ffe

ffe is a simple, powerful Windows® front-end for FFmpeg, designed for rapid testing of its many multimedia conversion parameters, enabling you to save lots of slightly different versions of a file very, very quickly; in other words, "find the best settings". You basically throw in video files, set the output format, and click "Do It!", at which point FFmpeg leaps into action.

FFmpeg, by Fabrice Bellard, et al., is a quite incredible command-line-only multimedia converter, capable of converting a truly vast number of input and output media formats, and depending on which binary you use, supports either a HUGE number of control parameters, or a REALLY HUGE number of control parameters.

I find it most handy for converting YouTube FLV files, and the raw video from my camera. As well as converting DVD VOBs, of course.

You can basically convert anything to anything, whilst doing crazy stuff like mixing MP3 audio tracks with H264 video, and adding ID3 tags to AVI files. Big fun. Of course, it allows you do do things the correct way, too. No limits.

While converting, the console output from FFmpeg can be viewed live inside ffe, and when complete, the entire process log is available for viewing/searching.

ffe uniquely uses MATOF™ technology to automatically update the output file name (and extension) to match your encoding parameters; you can tweak-and-go, working at a rapid pace, without obliterating any of your previous tests. And then know exactly what parameters were used to encode each and every one of them, all without making notes.

ffe is FREE (though possibly not bug-free!), and can be download as a ready-built Windows program, or a full source pack, with AutoIt code, icons, includes, all that stuff, below. And that's all you need, right?

That and an FFmpeg binary, of course. It's also free, open-source software, and there are quite a few different versions kicking around. If you have some developer tools onboard, I recommend you checkout the source and build it yourself. Or else Google and take your pick..

This is generally reliable - all versions should work fine, though available options/flags/codes sometimes change between version; simply add/remove strings from your prefs; very easy to do in a decent text editor.

The latest version of ffe was built against ffmpeg.rev12665, which at the time of writing, is the most recent build there (and has been for months, so can be considered stable). Some options have changed from earlier versions of FFmpeg, notably the codec strings; xvid is now libxvid, for example, and mp3 is now libmp3lame, amongst other similarly obscure changes. These definitions have been updated in the new version of ffe.

There are still many items other that could be added to the codec drop-downs; you can do that in your prefs file, I added only a few that I recognize and/or use. See the formats.nfo document that comes with ffe (or run ffmpeg.exe -formats > formats.nfo to create your own) for cryptic details of the many other possible audio and video output formats.

NOTE: FFmpeg now has the option to not overwrite existing files. In fact, they made it the default! In light of this, I've added a preference to ffe's application menu, and set the default to overwrite files, as before. With MATOF™, this safety feature is rarely required.

If you disable overwrite (from ffe's application menu), and FFmpeg finds an existing file of the same name, it will prompt you, in the console, to respond with y/n to overwrite it - worry not, ffe can handle your y/n response, and pass it back to FFmpeg no problem - but if you have the console output disabled for some reason, you will miss this, and it will seem as if FFmpeg has hung. In this case, ffe will activate itself, and post a notice in its title bar, but if you have disabled overwriting, it is recommended that you run ffe with the console output enabled, which you surely do, anyway. I mean, how cool is it!

Command-line usage..

ffe can accept instructions on its command line. You can send it files, and they will be loaded into the input upon launch. You can also load presets at launch time..load(Preset Name). Or both. Finally, you can instruct ffe to jump right to it, start the conversion immediately.. go(Preset Name) Path to File. Examples..

To load a file at launch..

C:\path\to\ffe.exe E:\path\to\video.flv

To load a preset at launch (in this example, a preset named FLV to AVI)..

C:\path\to\ffe.exe load(FLV to AVI)

To load that same preset at launch, but override its input files with a different file..

C:\path\to\ffe.exe load(FLV to AVI) E:\path\to\video.flv

Load a file (with a long path, including spaces, enclosed in "quotes"), and begin conversion immediately, using the quite fictional Convert to MPG preset..

C:\path\to\ffe.exe go(Convert to MPG) "E:\very\long path\to some\video.flv"

Load a file, and begin conversion immediately, using your ffe default parameters..

C:\path\to\ffe.exe go(ffe) E:\path\to\video.flv

If you supply an input file path on the command-line, your output file input [sic] will be automatically filled with its converted counterpart, and if MATOF™ is enabled, the preset's parameters inserted into its name, ready-to-go.

Portable Install..

Like most of my software, if ffe finds an ini file next to itself, it switches to portable mode. In other words, if you want a portable installation, simply copy an ffe.ini file next to ffe.exe. You're done. Your ffe.ini is probably here..

C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Application Data\corz\ffe

On Vista, here..

C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\corz\ffe

If you are new to ffe, and want to start with a fresh portable install, do your first run using the special portable switch..

C:\path\to\ffe.exe portable

Which will create a fresh ini file right next to ffe, for instant portable operation. Tada! Remember to drop your FFmpeg binary (ffmpeg.exe) in there, too. Using portable preference files, you can also run multiple copies of ffe on a single system, each with a different set of options, which sounds handy for someone.

Upgrading..

Replace your old ffe.exe with the new one. That's it.

ffe will update your ini file automatically, adding any new settings, whilst keeping your existing preferences and presets intact. However …

If you are upgrading from an ffe version < 0.9 :   Because ffe will always honour your existing settings when upgrading your preferences file, you won't get the FFmpeg-updated codec strings in your codec drop-downs (as these are user preferences). Solution: rename/move ffe.ini. ffe will create a fresh ini file for you, containing updated everything - then copy back any presets out of old-ffe.ini.

Itstory..

ffe's itstory is too lengthy to include here. If you want to know what's been changed, fixed, updated, broken, and so on, check out the version.nfo

Quick Start..

If you can't be bothered reading this page right now, there's a short, quick-start type guide, here. I'll include it in the next release.

ffe download..

Like FFmpeg, ffe is free to download, and free to use, though all donations are warmly accepted. If you discover a bug, please let me know about it.

Note: You will need a unicode capable Windows^® system to run ffe, that is; Windows 2000, 2K3, XP, Vista, and later Windows operating systems. ffe will not  run on Windows 9x.

LIVE MD5+SHA1 Multi-Hashes..

# made with checksum..  point-and-click hashing for windows.
# from corz.org.. http://corz.org/windows/software/checksum/
#
81b6a5c3cc075b6a8db4d2e212e214d6 *ffe.zip
cd09ce51500471bfe2cdb5d8931a6e5cbac42445 *ffe.zip

download ffe source pack..

The source pack contains everything you need (at least from me) to build ffe for yourself; AutoIt code, icons, includes, documentation, etc. Note, you will need to use AutoItWrapper to add the icons for the buttons.

LIVE MD5+SHA1 Multi-Hashes..

# made with checksum..  point-and-click hashing for windows.
# from corz.org.. http://corz.org/windows/software/checksum/
#
683399742f9d2478b913c7d5c7b724fa *ffe source pack.zip
ed0398c8da8ad40cb28c4b164f5129dec8a148f6 *ffe source pack.zip

Have fun!

;o) Cor

ps. if you have any problems, questions and what-not, leave a comment, below..

Useful Links..