x262, the free MPEG-2 encoder - VideoLAN
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x262

x262 is a free software library and application for encoding video streams into the MPEG-2 compression format, and is released under the terms of the GNU GPL.

Features Overview

x262 is an MPEG-2 encoder based on the best-in-class features of x264.
It also has the big advantage that the codec is simple enough for people new to video-compression to get involved.
The TODO list can be found here.


Getting x262

Source

The latest x262 source code can always be found by anonymous git repository:

# git clone http://git.videolan.org/git/x262.git

You can browse the source on-line.

Encoder features

  • Adaptive B-frame placement
  • Custom quantization matrices
  • Interlacing (frame/field adaptation per macrolock)
  • Ratecontrol: constant quantizer, constant quality, single or multipass ABR, optional VBV
  • Scenecut detection
  • Parallel encoding on multiple CPUs
  • Psy optimizations for detail retention (adaptive quantization, psy-RD, psy-trellis)
  • Zones for arbitrarily adjusting bitrate distribution

Support

For support information and to ask questions, you have the following possibilities:

A mailing list (x264-devel), and IRC (#x264@libera and #x264dev@libera). These are shared with the x264 project so remember to mention x262.

Bugs

Please report any bugs to the mailing list. If it is a crash, then compile x262 with ./configure --enable-debug and follow the ffmpeg bugreporting guidelines.

Licensing

x262 is licensed under the GNU GPL.