8.5 KiB
8.5 KiB
Format Compatibility & Conversion Guide
Complete guide to media format support, codec recommendations, and conversion best practices.
Image Format Support
ImageMagick Formats
Raster Formats (Full Support):
- JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg) - Lossy, universal
- PNG (.png) - Lossless, transparency
- WebP (.webp) - Modern, lossy/lossless
- GIF (.gif) - Animation, limited colors
- TIFF (.tif, .tiff) - Professional, lossless
- BMP (.bmp) - Uncompressed, legacy
- ICO (.ico) - Icons, multi-size
Raw Formats (Read Support):
- CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Adobe RAW)
- Requires dcraw or ufraw-batch
Vector Formats (Limited):
- SVG (.svg) - Read only, converts to raster
- PDF (.pdf) - Read/write, may have policy restrictions
Other Formats:
- HEIC (.heic) - Apple format, requires libheif
- AVIF (.avif) - Next-gen, requires libavif
- PSD (.psd) - Photoshop, basic support
FFmpeg Image Support
Input Formats:
- JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, WebP, GIF
- Image sequences (frame_%04d.png)
Output Formats:
- JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF
- Video from images
Video Format Support
Container Formats
Universal Containers:
- MP4 (.mp4) - Most compatible, streaming
- MKV (.mkv) - Feature-rich, flexible
- WebM (.webm) - Web-optimized, open
- AVI (.avi) - Legacy, broad support
- MOV (.mov) - Apple, professional
Streaming Containers:
- TS (.ts) - Transport stream, HLS segments
- M3U8 (.m3u8) - HLS playlist
- MPD (.mpd) - DASH manifest
- FLV (.flv) - Flash (legacy)
Professional Formats:
- ProRes (.mov) - Apple professional
- DNxHD/DNxHR (.mxf, .mov) - Avid professional
- MXF (.mxf) - Broadcast
Video Codecs
Modern Codecs:
- H.264/AVC (libx264) - Universal, excellent balance
- H.265/HEVC (libx265) - Better compression, 4K
- VP9 (libvpx-vp9) - Open, YouTube
- AV1 (libaom-av1, libsvtav1) - Next-gen, best compression
Legacy Codecs:
- MPEG-4 (mpeg4) - Older devices
- MPEG-2 (mpeg2video) - DVD, broadcast
- VP8 (libvpx) - WebM predecessor
Professional Codecs:
- ProRes (prores) - Apple post-production
- DNxHD (dnxhd) - Avid editing
- Uncompressed (rawvideo) - Maximum quality
Audio Codecs
Modern Codecs:
- AAC (aac) - Universal, streaming
- Opus (libopus) - Best low-bitrate
- MP3 (libmp3lame) - Universal compatibility
Lossless Codecs:
- FLAC (flac) - Open, archival
- ALAC (alac) - Apple lossless
- WAV (pcm_s16le) - Uncompressed
Other Codecs:
- Vorbis (libvorbis) - Open, WebM
- AC-3 (ac3) - Dolby Digital, surround
- DTS (dts) - Cinema surround
Format Recommendations
Use Case Matrix
| Use Case | Image Format | Video Container | Video Codec | Audio Codec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web general | JPEG 85% | MP4 | H.264 | AAC 128k |
| Web transparency | PNG | - | - | - |
| Web modern | WebP | WebM | VP9 | Opus |
| Social media | JPEG 85% | MP4 | H.264 | AAC 128k |
| 4K streaming | - | MP4 | H.265 | AAC 192k |
| Archive | PNG/TIFF | MKV | H.265 CRF 18 | FLAC |
| JPEG 75% | - | - | - | |
| TIFF/PNG | - | - | - | |
| YouTube | - | MP4/WebM | H.264/VP9 | AAC/Opus |
| Live stream | - | FLV | H.264 | AAC |
| Editing | - | MOV/MXF | ProRes/DNxHD | PCM |
Platform Compatibility
Web Browsers (2025):
- Images: JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, SVG
- Video: MP4 (H.264), WebM (VP9), MP4 (AV1)
- Audio: AAC, MP3, Opus, Vorbis
Mobile Devices:
- iOS: JPEG, PNG, HEIC, MP4 (H.264/H.265), AAC
- Android: JPEG, PNG, WebP, MP4 (H.264/H.265), AAC
Smart TVs:
- Most: MP4 (H.264), AAC
- Modern: MP4 (H.265), AC-3
Social Media:
- All platforms: JPEG, MP4 (H.264), AAC
Quality vs Size Trade-offs
Image Quality Comparison
JPEG Quality Levels:
- 95-100: ~5-10 MB (large image), minimal artifacts
- 85-94: ~1-3 MB, imperceptible loss
- 75-84: ~500 KB-1 MB, slight artifacts
- 60-74: ~200-500 KB, visible artifacts
- Below 60: <200 KB, poor quality
Format Comparison (Same quality):
- WebP: 25-35% smaller than JPEG
- HEIC: 40-50% smaller than JPEG
- AVIF: 50-60% smaller than JPEG
- PNG: 2-5x larger than JPEG (lossless)
Video Quality Comparison
H.264 CRF Values:
- CRF 18: Visually lossless, ~8-15 Mbps (1080p)
- CRF 23: High quality, ~4-8 Mbps (1080p)
- CRF 28: Medium quality, ~2-4 Mbps (1080p)
Codec Comparison (Same quality):
- H.265: 40-50% smaller than H.264
- VP9: 30-40% smaller than H.264
- AV1: 50-60% smaller than H.264
Audio Quality Comparison
AAC Bitrates:
- 320 kbps: Transparent, archival
- 192 kbps: High quality, music
- 128 kbps: Good quality, streaming
- 96 kbps: Acceptable, low bandwidth
- 64 kbps: Poor, voice only
Codec Efficiency (Same quality):
- Opus: Best at low bitrates (<128k)
- AAC: Best overall balance
- MP3: Less efficient but universal
Conversion Best Practices
Image Conversions
PNG to JPEG:
# Standard conversion
magick input.png -quality 85 -strip output.jpg
# With transparency handling
magick input.png -background white -flatten -quality 85 output.jpg
JPEG to WebP:
# FFmpeg
ffmpeg -i input.jpg -quality 80 output.webp
# ImageMagick
magick input.jpg -quality 80 output.webp
RAW to JPEG:
# Requires dcraw
magick input.CR2 -quality 90 output.jpg
HEIC to JPEG:
# Requires libheif
magick input.heic -quality 85 output.jpg
Video Conversions
MKV to MP4:
# Copy streams (fast)
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c copy output.mp4
# Re-encode if needed
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac output.mp4
AVI to MP4:
# Modern codecs
ffmpeg -i input.avi -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac output.mp4
MOV to MP4:
# Copy if H.264 already
ffmpeg -i input.mov -c copy output.mp4
# Convert ProRes to H.264
ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a aac output.mp4
Any to WebM:
# VP9 encoding
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx-vp9 -crf 30 -b:v 0 -c:a libopus output.webm
Audio Conversions
Extract Audio from Video:
# Keep original codec
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -c:a copy audio.m4a
# Convert to MP3
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -q:a 0 audio.mp3
# Convert to FLAC (lossless)
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -c:a flac audio.flac
Audio Format Conversion:
# WAV to MP3
ffmpeg -i input.wav -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k output.mp3
# MP3 to AAC
ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -c:a aac -b:a 192k output.m4a
# Any to Opus
ffmpeg -i input.wav -c:a libopus -b:a 128k output.opus
Codec Selection Guide
Choose H.264 When:
- Maximum compatibility needed
- Targeting older devices
- Streaming to unknown devices
- Social media upload
- Fast encoding required
Choose H.265 When:
- 4K video encoding
- Storage space limited
- Modern device targets
- Archival quality needed
- Bandwidth constrained
Choose VP9 When:
- YouTube upload
- Open-source requirement
- Chrome/Firefox primary
- Royalty-free needed
Choose AV1 When:
- Future-proofing content
- Maximum compression needed
- Encoding time not critical
- Modern platform targets
Format Migration Strategies
Archive to Web
# High-res archive -> Web-optimized
for img in archive/*.tif; do
base=$(basename "$img" .tif)
magick "$img" -resize 2000x2000\> -quality 85 -strip "web/${base}.jpg"
magick "$img" -resize 2000x2000\> -quality 85 "web/${base}.webp"
done
Legacy to Modern
# Convert old formats to modern codecs
for video in legacy/*.avi; do
base=$(basename "$video" .avi)
ffmpeg -i "$video" \
-c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset slow \
-c:a aac -b:a 128k \
"modern/${base}.mp4"
done
Multi-Format Publishing
# Create multiple formats for compatibility
input="source.mp4"
# Modern browsers
ffmpeg -i "$input" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac output.mp4
ffmpeg -i "$input" -c:v libvpx-vp9 -crf 30 -c:a libopus output.webm
# Images
ffmpeg -ss 5 -i "$input" -vframes 1 poster.jpg
magick poster.jpg -quality 80 poster.webp
Troubleshooting
Unsupported Format
# Check FFmpeg formats
ffmpeg -formats
# Check ImageMagick formats
magick identify -list format
# Install missing codec support
sudo apt-get install libx264-dev libx265-dev libvpx-dev
Compatibility Issues
# Force compatible encoding
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 \
-c:v libx264 -profile:v high -level 4.0 \
-pix_fmt yuv420p \
-c:a aac -b:a 128k \
output.mp4
Quality Loss
# Avoid multiple conversions
# Bad: source -> edit -> web -> social
# Good: source -> final (single conversion)
# Use lossless intermediate
ffmpeg -i source.mp4 -c:v ffv1 intermediate.mkv
# Edit intermediate
ffmpeg -i intermediate.mkv -c:v libx264 final.mp4