ffmpeg not finding vcodec libx264

Question

I've installed the latest ffmpeg but it seems unable to locate the video codecs. Do I need to completeley remove ffmpeg and re run the ./configure differently in order for ffmpeg to find the video codecs?

Here's my current configuration:

FFmpeg version git-f61cbc2, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Jan 18 2011 10:59:49 with gcc 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5465)
  configuration: --enable-libmp3lame --enable-shared --disable-mmx --arch=x86_64
  libavutil     50.36. 0 / 50.36. 0
  libavcore      0.16. 1 /  0.16. 1
  libavcodec    52.108. 0 / 52.108. 0
  libavformat   52.94. 0 / 52.94. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 3 / 52. 2. 3
  libavfilter    1.74. 0 /  1.74. 0
  libswscale     0.12. 0 /  0.12. 0

Or, can I just re-run the make command to include the library?

Here's my snippet for transcoding:

ffmpeg -i ~/Desktop/watercarts.mov -vcodec libx264 -b 250k -bt 50k -acodec libfaac -ab 56k -ac 2 -s 480x320 ~/Desktop/watercartsipod.mp4

And the error:

Unknown encoder 'libx264'

Judie

Another situation: when I run the command with sudo permissions it works fine: <i>ffmpeg -re -i vid.mp4 -vcodec libx264 videoOut.mp4</i> returns "Unknown encoder 'libx264'" but <i>sudo ffmpeg -re -i vid.mp4 -vcodec libx264 videoOut.mp4</i> it works fine So, is the libx264 codec in any folder that can be configured with correct permisions? – Borscht

Answer 1

You need to configure with ./configure --enable-gpl --enable-libx264 and you need recent x264.

Flita

Once you've done this, you may also need to specify a preset with something like "-vpre normal" because the default doesn't work right with libx264. – Jhansi

..after which libx264 warns you 'broken ffmpeg default settings detected'. on my lucid ubuntu, thats "-vpre libx264-normal". this refers to a settings file /usr/share/ffmpeg/libx264-normal.ffpreset, there are a couple of others there too. – Yolandayolande

hi Ismail can u please look this link #9288834 – Belgrade

Answer 2

In Ubuntu 10.10 (maverick) this codec is provided by package libavcodec-extra-53 from multiverse repository.

Ursulaursulette

Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu Oneiric Ocelot 11.10 Code: sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libavcodec-extra-53 Ubuntu Natty Narwhal 11.04 and Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04 LTS Code: sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libavcodec-extra-52 – Teplitz

Answer 3

try installing using apt-get install and not by compiling the source. It will download all necessary codec libraries (at least on my gubuntu)

Fanchet

Answer 4

I found an link to a binary static build on this forum and it worked completely out of the box!

Long story short

$ wget https://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/releases/ffmpeg-release-amd64-static.tar.xz
$ tar xvf ffmpeg-release-amd64-static.tar.xz
$ cd ffmpeg-4.1.1-amd64-static

$ ./ffmpeg
ffmpeg version 4.1.1-static https://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/
...

Subminiature

I still get "Unknown encoder 'libx264 '" when using this static build. – Mclaren

Answer 5

If you are using ubuntu (various version) , you can install ffmpeg with the lib x264 using this suggestion

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1117283

Personally i use option "C". Two simple command (copy and paste) , automatic install of the right version + library, nothing to compile, and all work fine :)

If you prefer to compile then there is the "A" option on the same page (it work on ubuntu 10.10 i have compiled the last version).

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