ffmpeg

Go to file

Michael Niedermayer 2ff198c11a downscale fixed some warnings Originally committed as revision 2470 to svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk/postproc		2001-10-25 14:31:11 +00:00
doc	update	2001-09-24 23:22:43 +00:00
libav	changed audio and video grab interface (simpler now)	2001-09-24 23:27:06 +00:00
libavcodec	* and finaly avoid deadlock at the end of audio stream	2001-10-23 20:20:01 +00:00
postproc	downscale	2001-10-25 14:31:11 +00:00
bswap.h	Fixed one lack	2001-08-02 08:29:52 +00:00
Changelog	updated	2001-09-16 21:45:21 +00:00
configure	* made by Juergen - should be useful for Solaris	2001-10-23 19:04:16 +00:00
ffmpeg.c	unified grab & convertion loops (should be easier to achieve correct synchronization now - but still work to do!) - added ffplay support	2001-09-24 23:22:25 +00:00
ffmpeg.dsp	added win32 vc6 project files	2001-08-13 21:52:24 +00:00
ffmpeg.dsw	added win32 vc6 project files	2001-08-13 21:52:24 +00:00
ffserver.c	fixed prototype change	2001-09-25 18:27:53 +00:00
INSTALL	Initial revision	2001-07-22 14:18:56 +00:00
Makefile	Restore the main Makefile to have debug flags.	2001-10-17 18:19:30 +00:00
README	merge	2001-07-22 14:37:44 +00:00

README

FFmpeg - (c) 2000,2001 Gerard Lantau.

1) Introduction
---------------

ffmpeg is a hyper fast realtime audio/video encoder, a streaming
server and a generic audio and video file converter. 

It can grab from a standard Video4Linux video source and convert it
into several file formats based on DCT/motion compensation
encoding. Sound is compressed in MPEG audio layer 2 or using an AC3
compatible stream.

What makes ffmpeg interesting ?

- Innovative streaming technology : multiformat, real time encoding,
  simple configuration.

- Simple and efficient video encoder: outputs MPEG1, H263, Real
  Video(tm), MPEG4, DIVX and MJPEG compatible bitstreams using the
  same encoder core.

- Real time encoding (25 fps in 352x288 on a K6 500) using the
  video4linux API.

- Generates I and P frames, which means it is far better than a MJPEG
  encoder.

- Hyper fast MPEG audio layer 2 compression (50 times faster than
  realtime on a K6 500).

- Hyper fast AC3 compatible encoder.

- simple and very small portable C source code, easy to understand and
  to modify. It be may the smallest decent MPEG encoder :-)

- optional non real time higher quality encoding (different motion
  estimators available).

- Audio and Video decoders are in development.

ffmpeg is made of two programs:

* ffmpeg: soft VCR which encodes in real time to several formats. It
  can also encode from any supported input file format to any input
  supported format.

* ffserver: high performance live broadcast streaming server based on
  the ffmpeg core encoders.

2) Documentation
----------------

* Read doc/ffmpeg.txt and doc/ffserver.txt to learn the basic features.

* Read doc/TODO to know what are the know bugs and missing features.

* Read doc/README.dev if you want to contribute or use the codec or
  format libraries.

3) Licensing:
------------

* See the file COPYING. ffmpeg and the associated library are licensed
  under the GNU General Public License. I may change the license of
  libavcodec and libav to LGPL if many people ask it (and if they
  submit good patches!).

* This code should be patent free since it is very simple. I took care
  to use the same video encoder/decoder core for all formats to show
  that they really ARE THE SAME except for the encoding huffman codes.

Gerard Lantau (glantau@yahoo.fr).