Video Converter

Video Converter is a Python module for converting video files from one format and codec to another.

It uses the FFmpeg multimedia framework for actual file processing, and adds an easy-to-use API for probing and converting media files on top of it.

Quickstart

from converter import Converter
c = Converter()

info = c.probe('test1.ogg')

conv = c.convert('test1.ogg', '/tmp/output.mkv', {
    'format': 'mkv',
    'audio': {
        'codec': 'mp3',
        'samplerate': 11025,
        'channels': 2
    },
    'video': {
        'codec': 'h264',
        'width': 720,
        'height': 400,
        'fps': 15
    }})

for timecode in conv:
    print "Converting (%f) ...\r" % timecode

Documentation and tests

There's a fair amount of documentation in doc/ directory. To generate it from Sphinx sources, use:

python setup.py doc

and then visit doc/_build/html/index.html.

To run the automated tests:

python setup.py test

The test suite assumes you already have the required ffmpeg and ffprobe tools installed on your system.

Installation and requirements

To install the package:

python setup.py install

Note that this only installs the Python Video Converter library. The ffmpeg and ffprobe tools should be installed on the system separately, with all the codec and format support you require.

If you need to compile and install the tools manually, have a look at the example script test/install-ffmpeg.sh (used for automated test suite). It may or may not be useful for your requirements, so don't just blindly run it - check that it does what you need first.

Authors and Copyright

Copyright © 2011-2013. Python Video Converter contributors. See the AUTHORS.txt File.

Licensing and Patents

Although FFmpeg is licensed under LGPL/GPL, Video Converter only invokes the existing ffmpeg executables on the system (ie. doesn’t link to the ffmpeg libraries), so it doesn’t need to be LGPL/GPL as well.

The same applies to patents. If you’re in a country which recognizes software patents, it’s up to you to ensure you’re complying with the patent laws. Please read the FFMpeg Legal FAQ for more information.