How to join mp4 files , when there encoding settings are different ?

[zyck]

Hello!

I have read a lot of topics here about this and I'm not sure if my problem is different but I'm trying a different approach.

I have a intro file with this settings

General
Complete name               : intro.mp4
Format                      : MPEG-4
Format profile              : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID                    : mp42 (isom/mp41/mp42)
File size                   : 592 KiB
Duration                    : 6 s 960 ms
Overall bit rate mode       : Variable
Overall bit rate            : 697 kb/s

Video
ID                          : 2
Format                      : AVC
Format/Info                 : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile              : High@L3.1
Format settings             : CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC      : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames   : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP        : M=1, N=30
Codec ID                    : avc1
Codec ID/Info               : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                    : 6 s 960 ms
Bit rate mode               : Variable
Bit rate                    : 555 kb/s
Maximum bit rate            : 768 kb/s
Width                       : 1 280 pixels
Height                      : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio        : 16:9
Frame rate mode             : Constant
Frame rate                  : 25.000 FPS
Color space                 : YUV
Chroma subsampling          : 4:2:0
Bit depth                   : 8 bits
Scan type                   : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)          : 0.024
Stream size                 : 472 KiB (80%)
Title                       : Core Media Video
Color range                 : Limited
Color primaries             : BT.709
Transfer characteristics    : BT.709
Matrix coefficients         : BT.709

Audio
ID                          : 1
Format                      : AAC
Format/Info                 : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile              : LC
Codec ID                    : mp4a-40-2
Duration                    : 6 s 960 ms
Source duration             : 7 s 19 ms
Bit rate mode               : Constant
Bit rate                    : 119 kb/s
Nominal bit rate            : 128 kb/s
Channel(s)                  : 2 channels
Channel positions           : Front: L R
Sampling rate               : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                  : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode            : Lossy
Stream size                 : 101 KiB (17%)
Source stream size          : 101 KiB (17%)
Title                       : Core Media Audio
Language                    : English

and an original file with this settings

General
Complete name                            : original.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size                                : 447 MiB
Duration                                 : 22 min 58 s
Overall bit rate                         : 2 721 kb/s
Writing application                      : Lavf58.29.100

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 2 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 22 min 57 s
Bit rate                                 : 2 589 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 25.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.112
Stream size                              : 425 MiB (95%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 157 r2969 d4099dd
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x3 / me=dia / subme=3 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=8 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=0 / rc=crf / mbtree=0 / crf=24.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=3000 / vbv_bufsize=3000 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=0.71 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00
Language                                 : English
Menus                                    : 3
Codec configuration box                  : avcC

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : mp4a-40-2
Duration                                 : 22 min 58 s
Duration_LastFrame                       : -6 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 128 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate                               : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 21.1 MiB (5%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Alternate group                          : 1
Menus                                    : 3

Menu #1
ID                                       : 3
Codec ID                                 : text
Duration                                 : 22 min 58 s
Language                                 : English
Bit rate mode                            : CBR
Menu For                                 : 1,2
00:00:00.000                             : 00:00:00.000
00:06:24.426                             : 00:06:24.426
00:15:49.115                             : 00:15:49.115
00:21:37.671                             : 00:21:37.671
00:22:29.557                             : 00:22:29.557
Bit rate mode                            : Constant

Menu #2
00:00:00.000                             : 00:00:00.000
00:06:24.426                             : 00:06:24.426
00:15:49.115                             : 00:15:49.115
00:21:37.671                             : 00:21:37.671
00:22:29.557                             : 00:22:29.557

I would like to join those files without re-encoding.
The question is , how do I encode only the "intro" video to match the original video settings.
What should I change and how ?

When I try to join them via ffmeg with this command :ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i mylist.txt -ma
p 0 -c copy output.mp4

I get this :

[mp4 @ 0000005cd1956880] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 6292
75, current: 580211; changing to 629276. This may result in incorrect timestamps
 in the output file.
[mp4 @ 0000005cd1956880] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 6293
71, current: 629363; changing to 629372. This may result in incorrect timestamps
 in the output file.
...
 in the output file.
frame=14308 fps=14299 q=-1.0 size=  184576kB time=00:08:45.78 bitrate=2875.8kbit
frame=26852 fps=17890 q=-1.0 size=  364800kB time=00:16:26.77 bitrate=3028.5kbit
frame=34610 fps=19088 q=-1.0 Lsize=  458152kB time=00:21:12.85 bitrate=2948.6kbi
ts/s speed= 702x
video:435465kB audio:21684kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB m
uxing overhead: 0.219454%

[LigH.de]

If a timestamp gap is the only concern, and everything else matches good enough ... timestamps can be recreated continuously.

[zyck]

I have fixed the timestamp by re-encoding the intro to match the same encoding proprieties.
But now I have another problem with adding the same intro to multiple files.

In mylist.txt are

file 'intro.mp4'
file 'original.mp4'

and I use this command for a single file.

ffmpeg>ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i mylist.txt -map 0 -c copy outputoriginal1.mp4

I would like to add to mylist.txt multiple files to add the same intro to those files.

file 'intro.mp4'
file 'newfile1.mp4
file 'intro.mp4'
file 'newfile2.mp4'
file 'intro.mp4'
file 'newfile3.mp4'

and so on.

and the output to be

outputnewfile1.mp4,outputnewfile2.mp4,outputnewfil e3.mp4

[ProWo]

Try with My MP4Box GUI

[zyck]

I have tried , and the weird thing is that when I'm joining the files the audio of the second file is not there.
But it worked with MkXToolNix Gui and it takes a lot of time when you have to add intro to 100 vids.
I will be glad and others who read this topic for a easier method using ffmpeg for multiple files.

[jagabo]

I have tried , and the weird thing is that when I'm joining the files the audio of the second file is not there.
But it worked with MkXToolNix Gui and it takes a lot of time when you have to add intro to 100 vids.

The GUI can show you the command line equivalent. You could use that to build a batch file that uses mkvmerge.

Here's an example of an batch file that will use MkvMerge to prepend intro.mp4 to each file of the form newfile*.mp4 to create a new file called newfile*.mkv:

for %%F in (newfile*.mp4) do (
    "G:/Program Files/mkvtoolnix\mkvmerge.exe" ^
    --output "%%~dpnF.mkv" ^
    "%%~dpF\intro.mp4" ^
    + "%%~dpnxF" ^
    --append-to 1:0:0:0
)
pause

Put that in a folder and all the MP4 files will be muxed to new MKV files. Change the path to mkvmerge.exe as necessary. You may need to modify other command line options depending on what's necessary to append your files. I tested with mp4 file with only video. And the video was encoded with two different AVC encoders with different settings (otherwise the same video). Mkvmerge warned that there was a mis-match between the videos but continued to append them. And the new mkv file play properly.

[zyck]

Thanks ! It worked !

[jagabo]

Be sure to check the new MKV files carefully. Some players might crash when playing them. Or the audio may lose sync with the video. Etc.

[gta5]

any other software