What's the best free program for converting any video format to WebM?

[Bruce Wayne]

I've tried three or four different programs, one or two I had to pay for, and I just cannot figure it out. No matter what program, no matter what setting I try, I always end up with the colour going funny, or the video blurring up, or slow video that stops and starts, or audio problems. The volume suddenly goes up at the end or a sound that sounds fine in the original video is weirdly amplified. Can someone please tell me what program I should be using and how to set it?

[LigH.de]

There is no program which can convert all existing formats. And there is no program which cannot be used in a wrong way.

I could recommend a few tools (e.g. MeGUI, Hybrid, several ffmpeg based tools ...); but that doesn't tell me which you already used and how you set them up, and I guess there is a way to use them correctly to get convenient results.

[Bruce Wayne]

There is no program which can convert all existing formats.

Well that sucks.

I could recommend a few tools (e.g. MeGUI, Hybrid, several ffmpeg based tools ...); but that doesn't tell me which you already used and how you set them up, and I guess there is a way to use them correctly to get convenient results.

Thanks. I'll try out your recommendations and post back. I'm not keen on using ffmpeg though. I just tried it with one video, worked fine. But then when I tried it with another, the image was all blurry and pixelated. I'm trying to find a program that can give me the same quality at the same settings on different formats.

EDIT: Why is this post #0? Is there a glitch on the forum?

EDIT: Now it's #3.

EDIT: MeGUI doesn't convert to WebM. Only MP4, MKV, and RAWAVC.

[LigH.de]

It is obviously easier to blame a program than to report exactly the attributes of the source video (e.g. using MediaInfo) and the complete setup of the encoder (e.g. using a log file created by its GUI). If ffmpeg did a good job for one video, then you possibly used it wrong for the other if that result was worse.

In general: Different source videos probably will need different settings. Especially if the encoder supports only a target bitrate mode, but no "constant quality loss" mode; and vpxenc seems not, at least I could not find a matching parameter. Videos with more action or larger dimensions will need more bitrate for a similar quality than rather still or rather small videos.

Regarding MeGUI: Sorry, my bad, it does not support vpxenc, indeed. But StaxRip x64 does support VP9 and WebM (a special subset of MKV, by the way).

[JVRaines]

I'm trying to find a program that can give me the same quality at the same settings on different formats.

Use constant quality mode in ffmpeg's VP9 encoder. (details)

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx-vp9 -crf 10 -b:v 0 -c:a libvorbis output.webm

[pandy]

@ffmpeg -y -color_range 2 -i %1 -an -c:v libvpx-vp9 -b:v 0 -crf 47 -speed 0 -tile-columns 0 -frame-parallel 0 -auto-alt-ref 1 -lag-in-frames 25 -g 9999 -aq-mode 0 -vf "tblend=all_mode=average,decimate=cycle=2,eq=contrast=256/220:saturation=256/240,hqdn3d=luma_spatial=16:chroma_spatial=16:luma_tmp=8:chroma_tmp=8,scale='if(gt(a,4/3),144,-8)':'if(gt(a,4/3),-8,144)':sws_flags=spline" -dash 0 %~n1_.webm

Above one is for small video (thumbnails) size.

[Bruce Wayne]

It is obviously easier to blame a program than to report exactly the attributes of the source video (e.g. using MediaInfo) and the complete setup of the encoder (e.g. using a log file created by its GUI). If ffmpeg did a good job for one video, then you possibly used it wrong for the other if that result was worse.

In general: Different source videos probably will need different settings. Especially if the encoder supports only a target bitrate mode, but no "constant quality loss" mode; and vpxenc seems not, at least I could not find a matching parameter. Videos with more action or larger dimensions will need more bitrate for a similar quality than rather still or rather small videos.

Regarding MeGUI: Sorry, my bad, it does not support vpxenc, indeed. But StaxRip x64 does support VP9 and WebM (a special subset of MKV, by the way).

Thanks for all the info. I gave StaxRip a go but it couldn't seem to give me really high quality WebMs that played smoothly. I tried Hybrid also but I couldn't figure it out, and I can't find a user guide for it. I eventually found a free version of Sothink Video Converter that does the trick as long as I have the bit rate set to 8000 Kbps.

[Bruce Wayne]

I'm trying to find a program that can give me the same quality at the same settings on different formats.

Use constant quality mode in ffmpeg's VP9 encoder. (details)

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx-vp9 -crf 10 -b:v 0 -c:a libvorbis output.webm

Thanks. I tried that but I had a lot of problems with it. Even at a low quality setting, a test WebM wouldn't play smoothly, flashed odd frames, and, if I had the WebM on loop, often showed a looping symbol in the centre when the video ended.

[LigH.de]

Once again, don't blame the programs.

You are still not telling us how you set up each program, in detail.

And you still did not even tell us the details of the video to be converted (Width and height? Frame rate? Possibly interlaced content?), and the hardware specs of the system which should play the video (decoding VP9 can take a lot more CPU time than decoding H.264).

[KarMa]

WebMConverter is great software, and accepts avisynth. Supports just about any video, and can encode to VP8/VP9 Webm.

[Bruce Wayne]

@ffmpeg -y -color_range 2 -i %1 -an -c:v libvpx-vp9 -b:v 0 -crf 47 -speed 0 -tile-columns 0 -frame-parallel 0 -auto-alt-ref 1 -lag-in-frames 25 -g 9999 -aq-mode 0 -vf "tblend=all_mode=average,decimate=cycle=2,eq=contrast=256/220:saturation=256/240,hqdn3d=luma_spatial=16:chroma_spatial=16:luma_tmp=8:chroma_tmp=8,scale='if(gt(a,4/3),144,-8)':'if(gt(a,4/3),-8,144)':sws_flags=spline" -dash 0 %~n1_.webm

Above one is for small video (thumbnails) size.

Cheers.

[Bruce Wayne]

Once again, don't blame the programs.

You are still not telling us how you set up each program, in detail.

And you still did not even tell us the details of the video to be converted (Width and height? Frame rate? Possibly interlaced content?), and the hardware specs of the system which should play the video (decoding VP9 can take a lot more CPU time than decoding H.264).

Well I can give you my hardware specs if you want them because they haven't changed but I can't give you details of every program and every video I tried. I was experimenting for about a week using about a half a dozen different videos, a dozen different programs, and about a half a dozen different setting combinations on each. And I wasn't taking note of any of it. Just random trial and error.

[Bruce Wayne]

WebMConverter is great software, and accepts avisynth. Supports just about any video, and can encode to VP8/VP9 Webm.

Cheers. I'll check it out.

EDIT: Ah, it's just basically an ffmpeg GUI. Thanks anyway. Sothink Video Converter, at 8000 Kbps, is working fine for me now.

[Bruce Wayne]

I'm trying to find a program that can give me the same quality at the same settings on different formats.

Use constant quality mode in ffmpeg's VP9 encoder. (details)

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx-vp9 -crf 10 -b:v 0 -c:a libvorbis output.webm

Thanks. I tried that but I had a lot of problems with it. Even at a low quality setting, a test WebM wouldn't play smoothly, flashed odd frames, and, if I had the WebM on loop, often showed a looping symbol in the centre when the video ended.

My bad. Turns out I had hardware acceleration turned off. Still get problems with the audio when I encode this way though. A slight break in the sound when I play directly in browser, and weird noises when I play through MPC-HC. Anyway, doesn't really matter. As I've said a couple of times, I've got Sothink working fine now.