Ffmpeg x265 error: "Color Primaries must be", "Transfer Characteristics must be", "Matrix Coefficients must be"

Question

I'm trying to do the following conversion:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -map 0 -c copy -c:v libx265 -crf 30 -vf "scale=-1:\'min(720,ih)\'" -c:a libopus -b:a 44k -map_metadata 0 -loglevel error -hide_banner video.mkv

This works fine except for a specific video. I'm getting the following output:

x265 [info]: HEVC encoder version 3.5+39-7c7ea0a4b
x265 [info]: build info [Windows][GCC 12.1.0][64 bit] 8bit+10bit+12bit
x265 [info]: using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX
x265 [error]: Color Primaries must be unknown, bt709, bt470m, bt470bg, smpte170m, smpte240m, film, bt2020, smpte-st-428, smpte-rp-431 or smpte-eg-432
x265 [error]: Transfer Characteristics must be unknown, bt709, bt470m, bt470bg, smpte170m, smpte240m, linear, log100, log316, iec61966-2-4, bt1361e, iec61966-2-1, bt2020-10, bt2020-12, smpte-st-2084, smpte-st-428 or arib-std-b67
x265 [error]: Matrix Coefficients must be unknown, bt709, fcc, bt470bg, smpte170m, smpte240m, gbr, ycgco, bt2020nc, bt2020c, smpte-st-2085, chroma-nc, chroma-c or ictcp
[libx265 @ 00000000005a2940] Cannot open libx265 encoder.

Can't find a single result when I google the first error text, ffmpeg "Color Primaries must be unknown"

This is the verbose output:

ffmpeg version 2022-06-16-git-5242ede48d-full_build-www.gyan.dev Copyright (c) 2000-2022 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 11.3.0 (Rev1, Built by MSYS2 project)
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-static --disable-w32threads --disable-autodetect --enable-fontconfig --enable-iconv --enable-gnutls --enable-libxml2 --enable-gmp --enable-bzlib --enable-lzma --enable-libsnappy --enable-zlib --enable-librist --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libzmq --enable-avisynth --enable-libbluray --enable-libcaca --enable-sdl2 --enable-libdav1d --enable-libdavs2 --enable-libuavs3d --enable-libzvbi --enable-librav1e --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libaom --enable-libjxl --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libvpx --enable-mediafoundation --enable-libass --enable-frei0r --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-liblensfun --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libzimg --enable-amf --enable-cuda-llvm --enable-cuvid --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-nvdec --enable-nvenc --enable-d3d11va --enable-dxva2 --enable-libmfx --enable-libshaderc --enable-vulkan --enable-libplacebo --enable-opencl --enable-libcdio --enable-libgme --enable-libmodplug --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libshine --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libilbc --enable-libgsm --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopus --enable-libspeex --enable-libvorbis --enable-ladspa --enable-libbs2b --enable-libflite --enable-libmysofa --enable-librubberband --enable-libsoxr --enable-chromaprint
  libavutil      57. 27.100 / 57. 27.100
  libavcodec     59. 33.100 / 59. 33.100
  libavformat    59. 25.100 / 59. 25.100
  libavdevice    59.  6.100 / 59.  6.100
  libavfilter     8. 41.100 /  8. 41.100
  libswscale      6.  6.100 /  6.  6.100
  libswresample   4.  6.100 /  4.  6.100
  libpostproc    56.  5.100 / 56.  5.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'video_2022-07-22_10-01-25.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    creation_time   : 2022-07-04T13:14:36.000000Z
  Duration: 00:01:04.32, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 342 kb/s
  Stream #0:0[0x1](eng): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, reserved, progressive), 1280x720, 209 kb/s, 24.99 fps, 50 tbr, 90k tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2022-07-04T13:14:29.000000Z
      handler_name    : VideoHandle
      vendor_id       : [0][0][0][0]
  Stream #0:1[0x2](eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 127 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2022-07-04T13:14:29.000000Z
      handler_name    : SoundHandle
      vendor_id       : [0][0][0][0]
Multiple -c, -codec, -acodec, -vcodec, -scodec or -dcodec options specified for stream 0, only the last option '-c:v libx265' will be used.
Multiple -c, -codec, -acodec, -vcodec, -scodec or -dcodec options specified for stream 1, only the last option '-c:a libopus' will be used.
File 'C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\delendum\New folder\testout.mkv' already exists. Overwrite? [y/N] Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> hevc (libx265))
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (aac (native) -> opus (libopus))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
x265 [info]: HEVC encoder version 3.5+37-07b011400
x265 [info]: build info [Windows][GCC 11.2.0][64 bit] 8bit+10bit+12bit
x265 [info]: using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast LZCNT SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX FMA3 BMI2 AVX2
x265 [error]: Color Primaries must be unknown, bt709, bt470m, bt470bg, smpte170m, smpte240m, film, bt2020, smpte-st-428, smpte-rp-431 or smpte-eg-432
x265 [error]: Transfer Characteristics must be unknown, bt709, bt470m, bt470bg, smpte170m, smpte240m, linear, log100, log316, iec61966-2-4, bt1361e, iec61966-2-1, bt2020-10, bt2020-12, smpte-st-2084, smpte-st-428 or arib-std-b67
x265 [error]: Matrix Coefficients must be unknown, bt709, fcc, bt470bg, smpte170m, smpte240m, gbr, ycgco, bt2020nc, bt2020c, smpte-st-2085, chroma-nc, chroma-c or ictcp
[libx265 @ 0000000002e60340] Cannot open libx265 encoder.
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
[libopus @ 000000000056fe00] 1 frames left in the queue on closing
Conversion failed!

I'm not an expert at video encoding, so I don't really know what this all means. Probably something with the source file. How to get around this? Thanks in advance!

I uploaded the video here. You can download it using the button below the player on the right hand side.

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 17 '22 at 08:32

The parameters "colour primaries", "transfer characteristics" and "matrix coefficients" (describes the colors standard) are embedded in the H.264 stream of the input video file.
The values of the color characteristics in video.mp4 exceeds the valid values superseded by FFmpeg (due to exotic/new standard or due to bad encoder).

When re-encoding the stream to H.265, the unsupported color characteristics causes FFmpeg to fail (when re-encoding to H.264 FFmpeg is not failing, so it's a "rare case").

The simplest solution is manually specifying the color characteristics to the H.265 encoder:

ffmpeg -y -i video.mp4 -map 0 -color_primaries bt709 -color_trc bt709 -colorspace bt709 -c:v libx265 -crf 30 -vf "scale=-1:\'min\(720\,ih\)\'" -c:a libopus -b:a 44k -map_metadata 0 -hide_banner video.mkv

Other option is fixing video.mp4 by replacing the color characteristics using bitstream filter:

ffmpeg -y -i video.mp4 -map 0 -c copy -map_metadata 0 -bsf:v h264_metadata=colour_primaries=1:transfer_characteristics=1:matrix_coefficients=1 video2.mp4

bt709 is selected because it is the most common standard for HD videos.

We may check the color characteristics using FFprobe:

ffprobe -show_frames video.mp4 > 1.txt

The output shows:

color_space=reserved
color_primaries=reserved
color_transfer=reserved

reserved means that values are unsupported or invalid.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 17 '22 at 08:25

1

Thanks to @Rotem:

First fix file:

ffmpeg -y -i video.mp4 -map 0 -c copy -map_metadata 0 -bsf:v h264_metadata=colour_primaries=1:transfer_characteristics=1:matrix_coefficients=1 video2.mp4

Then use video2.mp4 as the input.

answered Sep 17 '22 at 08:25

Mister Sir

53

Ffmpeg x265 error: "Color Primaries must be", "Transfer Characteristics must be", "Matrix Coefficients must be"

2 Answers2