How to convert .flv (flash video) to .avi or .mpg

[tetsuwan]

oh, addendum to above, FLV metadata finds the codec to be "4." I understand that to be a vp6, could it be sorenson?

Freakin frustratin

[Scorpion King]

if it's FLV4 then my FLV4 conversion method from the previous page should work. Try it and let us know. ok
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1618736&highlight=#1618736

Good luck.

[OSU]

Scorpion King, thank for the excellent guide. I was using a process similar to yours (w/o the filters added). The only issues (and it's kinda major) is that the A/V sync on my completed .avi is off big time. When I dropped the clip on FLVExtract v1.2.0 I get a summary of the conversion... Average Frame Rate: 26.9906 (48880/1811), Estimated True Frame Rate: 29.99880 (754500, 25151). Anyway to correct this so that everything is in synch?

[Scorpion King]

Scorpion King, thank for the excellent guide. I was using a process similar to yours (w/o the filters added). The only issues (and it's kinda major) is that the A/V sync on my completed .avi is off big time. When I dropped the clip on FLVExtract v1.2.0 I get a summary of the conversion... Average Frame Rate: 26.9906 (48880/1811), Estimated True Frame Rate: 29.99880 (754500, 25151). Anyway to correct this so that everything is in synch?

This might help ya. Worked for me.
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1599408&highlight=#1599408

Good luck.

[coondog1234]

Bad news everyone today my Riva FLV encoder died, all i get when i run it is this error thats written in a foreign language maybe ill grab a screenshot of it and post it on here. OK i took a screen grab of the error and here it is its attached to this post

[coondog1234]

Can someone tell me what this error means, im thinking maybe it was a piece of the program that my virus scanner flagged as bad but why would it do that, the only word that i understand out of this error (I speak english) are programm, Virus, and Reinstallieren <-- im thinking this means reinstall the program so i tried that and it didnt work, well im now using super (c) and i can convert most FLV files Directly into iPod videos, havent tested them on the ipod they play in quicktime, they are just a couple of sesame street clips from youtube and a tv commercial, oh and does anyone know what codecs that myspace uses b/c i cant convert their FLVs with riva or super(c). i think tom patched that to allow saving but not converting, God i hate DRM

[Scorpion King]

does anyone know what codecs that myspace uses

I went to myspace.com and clicked on the first video I found at random. It would not play on my computer, nor would AVICodec give me the information on it. GSpot did process the file and reported it as:

File Type: Flash Video (.FLV)
Mime Type: video/x-flv
Compatibility Warning:
- Sorenson Type 8 FLV

I then demultiplexed the file using FLVExtract v1.2.0. GSpot then reported the FLV file as FLV4. I could then play the video and AVICodec could work with it also. AVICodec also reported the video as: FLV4.

To play FLV4, as I said above, simply enable ffdshow for VP6F. After enabling ffdshow VFW to decode VP6F VirtualDub could then open the video stream.

Without using FLVExtract to demultiplex the file I could not play it or open it in VirtualDub. After the demux, and after enabling the proper items in ffdshow, I could play and edit the video.

Also this FLV file contained VBR MP3 audio. Like I said the original would not play on my computer using my normal players. I loaded both my extracted video and my VBR audio into AVIMUX GUI and let it create a new file. This FLV4 (unconverted in any way) file plays in all my players now with no problems.

Good luck.

[celtic_druid]

Sounds like you don't have Gabest's flvsplitter installed (my build has a built in FLV4 decoder). VDub can't directly open any flv's since it contains no flv parser.

[Scorpion King]

Sounds like you don't have Gabest's flvsplitter installed (my build has a built in FLV4 decoder). VDub can't directly open any flv's since it contains no flv parser.

Didn't fix it

[Ai Haibara]

Just as a semi-related side-note: on the SUPER forums, word is that the next version will be released around Christmas, and reportedly handle all types of FLVs that can be found on the net.

(from http://www.w3exchange.com/p1196-2006-12-05-154542.html#p1196 )

ALL the encoding problems related to .flv files will be totally solved with the new version of SUPER(C)
It will be able to handle absolutely any .flv file available on the net.
flv with sorensen, vp5, vp6.. just any.
Please be patient and wait till Xmas.

Hopefully, it'll indeed work for everything.

[suirauqa]

@Scorpion King, you are amazing. Your guide and patient explanations are very detailed and helpful. I even have and use some of the tools you mentioned including VirtualDubMod. However, my problem is twofold. (1) I am looking for an easy fix for converting FLV files to AVI or MPEG or even WMV, the operating word being 'easy' at this moment - sorry don't be exasperated (2) GSpot says that my FLV file is FLV1 (grabbed off YouTube using the VideoDownloader extension in FF2.0); I believe your guide pertains to FLV4s. Would you have any ideas? They are always welcome.

@Baldrick, before you remind me yes, I have used the latest available version of Super (c). However, just as someone mentioned early in this thread, I am getting an audio video mismatch (out of sync). I confess, I was playing Super by the ear - setting the video and audio specifications as best as I could. I hope you can offer me an insight into the default settings. I was going for the AVI container with either DivX or XVid codec and MP3 audio.

I understand from the Super website FAQ that this may be because of a mismatch between the settings of an input FLV and output AVI (or whatever). Does anyone know how to get those settings from an FLV file?

Peace.

suirauqa

EDIT: I forgot to add the I tried someone else's method of changing the .flv extension to .avi, but it did not work (I did not think it would, but just gave it a try all the same ). I also tried VLC Media player's transcoding wizard, trying AVI one time and WMV at another, but ended up with much larger file size (which I don't mind) and pixellated video (which I do).

[Scorpion King]

Converting FLV to AVI or MPG or whatever is easy regardless if it's FLV1 or FLV4 or FLV?????, pretty much the only difference is which decoder to enable in ffdshow.

FLV1 needs the FLV1 decoder enabled in ffdshow in both configuration dialogs because:

1= so it will play on your computer and work in AVICodec
and
2 = so VirtualDubMod can work with the file type.


Here is a ffdshow configuration example: Set FLV1 = libracodec in both dialogs.






If you have FLV4 files then you need to enable ffdshow's decoder for file type VP6F. Enable it by setting VP6F = libavcodec. You must also do both of ffdshow's configuration dialog boxes just like above so you can work the file type in VirtualDubMod.

That is the first step in the process. You should now be able to play your FLV1 files in Media Player Classic.

To get the file into VirtualDubMod you must first demultiplex it. This means to separate the video and audio into separate files (streams). For this process I recommend you use FLVExtract v1.2.0. Download and install this version because it will also work FLV4 files.

FLVExtract is a simple one box program. You open Windows Explorer to the folder containing your FLV file then run FLVExtract. FLVExtract stays on top of explorer. You simply drag and drop your FLV file onto FLVExtract and it will automatically demultiplex it to the same folder. The video will have a file extension of AVI, but it will still be an FLV. The audio will have an MP3 extention (most likely).

FLVExtract in the foreground with Windows Explorer in the background: I drag&drop sample.flv onto FLVExtract and it created the streams and the text file. The video stream has the extention .avi, and the audio extention is MP3. The text file is .txt.



Now that I have my decoder enabled in ffdshow and my FLV file demultiplexed I am now ready for VirtualDubMOD.

Run VirtualDubMod and load in your demuxed FLV video stream (in my case it's sample.avi). Next click "Streams" then "Stream List" then when the box opens click "ADD" and select your demuxed MP3 audio. It will look like this:



Next comes a simple conversion to HuffYuv AVI. Huffy is looseless so you loose no quality in the conversion. The filesize will be large but after this step any of your encoding/editing program will be able to open and work the file type. VirtualDubMOD is a cool program because you can add filters at this point and clean up the video. You can also filter the audio to some extent in the program. You can resize your FLV also in this step, or you can just do the simple conversion to Huffyuv then do all that other editing later.

Click Video - Compression - Select Huffyuv from the list of available compressors (if it is not there you need to download and install it), then click OK.

I also recommend you convert the audio if you are planning on later going to DVD with this file. So once again click "Streams" then "Stream List" then Right-Click your audio stream and select "Full Processing Mode" (because VDM was going to simply stream copy - not convert - your audio), then right click the stream again and choose Conversion. Now choose 48000Hz, 16bit, High Quality, and Stereo. Click OK. Again Right Click your stream and choose compression then choose PCM, then OK the streams list box.

To summarize. We set ffdshow to decode our FLV. We demuxed our FLV using FLVExtract. We have loaded our demuxed video and audio streams into VirtualDubMod. We set the video to convert to Huffyuv avi codec. We set the audio to convert to DVD specs and to convert it to PCM (no compression wav).

Now export your huffyuv avi by clicking File - Save AVI. Give it a new name and go. You should now have a new file that will play in any of your programs.

If you decided to filter and/or resize, etc then you can close-reopen VDM (to clean your changes back to default) and load in your new huffyuv file. I have tried a few different filter arrangements and types but these seemed to work ok. Heres a photo of my filter list. If you don't have them a quick google search will find them easily.



Good luck and hope this helps.

a few other links you might want to look at.
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1599408&highlight=#1599408
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1618736&highlight=#1618736
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1611052&highlight=#1611052


Things that can make this process a little harder are:

VBR (variable bitrate) mp3 audio
This requires full processing mode to pcm in VDM. (just like above). Using my above steps should work ok. As my sample.flv file had VBR mp3 audio and it converted in sync. When you add the vbr mp3 audio VDM will pop-up a dialog box stating such, and since we are going to avi in this conversion selecting "Yes" to this box should be fine.



Non-standard framerates
If your FLV file has a non-standard framerate (other than 29.970 NTSC) and you are planning on going to DVD with the file then you need to add a framerate conversion step to the above. in VDM click Video - Framerate - Framerate conversion - Convert to FPS: and enter 29.970 (for us in the USA). Then OK the box. With the other settings above this should work ok. As my sample.flv file used 30.1fps and it converted fine. I have also did 14.9fps in this fashion (also with VBR audio) and they played in sync and were fine.

Since I am no master of FLV conversion (and don't claim to be) this process may not work on all your FLV files. It has been working fine on the FLV files I have converted so far. lol

[qiaoxinger]

SPAM

[misaki712]

Can Super convert FLV files that are greater than 1:00?

[fltk]

Bad news everyone today my Riva FLV encoder died, all i get when i run it is this error thats written in a foreign language maybe ill grab a screenshot of it and post it on here. OK i took a screen grab of the error and here it is its attached to this post

The error message is written i german. It means that your program is corrupted, possible because of a virus or a bad sector on the HDD. Please reinstall the program.

[MrLeone]

Hi guys! Im new here and have tried to search for my problem, but can`t find anything about it..

Im using this program http://www.alloksoft.com/images/wmv-main.gif to encode my movie files before I use change them to .flv files.. BUT the only problem I get is that the sound is slower then the pics.. So when someone talk on the movie, I see the pics before I hear the sound...

I have tried and tried, but cant fint where the problem is..
It must be the encoder http://www.alloksoft.com/images/wmv-main.gif program because its ok before but when its done it has change..

Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance!

[sharewareguide]

I like to SPAM

You are in breach of the forum rules and are being issued with a formal warning.
/ Moderator Baldrick

[gat_]

Why to download softwares ?

Just enter the YouTube URL and choose between downloading it in FLV or AVI file format.

http://virginie.mathey.co.uk/index.php?Seulement-lui_tools

Gaetan

[Biuk88]

Play the file with FLV Player then convert it with RAD Video Tools. Both of these tools are free. RAD Video Tools can convert almost all video files and you can change codecs, quality etc.
Tool links:
http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm
http://www.download.com/FLV-Player/3000-2139_4-10467081.html

[mhorse]

a very popular thread.

[milkgal]

Hello,
I am having trouble with video/audio sync when converting a FLV file to AVI (or MPG). I've tried both Total Video Converter and SUPER and always get the video about 15-20 seconds ahead of the audio.

I've tried to match the fps from the input file to the output file and have tried lots of different combos on SUPER...

I would really appreciate any advice that you are willing to offer!

Thank you

[ahlm77]

Is there any simpler way to convert FLV to WMV?
I am having a problem when trying to convert some files using SUPER (version 22). It has perfect audio/video sync, but the output file always stops 2 seconds before it finished encoding. Any ideas how to fix it?
I'd appreciate some suggestions

[MrLeone]

http://www.zzztech.com/flv-to-avi-converter/

[the-unknown]

ok i converted a file and it works on vlc media player
but when i try to import it into movie maker to edit, it says this:
"could not be imported. The required codec was not downloaded automatically because the Download codecs automatically check box is not selected in the Options dialog box."

i dont know what this means
can anyone help??

[Baldrick]

the-unknown: PLEASE give us more information. Converted to what video format? mpg or avi? and if avi what video and audio codec.

[shane3029]

I'm useing super, from top to bottom, what would be the best settings on everything to convert flv files to divx, retaining video quality and sound, but compressing the video down. I try doing it, but end up with ridiculously huge files, I'm kind of new to encoding video, so I know I'm just missing something. But I would appreciate the help. I also have Total Video Converter, but even that yields some large video files. For example 1 minute of video might be 8 megs, but the flv might only be 1 meg. Any suggestions would help. Thanks

[amie17]

hi thanks for all the great help in this topic!
so far, i have downloaded an flv file from youtube. i can play this fine in an flv player. but what i want to do is convert it to avi so i can open it in movie maker and media player. i've got the riva flv encoder, and i used the help here to convert my flv file to avi, but when i try and play it there is sound but no video in media player. i saw that this had happened to someone else here, but i tried both solutions offered - total video converter= the download doesn't seem to be availabe from that link anymore, and super= for some reason my computer won't download it.
i don't understand what is meant when people say to convert it to an mpeg file also and then mux them, i get the theory, but not how?
the other thing i don't understand is what ffmpeg is, and it's mentioned quite a lot, so seems to maybe be vital to what i want to do?
if it affects anything, i use divx.
so can anyone help me with how to get picture for my video?

[Anggie]

can someone please help me? I have downloaded Super but I have no idea using it

[selig ehgit]

Hi guys,
I am a relative novice at using the various software programs for converting flv files to avi files and I have tried using the riva program,replay converter program etc..I even have tried using the SUPER program but I am only getting an audio conversion.Can somebody outline the way to use the SUPER program correctly.I am trying to transfer flv files onto my Creative MP3 player.
Ta,
Selig

[marcusmd]

thanks to scorpionking for the info about AVIMux_GUI however there still can be some problems

the fix

use 'FLV Extract' to demux the audio and video
load the demuxed video and audio files into AVIMux_GUI
IF AVIMux_GUI reports the .mp3 audio file as a VBR then you will get A/V sync problems with some players*
Load the .mp3 file into 'lamedropXPd' and it will make a .wav file of the audio**
Load the .wav file into 'lamedropXPd' and it will make a .mp3 (CBR) file of the audio
Mux the video and CBR audio with AVIMux_GUI to make an .avi

this .avi is now playable in media players (you may need 'ffdshow' to view if you don't have the correct codecs AND this .avi is easily loaded into 'VirtualDub' and can be converted into the format you desire)


*the problem was some of these files obtained were VBR and converting them into Divx to play on my DVD media player caused A/V sync errors and other problems ... making the audio into CBR and using AVIMux_GUI (over VirtualDubMod to remux) fixed this
**set lamedropXPd to "restrict encoder to CBR" and target bitrate of 128