FFMPG for recording

TIMORLANG

Member
Hello all:

I generally have used OBS for streaming. But more recently, I have been using the software for recording and editing in Premiere and Rush and some other software. I mostly do tutorials for some end users. So, pretty basic stuff.

As I looked through some of the advanced recording options; I recognized the option of Type: Standard or Custom Output (FFMPG).

Now, I remember from my days hacking apache and compiling Mod_PHP from scratch that FFMPG was a conversion software for media files. Worked with Imagik and such for media file manipulation.

So, my question is what is it used for in OBS. And would I have a good use case for using it for my requirements.

Also, I have noticed that the majority of my mkv files when converted to mp4 via either remux in OBS or using VLC to convert; that audio / video sync issues occur. Mostly audio is a few milliseconds before the video. Can these options while recording help alleviate this issue?

Thanks,
T
 

TIMORLANG

Member
you can record in other file formats or stream over ffmpeg and many more


Thank you for your response. I guess my question is outside of being on a linux / unix box; are there any advantages of using FFMPEG compared to the other available options?

And please forgive me if the question seems silly; but I am just trying to figure out the best set up.

I know I can record in many formats and using many different encoders. I understand that if I want; I can use FFMPEG with OBS in order to generate my video/audio for recording or streaming. But is there an advantage to doing so on a Windows machine?

Thanks,
T
 

rockbottom

Active Member
Sure, it just depends on what you want to do.

I prefer H265 & with either 24-bit or 32-bit FP PCM audio for my recordings so I use the custom FFMPEG output.
 

koala

Active Member
Ffmpeg is not simply a "conversion software for media files". Actually, it's a programming library of reading, writing, handling and manipulating media files. The conversion functionality of ffmpeg.exe can be seen as one use case of this library.
OBS uses the audio and video encoder part of this library for encoding audio and video. I don't know for sure, but I assume it's also used for implementing the playback of media in the OBS media source.

The simple and advanced output settings of OBS are simplified configuration interfaces for the x264 encoder of ffmpeg. However, OBS does not only come with x264, but with the almost complete encoder library of ffmpeg, so there is more than just x264. The ffmpeg output mode of OBS connects to the whole of the ffmpeg encoder library. However, it's the responsibility of the user to find valid audio encoder+video encoder+container combinations, because not every combination is technically valid. Not all encoders can be put into all container formats, for example.

Usually, simple output mode (or advanced output mode, if you need to record multiple audio tracks) of OBS is what you want to use. If you don't have an explicit reason to use ffmpeg output mode, you don't need it.
 

umesh300

New Member
I am on Mac mini 2018 with 12.2.1 however while recording some crackling sound was coming, after going thru various setting and combination for days without any change in sound someone suggested to change to custom ffmpeg mode and immediately cranckling sound disappear...sharing if it helps anyone...I have no idea how it worked....Thanks
 
Top