Supported File Formats and Codecs

The follows are supported by the primary encoding tool FFMpeg. Many other conversion tools are available, see the full list here.

Popular formats and codecs

Input Formats

AAC, AVI, 3GP, FLV, MOV, MP3, MP4, MPEG, OGG, WAV, WEBM, WMA, WMV and many more.

Output Formats

AAC, AVI, FLV, MP3, MP4 (H.264), OGG, WEBM (VP8) any more output formats including iPhone segmented streaming are also supported.

Complete list

File Formats

Name	Encoding	Decoding	Comments
4xm			4X Technologies format, used in some games.
8088flex TMV
Adobe Filmstrip
Audio IFF (AIFF)
American Laser Games MM			Multimedia format used in games like Mad Dog McCree.
3GPP AMR
ASF
AVI
AVISynth
AVS			Multimedia format used by the Creature Shock game.
Beam Software SIFF			Audio and video format used in some games by Beam Software.
Bethesda Softworks VID			Used in some games from Bethesda Softworks.
Bink			Multimedia format used by many games.
Brute Force & Ignorance			Used in the game Flash Traffic: City of Angels.
Interplay C93			Used in the game Cyberia from Interplay.
Delphine Software International CIN			Multimedia format used by Delphine Software games.
CD+G			Video format used by CD+G karaoke disks
Core Audio Format			Apple Core Audio Format
CRC testing format
Creative Voice			Created for the Sound Blaster Pro.
CRYO APC			Audio format used in some games by CRYO Interactive Entertainment.
D-Cinema audio
Deluxe Paint Animation
DV video
DXA			This format is used in the non-Windows version of the Feeble Files game and different game cutscenes repacked for use with ScummVM.
Electronic Arts cdata
Electronic Arts Multimedia			Used in various EA games; files have extensions like WVE and UV2.
FFM (FFserver live feed)
Flash (SWF)
Flash 9 (AVM2)			Only embedded audio is decoded.
FLI/FLC/FLX animation			.fli/.flc files
Flash Video (FLV)			Macromedia Flash video files
framecrc testing format
FunCom ISS			Audio format used in various games from FunCom like The Longest Journey.
GIF Animation
GXF			General eXchange Format SMPTE 360M, used by Thomson Grass Valley playout servers.
id Quake II CIN video
id RoQ			Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.
IEC61937 encapsulation
IFF			Interchange File Format
Interplay MVE			Format used in various Interplay computer games.
IV8			A format generated by IndigoVision 8000 video server.
LMLM4			Used by Linux Media Labs MPEG-4 PCI boards
Matroska
Matroska audio
MAXIS XA			Used in Sim City 3000; file extension .xa.
MD Studio
Monkey's Audio
Motion Pixels MVI
MOV/QuickTime/MP4			3GP, 3GP2, PSP, iPod variants supported
MP2
MP3
MPEG-1 System			muxed audio and video, VCD format supported
MPEG-PS (program stream)			also known as VOB file, SVCD and DVD format supported
MPEG-TS (transport stream)			also known as DVB Transport Stream
MPEG-4			MPEG-4 is a variant of QuickTime.
MIME multipart JPEG
MSN TCP webcam			Used by MSN Messenger webcam streams.
MTV
Musepack
Musepack SV8
Material eXchange Format (MXF)			SMPTE 377M, used by D-Cinema, broadcast industry.
Material eXchange Format (MXF), D-10 Mapping			SMPTE 386M, D-10/IMX Mapping.
NC camera feed			NC (AVIP NC4600) camera streams
NTT TwinVQ (VQF)			Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation TwinVQ.
Nullsoft Streaming Video
NuppelVideo
NUT			NUT Open Container Format
Ogg
TechnoTrend PVA			Used by TechnoTrend DVB PCI boards.
QCP
raw ADTS (AAC)
raw AC-3
raw Chinese AVS video
raw CRI ADX
raw Dirac
raw DNxHD
raw DTS
raw E-AC-3
raw FLAC
raw GSM
raw H.261
raw H.263
raw H.264
raw Ingenient MJPEG
raw MJPEG
raw MLP
raw MPEG
raw MPEG-1
raw MPEG-2
raw MPEG-4
raw NULL
raw video
raw id RoQ
raw Shorten
raw TrueHD
raw VC-1
raw PCM A-law
raw PCM mu-law
raw PCM signed 8 bit
raw PCM signed 16 bit big-endian
raw PCM signed 16 bit little-endian
raw PCM signed 24 bit big-endian
raw PCM signed 24 bit little-endian
raw PCM signed 32 bit big-endian
raw PCM signed 32 bit little-endian
raw PCM unsigned 8 bit
raw PCM unsigned 16 bit big-endian
raw PCM unsigned 16 bit little-endian
raw PCM unsigned 24 bit big-endian
raw PCM unsigned 24 bit little-endian
raw PCM unsigned 32 bit big-endian
raw PCM unsigned 32 bit little-endian
raw PCM floating-point 32 bit big-endian
raw PCM floating-point 32 bit little-endian
raw PCM floating-point 64 bit big-endian
raw PCM floating-point 64 bit little-endian
RDT
REDCODE R3D			File format used by RED Digital cameras, contains JPEG 2000 frames and PCM audio.
RealMedia
Redirector
Renderware TeXture Dictionary
RL2			Audio and video format used in some games by Entertainment Software Partners.
RPL/ARMovie
RTMP			Output is performed by publishing stream to RTMP server
RTP
RTSP
SDP
Sega FILM/CPK			Used in many Sega Saturn console games.
Sierra SOL			.sol files used in Sierra Online games.
Sierra VMD			Used in Sierra CD-ROM games.
Smacker			Multimedia format used by many games.
Sony OpenMG (OMA)			Audio format used in Sony Sonic Stage and Sony Vegas.
Sony PlayStation STR
Sony Wave64 (W64)
SoX native format
SUN AU format
THP			Used on the Nintendo GameCube.
Tiertex Limited SEQ			Tiertex .seq files used in the DOS CD-ROM version of the game Flashback.
True Audio
VC-1 test bitstream
WAV
WavPack
Wing Commander III movie			Multimedia format used in Origin's Wing Commander III computer game.
WebM
Westwood Studios audio			Multimedia format used in Westwood Studios games.
Westwood Studios VQA			Multimedia format used in Westwood Studios games.
YUV4MPEG pipe
Psygnosis YOP

Image Formats

FFmpeg can read and write images for each frame of a video sequence. The following image formats are supported:

Name	Encoding	Decoding	Comments
.Y.U.V			one raw file per component
animated GIF			Only uncompressed GIFs are generated.
BMP			Microsoft BMP image
DPX			Digital Picture Exchange
JPEG			Progressive JPEG is not supported.
JPEG 2000		E	decoding supported through external library libopenjpeg
JPEG-LS
LJPEG			Lossless JPEG
PAM			PAM is a PNM extension with alpha support.
PBM			Portable BitMap image
PCX			PC Paintbrush
PGM			Portable GrayMap image
PGMYUV			PGM with U and V components in YUV 4:2:0
PNG			2/4 bpp not supported yet
PPM			Portable PixelMap image
PTX			V.Flash PTX format
SGI			SGI RGB image format
Sun Rasterfile			Sun RAS image format
TIFF			YUV, JPEG and some extension is not supported yet.
Truevision Targa			Targa (.TGA) image format

Video Codecs

Name	Encoding	Decoding	Comments
4X Movie			Used in certain computer games.
8088flex TMV
8SVX exponential
8SVX fibonacci
American Laser Games MM			Used in games like Mad Dog McCree.
AMV Video			Used in Chinese MP3 players.
Apple MJPEG-B
Apple QuickDraw			fourcc: qdrw
Asus v1			fourcc: ASV1
Asus v2			fourcc: ASV2
ATI VCR1			fourcc: VCR1
ATI VCR2			fourcc: VCR2
Auravision Aura
Auravision Aura 2
Autodesk Animator Flic video
Autodesk RLE			fourcc: AASC
AVS (Audio Video Standard) video			Video encoding used by the Creature Shock game.
Beam Software VB
Bethesda VID video			Used in some games from Bethesda Softworks.
Bink Video			Support for version 'b' is missing.
Brute Force & Ignorance			Used in the game Flash Traffic: City of Angels.
C93 video			Codec used in Cyberia game.
CamStudio			fourcc: CSCD
CD+G			Video codec for CD+G karaoke disks
Chinese AVS video			AVS1-P2, JiZhun profile
Delphine Software International CIN video			Codec used in Delphine Software International games.
Cinepak
Cirrus Logic AccuPak			fourcc: CLJR
Creative YUV (CYUV)
Dirac		E	supported through external libdirac/libschroedinger libraries
Deluxe Paint Animation
DNxHD			aka SMPTE VC3
Duck TrueMotion 1.0			fourcc: DUCK
Duck TrueMotion 2.0			fourcc: TM20
DV (Digital Video)
Feeble Files/ScummVM DXA			Codec originally used in Feeble Files game.
Electronic Arts CMV video			Used in NHL 95 game.
Electronic Arts Madcow video
Electronic Arts TGV video
Electronic Arts TGQ video
Electronic Arts TQI video
Escape 124
FFmpeg video codec #1			experimental lossless codec (fourcc: FFV1)
Flash Screen Video v1			fourcc: FSV1
Flash Video (FLV)			Sorenson H.263 used in Flash
Fraps
H.261
H.263 / H.263-1996
H.263+ / H.263-1998 / H.263 version 2
H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10			encoding supported through external library libx264
H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10 (VDPAU acceleration)
HuffYUV
HuffYUV FFmpeg variant
IBM Ultimotion			fourcc: ULTI
id Cinematic video			Used in Quake II.
id RoQ video			Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.
IFF ILBM			IFF interlaved bitmap
IFF ByteRun1			IFF run length encoded bitmap
Intel H.263
Intel Indeo 2
Intel Indeo 3
Intel Indeo 5
Interplay C93			Used in the game Cyberia from Interplay.
Interplay MVE video			Used in Interplay .MVE files.
Karl Morton's video codec			Codec used in Worms games.
Kega Game Video (KGV1)			Kega emulator screen capture codec.
LCL (LossLess Codec Library) MSZH
LCL (LossLess Codec Library) ZLIB		E
LOCO
lossless MJPEG
Microsoft RLE
Microsoft Video 1
Mimic			Used in MSN Messenger Webcam streams.
Miro VideoXL			fourcc: VIXL
MJPEG (Motion JPEG)
Motion Pixels video
MPEG-1 video
MPEG-1/2 video XvMC (X-Video Motion Compensation)
MPEG-1/2 video (VDPAU acceleration)
MPEG-2 video
MPEG-4 part 2
MPEG-4 part 2 Microsoft variant version 1
MPEG-4 part 2 Microsoft variant version 2
MPEG-4 part 2 Microsoft variant version 3
Nintendo Gamecube THP video
NuppelVideo/RTjpeg			Video encoding used in NuppelVideo files.
On2 VP3			still experimental
On2 VP5			fourcc: VP50
On2 VP6			fourcc: VP60,VP61,VP62
On2 / Google VP8
planar RGB			fourcc: 8BPS
Q-team QPEG			fourccs: QPEG, Q1.0, Q1.1
QuickTime 8BPS video
QuickTime Animation (RLE) video			fourcc: 'rle '
QuickTime Graphics (SMC)			fourcc: 'smc '
QuickTime video (RPZA)			fourcc: rpza
R210 Quicktime Uncompressed RGB 10-bit
Raw Video
RealVideo 1.0
RealVideo 2.0
RealVideo 3.0			still far from ideal
RealVideo 4.0
Renderware TXD (TeXture Dictionary)			Texture dictionaries used by the Renderware Engine.
RL2 video			used in some games by Entertainment Software Partners
Sierra VMD video			Used in Sierra VMD files.
Smacker video			Video encoding used in Smacker.
SMPTE VC-1
Snow			experimental wavelet codec (fourcc: SNOW)
Sony PlayStation MDEC (Motion DECoder)
Sorenson Vector Quantizer 1			fourcc: SVQ1
Sorenson Vector Quantizer 3			fourcc: SVQ3
Sunplus JPEG (SP5X)			fourcc: SP5X
TechSmith Screen Capture Codec			fourcc: TSCC
Theora			encoding supported through external library libtheora
Tiertex Limited SEQ video			Codec used in DOS CD-ROM FlashBack game.
V210 Quicktime Uncompressed 4:2:2 10-bit
VMware Screen Codec / VMware Video			Codec used in videos captured by VMware.
Westwood Studios VQA (Vector Quantized Animation) video
Windows Media Video 7
Windows Media Video 8
Windows Media Video 9			not completely working
Wing Commander III / Xan			Used in Wing Commander III .MVE files.
Winnov WNV1
WMV7
YAMAHA SMAF
Psygnosis YOP Video
ZLIB			part of LCL, encoder experimental
Zip Motion Blocks Video			Encoder works only in PAL8.

Audio Codecs

Name	Encoding	Decoding	Comments
8SVX audio
AAC			encoding supported through external library libfaac
AC-3	IX
ADPCM 4X Movie
ADPCM CDROM XA
ADPCM Creative Technology			16 -> 4, 8 -> 4, 8 -> 3, 8 -> 2
ADPCM Electronic Arts			Used in various EA titles.
ADPCM Electronic Arts Maxis CDROM XS			Used in Sim City 3000.
ADPCM Electronic Arts R1
ADPCM Electronic Arts R2
ADPCM Electronic Arts R3
ADPCM Electronic Arts XAS
ADPCM G.726
ADPCM IMA AMV			Used in AMV files
ADPCM IMA Electronic Arts EACS
ADPCM IMA Electronic Arts SEAD
ADPCM IMA Funcom
ADPCM IMA QuickTime
ADPCM IMA Loki SDL MJPEG
ADPCM IMA WAV
ADPCM IMA Westwood
ADPCM ISS IMA			Used in FunCom games.
ADPCM IMA Duck DK3			Used in some Sega Saturn console games.
ADPCM IMA Duck DK4			Used in some Sega Saturn console games.
ADPCM Microsoft
ADPCM MS IMA
ADPCM Nintendo Gamecube THP
ADPCM QT IMA
ADPCM SEGA CRI ADX			Used in Sega Dreamcast games.
ADPCM Shockwave Flash
ADPCM SMJPEG IMA			Used in certain Loki game ports.
ADPCM Sound Blaster Pro 2-bit
ADPCM Sound Blaster Pro 2.6-bit
ADPCM Sound Blaster Pro 4-bit
ADPCM Westwood Studios IMA			Used in Westwood Studios games like Command and Conquer.
ADPCM Yamaha
AMR-NB			encoding supported through external library libopencore-amrnb
AMR-WB		E	decoding supported through external library libopencore-amrwb
Apple lossless audio			QuickTime fourcc 'alac'
Atrac 1
Atrac 3
Bink Audio			Used in Bink and Smacker files in many games.
Delphine Software International CIN audio			Codec used in Delphine Software International games.
COOK			All versions except 5.1 are supported.
DCA (DTS Coherent Acoustics)
DPCM id RoQ			Used in Quake III, Jedi Knight 2, other computer games.
DPCM Interplay			Used in various Interplay computer games.
DPCM Sierra Online			Used in Sierra Online game audio files.
DPCM Sol
DPCM Xan			Used in Origin's Wing Commander IV AVI files.
DSP Group TrueSpeech
DV audio
Enhanced AC-3
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)		IX
G.729
GSM		E	supported through external library libgsm
GSM Microsoft variant		E	supported through external library libgsm
IMC (Intel Music Coder)
MACE (Macintosh Audio Compression/Expansion) 3:1
MACE (Macintosh Audio Compression/Expansion) 6:1
MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing)			Used in DVD-Audio discs.
Monkey's Audio			Only versions 3.97-3.99 are supported.
MP1 (MPEG audio layer 1)		IX
MP2 (MPEG audio layer 2)	IX	IX
MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3)		IX	encoding supported through external library LAME, ADU MP3 and MP3onMP4 also supported
MPEG-4 Audio Lossless Coding (ALS)
Musepack SV7
Musepack SV8
Nellymoser Asao
PCM A-law
PCM mu-law
PCM 16-bit little-endian planar
PCM 32-bit floating point big-endian
PCM 32-bit floating point little-endian
PCM 64-bit floating point big-endian
PCM 64-bit floating point little-endian
PCM D-Cinema audio signed 24-bit
PCM signed 8-bit
PCM signed 16-bit big-endian
PCM signed 16-bit little-endian
PCM signed 24-bit big-endian
PCM signed 24-bit little-endian
PCM signed 32-bit big-endian
PCM signed 32-bit little-endian
PCM signed 16/20/24-bit big-endian in MPEG-TS
PCM unsigned 8-bit
PCM unsigned 16-bit big-endian
PCM unsigned 16-bit little-endian
PCM unsigned 24-bit big-endian
PCM unsigned 24-bit little-endian
PCM unsigned 32-bit big-endian
PCM unsigned 32-bit little-endian
PCM Zork
QCELP / PureVoice
QDesign Music Codec 2			There are still some distortions.
RealAudio 1.0 (14.4K)			Real 14400 bit/s codec
RealAudio 2.0 (28.8K)			Real 28800 bit/s codec
RealAudio 3.0 (dnet)	IX		Real low bitrate AC-3 codec
RealAudio SIPR / ACELP.NET
Shorten
Sierra VMD audio			Used in Sierra VMD files.
Smacker audio
Sonic			experimental codec
Sonic lossless			experimental codec
Speex		E	supported through external library libspeex
True Audio (TTA)
TrueHD			Used in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs.
TwinVQ (VQF flavor)
Vorbis			A native but very primitive encoder exists.
WavPack
Westwood Audio (SND1)
Windows Media Audio 1
Windows Media Audio 2
Windows Media Audio Pro
Windows Media Audio Voice