Forum Archive Home -> User guides -> How to get started with avidemux, edit and convert any video format
How to get started with avidemux, edit and convert any video format | ||
| Baldrick posted 2008 Oct 10 09:45 | ||
| avidemux is a very good free converter and basic editor(cut, join, filters). It supports most video input formats like avi, mov, wmv, asf, mkv, mp4, flv, vob, mpg and can convert to many video formats like avi xvid, avi-dv, mpg, mp4 h264, flv. This is a very basic guide to get you started with avidemux.
Required tools Guide Problems Required tools avidemux (Or download the latest beta from http://www.razorbyte.com.au/avidemux/ but may be a bit buggy) Guide Open and Join Open your video file. You can also join files by choose File->Append(Note that video clip must have same width, height, framerate or else wont it work). If you are opening a DVD then choose the VTS_01_1.vob(the main video might be under a different number so you migh try different VTS_XX_01.vob) and all vobs will automatically be imported. Select Yes if you want index images. 
Cutting If you want to cut then drag the bar at the bottom and click on A to set the start and B to the end. You can also delete parts like for example commercials, set the A and B and press delete on your keyboard. 
Auto format If you want to convert to VCD, SVCD, DVD, PSP, IpoD or FLV then choose Auto in the menu and select the format and avidemux will automatically change all settings for you. 
Custom format If you want to convert to an another format then choose the video and audio codec under video and audio. Like H264, Xvid, DV, MJPEG, Huffyuv. If you just want to cut or join video then change to Copy under video and Audio. 
Custom output file size If you want to convert to a custom file size then click on Tools->Calculator, choose AVI, set the file size, set the audio bitrate(128-192kbit/s is good for most stuff) and avidemux will automatically set the video bitrate so the output file size size will be correct. 
Filters You can also add video filters like Resize, Black borders, Color adjustments, Sharpness, Subtitles(srt,ass/ssa,sub), Deinterlacing. Just click on Filter under Video to add the filters you want to use. 
Container Select the output container Format like AVI, MPEG, MP4, MKV, FLV. If you are making DV, XviD, Huffyuv video use AVI. If H264 video use MP4 or MKV. If MPG(VCD,DVD) use MPEG-PS(A+V). 
Preview Output Select Output at the top middle to preview the video, like for example look so the resolution/size and black borders look correct. 
Save Last save the file, avidemux wont automatically add the extension like .avi so name your file with the extension like video.avi , video.mpg, video.mp4, etc. 
Problems It can only output AVI-DV with PAL settings(720x576 25fps). | ||
| anindyanuri posted 2008 Oct 14 20:48 | ||
| Another nice and helpful tutorial from Bladrick.
Please provide some advanced tutorial on avidemux in future. | ||
| moiz posted 2008 Oct 15 14:32 | ||
| can subtitles be burnt on movies in avidemux? | ||
| poisondeathray posted 2008 Oct 15 14:35 | ||
Yes they can Filters sidebar button =>Subtitles tab | ||
| sumeshkri posted 2008 Nov 06 23:18 | ||
| thanks to baldrik for this tutorial.. | ||
| sumeshkri posted 2008 Nov 09 03:22 | ||
| It can only output AVI-DV with PAL settings(720x576 25fps).
what does it mean?when u say u can select the output format as av1,mpeg,dvd etc, then u say it can only output to av1.... i am not able to get to it. does it mean that this soft can output av1 files only??? i tried to convert a av1 file.it's video is 536kbps,352*176,25fps,av1 audio is 32 kbps,mp3, the output format was selected as dvd and i wanted to change the audio to ac3 done. then i klicked save as x.mpg. the conversion started but says it says it need 75 minutes to convert. the same file in convertxtodvd took only 20 minutes to convert to mpeg-2 file. somebody told that av1demux is so fast. so i wanted to test it by converting an av1 file to mpeg-2. did i go wrong in making some selection?thnks | ||
| sumeshkri posted 2008 Nov 09 03:27 | ||
| in the screenshot-calculator-custom-u have selected av1. there ,, are we eexpected to show the format of the target file or the source file? | ||
| Baldrick posted 2008 Nov 09 03:41 | ||
The target. And when I say it can only output to avi-dv with pal settings I mean that it can output to avi with dv codec with PAL-settings but not with NTSC-settings, everything else should work fine so if you are not making DV then ignore that. And convertxtodvd is probably faster but it depends what encoding settings you are using, if you want fast encoding use 1-pass encoding. | ||
| sumeshkri posted 2008 Nov 09 18:53 | ||
| thanks for the explanation baldrick. but i must say, even though i have selected one pass it took me 72 mnts (in place of 19 in convertxtodvd.) | ||
| schematic2 posted 2008 Nov 09 20:28 | ||
| Hi Baldrick
Can this tool be used to cut clips from vobs and output to mpg2 without re-encoding? Kind of like TMPgenc mpg editor. If so, can you provide the instructions? Thanks in advance | ||
| Hittz posted 2008 Nov 12 18:55 | ||
| Nice guide Baldrick, I tried this tool for an .mp4 to .avi conversion and it worked nicely. | ||
| Chug a Bug posted 2008 Nov 28 13:52 | ||
Yes follow the tutuorial as for cutting but choose "copy" as video and audio type and "MPEG PS (A+V)" as output type. Save as <yourfilename>.mpg | ||
| sumeshkri posted 2008 Nov 30 21:38 | ||
| i tried to convert one av1xvid file. in the customize option i selected 1900 mb. i opted 192 ac3 as audio. but wheni check the one pass contstant encoding the settings i made in the customize output seems to have gone.in the said example i tried one 698 mb xvid file to convert as dvdmpeg. i opted 1900 mb as the output file size in customise output option. and also opted for 192 ac3 as audio.then i checked onepass constant encoding.it took two hours 20 mmnts to convert . in the end i got mpg of file size 1.64 GB. the audio was 128 kbps only.. where i did mistake? i want to do one pass encoding with the option of customising the output file size (as dvd mpeg.) can i do this with av1demux? | ||
| Danilux posted 2008 Dec 06 01:37 | ||
| Thank you Baldrick. | ||
| kapital posted 2008 Dec 06 12:48 | ||
| When I cut a scene in Avidemux and save it, the name I gave the scene ("scene 1" or whatever else) appears on the clip and interferes with the subtitles. Can I save a scene without the name being stamped on it?
Thank you. | ||
| The Claw posted 2009 Jan 06 22:39 | ||
| After reading this guide I installed "Avidemux 2.4.3 (r4276)" and then tried to open an AVI file. It says "Attempt to open xxx.avi failed".
I am surprised to see such a useless error message come up. What's wrong? | ||
| Ai Haibara posted 2009 Jan 07 00:33 | ||
| Your guess is as good as ours. Perhaps a screenshot of GSpot with the AVI loaded would help us figure out why AVIdemux is having problems with it. | ||
| The Claw posted 2009 Jan 07 05:24 | ||
Here is a screen shot
 | ||
| assman24 posted 2009 Jan 14 17:20 | ||
I had to convert from type 1 AVI to type 2. I used dvdate to do it | ||
| noewayout posted 2009 Jan 15 07:12 | ||
| Hi there,I've just downloaded this avidemux and can't convert any format into vcd format using auto and it keep showing the send error and the program shutdown .I kinda need that format pretty much,so can anyone please tell me how should I do to get NTSC or PAL vcd format ,PLEASE.....
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | ||
| Baldrick posted 2009 Jan 15 09:05 | ||
Use the old good free tmpgenc for vcd conversion. | ||
| jjrdias posted 2009 Jan 17 17:54 | ||
| Hi,
Followed your tutorial, tried to add borders in order to change the definition of an MKV file from 544p to 720p, and also shrink the file using the calculator, but nothing happened - ended up with the same resolution, and same file size. Since i'm something of a noob, any idea why this happened? Any help would be much appreciated Thanks in advance And best wishes. | ||
| noewayout posted 2009 Jan 18 01:30 | ||
| Arrrr..... thanks about the software but I have got another big major problem.I try to cut my dvd 9 vob file into many part and want exact same output video file as it before .Beside I'm using the another video converter to convert the chopped file instead of using form avidemux .My video converter can read that vob dvd9 file before chopped up but after chopping i put the chop file and it said the video doesn't have audio stream and out put won't have audio stream.I can't believe it, can any one help me out | ||
| noewayout posted 2009 Jan 18 01:45 | ||
| "Video converter said the chop up file has no audio stream and video player show no video but audio" WHAT THE HE@# IS GOING ON CAN ANYONE HELP ME OUT I'M GETTING STUCK IN HERE WITH THIS SOFTWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | ||
| manono posted 2009 Jan 18 03:39 | ||
Didn't you say you didn't use AviDemux? So who cares about your problem since it's off topic and you gave no information at all about why you chopped up the VOBs, what you used to chop up the VOBs, what you were trying to use to do the conversion, and what you wanted to convert it to.
If your problem is unrelated to AviDemux, then open another thread about it and stop polluting this one. | ||
| noewayout posted 2009 Jan 21 07:39 | ||
| Arrrrrr......Forget about what I said.I've figured it out by myself .Looks like I missed the format part to change to "mpeg ps(A+V)" to give the same output.No wonder why the output is so mess up,lol. SORRY FOR BOTHER YOU GUYES REALLY. | ||
| Fedde posted 2009 Jan 23 18:54 | ||
| Thanks for the tutorial, it helped me getting started ! I didn't know that I had to type the extention myself, therefore my output could not be opened with any program. | ||
| SilverWav posted 2009 Feb 05 16:42 | ||
| Thanks for the Howto this is just what I needed to get up and running with AviDemux on my Ubuntu 8.10 box.
With DeVeDe and AviDemux I am off to a flying start. If I just want to take the contents of a DVD (lots of VOBS) and turn it in to one file as quickly as possible I have found that AviDemux works a treat: I open the first large VOB and the rest are appended automatically, as per your guide, then I save to avi in a couple of minutes. VIDEO: Copy AUDIO: Copy FORMAT: AVI Can anyone confirm that this is the easiest way? It looks as if this can be done on the command line... which could be useful for automating things... any one got an idea of the command I would need for the above? I am going to to look into this myself but hey why reinvent the wheel ;) | ||
| MassD posted 2009 Feb 18 21:28 | ||
| Somethings a' foul... There is some seriously out of sync audio within the app... and a saved video file that's sans even a whiff of sound.
I load up mpg and go a ways into the video and the audio is several seconds behind the video. And worse yet, if I save a clip, it has no sound. ? | ||
| sumeshkri posted 2009 Mar 15 20:29 | ||
| most of the rmvb ,and wmv files it converts to dvd with <out of synchronisation.>the audio is delayed. | ||
| tendra posted 2009 Mar 16 01:34 | ||
| Hi there guys ,I've just downloaded this program and found out that this is quite a good program and help me alot with most of the video file but there is one flaw that i can't keep using the any filter .What i want to do is to cut the video and try to save it but after i save it file come out the same as before is there anything to do before saving after you cut the video? | ||
| pwright2 posted 2009 Mar 21 21:02 | ||
| The tutorial was exactly what I needed to get started. Thanks. I do have one problem, though. I was simply clipping an AVI file, with both Video and audio set to copy and Format set to AVI. There was no sound during play in AVIDEMUX though it was just fine in the resulting video. Yes, the volume was turned up and I could hear system sounds just fine.
Any idea what the problem was there? I tried an mpg file and got the same lack of sound. -----Paul----- | ||
| kariput posted 2009 Apr 01 12:07 | ||
| Thanks for the tutorial... especially the tip about manually entering the filename extension.
I had downloaded an .AVI file that was causing both WinPlayer and Nero to freeze up in the same places. I tried VirtualDub but it would not open the AVI file - some codec message. I have no working knowledge with codecs and didn't want to invest the time in learning about them just then. So I gave Avidemux a try. Avidemux loaded up my file with no problem and let me cut out a few frames in the problem areas. I ended up with a playable file with what, to me, are a couple of insignificant jitters where the edits were made. I had been planning to use VirtualDub's MASK feature to deal with the bad frames to ensure no loss of audio sync. Avidemux doesn't have this feature, but the sync seems to have come out fine even with the frame deletions. Still, a MASK feature would be nice to have... maybe in a future release. A question: I chose the "Smart Copy" option when the window came up. I later learned that it merely forces a beginning Key-frame where necessary. However, there is a parameter box associated with Smart Copy where you choose an integer from 2-31. I set it at 31, but I have no idea what the parameter controls. Any ideas? | ||
| kariput posted 2009 Apr 01 12:52 | ||
Lord Mulder writes the following in a tutorial on another site: "Why I don't hear sound in Avidemux? In most cases this is simply because you didn't enable sound yet! By default Avidemux's audio output is set to "DUMMY", which means there is no audio output at all. Just go to "Edit" -> "Preferences" and switch to the "Audio" tab. Then change "Audio output" to "WIN32" or whatever suits your OS. Finally click the OK button. Now you should hear sound." | ||
| betocchi posted 2009 Apr 07 22:51 | ||
| Thanks for the helpful tutorial.
I have a question concerning dual audio: I'd like to add a second audio track (background music) to a clip with a primary audio track (voices). I have AviDemux 2.4.4. I select Audio > Secondary track > select then Audio source > External MP3 and choose a file. When I play the output, I just hear the primary track, not the background music. I save the file using the AVI dual audio output, but the resulting file only has the primary audio track. What do I do wrong? | ||
| commander_data posted 2009 Apr 26 12:45 | ||
| Just to help out anyone who hasn't worked it out yet (couple of posts in this thread), to save a file after you have filtered it as the newly filtered version, you have to select a method of video and/or audio encoding other than 'Copy'.
Simple, but a head-scratcher if you didn't realise the original tutorial was changing that drop-down for that particular reason! | ||
| naughty_mage posted 2009 Apr 28 21:27 | ||
| I have to click yes becauese it doesn't like any of my MP4 files encoded with H.264, otherwise when I click no it will crash.
When I get the video edited (just cutting a few minutes off the start and the end of the video) and save in Copy mode, it does it but the output file is garbage and plays too fast. Any ideas why it would do this? I've had to re-encode the videos when I finish editing them, because that's the only way I get an output video that plays properly. The snag is that after re-encoding, the audio and video aren't in synch. the audio's about 2 seconds behind the video for some weird reason. | ||
| mackarel posted 2009 May 07 07:41 | ||
| I am using avidemux 2.4.4. I am trying to split out a piece of video. The beginning of the scene is not a key frame. Can avidemux render that frame properly? I am doing a straight Copy of both video and audio.
Thanks. | ||
| ian4355 posted 2009 May 09 08:51 | ||
| how does one change a 4:3 dvd to a 16:9 without any cuts or anything else? | ||
| Baldrick posted 2009 May 11 12:27 | ||
It's not possible. | ||
| xsupan0va posted 2009 May 11 19:15 | ||
| hey how come i get this message "cannot identify subtitle format" when i try to add a .sub file? | ||
| ian4355 posted 2009 May 18 01:27 | ||
| ian4355 wrote:
how does one change a 4:3 dvd to a 16:9 without any cuts or anything else? Baldrick: It's not possible. I'm sorry I wasn't clear; I have a WS program on my Foxsat box which when archived to DVD doesn't "hold" its aspect ratio. When my Dad plays it on his player, everyone looks tall and skinny! Is there a setting that will let me cure this problem? | ||
| manono posted 2009 May 18 03:12 | ||
A setting where? Oh, AVIdemux? Sorry, don't use it. You can change the DAR of the finished DVD in something like PGCEdit and then reburn it. Open the DVD, right-click the movie and hit Domain Stream Attributes. If in the new screen it says 4:3, change it to 16:9 and Automatic Letterbox. OK back to the main screen, save and test.  | ||
| too2buff posted 2009 May 24 13:26 | ||
| nvm - I love you search engine!!!
how do I fix the audio sync problem in AVIdemux? I'm taking a MPEG-PS file that I need to cut out parts and re-size without re-encoding I selected video COPY audio COPY and Output MPEG-PS i used only a cropping filter but the audio is out of sync what do I do? after I crop and cut the parts that I want do I demux the file and remux it with a syncing program? thanks | ||
| zulubase posted 2009 May 25 03:43 | ||
| Although computer literate, I'm new to video editing, have started to use Avidemux to synchronise audio, after capturing vhs tapes to hdd in avi format using Arcsoft Showbiz2 together with Leadtek VC100U video editor. Having managed to synchronise ok, am finding it confusing to Save the edited video. Have tried to do so in video/audio COPY mode, but only part of the total footage is saved properly, however 17 additional files were created with the same file name/ext(ie .avi01 - avi17) but with the usual icon indication that Windows doesn't recognise it(see attached gif image). I then tried saving the edited file in dvd(lavc) & dvd(mpeg2enc) but that didn't work either.
I would be grateful for some basic info, since I'm only likely to want to capture vhs to hdd in avi, edit audio sync/further edit in Showbiz2 & burn to dvd. Any help will be appreciated, thanks  | ||
| alexkchoi posted 2009 Jun 12 00:41 | ||
| Hi,
I am trying to trim 20 MB from a anime MKV file in order fit into a DVDR. I used avidemux to cut this file and I got a almost good product. The audio and video are perfectly in sync but the subtitle is gone. Did I missed anything? Thanks for any pointer. | ||
| Baldrick posted 2009 Jun 12 02:47 | ||
| alexkchoi: Try cut the mkv using mkvtoolnix instead. Open the mkv and under the Global set the splitting. | ||
| alexkchoi posted 2009 Jun 12 03:09 | ||
| Baldrick,
Thanks a lot for the pointer. This is a lot cleaner. I did try to use MKVextractGUI and avidemux to cut and then MKVmerge again. That works but very messy. This is a lot easier. Thanks | ||
| Shadarr posted 2009 Jun 15 03:53 | ||
| How does one save the settings for future projects?
(Type, Filters, etc as a 'package' to be able to use again) Or do you have to just set everything for each clip/project? Nice little tutorial. :) | ||
| mukhi posted 2009 Jul 03 16:28 | ||
| please take a look at my SS...
i was trying to do x.264 coded MKV video with MP3 audio. when i used calculator in avidemux, i tried to choose 350 MB total for MKV (audio at 128 kbps). i could be able to customize size but not the container! the only option here was AVI, OGM or MPEG. i know avidemux 2.5 supports MKV, but why no MKV option here? another problem was the output obtained was 509 MB although i have selected 350 MB MKV! the output could not be identified by gspot either.  | ||
| Baldrick posted 2009 Jul 03 18:40 | ||
| You should be able to use avi also as just the container(avi,mkv) size shouldn't be that big. Something else must have been wrong. Check with another calculator and see if you get same bitrate values.
And use Mediainfo instead of gspot to identify mkvs. | ||
| mukhi posted 2009 Jul 03 19:01 | ||
mediainfo is great for MKVs, i didn't know that, thanks. but after checking with mediainfo, i can tell you that the MKV output was a success (video looks nice and everything is OK), however, avidemux does not give option to control MKV size so far, although you can select MKV as container, you cannot select MKV profile in "calculator", you can select size, but when the job is done, you can see it is not giving the output size you wanted, for example, i wanted 350 MB, it gave me 509 MB which is a non-std size. i think this is happening as MKV profile could not be selected in calculator. | ||
| ahriman posted 2009 Aug 07 06:38 | ||
| how to clear the "A" and "B" timeline markers? when I choose the option to save video it gives me an error message about the frame and that I need to remove the markers. I tried to remove them but could not.
Avidemux version 2.5.0 windows vista home premium sp2 | ||
| wguru posted 2009 Oct 19 23:51 | ||
| Unless I missed something in skimming this post's strings, it's absolutely unbelievable there seems to be no link for an avidemux user guide, not to mention the post seems at best outdated and at worst, well I won't say as the author did make a fairly good effort. Just as unbelievable, Googling for a user guide is useless (a guide should have been included in the install's folder, it isn't).
Most people are seeking to edit together vobs or mpg's that we get from our files (simply stringing them together to create a basic 10 mins chaptered video TS file for burning and/or backing up our vids. Since apparently most aren't finding avidemux preesemted to us in such a way as to afford most users benefitting by it, looks like I'll still keep looking for the software that I (as most) are needing. Please don't suggest TMGI or whatever that one is, because there again, too confusing. UK Lightening where are you when we need you, ref. Decrypter whose only shortcoming is that it doesn't include rudimentary editing? Anyway, here's a more useful link to a current guide... http://news.softpedia.com/news/Convert-DVD-Video-to-AVI-with-Avid ... 4002.shtml |
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