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Capture video of a linux desktop

Terminal - Capture video of a linux desktop
ffmpeg -f x11grab -s wxga -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq /tmp/out.mpg
2009-02-05 17:23:43
User: wwest4
223
Up
Down
Capture video of a linux desktop
Add to favourites | Report as malicious

Alternatives

There are 2 alternatives - vote for the best!

Terminal - Alternatives
ffmpeg -f x11grab -r 25 -s 800x600 -i :0.0 /tmp/outputFile.mpg
2009-06-05 21:11:17
User: dcabanis
Tags: video X11 ffmpeg
40
Up
Down
Record a screencast and convert it to an mpeg

Grab X11 input and create an MPEG at 25 fps with the resolution 800x600

Comments (2) | Add to favourites | Report as malicious
ffmpeg -y -f alsa -ac 2 -i pulse -f x11grab -r 30 -s `xdpyinfo | grep 'dimensions:'|awk '{print $2}'` -i :0.0 -acodec pcm_s16le output.wav -an -vcodec libx264 -vpre lossless_ultrafast -threads 0 output.mp4
2010-11-19 09:31:56
User: NoahY
Functions: awk grep
8
Up
Down
Capture video of a linux desktop

Proper screencast with audio using ffmpeg and x264, as per http://verb3k.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/how-to-do-proper-screencasts-on-linux/

Comments (0) | Add to favourites | Report as malicious
ffmpeg -f x11grab -s `xdpyinfo | grep 'dimensions:'|awk '{print $2}'` -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq /tmp/out.mpg > /root/howto/capture_screen_video_ffmpeg
2010-03-27 21:31:34
User: brubaker
Functions: awk grep
Tags: ffmpeg awk
5
Up
Down
Capture video of a linux desktop
Comments (0) | Add to favourites | Report as malicious

Know a better way?

If you can do better, submit your command here.

What others think

hmm... wtf? :

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s sxga -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq ~/tst.mpg

FFmpeg version r11872+debian_3:0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.

configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-x11grab --prefix=/usr --enable-libgsm --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --disable-strip --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaadbin --enable-liba52 --enable-liba52bin --enable-libdc1394 --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-altivec--disable-vis --enable-shared --disable-static

libavutil version: 49.6.0

libavcodec version: 51.50.0

libavformat version: 52.7.0

libavdevice version: 52.0.0

built on Oct 3 2008 22:40:31, gcc: 4.3.2

[x11grab @ 0xb7ec4388]device: :0.0 -> display: :0.0 x: 0 y: 0 width: 1280 height: 1024

No protocol specified

[x11grab @ 0xb7ec4388]Could not open X display.

:0.0: I/O error occured

Usually that means that input file is truncated and/or corrupted.

Sad -:( now I have to read mans...

Comment by GreyCardinal 223 weeks and 6 days ago

FFmpeg version r11872+debian_3:0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.

configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-x11grab --prefix=/usr --enable-libgsm --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --disable-strip --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaadbin --enable-liba52 --enable-liba52bin --enable-libdc1394 --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-altivec --disable-vis --enable-shared --disable-static

libavutil version: 49.6.0

libavcodec version: 51.50.0

libavformat version: 52.7.0

libavdevice version: 52.0.0

built on Oct 3 2008 22:40:31, gcc: 4.3.2

[x11grab @ 0xb7f8f388]device: :0.0 -> display: :0.0 x: 0 y: 0 width: 1366 height: 768

[x11grab @ 0xb7f8f388]shared memory extension found

X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)

Major opcode of failed request: 148 (MIT-SHM)

Minor opcode of failed request: 4 (X_ShmGetImage)

Serial number of failed request: 9

Current serial number in output stream: 9

Doesn't work for me too

Comment by manspaceunix 223 weeks and 3 days ago

I confirm that it doesn't work on Ubuntu Intrepid (ffmpeg version r11872+debian_3:0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3). I get the same trace as manspaceunix. It's because you haven't set the size to fit your needs. For example, my screen is 1024x768, so instead of "-s sxga", I have to use "-s xga" and it does it.

Comment by raphink 222 weeks and 2 days ago

Hmm, actually, I ended up using

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s sxga -r 24 -i :0.0 /tmp/out.mpg

on Ubuntu Intrepid and it works, although I find that the result blinks horribly.

Comment by raphink 222 weeks and 2 days ago

you can also use -s XxY, for example i use -s 1680x1050 on my machine.

Or, assuming you have randr, use this for the general case:

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s `xrandr | grep "Screen 0" | awk '{ print $8 }'`x`xrandr | grep "Screen 0" | awk '{ print $10 }' | sed 's/,.*//'` -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq /tmp/out.mpg

Comment by skibrianski 221 weeks and 1 day ago

Seemed to have the same video quality as gtk-recordmydesktop, but with a crappier mouse pointer.

Comment by Vadi 221 weeks and 1 day ago

This works on machines without gtk-recordmydesktop (ubuntu doesn't have it, not to mention kde, xfce, etc. based environments)

Comment by skibrianski 221 weeks and 1 day ago

Also, recordmydesktop doesn't work well with compiz.

Comment by skibrianski 221 weeks and 1 day ago

I've used vlc in the past to record like this... Open screen:// with vlc and use its streaming features to save it.

Comment by Viaken 219 weeks and 2 days ago

looks the same with this command http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/1618/record-your-desktop

Comment by tristan_ph 217 weeks ago

I found the video looks better if played back on a different computer.

Also if you don't know the size of your scree and want to record the whole thing this variation works well.

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s `xdpyinfo | grep 'dimensions:'|awk '{print $2}'` -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq /tmp/out.mpg

Comment by mluich 212 weeks ago

Doesn't work in my Ubuntu 8.04

FFmpeg version SVN-rUNKNOWN, Copyright (c) 2000-2007 Fabrice Bellard, et al.

configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-pthreads --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libogg --enable-libgsm --enable-dc1394 --disable-debug --enable-shared --prefix=/usr

libavutil version: 1d.49.3.0

libavcodec version: 1d.51.38.0

libavformat version: 1d.51.10.0

built on Mar 16 2009 21:16:26, gcc: 4.2.4 (Ubuntu 4.2.4-1ubuntu3)

Unknown input or output format: x11grab

Comment by tr0k0l0 209 weeks and 5 days ago

Debian: may abort ("ffmpeg: symbol lookup error: ffmpeg: undefined symbol: ffm_nopts") if you use the debian-multimedia.org repository

See http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=489209

Comment by natmaka 201 weeks ago

this is what worked for me on debian unstable and...

FFmpeg version SVN-r20547, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.

built on Nov 18 2009 19:13:44 with gcc 4.3.4

configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-cflags='-Wall -g ' --cc='ccache cc' --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-libfaad --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libgsm --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libtheora --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libspeex --enable-nonfree --disable-stripping --enable-avfilter --enable-libdirac --disable-decoder=libdirac --enable-libschroedinger --disable-encoder=libschroedinger --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-version3 --disable-altivec --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-vis

libavutil 50. 4. 0 / 50. 4. 0

libavcodec 52.41. 0 / 52.41. 0

libavformat 52.39. 2 / 52.39. 2

libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0

libavfilter 1. 8. 0 / 1. 8. 0

libswscale 0. 7. 1 / 0. 7. 1

libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s 1440x900 -r 15 -i :0 -vcodec libx264 -vpre normal -threads 0 ~/videofile.mp4

Comment by nadavkav 182 weeks ago

Your point of view

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