6

Is there a way to encode/decode prores mov files (mostly decode)? I've been playing around with ffmpeg and mencoder/mplayer from the ubuntu repos, but they both report that it's an unknown codec. Totem as well.

I guess it comes down to getting the right codecs in place. Maybe compiling from source?

I have seen a few comments on the internet about getting mplayer/mencoder working with prores files in OS X, but I'm hoping there is a way to do this in Ubuntu.

2 Answers 2

5

Times have certainly changed and now an up to date FFmpeg, including the version packaged with Xenial Xerus LTS, will now easily encode ProRes files. The following will work well:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 \
       -c:v prores -profile:v 3 \
       -c:a pcm_s16le \
       output.mov

The available -profile settings are as follows:

-profile 0 = Apple ProRes Proxy
-profile 1 = Apple ProRes LT
-profile 2 = Apple ProRes 422 for SD (lower bitrate)
-profile 3 = Apple ProRes HQ for HD (higher bitrate)

You can test your own copy of FFmpeg for ProRes capability as follows:

andrew@ilium~$ ffmpeg -encoders -hide_banner | grep -i prores
 VF.... prores               Apple ProRes
 VF.... prores_aw            Apple ProRes (codec prores)
 VFS... prores_ks            Apple ProRes (iCodec Pro) (codec prores)
andrew@ilium~$ 

(Note that as my colleague @llogan has mentioned there are actually only two ProRes encoders available: prores_aw (the default aliased to prores) and prores_ks.)

The leading letters indicate:

Encoders:
 V..... = Video
 .F.... = Frame-level multithreading
 ..S... = Slice-level multithreading

For playback you should find that most of the major media players, examples being MPlayer, SMPlayer and VLC, will happily play these files...

References:

1
  • 1
    There are two ProRes encoders available: prores_aw (the default aliased to prores) and prores_ks. I never did compare them myself since I can avoid using this format. In my opinion there isn't a need for two and the best of both should be merged into one.
    – llogan
    Oct 6, 2016 at 2:57
2

The short answer is unfortunately "no". There are patches floating around that enable Qt binary codec loading in MPlayer / mencoder, but they seem to be Mac-only.

ffmpeg supports DNxHD on Linux, which is a ProRes alternative that you may want to look into as an intermediate codec.

1
  • This is unfortunate. Hopefully progress will be made in this are. Though I would imagine it's not easy to work with proprietary codecs.
    – gregghz
    Oct 21, 2010 at 5:52

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .