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I download videos in mp4 or flv format but I need to convert them to mpeg 1/2/3 so that I can watch them on my special gadget.

I think I need a program.

any suggestion thanks

emre
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    @AkasAntony I would say it is clear that this recent meta discussion has affirmed that conversion type questions are on-topic, and should not be closed unless they are duplicates. –  Mar 07 '13 at 18:35

5 Answers5

23

Use ffmpeg utility, it's awesome.

1. Install:
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

2. Convert:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.mpeg

PS: For available formats supported by ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -formats

Mina Mohsen
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    ffmpeg is going to be replaced by avconv ! ;) – riimzzai Mar 07 '13 at 18:26
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    what makes avconv more featured than ffmpeg ?? – Mina Mohsen Mar 07 '13 at 18:29
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    it seems they have merge. when you try some ffmpeg command, you will get something like : ffmpeg version 0.8.5-4:0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1, Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the Libav developers built on Jan 24 2013 18:03:14 with gcc 4.6.3 *** THIS PROGRAM IS DEPRECATED *** This program is only provided for compatibility and will be removed in a future release. **Please use avconv instead**. – riimzzai Mar 07 '13 at 18:37
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    @riimzzai The ffmpeg and avconv projects have not merged and are very much still separate if you take a look at their respective websites. –  Mar 07 '13 at 18:44
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    @ mik : youre right it seems they are concurrent and ffmpeg is not dead ! see interesting info here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9477115/who-can-tell-me-the-difference-and-relation-between-ffmpeg-libav-and-avconv/9477756#9477756 – riimzzai Mar 07 '13 at 18:49
  • If the output has to be mpeg2, then must I use ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.mpeg2 ? – Kitizl Feb 01 '14 at 12:34
  • When I try to install ffmpeg, I get: "sudo apt-get install ffmpeg Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done Package ffmpeg is not available, but is referred to by another package. This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source

    E: Package 'ffmpeg' has no installation candidate"

     – Erel Segal-Halevi Jun 14 '16 at 16:56
9

this can be done with avconv

sudo apt-get install libav-tools

and then use (for mpeg 2)

avconv -i video.mp4 -c:v mpeg2video video.mpg

also, check the (impressive) list of audio and video codecs with avconv -codecs

riimzzai
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  • thanks mate riimzzai ..because I am quite new to linux, could you please explain to me what " -c:v" means? I mean should I adopt this code to my folder names? – emre Mar 07 '13 at 18:29
  • -c:v is for video codec (you can replace it by -vcodec) -c:a is for audio codec, etc. check the man page : man avconv, you will see how this tool is powerful (you even can backup dvd). – riimzzai Mar 07 '13 at 18:41
  • thanks again I just use the first code but I got this ----- sudo apt-get install avconv Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done E: Unable to locate package avconv what should I do     – emre Mar 07 '13 at 18:43
  • sorry correction done : libav-tools. you still can install it via Software Center searching libav or ffmpeg or avconv – riimzzai Mar 07 '13 at 18:57
  • well I am unlucky today .software manager seems to be working but it froze even I cant stop it on screen..is there any way to stop this program and re-open it – emre Mar 07 '13 at 19:04
  • go in the system monitor and kill it from there. – riimzzai Mar 07 '13 at 19:16
6

There are many good video Converters wich can run CLI or GUI.

I advise you to give a try to transmageddon.

To install just:

sudo apt-get install transmageddon

enter image description here

In the output field you can specify MPEG4.

Another pretty easy to use is Handbrake

enter image description here

To install in ubuntu:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install handbrake
Maythux
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Use avconv this way:

avconv -i file.mp4 -c:v mpeg2video -q:v 2 -c:a libmp3lame output.mpg
Achu
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I use Arista Video Transcoder on Ubuntu. Though not highly rated, it is very good for video conversion. I use it to convert videos to match PSP's supported framerate and it does the job just fine. Most of the other prominent ones strip the quality while converting to a lower resolution, but Arista maintains the quality even when stepping the resolution down to that of a mobile device's.

Suhas Bharadwaj
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