Using FFMPEG to reliably convert videos to mp4 for iphone/ipod and flash players

Question

I need to convert videos for use in both a flash player and the iphone/ipod touch. I'm using the following batch script with ffmpeg:

@echo off
ffmpeg.exe -i %1 -s qvga -acodec libfaac -ar 22050 -ab 128k -vcodec libx264 -threads 0 -f ipod %2

This always outputs an mp4 file, and I can always play it on my PC. The videos also seem to play fine on my iphone 3GS. But with some input files it won't work for older iphone versions (3G and iPod touch).

Here's the ffmpeg output from one such file:

D:\ffmpeg>encode.bat d:\temp\recording.flv d:\temp\out.m4v
FFmpeg version SVN-r18709, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --prefix=/mingw --cross-prefix=i686-ming
w32- --cc=ccache-i686-mingw32-gcc --target-os=mingw32 --arch=i686 --cpu=i686 --e
nable-avisynth --enable-gpl --enable-zlib --enable-bzlib --enable-libgsm --enabl
e-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-pthreads --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheo
ra --enable-libspeex --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libxvid -
-enable-libschroedinger --enable-libx264
  libavutil     50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
  libavcodec    52.27. 0 / 52.27. 0
  libavformat   52.32. 0 / 52.32. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libswscale     0. 7. 1 /  0. 7. 1
  built on Apr 28 2009 04:04:42, gcc: 4.2.4
[flv @ 0x187d650]skipping flv packet: type 18, size 164, flags 0
Input #0, flv, from 'd:\temp\recording.flv':
  Duration: 00:00:07.17, start: 0.001000, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #0.0: Video: flv, yuv420p, 320x240, 1k tbr, 1k tbn, 1k tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: nellymoser, 44100 Hz, mono, s16
[libx264 @ 0x13518b0]using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 FastShuffle SSE
4.2
[libx264 @ 0x13518b0]profile Baseline, level 4.2
Output #0, ipod, to 'd:\temp\out.m4v':
    Stream #0.0: Video: libx264, yuv420p, 320x240, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 1k tbn, 1k
tbc
    Stream #0.1: Audio: libfaac, 22050 Hz, mono, s16, 128 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
  Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop encoding
frame=   90 fps=  0 q=-1.0 Lsize=     128kB time=6.87 bitrate= 152.4kbits/s
video:92kB audio:32kB global headers:1kB muxing overhead 2.620892%
[libx264 @ 0x13518b0]slice I:8     Avg QP:29.62  size:  7047
[libx264 @ 0x13518b0]slice P:82    Avg QP:30.83  size:   467
[libx264 @ 0x13518b0]mb I  I16..4: 17.9%  0.0% 82.1%
[libx264 @ 0x13518b0]mb P  I16..4:  0.6%  0.0%  0.0%  P16..4: 23.1%  0.0%  0.0%
 0.0%  0.0%    skip:76.3%
[libx264 @ 0x13518b0]final ratefactor: 57.50
[libx264 @ 0x13518b0]SSIM Mean Y:0.9544735
[libx264 @ 0x13518b0]kb/s:8412.6

My suspicion is that it has something to do with the audio encoding. If so, does anyone know how to force it to reencode the audio to the proper format?

Any other ideas?

Answer 1

WARNING: this answer is 10 years old and reported not to work anymore.

---

I think the issue is the H.264 level being level 4.2.

Some of the Apple devices only support up to 3.0.

Here's the FFMPEG settings I usually use:

ffmpeg -i YOUR-INPUT.wmv -s qvga -b 384k -vcodec libx264 -r 23.976 -acodec libfaac -ac 2 -ar 44100 -ab 64k -vpre baseline -crf 22 -deinterlace -o YOUR-OUTPUT.MP4

You can adjust the rate, size and bitrate as needed. The important settings are in the baseline config param.

Answer 2

The ffmpeg wiki provides some useful up to date guidance on how to encode H.264 for particular devices. Here's an excerpt:

iOS Compatability ([​source][2])
Profile  Level Devices                                                     Options
Baseline 3.0  All devices                                                  -profile:v baseline -level 3.0
Baseline 3.1  iPhone 3G and later, iPod touch 2nd generation and later     -profile:v baseline -level 3.1
Main     3.1  iPad (all vers), Apple TV 2 and later, iPhone 4 and later    -profile:v main -level 3.1
Main     4.0  Apple TV 3 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPhone 4s and later  -profile:v main -level 4.0
High     4.0  Apple TV 3 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPhone 4s and later  -profile:v high -level 4.0
High     4.1  iPad 2 and later, iPhone 4s and later, iPhone 5c and later   -profile:v high -level 4.1
High     4.2  iPad Air and later, iPhone 5s and later                      -profile:v high -level 4.2