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authorFabrice Bellard <fabrice@bellard.org>2000-12-20 00:02:47 +0000
committerFabrice Bellard <fabrice@bellard.org>2000-12-20 00:02:47 +0000
commit9aeeeb63f7e1ab7b0b7bb839a5f258667a2d2d78 (patch)
tree133769894d45da35e05ded6ea39d33bb81e7ae18 /README
parent77bb6835ba752bb9335d208963a53227bbb1bc63 (diff)
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+FFmpeg version 0.9 - (c) 2000 Gerard Lantau.
+
+1) Introduction
+---------------
+
+ffmpeg is a hyper fast realtime audio/video encoder and streaming
+server. It can grab from a standard Video4Linux video source and
+convert it into several file formats based on DCT/motion compensation
+encoding. Sound is compressed in MPEG audio layer 2 or using an AC3
+compatible stream.
+
+What makes ffmpeg interesting ?
+
+- Innovative streaming technology : multiformat, real time encoding,
+ simple configuration.
+
+- Simple and efficient video encoder: outputs MPEG1, H263 and Real
+ Video(tm) compatible bitstreams using the same encoder core.
+
+- Real time encoding (25 fps in 352x288 on a K6 500) using the video4linux API.
+
+- Generates I and P frames, which means it is far better than a MJPEG
+ encoder.
+
+- Hyper fast MPEG audio layer 2 compression (50 times faster than
+ realtime on a K6 500).
+
+- Hyper fast AC3 compatible encoder.
+
+- simple and very small portable C source code, easy to understand and
+ to modify. It be may the smallest decent MPEG encoder :-)
+
+ffmpeg is made of two programs:
+
+* ffmpeg: soft VCR which encodes in real time to several formats.
+
+* ffserver: live broadcast streaming server based on the ffmpeg core
+encoders.
+
+2) Documentation
+----------------
+
+read doc/ffmpeg.txt and doc/ffserver.txt to learn the basic features.
+
+read ffmpeg
+
+3) Licensing:
+------------
+
+* See the file COPYING. ffmpeg is licensed under the GNU General
+ Public License.
+
+* Source code from third parties: The DCT code comes from the Berkeley
+ MPEG decoder and the JPEG encoder.
+
+* This code should be patent free since it is very simple. I took care
+ to use the same video encoder core for all formats to show that they
+ really ARE THE SAME except for the encoding huffman codes.
+
+Gerard Lantau (glantau@users.sourceforge.net).