How to use ffmpeg to encode mp4 to mov

Question

I trying to use ffmpeg to encode a video for the first time. Can anyone tell me the exact command to encode a video in the following format:

Music Video HD Source Profile

● Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) ● VBR expected at ~220 Mbps ● HD encoded dimensions accepted to support square pixel aspect ratios (PASP): Encoded PASP Converted to ProRes From 1920 x 1080 1:1 HDCAM SR, D5, ATSC 1280 x 720 1:1 ATSC progressive

● HD encoded dimensions accepted to support non-square pixel aspect ratios (this allows you to send HD video in the native dimensions of your best original source, for example in HD broadcast dimensions*):

Encoded PASP Converted to ProRes From 1440 x 1080 1:1.33333 XDCAM-HD, HDCAM 1280 x 1080 1:1.5 DVCProHD interlaced 960 x 720 1:1.33333 DVCProHD progressive

Native frame rate of original source:

● 29.97 interlaced frames per second for video sourced ● 24 or 25 progressive frames per second for film sourced ● 23.976 progressive frames for inverse telecine sourced from film ● Telecine materials will not be accepted

● HD source may be delivered matted: letterbox, pillarbox, or windowbox.

Music Video Audio Source Profile

Stereo ● MPEG-1 layer II stereo ● 384 kpbs ● 48Khz ● Included in the same file as the delivered video

Answer 1

I used to do a lot of this stuff when i worked in the industry, I used mencoder personally (which I then wrapped into a VB.NET app to poll the directory for new files and auto encode them when they were delivered) but FFMPEG is the most popular.

MP4 and MOV are just containers that have an audio and a video stream inside them, these streams can be in multiple formats for example you could have an MP4 with AAC Audio and X264 video or you could have an MP4 with MP3 audio and X265 video, they are both MP4's but they are very different inside the container.

To change containers (re-encoding streams if necessary):

ffmpeg -i input_file.mp4 -f mov output_file.mov 

Do some research into FFMPEG and the command line parameters, -acodec and -vcodec can be played around with for re-encoding to different bitrates and formats.