Specify MPEG-4 as encoding parameter in FFmpeg

Question

I want to ask about mpeg4 codec parameters. I use it to encode video in Evalvid environment as follows:

./ffmpeg -s cif -r 30 -b 64000 -bt 3200 -g 30 -i raw.yuv -vcodec mpeg4 vid.m4v

The video will be encoded using the MPEG-4 codec. What are the specific parts from MPEG-4 that will be taken if mpeg4 is added as encoding parameter?

Solution

It encodes MPEG-4 Part 2, as used by the XviD/DivX encoders. If you want MPEG-4 Part 10, also known as MPEG-4 AVC or H.264, use the encoder libx264 instead.

It uses the Simple Profile by default (Simple@L1 to be precise).

Comments

[slhck]

Without specifying anything else it uses the Simple profile. No idea how to get ASP or others, as I've never had to work with MPEG-4 Part 2 a lot.

[evilsoup]

@slhck as always, I bow to your superior knowledge :)

[slhck]

Okay, it uses Simple profile if (and only if) neither B-frames nor Qpel motion compensation are enabled, or if you specify it through profile (no idea what the options are). See mpeg4_encode_visual_object_header in mpeg4videoenc.c.