Skip to content
Browse

/compat/ffmpeg/ffmpeg-codecs-containers

Which codec in which container? MP4, WebM, MKV, MOV with FFmpeg

verified onenvironmentlocal · windows 10.0.26200 arm64 · GNU bash 5.3.15 (Git Bash) · ffmpeg version 9.0.2-full_build-www.gyan.devupdated 2026-10-20
tool
FFmpeg
versions
FFmpeg 9.0
os
any

A container (MP4, WebM, MKV, MOV) is a wrapper; the codec inside decides the format of the audio and video data. FFmpeg 9 writes H.264, H.265, VP9 and AV1 video and AAC, MP3, Opus, Vorbis, FLAC and PCM audio into MP4; WebM accepts only VP8, VP9 and AV1 video and Vorbis or Opus audio; MKV holds almost any codec.

Tested with FFmpeg 9.0

Each cell below is the result of encoding a short generated stream into that container:

bash
for c in libx264:mp4 libx264:webm libx264:mkv libvpx-vp9:mp4 libvpx-vp9:webm libaom-av1:mp4 libsvtav1:webm \
         aac:mp4 aac:webm libopus:mp4 libopus:webm libmp3lame:mp4 libvorbis:mp4 flac:mp4 pcm_s16le:mp4 pcm_s16le:mov; do
  codec=${c%%:*}; ext=${c##*:}
  case $codec in
    aac|libopus|libmp3lame|libvorbis|flac|pcm_s16le) src="-f lavfi -i sine=duration=0.5"; opt="-c:a $codec" ;;
    *) src="-f lavfi -i testsrc=size=64x64:duration=0.5"; opt="-c:v $codec" ;;
  esac
  if ffmpeg -hide_banner -loglevel quiet $src $opt -y "t.$ext"; then r=ok; else r=rejected; fi
  printf '%-11s in %-5s %s\n' "$codec" "$ext" "$r"
done

Output

libx264     in mp4   ok
libx264     in webm  rejected
libx264     in mkv   ok
libvpx-vp9  in mp4   ok
libvpx-vp9  in webm  ok
libaom-av1  in mp4   ok
Svt[info]: -------------------------------------------
Svt[info]: SVT [version]:	SVT-AV1 Encoder Lib v4.2.0-123-g0c1c4deca
Svt[info]: SVT [build]  :	GCC 16.2.0	 64 bit
Svt[info]: LIB Build date: Sep 13 2026 12:03:46
Svt[info]: -------------------------------------------
Svt[info]: Level of Parallelism: 4
Svt[info]: Number of PPCS 107
Svt[info]: [asm level on system : up to avx2]
Svt[info]: [asm level selected : up to avx2]
Svt[info]: -------------------------------------------
Svt[info]: SVT [config]: main profile	tier (auto)	level (auto)
Svt[info]: SVT [config]: width / height / fps numerator / fps denominator 		: 64 / 64 / 25 / 1
Svt[info]: SVT [config]: bit-depth / color format 					: 8 / YUV420
Svt[info]: SVT [config]: preset / tune / pred struct 					: 8 / PSNR / random access
Svt[info]: SVT [config]: gop size / mini-gop size / key-frame type 			: 161 / 32 / key frame
Svt[info]: SVT [config]: BRC mode / rate factor 					: CRF / 35.00
Svt[info]: SVT [config]: AQ mode / Variance Boost 					: 2 / 0
Svt[info]: SVT [config]: sharpness / luminance-based QP bias 				: 0 / 0
Svt[info]: SVT [config]: QP scale compress strength 					: 0
Svt[info]: -------------------------------------------
libsvtav1   in webm  ok
aac         in mp4   ok
aac         in webm  rejected
libopus     in mp4   ok
libopus     in webm  ok
libmp3lame  in mp4   ok
libvorbis   in mp4   ok
flac        in mp4   ok
pcm_s16le   in mp4   ok
pcm_s16le   in mov   ok

Summary

CodecMP4WebMMKVBrowser playback
H.264 (libx264)yesnoyesMP4: all major browsers
VP9 (libvpx-vp9)yesyesyesWebM: all major browsers
AV1 (libaom-av1, libsvtav1)yesyesyesrecent browsers
AACyesnoyesMP4: all major browsers
OpusyesyesyesWebM and MP4 in recent browsers
MP3yesnoyesyes
PCM (WAV audio)yesnoyesno (in MP4)

The MP4 and WebM columns for H.264, VP9, AV1, AAC, Opus and PCM are from the test above; the MKV and browser columns come from the Matroska codec list and browser documentation.

Sources

Related pages

errors · ffmpegffmpeg: Unknown encoder 'libx264' (Encoder not found)ffmpeg prints Unknown encoder when the codec name is misspelled or the build lacks that library, such as libx264 or libfdk_aac. List them with -encoders.commands · ffmpegffmpeg: extract audio from a video (with and without re-encoding)Extract audio with ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -c:a copy audio.m4a without re-encoding, or make an MP3 with -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 2. Check codecs with ffprobe.compare · ffmpegffmpeg -c copy vs re-encoding: speed, quality and limits-c copy remuxes streams without decoding: fast and lossless, but cuts snap to keyframes and filters are impossible. Re-encoding is slower, lossy, flexible.