Using ffmpeg to make a movie from png files

Question

I have 277 800x600 png files with filenames with the format island_sizes-CSH(II)-###.png where ### is a number starting with 084 and ending at 360.

I'm doing

ffmpeg -i island_sizes-CSH\(II\)-*.png output.mpg -y

but it doesn't work:

ffmpeg -f image2 -i island_sizes-CSH\(II\)-*.png video.mpg -y
ffmpeg version 1.2.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2013 the FFmpeg developers
  built on May 10 2013 15:14:14 with gcc 4.4.6 (GCC) 20120305 (Red Hat 4.4.6-4)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib64 --shlibdir=/usr/lib64 --mandir=/usr/share/man --enable-shared --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-postproc --enable-avfilter --enable-pthreads --enable-x11grab --enable-vdpau --disable-avisynth --enable-frei0r --enable-libopencv --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libnut --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-librtmp --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --extra-cflags='-O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -m64 -mtune=generic -fPIC' --disable-stripping
  libavutil      52. 18.100 / 52. 18.100
  libavcodec     54. 92.100 / 54. 92.100
  libavformat    54. 63.104 / 54. 63.104
  libavdevice    54.  3.103 / 54.  3.103
  libavfilter     3. 42.103 /  3. 42.103
  libswscale      2.  2.100 /  2.  2.100
  libswresample   0. 17.102 /  0. 17.102
  libpostproc    52.  2.100 / 52.  2.100
Input #0, image2, from 'island_sizes-CSH(II)-084.png':
  Duration: 00:00:00.04, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #0:0: Video: png, rgba, 800x600 [SAR 3937:3937 DAR 4:3], 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
[png @ 0x1468c20] ff_frame_thread_encoder_init failed
Output #0, image2, to 'island_sizes-CSH(II)-085.png':
    Stream #0:0: Video: png, rgba, 800x600 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 25 tbc
Output #1, image2, to 'island_sizes-CSH(II)-086.png':
    Stream #1:0: Video: png, rgba, 800x600 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 25 tbc
...
Output #274, image2, to 'island_sizes-CSH(II)-359.png':
    Stream #274:0: Video: none, rgba, 800x600 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 25 tbc
Output #275, image2, to 'island_sizes-CSH(II)-360.png':
    Stream #275:0: Video: none, rgba, 800x600 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 25 tbc
Output #276, mpeg, to 'video.mpg':
    Stream #276:0: Video: none, yuv420p, 800x600 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 90k tbn, 25 tbc
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (png -> png)
  Stream #0:0 -> #1:0 (png -> png)
...
  Stream #0:0 -> #274:0 (png -> png)
  Stream #0:0 -> #275:0 (png -> png)
  Stream #0:0 -> #276:0 (png -> mpeg1video)
Error while opening encoder for output stream #218:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height

Solution

This is the wrong syntax for passing multiple images as input to ffmpeg. Please have a look at the FFmpeg Wiki guide on creating a video slideshow and the image2 demuxer options.

You need to tell it to use three digits for the sequence numbers, and start at 84, i.e.

ffmpeg -start_number 84 -i island_sizes-CSH\(II\)-%03d.png output.mpg

Some further tips:

• MPEG-1 as a video codec is less than optimal and gives you bad quality at high file sizes. Unless you want compatibility for old devices or computers (or Windows XP without any codecs), scratch that and use an MPEG-4 Part 10 encoder (H.264), such as libx264:

  ffmpeg -i … -c:v libx264 out.mp4
  

  For a tutorial on x264 options (how to change the quality etc.) check the x264 encoding guide.

• PNG files use an RGB pixel format, which is not supported in normal video codecs. With MPEG-1 it does not matter, but with MPEG-4 codecs it would, since ffmpeg would automatically convert the pixel format to non-subsampled YUV. In that case you need to translate this to chroma-subsampled formats such as YUV 4:2:0, otherwise your video might not play in most applications:

  ffmpeg -i … -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p out.mp4
  

Comments

[Eddy_Em]

From man mencoder: mencoder "mf://*.jpg" -mf fps=25 -o output.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4, similar for ffmpeg

[slhck]

@Eddy_Em It's not similar for ffmpeg – mencoder has completely different syntax, unfortunately.

[rhombidodecahedron]

You. I like you.