FFPLAY(1) FFPLAY(1)
NAME
ffplay - FFplay media player
SYNOPSIS
ffplay [options] [input_url]
DESCRIPTION
FFplay is a very simple and portable media player using the FFmpeg
libraries and the SDL library. It is mostly used as a testbed for the
various FFmpeg APIs.
OPTIONS
All the numerical options, if not specified otherwise, accept a string
representing a number as input, which may be followed by one of the SI
unit prefixes, for example: 'K', 'M', or 'G'.
If 'i' is appended to the SI unit prefix, the complete prefix will be
interpreted as a unit prefix for binary multiples, which are based on
powers of 1024 instead of powers of 1000. Appending 'B' to the SI unit
prefix multiplies the value by 8. This allows using, for example: 'KB',
'MiB', 'G' and 'B' as number suffixes.
Options which do not take arguments are boolean options, and set the
corresponding value to true. They can be set to false by prefixing the
option name with "no". For example using "-nofoo" will set the boolean
option with name "foo" to false.
Options that take arguments support a special syntax where the argument
given on the command line is interpreted as a path to the file from
which the actual argument value is loaded. To use this feature, add a
forward slash '/' immediately before the option name (after the leading
dash). E.g.
ffmpeg -i INPUT -/filter:v filter.script OUTPUT
will load a filtergraph description from the file named filter.script.
Stream specifiers
Some options are applied per-stream, e.g. bitrate or codec. Stream
specifiers are used to precisely specify which stream(s) a given option
belongs to.
A stream specifier is a string generally appended to the option name and
separated from it by a colon. E.g. "-codec:a:1 ac3" contains the "a:1"
stream specifier, which matches the second audio stream. Therefore, it
would select the ac3 codec for the second audio stream.
A stream specifier can match several streams, so that the option is
applied to all of them. E.g. the stream specifier in "-b:a 128k" matches
all audio streams.
An empty stream specifier matches all streams. For example, "-codec
copy" or "-codec: copy" would copy all the streams without reencoding.
Possible forms of stream specifiers are:
stream_index
Matches the stream with this index. E.g. "-threads:1 4" would set
the thread count for the second stream to 4. If stream_index is used
as an additional stream specifier (see below), then it selects
stream number stream_index from the matching streams. Stream
numbering is based on the order of the streams as detected by
libavformat except when a stream group specifier or program ID is
also specified. In this case it is based on the ordering of the
streams in the group or program.
stream_type[:additional_stream_specifier]
stream_type is one of following: 'v' or 'V' for video, 'a' for
audio, 's' for subtitle, 'd' for data, and 't' for attachments. 'v'
matches all video streams, 'V' only matches video streams which are
not attached pictures, video thumbnails or cover arts. If
additional_stream_specifier is used, then it matches streams which
both have this type and match the additional_stream_specifier.
Otherwise, it matches all streams of the specified type.
g:group_specifier[:additional_stream_specifier]
Matches streams which are in the group with the specifier
group_specifier. if additional_stream_specifier is used, then it
matches streams which both are part of the group and match the
additional_stream_specifier. group_specifier may be one of the
following:
group_index
Match the stream with this group index.
#group_id or i:group_id
Match the stream with this group id.
p:program_id[:additional_stream_specifier]
Matches streams which are in the program with the id program_id. If
additional_stream_specifier is used, then it matches streams which
both are part of the program and match the
additional_stream_specifier.
#stream_id or i:stream_id
Match the stream by stream id (e.g. PID in MPEG-TS container).
m:key[:value]
Matches streams with the metadata tag key having the specified
value. If value is not given, matches streams that contain the given
tag with any value. The colon character ':' in key or value needs to
be backslash-escaped.
disp:dispositions[:additional_stream_specifier]
Matches streams with the given disposition(s). dispositions is a
list of one or more dispositions (as printed by the -dispositions
option) joined with '+'.
u Matches streams with usable configuration, the codec must be defined
and the essential information such as video dimension or audio
sample rate must be present.
Note that in ffmpeg, matching by metadata will only work properly
for input files.
Generic options
These options are shared amongst the ff* tools.
-L Show license.
-h, -?, -help, --help [arg]
Show help. An optional parameter may be specified to print help
about a specific item. If no argument is specified, only basic (non
advanced) tool options are shown.
Possible values of arg are:
long
Print advanced tool options in addition to the basic tool
options.
full
Print complete list of options, including shared and private
options for encoders, decoders, demuxers, muxers, filters, etc.
decoder=decoder_name
Print detailed information about the decoder named decoder_name.
Use the -decoders option to get a list of all decoders.
encoder=encoder_name
Print detailed information about the encoder named encoder_name.
Use the -encoders option to get a list of all encoders.
demuxer=demuxer_name
Print detailed information about the demuxer named demuxer_name.
Use the -formats option to get a list of all demuxers and
muxers.
muxer=muxer_name
Print detailed information about the muxer named muxer_name. Use
the -formats option to get a list of all muxers and demuxers.
filter=filter_name
Print detailed information about the filter named filter_name.
Use the -filters option to get a list of all filters.
bsf=bitstream_filter_name
Print detailed information about the bitstream filter named
bitstream_filter_name. Use the -bsfs option to get a list of
all bitstream filters.
protocol=protocol_name
Print detailed information about the protocol named
protocol_name. Use the -protocols option to get a list of all
protocols.
-version
Show version.
-buildconf
Show the build configuration, one option per line.
-formats
Show available formats (including devices).
-demuxers
Show available demuxers.
-muxers
Show available muxers.
-devices
Show available devices.
-codecs
Show all codecs known to libavcodec.
Note that the term 'codec' is used throughout this documentation as
a shortcut for what is more correctly called a media bitstream
format.
-decoders
Show available decoders.
-encoders
Show all available encoders.
-bsfs
Show available bitstream filters.
-protocols
Show available protocols.
-filters
Show available libavfilter filters.
-pix_fmts
Show available pixel formats.
-sample_fmts
Show available sample formats.
-layouts
Show channel names and standard channel layouts.
-dispositions
Show stream dispositions.
-colors
Show recognized color names.
-sources device[,opt1=val1[,opt2=val2]...]
Show autodetected sources of the input device. Some devices may
provide system-dependent source names that cannot be autodetected.
The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
ffmpeg -sources pulse,server=192.168.0.4
-sinks device[,opt1=val1[,opt2=val2]...]
Show autodetected sinks of the output device. Some devices may
provide system-dependent sink names that cannot be autodetected.
The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
ffmpeg -sinks pulse,server=192.168.0.4
-loglevel [flags+]loglevel | -v [flags+]loglevel
Set logging level and flags used by the library.
The optional flags prefix can consist of the following values:
repeat
Indicates that repeated log output should not be compressed to
the first line and the "Last message repeated n times" line will
be omitted.
level
Indicates that log output should add a "[level]" prefix to each
message line. This can be used as an alternative to log
coloring, e.g. when dumping the log to file.
Flags can also be used alone by adding a '+'/'-' prefix to set/reset
a single flag without affecting other flags or changing loglevel.
When setting both flags and loglevel, a '+' separator is expected
between the last flags value and before loglevel.
loglevel is a string or a number containing one of the following
values:
quiet, -8
Show nothing at all; be silent.
panic, 0
Only show fatal errors which could lead the process to crash,
such as an assertion failure. This is not currently used for
anything.
fatal, 8
Only show fatal errors. These are errors after which the process
absolutely cannot continue.
error, 16
Show all errors, including ones which can be recovered from.
warning, 24
Show all warnings and errors. Any message related to possibly
incorrect or unexpected events will be shown.
info, 32
Show informative messages during processing. This is in addition
to warnings and errors. This is the default value.
verbose, 40
Same as "info", except more verbose.
debug, 48
Show everything, including debugging information.
trace, 56
For example to enable repeated log output, add the "level" prefix,
and set loglevel to "verbose":
ffmpeg -loglevel repeat+level+verbose -i input output
Another example that enables repeated log output without affecting
current state of "level" prefix flag or loglevel:
ffmpeg [...] -loglevel +repeat
By default the program logs to stderr. If coloring is supported by
the terminal, colors are used to mark errors and warnings. Log
coloring can be disabled setting the environment variable
AV_LOG_FORCE_NOCOLOR, or can be forced setting the environment
variable AV_LOG_FORCE_COLOR.
-report
Dump full command line and log output to a file named
"program-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.log" in the current directory. This file
can be useful for bug reports. It also implies "-loglevel debug".
Setting the environment variable FFREPORT to any value has the same
effect. If the value is a ':'-separated key=value sequence, these
options will affect the report; option values must be escaped if
they contain special characters or the options delimiter ':' (see
the ``Quoting and escaping'' section in the ffmpeg-utils manual).
The following options are recognized:
file
set the file name to use for the report; %p is expanded to the
name of the program, %t is expanded to a timestamp, "%%" is
expanded to a plain "%"
level
set the log verbosity level using a numerical value (see
"-loglevel").
For example, to output a report to a file named ffreport.log using a
log level of 32 (alias for log level "info"):
FFREPORT=file=ffreport.log:level=32 ffmpeg -i input output
Errors in parsing the environment variable are not fatal, and will
not appear in the report.
-hide_banner
Suppress printing banner.
All FFmpeg tools will normally show a copyright notice, build
options and library versions. This option can be used to suppress
printing this information.
-cpuflags flags (global)
Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended for
testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing.
ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx ...
ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx ...
ffmpeg -cpuflags 0 ...
Possible flags for this option are:
x86
mmx
mmxext
sse
sse2
sse2slow
sse3
sse3slow
ssse3
atom
sse4.1
sse4.2
avx
avx2
xop
fma3
fma4
3dnow
3dnowext
bmi1
bmi2
cmov
ARM
armv5te
armv6
armv6t2
vfp
vfpv3
neon
setend
AArch64
armv8
vfp
neon
PowerPC
altivec
Specific Processors
pentium2
pentium3
pentium4
k6
k62
athlon
athlonxp
k8
-cpucount count (global)
Override detection of CPU count. This option is intended for
testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing.
ffmpeg -cpucount 2
-max_alloc bytes
Set the maximum size limit for allocating a block on the heap by
ffmpeg's family of malloc functions. Exercise extreme caution when
using this option. Don't use if you do not understand the full
consequence of doing so. Default is INT_MAX.
AVOptions
These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and
libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the
-help option. They are separated into two categories:
generic
These options can be set for any container, codec or device. Generic
options are listed under AVFormatContext options for
containers/devices and under AVCodecContext options for codecs.
private
These options are specific to the given container, device or codec.
Private options are listed under their corresponding
containers/devices/codecs.
For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to
an MP3 file, use the id3v2_version private option of the MP3 muxer:
ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3
All codec AVOptions are per-stream, and thus a stream specifier should
be attached to them:
ffmpeg -i multichannel.mxf -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 -map 0:a:0 -c:a:0 ac3 -b:a:0 640k -ac:a:1 2 -c:a:1 aac -b:2 128k out.mp4
In the above example, a multichannel audio stream is mapped twice for
output. The first instance is encoded with codec ac3 and bitrate 640k.
The second instance is downmixed to 2 channels and encoded with codec
aac. A bitrate of 128k is specified for it using absolute index of the
output stream.
Note: the -nooption syntax cannot be used for boolean AVOptions, use
-option 0/-option 1.
Note: the old undocumented way of specifying per-stream AVOptions by
prepending v/a/s to the options name is now obsolete and will be removed
soon.
Main options
-x width
Force displayed width.
-y height
Force displayed height.
-fs Start in fullscreen mode.
-an Disable audio.
-vn Disable video.
-sn Disable subtitles.
-ss pos
Seek to pos. Note that in most formats it is not possible to seek
exactly, so ffplay will seek to the nearest seek point to pos.
pos must be a time duration specification, see the Time duration
section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual.
-t duration
Play duration seconds of audio/video.
duration must be a time duration specification, see the Time
duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual.
-bytes
Seek by bytes.
-seek_interval
Set custom interval, in seconds, for seeking using left/right keys.
Default is 10 seconds.
-nodisp
Disable graphical display.
-noborder
Borderless window.
-alwaysontop
Window always on top. Available on: X11 with SDL >= 2.0.5, Windows
SDL >= 2.0.6.
-volume
Set the startup volume. 0 means silence, 100 means no volume
reduction or amplification. Negative values are treated as 0, values
above 100 are treated as 100.
-f fmt
Force format.
-window_title title
Set window title (default is the input filename).
-left title
Set the x position for the left of the window (default is a centered
window).
-top title
Set the y position for the top of the window (default is a centered
window).
-loop number
Loops movie playback <number> times. 0 means forever.
-showmode mode
Set the show mode to use. Available values for mode are:
0, video
show video
1, waves
show audio waves
2, rdft
show audio frequency band using RDFT ((Inverse) Real Discrete
Fourier Transform)
Default value is "video", if video is not present or cannot be
played "rdft" is automatically selected.
You can interactively cycle through the available show modes by
pressing the key w.
-vf filtergraph
Create the filtergraph specified by filtergraph and use it to filter
the video stream.
filtergraph is a description of the filtergraph to apply to the
stream, and must have a single video input and a single video
output. In the filtergraph, the input is associated to the label
"in", and the output to the label "out". See the ffmpeg-filters
manual for more information about the filtergraph syntax.
You can specify this parameter multiple times and cycle through the
specified filtergraphs along with the show modes by pressing the key
w.
-af filtergraph
filtergraph is a description of the filtergraph to apply to the
input audio. Use the option "-filters" to show all the available
filters (including sources and sinks).
-i input_url
Read input_url.
Advanced options
-stats
Print several playback statistics, in particular show the stream
duration, the codec parameters, the current position in the stream
and the audio/video synchronisation drift. It is shown by default,
unless the log level is lower than "info". Its display can be forced
by manually specifying this option. To disable it, you need to
specify "-nostats".
-fast
Non-spec-compliant optimizations.
-genpts
Generate pts.
-sync type
Set the master clock to audio ("type=audio"), video ("type=video")
or external ("type=ext"). Default is audio. The master clock is used
to control audio-video synchronization. Most media players use audio
as master clock, but in some cases (streaming or high quality
broadcast) it is necessary to change that. This option is mainly
used for debugging purposes.
-ast audio_stream_specifier
Select the desired audio stream using the given stream specifier.
The stream specifiers are described in the Stream specifiers
chapter. If this option is not specified, the "best" audio stream is
selected in the program of the already selected video stream.
-vst video_stream_specifier
Select the desired video stream using the given stream specifier.
The stream specifiers are described in the Stream specifiers
chapter. If this option is not specified, the "best" video stream is
selected.
-sst subtitle_stream_specifier
Select the desired subtitle stream using the given stream specifier.
The stream specifiers are described in the Stream specifiers
chapter. If this option is not specified, the "best" subtitle stream
is selected in the program of the already selected video or audio
stream.
-autoexit
Exit when video is done playing.
-exitonkeydown
Exit if any key is pressed.
-exitonmousedown
Exit if any mouse button is pressed.
-codec:media_specifier codec_name
Force a specific decoder implementation for the stream identified by
media_specifier, which can assume the values "a" (audio), "v"
(video), and "s" subtitle.
-acodec codec_name
Force a specific audio decoder.
-vcodec codec_name
Force a specific video decoder.
-scodec codec_name
Force a specific subtitle decoder.
-autorotate
Automatically rotate the video according to file metadata. Enabled
by default, use -noautorotate to disable it.
-framedrop
Drop video frames if video is out of sync. Enabled by default if the
master clock is not set to video. Use this option to enable frame
dropping for all master clock sources, use -noframedrop to disable
it.
-infbuf
Do not limit the input buffer size, read as much data as possible
from the input as soon as possible. Enabled by default for realtime
streams, where data may be dropped if not read in time. Use this
option to enable infinite buffers for all inputs, use -noinfbuf to
disable it.
-filter_threads nb_threads
Defines how many threads are used to process a filter pipeline. Each
pipeline will produce a thread pool with this many threads available
for parallel processing. The default is 0 which means that the
thread count will be determined by the number of available CPUs.
-enable_vulkan
Use vulkan renderer rather than SDL builtin renderer. Depends on
libplacebo.
-vulkan_params
Vulkan configuration using a list of key=value pairs separated by
":".
-hwaccel
Use HW accelerated decoding. Enable this option will enable vulkan
renderer automatically.
While playing
q, ESC
Quit.
f Toggle full screen.
p, SPC
Pause.
m Toggle mute.
9, 0
/, *
Decrease and increase volume respectively.
a Cycle audio channel in the current program.
v Cycle video channel.
t Cycle subtitle channel in the current program.
c Cycle program.
w Cycle video filters or show modes.
s Step to the next frame.
Pause if the stream is not already paused, step to the next video
frame, and pause.
left/right
Seek backward/forward 10 seconds.
down/up
Seek backward/forward 1 minute.
page down/page up
Seek to the previous/next chapter. or if there are no chapters Seek
backward/forward 10 minutes.
right mouse click
Seek to percentage in file corresponding to fraction of width.
left mouse double-click
Toggle full screen.
SEE ALSO
ffplay-all(1), ffmpeg(1), ffprobe(1), ffmpeg-utils(1), ffmpeg-scaler(1),
ffmpeg-resampler(1), ffmpeg-codecs(1), ffmpeg-bitstream-filters(1),
ffmpeg-formats(1), ffmpeg-devices(1), ffmpeg-protocols(1),
ffmpeg-filters(1)
AUTHORS
The FFmpeg developers.
For details about the authorship, see the Git history of the project
(https://git.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg), e.g. by typing the command git log in
the FFmpeg source directory, or browsing the online repository at
<https://git.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg>.
Maintainers for the specific components are listed in the file
MAINTAINERS in the source code tree.
FFPLAY(1)
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