Filters
scroll down to DirectShow Filters and click the "+" to expand the list
scroll down to "ffdshow raw video filter" and click the name to select it
click the Insert Filter button
click the checkbox "Favorite Filter?" so that a checkmark appears
click the Close button
the GraphEdit window now shows
_____________ ___________________________ _________________
| | | | | |
| Raw Video 0|-->|in0 out0|--->|VMR Input0 |
| video.wmv | | WMV Screen decoder DMO | | Video Renderer |
| | | | | |
--------------- ----------------------------- -------------------
_______________________________
| |
|In Out|
| ffdshow raw video filter |
|In Text |
---------------------------------
select the arrow shown as "out0|--->|VMR Input0" and press backspace to delete it
click the now free output pin "out0" and drag it to the free input pin "In" to connect the two boxes.
the GraphEdit window now shows
_____________ _________________________ _____________________________
| | | | | |
| Raw Video 0|-->|in0 out0|--->|In Out|
| video.wmv | | WMV Screen decoder DMO | | ffdshow raw video filter |
| | | | |In Text |
--------------- --------------------------- -------------------------------
Right mouse-click over "ffdshow raw video filter" and click on "Filter Properties ...."
a dialog titled "ffdshow raw video filter properties" appears
scroll down to "Perspective correction" and click on it
note the destination rectangle coordinates, the default is: [0,100] [100,100] [0,0] [100,0]
the correction you want is: [0,0] [100,0] [0,100] [100,100]
you only do the following once, thereafter the settings are saved:
manipulate the green rectangle until the coordinates show as [0,0] [100,0] [0,100] [100,100]
to do this, click and drag the top green line down about a half,
and click and drag the bottom green line up all the way to the top
return to the green line now half way down and drag it all the way to the bottom
hover your mouse over "Perspective correction" and ensure the coordinates are now [0,0] [100,0] [0,100] [100,100]
ensure the box "Process whole image" is checked and the "Only right half" box is not
ensure the box "Perspective correction" is checked and the "Source rectangle" box is not
ensure Interpolation is none
click Apply and click OK
Insert Theora Encode Filter
click on Favorites and click on "Theora Encode Filter"
the GraphEdit window now shows
_____________ _________________________ _____________________________
| | | | | |
| Raw Video 0|-->|in0 out0|--->|In Out|
| video.wmv | | WMV Screen decoder DMO | | ffdshow raw video filter |
| | | | |In Text |
--------------- --------------------------- -------------------------------
___________________________
| |
|Theora In Theora Out|
| Theora Encode Filter |
| |
-----------------------------
join the pins "Out" and "Theora In" together
Insert Ogg Mux Filter
click on Favorites and click on "Ogg Mux Filter", and type in an output ".ogv" filename, such as "videowmvfixed.ogv"
join the pins "Theora Out" and "Ogg Packet In" together
Click the play button and GraphEdit should produce a "videowmvfixed.ogv" that plays correctly in Firefox and MPC
WME is Windows Media Encoder, program name wmenc.exe:
to configure screen capture: View/Properties Panel/Sources tab/Video configure
to set output file: View/Properties Panel/Output tab/Encode to file
to change quality: View/Properties Panel/Compression tab/Destination Custom Edit.../ for codecs, choose "Windows Media Video 9 Screen" and Video Format "Custom" (neither NTSC nor PAL is any good to me) . Next tab for frame rate, bit rates and more
to change processing: View/Properties Panel/Processing tab/ note "Flip vertically" produced a jumbled mess
do not forget to click Apply after any changes to properties (sometimes more than once)
Using the ffdshow raw video filter in GraphEdit to correct or enhance colours.
To get really white whites and black blacks, set Contrast to Full Range:
ffdshow raw video filter properties/Output/RGB conversion/ from "Standard 16-235 chroma" to "Full range 0-255 chroma 1-255"
the filter appears to only colour-correct a region of whole multiples of 16 pixels, so ensure your source video has compatible dimensions
video players might apply their own post-processing that affects the colour and saturation
test whether video players are changing the colours using IrfanView snapshots of players, Edit/Show Paint dialog/picker tool and examine the RGB numbers
compact Theora converted from full size animated File:Scm.gif
Here is a walkthrough of a conversion from an animated GIF to a Theora OGG video. I chose File:Scm.gif because it is so large that certain players and encoders have problems handling it. The resulting Theora OGG video files are File:Scm_gif_fullsize_q10.ogv (1944x1296 pixels, 1.3 MB), File:Scm_gif_q9_480p.ogv (720x480 pixels, 222 KB) and File:Scm_gif_q10_240p.ogv (360x240 pixels, 72 KB). Firefox 3.6.3 plays each of them correctly. MPC and VLC have various problems, probably with the low frame rate.
Writing these steps down helped me, so I hope it helps others. (Abandoned methods: mplayer dumping to PNG frames, using ffmpeg2theora-0.26.exe) -84user (talk) 20:52, 6 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for this easy to follow tutorial. I was looking for something like this. Now if only the Theora to GIF tutorial was this easy. mahanga (talk) 22:13, 7 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note there iswas a wikimedia bug, bugzilla:23160 "Theora video thumbnails corrupt", now fixed, that may have prevented the correct display of video thumbnails. If you see a blank or corrupt thumbnail after uploading an OGG video, do not panic, the video file is probably 100% correct. You can confirm the OGG video is correct by (1) clicking the link under the play button and watching the browser play the file, and (2) downloading it to your computer and playing it in Media Player Classic. -84user (talk) 12:38, 18 April 2010 (UTC) (updated -84user (talk) 20:25, 5 May 2010 (UTC))[reply]
Converting a Theora OGG video to an animated GIF
This is a response to the wish that the Theora to GIF tutorial could be easier. If the following works, it should be simpler than that described above in Convert OGV to animated GIF.
Compact but framerate can be wrong: mplayer.exe video.ogv -fps 1 -vo gif89a
With option to save audio: mplayer.exe video.ogv -fps 1 -vo gif89a -ao pcm
Without sound: mplayer.exe video.ogv -fps 1 -vo gif89a -nosound
The first command above will convert video.ogv to "out.gif", the second will do the same but also save the audio channel (if any) in file "audiodump.wav". MPlayer has problems with certain input OGG video files.
Use gifsicle to examine the created GIF:
gifsicle.exe --info out.gif
Use gifsicle to fix the framerate of the GIF that MPlayer creates, for example:
gifsicle.exe --delay 100 out.gif > out100.gif
One major problem is the colour reduction: the user must choose how the colour palette is to be reduced to GIF's 256 colour limit. If MPlayer's default reduction looks bad (it may look blocky) then the video needs to be converted to a sequence of images so that their colour palettes can be manually changed.
-84user (talk) 22:30, 8 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
MPlayer converted this OGV
... to this GIF
Above are example OGV files and the GIFs that MPlayer converted. Notice the odd colour changes. For the third video I had to choose a strange frame rate and GIF frame delay (details in the file's page description). -84user (talk) 00:44, 9 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I suggest a caveat be added to warn the user that it may not work for some kinds of input. I think Commons should avoid wasting a user's time uploading a large video only to find the result is unplayable. To that end here is my very short test review.
Now, with ffmpeg2theora.exe (version 0.25, 0.26 or the latest 16 March 2010 version) I also get single frame OGV output, so I wonder if online-convert.com is using the same program. I found the only way to convert these GIFs to OGG was to use "mplayer -vo yuvmpeg" first (see above at Converting an animated GIF). -84user (talk) 23:38, 6 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I left only that link out of ~5 services because it was the only one that uses the latest ffmpeg2theora version (.26). I also experimented with it using a couple video files (avi, mp4, mpeg) and was satisfied with its results. Because it's using ffmpeg2theora, the web service won't work if the application isn't able to do it. I agree that users should use some of the other tools before trying this option, but I know that there are people out there more comfortable with this solution. Secondly, most videos on Commons are less than 15mb so I think it's an acceptable solution to have listed. mahanga (talk) 22:09, 7 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Video thumbnail error
Video of a feeding rotifer
The video I uploaded can be played OK, but does not generate a proper thumbnail. I converted it to OGG using Miro Video Converter, from a .WMV file made in Picasa. Can this problem be fixed? Is it worth trying again with a different encoder? NotFromUtrecht (talk) 17:55, 18 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The version of ffmpeg2theora itself isn't relevant. It just happens that your ffmpeg2theora 0.24 binary is linked against a version of libtheora which is not happening to trigger the bug in the software at Wikimedia. --Gmaxwell (talk) 00:14, 29 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Changing frame rate with Avidemux
The frame rate of a source video may be either too fast or too slow for display. Here is a walkthrough on using Avidemux to losslessly change the frame rate before converting to Theora OGG.
For unknown reasons I find ffmpeg2theora (any version) ignores the framerate options for certain source videos. For this walkthrough the NASA movie at http://www.nasa.gov/mov/445812main_Pesnell_6-AIA-3WavelengthDissolve-H264.mov is used because it has a frame rate of 60000:1001 which is too fast and wastes bitrate for some users (me for example). File:SDO AIA First light prominence 20100330.ogv is the result of following this walkthrough using 29.97 frames per second (any garbled thumbnail is due to a wikimedia bug that should hopefully be fixed soon).
Programs used:
Avidemux version 2.5.2 on Windows Vista
ffmpeg2theora version 20100316, but 0.25 or 0.26 should be just as good
Steps:
launch Avidemux and set Video to Copy and Audio to Copy and Format to MP4
drag the source video to the Avidemux window, ignore the H.264 warning by clicking No and ignore the "Index is out of date" by clicking No
click the Avidemux Video menu "Frame Rate..."
the Change Frame Rate window will show 59.942, change this to your desired frame rate, choose 15 for this example, and click Ok (29.97 could be another choice)
double-check that Video is Copy, and Audio is Copy and Format is MP4
click File / Save / Save Video
Type a filename, such as "videoat15fps.mp4" and click Save
The save will be very fast because there is no re-encoding necessary, and hence no loss of quality
Check the saved video plays with Media Player Classic and VLC (these may have problems with low frame rates, so also try MPlayer)
convert the saved video to Theora using ffmpeg2theora as normal (but avoid using the framerate options)
I have started page Help:Mencoder on how to use Mencoder to convert videos, mainly from a source OGG to another format (for video sharing sites). It starts with actual command lines that worked for me, including some problems found. There is some help for Mencoder on the web but it is difficult for me to follow in practice. I am doing this because I find it very difficult to correctly convert OGG video to any other format using a local Windows-based program, except by trial and error. I know there are online converters that sometimes work, but they are impractical for videos of any size, and they also require tweaking to ensure quality is not lost. -84user (talk) 19:11, 15 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Firefogg, in my experiences, has been able to convert mov files. You can try miro converter or if you'd like, you can host the file somewhere and I can (try to) convert it for you. Mahanga (Talk) 23:22, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Not OK how well does it convert Quicktime using default settings?
OK how well does it convert MPEG with default settings?
