FFMPEG: preset not found in Windows Vista

Question

I download FFMPEG from http://www.videohelp.com/tools/ffmpeg#download and saved it in my c:\program files\ffmpeg (Windows Vista). My Path's first 2 entries are:

c:\program files\ffmpeg\bin;c:\program files\ffmpeg\presets;

I found the following command on the net (http://paulrouget.com/e/converttohtml5video/)

ffmpeg -i input.avi -acodec libvorbis -ab 96k -vcodec libx264 -vpre main -level 21 -refs 2 -b 345k -bt 345k -threads 0 -s 320x240 output.mp4

When I run this on command line, I get the following error:

File for preset main not found

Any ideas what might be wrong?

Answer 1

According to http://ffmpeg-users.933282.n4.nabble.com/Presets-location-on-Windows-td2253144.html basically the current ffmpeg distro has its presets in the "wrong location" so you need to set the FFMPEG_DATADIR environment variable, or specify the full path to the preset, like

 ffmpeg.exe -i a.avi -fpre g:\installs\ffmpeg-20120519-git-31dfe20-win32-static\ffpresets\libvpx-1080p.ffpreset -f webm yo.webm

Answer 2

The examples in link you provided uses older ffmpeg syntax. Also, main is not a preset but a profile. So instead of -vpre main use -profile main. If you omit the preset then the default will be used which is -preset medium.

General usage is to use the slowest preset you have patience for. See FFmpeg: The ultimate Video and Audio Manipulation Tool for a good and up-to-date usage guide and more information on using presets.

Other Junk: I'm not sure what browsers will support Vorbis in the MP4 container format. libx264 ignores -bt 345k and -threads 0 is now automatically applied so those options are superfluous.