ffmpeg: Unable to parse option value “-1” as pixel format

Question

How do I fix this? Since this happens on .mov source files and not .mp4 source files, I assume I don't have the proper decoders setup somehow. So do I need to recompile? and what settings do I need to use?

I'm trying to use ffmpeg to process most user uploaded movies into all the HTML5 supported codecs. It works when I am uploading mp4's but dies on .mov videos giving me the error. Here is the full output when runing the same commands from the terminal. I'm on centos 6.3 64bit because I'm using cPanel.

ffmpeg -i  Vails_in_the_Field.mov -b:v 300k -vcodec libx264 -g 30 -s 640x360  Vails_in_the_Field.mp4


ffmpeg version 1.0 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers  built on Jan 30 2013 21:33:27 with gcc 4.4.6 (GCC) 20120305 (Red Hat 4.4.6-4)  configuration: --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libvpx --enable-libfaac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-libxvid --disable-ffplay --enable-shared --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-nonfree --enable-avfilter --enable-pthreads --arch=x86_64 --extra-cflags=-fPIC
      libavutil      51. 73.101 / 51. 73.101
      libavcodec     54. 59.100 / 54. 59.100
      libavformat    54. 29.104 / 54. 29.104
      libavdevice    54.  2.101 / 54.  2.101
      libavfilter     3. 17.100 /  3. 17.100
      libswscale      2.  1.101 /  2.  1.101
      libswresample   0. 15.100 /  0. 15.100
      libpostproc    52.  0.100 / 52.  0.100
    [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x8f6240] multiple edit list entries, a/v desync might occur, patch welcome
    [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x8f6240] Stream #1: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize
    [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x8f6240] Could not find codec parameters for stream 0 (Video: none (icod / 0x646F6369), 1280x720, 26592 kb/s): unknown codec
    Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
    Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'Vails_in_the_Field.mov':
      Metadata:
        major_brand     : qt  
        minor_version   : 537199360
        compatible_brands: qt  
        creation_time   : 2013-01-31 21:29:39
        composer        : Alex Fulton
        title           : Score for Tea Bags Field
        artist          : Alex Fulton
        album           : Alex Fulton's Album
        encoder         : GarageBand 6.0.5
        date            : 2013
      Duration: 00:02:07.87, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 25560 kb/s
        Stream #0:0(eng): Video: none (icod / 0x646F6369), 1280x720, 26592 kb/s, SAR 1280:1280 DAR 16:9, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 24k tbn, 24k tbc
        Metadata:
          creation_time   : 2013-01-31 21:29:39
          handler_name    : Apple Alias Data Handler
          timecode        : 00:00:00:00
        Stream #0:1(eng): Data: none (tmcd / 0x64636D74)
        Metadata:
          creation_time   : 2013-01-31 21:29:39
          handler_name    : Apple Alias Data Handler
          timecode        : 00:00:00:00
        Stream #0:2(eng): Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 191 kb/s
        Metadata:
          creation_time   : 2013-01-31 21:29:39
          handler_name    : Apple Alias Data Handler
    File 'Vails_in_the_Field.mp4' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y
    Unable to parse option value "-1" as pixel format
    Error opening filters!

I also tried using a static binary linked from ffmpeg's page with exactly the same results.

Answer 1

Since May 17 2013, ffmpeg supports decoding the Apple Intermediate Codec, identified as icod.

It was not supported by earlier versions (see bug #1770), and is not yet available in a stable version, so you need to get a recent static build or build it yourself for support.