Windows Media Encoder banner art

Using command-line options

The following are all of the command-line options that you can append to your command to achieve specific encoding results. If you've specified a profile in addition to any of these parameters, these parameters will take precedence.

–allstats

Displays all available statistics once the encoding process is complete. For example:

wm8eutil –input my-songs.wav –output my-songs.wma –allstats

-a_setting bitrate_samplerate_channel

Specifies the audio bit rate, sample rate, and channel setting to use while encoding. Each value is separated by an underscore, in the form bitrate_samplerate_channel. The default value is 64_44_2. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.wav –output myfile.wma –a_setting 32_32_2

To view the complete list of acceptable combinations, see Setting audio parameters or type wm8eutil –a_audio? at the command line.

-author string

Specifies the author of the audio or video clip.

wm8eutil –input my-songs.wav –output my-songs.wma –author David Johnson

-copyright string

Specifies the copyright information for the audio or video clip. For example:

wm8eutil –input my-songs.wav –output my-songs.wma –copyright David Johnson 2001 

-description string

Specifies information about the audio or video clip. For example:

wm8eutil –input my-songs.wav –output my-songs.wma –description A collection of my favorite music 

-input file_name

Used by itself, and without a corresponding –output parameter, displays the properties of the input file. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi

-output output_file_name

Used in conjunction with the –input parameter, this command specifies the name of the output file. For example:

wm8eutil –input my-songs.wav –output my-songs.wma

-outputstring string

When -input specifies a directory, appends the text entered for string to the file name of every output file. The string precedes the .wma or .wmv file name extension. For example:

wm8eutil –input my-songs –output my-songs-coded –outputstring coded

-profile profilename

Specifies the profile that is to be used during the encoding session. For example:

wm8 eutil –input myfile.avi output myfile.wmv -profile av700pal

-rating string

Specifies the rating of the audio or video clip. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –rating PG 

-silent

Prevents encoding statistics from being displayed once the encoding process is complete.

wm8eutil –input my-songs.wav -output _my-songs.wma –silent

-time start time end time

Specifies, in milliseconds, the precise times within the audio or video that encoding should start and stop. If you do not know the precise end time, then replace end time with end. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –time 10000 20000
wm8eutil –input myfile.avi -output myfile.wmv –time 10000 end

-title string

Specifies the title of the audio or video clip. For example:

wm8eutil –input my-songs.wav –output my-songs.wma –title My Favorite Music 

-v_bitrate bitrate

Specifies the desired bit rate in bits per second. The default is 80000. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_bitrate 100000

-v_buffer size

Specifies the portion of the video, in milliseconds, to be stored in memory before being played. The default value is 5000 milliseconds. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_buffer 1000

-v_clip left top right bottom

Specifies the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the top-left and lower-right portions of the video. For example, clipping 60 pixels off of the top and bottom of a 640 by 480 video would result in these coordinates: 0, 60, 640, 420. Clipping is done on the source. The default is no clipping. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_clip 0 60 640 420

-v_codec name

Specifies the video codec to be used. Use WMV7 for Windows Media Video version 7 and WMV8 for Windows Media Video version 8. The default is WMV8. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_codec WMV8

-v_framerate rate

Specifies the frame rate at which the video will be encoded. The rate can be an integer or floating-point value. The default is the frame rate of the source. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_framerate 24

-v_height height

Specifies, in pixels, the height of the frame to be encoded. The default is the height of the source. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_height 480

-v_keydist time

Specifies the number of seconds between key frames. The default is 10. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_keydist 20

-v_mode mode

Specifies whether to encode in one or two passes. Also indicates whether to use a constant bit rate or variable bit rate. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv -v_mode 2

-v_preproc filter

Specifies the preprocessing filter to apply to your content. Replace filter with the number of the filter you want to use. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv -v_preproc 3 

-v_quality quality

Defines the image quality of the encoded video. Image quality ranges from 0 to 100. In the constant bit rate modes (-v_mode 0 or –v_mode 1) 0 represents the smoothest motion and 100 represents the crispest images. The default is 75. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_mode 0 –v_quality 40

In the variable bit rate mode that is based on quality (-v_mode 2) this value represents the target image quality for the entire sequence. The default is 85. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_mode 2 –v_quality 95

-v_width width

Specifies, in pixels, the width of the frame to be encoded. The default is the width of the source. For example:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv –v_width 640

© 2000-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.