Extract HEVC bitstream with ffmpeg

Question

I would like to extract the raw .265 bitstream from HEVC mkv file. I use this:

ffmpeg.exe -i hevc.mkv -an -vcodec copy -f hevc bitstream.265

I got this error:

Requested output format 'hevc' is not a suitable output format

However, HEVC demuxer is already implemented and I can extract it to uncompressed raw YUV. ffmpeg -formats:

 File formats:
 D. = Demuxing supported
 .E = Muxing supported
D  hevc            raw HEVC video

What is wrong here?

score 17 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 18 '17 at 07:43

17

The raw bitstream of H.264/H.265 is typically called the Annex B format. You can create those files with the following FFmpeg commands:

H.265 to Annex B

ffmpeg -i in.mkv -c:v copy -bsf hevc_mp4toannexb out.h265

does the trick with ffmpeg and H.265/HEVC.

H.264 to Annex B

For H.264 it's slightly different:

ffmpeg -i in.mkv -c:v copy -bsf h264_mp4toannexb out.h264

edited Sep 18 '17 at 07:43

slhck

235,242

answered Sep 18 '17 at 07:31

Sebastian Annies

271

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 28 '19 at 20:58

I tried the ffmpeg solution from Sebastian, but it didn't work for me. Here is what I did to get just the H.265 bitstream. I did see that some people suggested setting the output file extension to .bin, but I like h264/h265 as it makes it more clear what kind of bitstream the file contains.

H.265 to Annex B

ffmpeg -i test.mkv -c:v copy -bsf hevc_mp4toannexb -f hevc test.h265

H.264 to Annex B

ffmpeg -i test.mkv -c:v copy -bsf h264_mp4toannexb -f h264 test.h264

NOTE: This also works for .mov files and probably for other formats as well.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 18 '17 at 07:43

2

So far, the best solution is to use MKVToolNix.

mkvextract.exe tracks hevc.mkv -f 0:bitstream.265

edited Sep 18 '17 at 07:43

slhck

235,242

answered Nov 28 '13 at 14:26

Mark

465
2
4
9

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 18 '14 at 17:44

I would recommend using a file extension of .bin for your output. This is a raw bitstream file so that should be good enough.

You are doing a video copy so I would recommend leaving out the -f hevc and letting ffmpeg handle the format selection. If HEVC has been implemented in your version then it should work.

Also consider going with -c:v copy over -vcodec copy as the latter is deprecated.

I have a lot of experience with the h265 test model encoder and with using ffmpeg but not with the HEVC muxer in ffmpeg so my information may be inaccurate.

score -3 · Answer 5 · edited Sep 18 '17 at 07:43

-3

You might want check if you have a recent version of ffmpeg. If you want a video file without audio, try this:

ffmpeg -y -i hevc.mkv -codec:v copy videostream.mkv

or:

ffmpeg -y -i hevc.mkv -codec:v copy videostream.mp4

edited Sep 18 '17 at 07:43

slhck

235,242

answered Oct 29 '16 at 07:24

KernelPanic

1
1

Extract HEVC bitstream with ffmpeg

5 Answers5