i tried using mencoder to encode some files using lavc (mpeg4). I followed the mmplayer man pages and documentation, and produced xvid files that were playable by mplayer, but no other player. Xine, totem, and no Windows media players could recognize it.

I later experimented, and found the problem was that I didn't include the option -ffourcc XVID (-ffourcc dvix also works). That seemed to fix everything.

I have a number of questions:

1. If that option is so important, why is it not featured or even included in the mplayer documentation?

2. what does ffourcc do? Does it produce some sort of label or tag for video players to identify?

3. what ffourcc label do i give to mpeg1 and mpeg2 video files?

from "man mencoder":The fourcc is defined here: http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/terms/fourcc.cfm

The problem you have is odd. I have made divx files that are playable in mplayer, xine, totem, kaboodle, etc. I haven't tried wmp, though. Perhaps you could list the full command you use?

thanks for your reply.


I followed the documentation quite closely and used the following

mencoder in.avi -o out.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:autoaspect -oac mp3lame

I kept things simple just to ge things to work, but i consistently ran into problems. only mplayer could play the files.

I also noticed in Gnome that the nautilus file manager, which usually shows a preview snapshot of video files, did not show such a preview for my mencoded files.

In any case, this is just a gripe by me. The problem seems to be solved by expressly setting ffourcc.

You might try setting the video and audio bit rates explicitly. Here is an example of a command I use:The above (if I remembered the command exactly) produces files playable in other linux media players. The main difference from yours is that I explicity set the video and audio bit rates.