Codec
See Also the Official documentation: list of modules
Codec is short for coder/decoder.
To know what codecs are readable with VLC media player, see VLC Features Formats.
For portability to almost all decoders, we recommend
using the MPEG-1 standard of vcodec=mp1v, acodec=mpga, and mux=mpeg1. See the MPEG Wiki page for more details on the other MPEG standards.
To save a file in a different codec, you can use the streaming wizard or transcode from the command prompt with a command like this:
vlc file --sout='#transcode{vcodec=mp1v, vb=1024, acodec=mpga, ab=128}:std{access=file, mux=mpeg1, dst=C:\file_name.mpg}'
Video Codecs
Use the "name" part in your vcodec=... commands
| name | description |
| mp1v | MPEG-1 Video - recommended for portability |
| mp2v | MPEG-2 Video - used in DVDs |
| mp4v | MPEG-4 Video |
| SVQ1 | Sorenson Video v1 |
| SVQ3 | Sorenson Video v3 |
| DVDv | VOB Video - used in DVDs |
| WMV1 | Windows Media Video v1 |
| WMV2 | Windows Media Video v2 |
| WMV3 | Windows Media Video v3, also called Windows Media 9 (unsupported) |
| DVSD | Digital Video |
| MJPG | MJPEG |
| H263 | H263 |
| h264 | H264 |
| theo | Theora |
| IV20 | Indeo Video |
| IV40 | Indeo Video version 4 or later (unsupported) |
| RV10 | Real Media Video |
| cvid | Cinepak |
| VP31 | On2 VP |
| FLV1 | Flash Video |
| CYUV | Creative YUV |
| HFYU | Huffman YUV |
| MSVC | Microsoft Video v1 |
| MRLE | Microsoft RLE Video |
| AASC | Autodesc RLE Video |
| FLIC | FLIC video |
| QPEG | QPEG Video |
| VP8 | VP8 Video |
Audio Codecs
Use the "name" part in your acodec=... commands
| name | description |
| mpga | MPEG audio (recommended for portability) |
| mp3 | MPEG Layer 3 audio |
| mp4a | MP4 audio |
| a52 | Dolby Digital (A52 or AC3) |
| vorb | Vorbis |
| spx | Speex |
| flac or fl32 | FLAC |
No-"name" Codecs
- DTS
- AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
- Windows Media Audio
- DV Audio
- LPCM
- ADPCM
- AMR
- QuickTime Audio
- Real Audio
- MACE
- MusePack
Subtitle Codecs
See Subtitles Codec for more information.
| CVD | CVD Subtitles |
| SVCD (Overlay Graphics) | SVCD Subtitle (OGT) Information |
| SRT | Subrip Subtitles |
| SSA/ASS | Sub Station Alpha or Advanced Sub Station Subtitles |
| SubViewer | SubViewer Subtitles |
| VobSub | VobSub Subtitles |
| DVD subtitles | DVD Subtitles |
| DVB subtitles | DVB Subtitles |
| VPlayer | Vplayer Subtitles |
| MicroDVD | MicroDVD Subtitles |
| Sami | Sami Subtitles |
Muxers
Use the "name" part in your mux=... commands
| name | description |
| mpeg1 | MPEG-1 multiplexing - recommended for portability. Only works with mp1v video and mpga audio, but works on all known players |
| ts | MPEG Transport Stream, primarily used for streaming MPEG. Also used in DVDs |
| ps | MPEG Program Stream, primarily used for saving MPEG data to disk. |
| mp4 | MPEG-4 mux format, used only for MPEG-4 video and MPEG audio. |
| avi | AVI |
| asf | ASF |
| dummy | dummy output, can be used in creation of MP3 files. |
| ogg | Xiph.org's ogg container format. Can contain audio, video, and metadata. |
See Also
Explanation of terminology
