FFMPEG-BITSTREAM-FILTERS(1) | FFMPEG-BITSTREAM-FILTERS(1) |
ffmpeg-bitstream-filters - FFmpeg bitstream filters
This document describes the bitstream filters provided by the libavcodec library.
A bitstream filter operates on the encoded stream data, and performs bitstream level modifications without performing decoding.
When you configure your FFmpeg build, all the supported bitstream filters are enabled by default. You can list all available ones using the configure option "--list-bsfs".
You can disable all the bitstream filters using the configure option "--disable-bsfs", and selectively enable any bitstream filter using the option "--enable-bsf=BSF", or you can disable a particular bitstream filter using the option "--disable-bsf=BSF".
The option "-bsfs" of the ff* tools will display the list of all the supported bitstream filters included in your build.
The ff* tools have a -bsf option applied per stream, taking a comma-separated list of filters, whose parameters follow the filter name after a '='.
ffmpeg -i INPUT -c:v copy -bsf:v filter1[=opt1=str1:opt2=str2][,filter2] OUTPUT
Below is a description of the currently available bitstream filters, with their parameters, if any.
Convert MPEG-2/4 AAC ADTS to an MPEG-4 Audio Specific Configuration bitstream.
This filter creates an MPEG-4 AudioSpecificConfig from an MPEG-2/4 ADTS header and removes the ADTS header.
This filter is required for example when copying an AAC stream from a raw ADTS AAC or an MPEG-TS container to MP4A-LATM, to an FLV file, or to MOV/MP4 files and related formats such as 3GP or M4A. Please note that it is auto-inserted for MP4A-LATM and MOV/MP4 and related formats.
Modify metadata embedded in an AV1 stream.
Remove zero padding at the end of a packet.
Extract the core from a DCA/DTS stream, dropping extensions such as DTS-HD.
Add extradata to the beginning of the filtered packets.
If not specified it is assumed e.
For example the following ffmpeg command forces a global header (thus disabling individual packet headers) in the H.264 packets generated by the "libx264" encoder, but corrects them by adding the header stored in extradata to the key packets:
ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -flags:v +global_header -c:v libx264 -bsf:v dump_extra out.ts
Extract the core from a E-AC-3 stream, dropping extra channels.
Extract the in-band extradata.
Certain codecs allow the long-term headers (e.g. MPEG-2 sequence headers, or H.264/HEVC (VPS/)SPS/PPS) to be transmitted either "in-band" (i.e. as a part of the bitstream containing the coded frames) or "out of band" (e.g. on the container level). This latter form is called "extradata" in FFmpeg terminology.
This bitstream filter detects the in-band headers and makes them available as extradata.
Remove units with types in or not in a given set from the stream.
Extradata is unchanged by this transformation, but note that if the stream contains inline parameter sets then the output may be unusable if they are removed.
For example, to remove all non-VCL NAL units from an H.264 stream:
ffmpeg -i INPUT -c:v copy -bsf:v 'filter_units=pass_types=1-5' OUTPUT
To remove all AUDs, SEI and filler from an H.265 stream:
ffmpeg -i INPUT -c:v copy -bsf:v 'filter_units=remove_types=35|38-40' OUTPUT
Extract Rgb or Alpha part of an HAPQA file, without recompression, in order to create an HAPQ or an HAPAlphaOnly file.
Convert HAPQA to HAPQ
ffmpeg -i hapqa_inputfile.mov -c copy -bsf:v hapqa_extract=texture=color -tag:v HapY -metadata:s:v:0 encoder="HAPQ" hapq_file.mov
Convert HAPQA to HAPAlphaOnly
ffmpeg -i hapqa_inputfile.mov -c copy -bsf:v hapqa_extract=texture=alpha -tag:v HapA -metadata:s:v:0 encoder="HAPAlpha Only" hapalphaonly_file.mov
Modify metadata embedded in an H.264 stream.
These fields are set in pixels. Note that some sizes may not be representable if the chroma is subsampled or the stream is interlaced (see H.264 section 7.4.2.1.1).
For example, 086f3693-b7b3-4f2c-9653-21492feee5b8+hello will insert the string ``hello'' associated with the given UUID.
The argument must be the name of a level (for example, 4.2), a level_idc value (for example, 42), or the special name auto indicating that the filter should attempt to guess the level from the input stream properties.
Convert an H.264 bitstream from length prefixed mode to start code prefixed mode (as defined in the Annex B of the ITU-T H.264 specification).
This is required by some streaming formats, typically the MPEG-2 transport stream format (muxer "mpegts").
For example to remux an MP4 file containing an H.264 stream to mpegts format with ffmpeg, you can use the command:
ffmpeg -i INPUT.mp4 -codec copy -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb OUTPUT.ts
Please note that this filter is auto-inserted for MPEG-TS (muxer "mpegts") and raw H.264 (muxer "h264") output formats.
This applies a specific fixup to some Blu-ray streams which contain redundant PPSs modifying irrelevant parameters of the stream which confuse other transformations which require correct extradata.
A new single global PPS is created, and all of the redundant PPSs within the stream are removed.
Modify metadata embedded in an HEVC stream.
These fields are set in pixels. Note that some sizes may not be representable if the chroma is subsampled (H.265 section 7.4.3.2.1).
Convert an HEVC/H.265 bitstream from length prefixed mode to start code prefixed mode (as defined in the Annex B of the ITU-T H.265 specification).
This is required by some streaming formats, typically the MPEG-2 transport stream format (muxer "mpegts").
For example to remux an MP4 file containing an HEVC stream to mpegts format with ffmpeg, you can use the command:
ffmpeg -i INPUT.mp4 -codec copy -bsf:v hevc_mp4toannexb OUTPUT.ts
Please note that this filter is auto-inserted for MPEG-TS (muxer "mpegts") and raw HEVC/H.265 (muxer "h265" or "hevc") output formats.
Modifies the bitstream to fit in MOV and to be usable by the Final Cut Pro decoder. This filter only applies to the mpeg2video codec, and is likely not needed for Final Cut Pro 7 and newer with the appropriate -tag:v.
For example, to remux 30 MB/sec NTSC IMX to MOV:
ffmpeg -i input.mxf -c copy -bsf:v imxdump -tag:v mx3n output.mov
Convert MJPEG/AVI1 packets to full JPEG/JFIF packets.
MJPEG is a video codec wherein each video frame is essentially a JPEG image. The individual frames can be extracted without loss, e.g. by
ffmpeg -i ../some_mjpeg.avi -c:v copy frames_%d.jpg
Unfortunately, these chunks are incomplete JPEG images, because they lack the DHT segment required for decoding. Quoting from <http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000063.shtml>:
Avery Lee, writing in the rec.video.desktop newsgroup in 2001, commented that "MJPEG, or at least the MJPEG in AVIs having the MJPG fourcc, is restricted JPEG with a fixed -- and *omitted* -- Huffman table. The JPEG must be YCbCr colorspace, it must be 4:2:2, and it must use basic Huffman encoding, not arithmetic or progressive. . . . You can indeed extract the MJPEG frames and decode them with a regular JPEG decoder, but you have to prepend the DHT segment to them, or else the decoder won't have any idea how to decompress the data. The exact table necessary is given in the OpenDML spec."
This bitstream filter patches the header of frames extracted from an MJPEG stream (carrying the AVI1 header ID and lacking a DHT segment) to produce fully qualified JPEG images.
ffmpeg -i mjpeg-movie.avi -c:v copy -bsf:v mjpeg2jpeg frame_%d.jpg exiftran -i -9 frame*.jpg ffmpeg -i frame_%d.jpg -c:v copy rotated.avi
Add an MJPEG A header to the bitstream, to enable decoding by Quicktime.
Extract a representable text file from MOV subtitles, stripping the metadata header from each subtitle packet.
See also the text2movsub filter.
Decompress non-standard compressed MP3 audio headers.
Modify metadata embedded in an MPEG-2 stream.
The following fixed values are supported:
Any other value will result in square pixels being signalled instead (see H.262 section 6.3.3 and table 6-3).
Unpack DivX-style packed B-frames.
DivX-style packed B-frames are not valid MPEG-4 and were only a workaround for the broken Video for Windows subsystem. They use more space, can cause minor AV sync issues, require more CPU power to decode (unless the player has some decoded picture queue to compensate the 2,0,2,0 frame per packet style) and cause trouble if copied into a standard container like mp4 or mpeg-ps/ts, because MPEG-4 decoders may not be able to decode them, since they are not valid MPEG-4.
For example to fix an AVI file containing an MPEG-4 stream with DivX-style packed B-frames using ffmpeg, you can use the command:
ffmpeg -i INPUT.avi -codec copy -bsf:v mpeg4_unpack_bframes OUTPUT.avi
Damages the contents of packets or simply drops them without damaging the container. Can be used for fuzzing or testing error resilience/concealment.
Parameters:
The following example applies the modification to every byte but does not drop any packets.
ffmpeg -i INPUT -c copy -bsf noise[=1] output.mkv
This bitstream filter passes the packets through unchanged.
Remove extradata from packets.
It accepts the following parameter:
Convert text subtitles to MOV subtitles (as used by the "mov_text" codec) with metadata headers.
See also the mov2textsub filter.
Log trace output containing all syntax elements in the coded stream headers (everything above the level of individual coded blocks). This can be useful for debugging low-level stream issues.
Supports H.264, H.265, MPEG-2 and VP9.
Modify metadata embedded in a VP9 stream.
Merge VP9 invisible (alt-ref) frames back into VP9 superframes. This fixes merging of split/segmented VP9 streams where the alt-ref frame was split from its visible counterpart.
Split VP9 superframes into single frames.
Given a VP9 stream with correct timestamps but possibly out of order, insert additional show-existing-frame packets to correct the ordering.
The FFmpeg developers.
For details about the authorship, see the Git history of the project (git://source.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg), e.g. by typing the command git log in the FFmpeg source directory, or browsing the online repository at <http://source.ffmpeg.org>.
Maintainers for the specific components are listed in the file MAINTAINERS in the source code tree.