OpenCV Video Writer on Mac OS X

opencv-fourcc-on-mac-os-x.md

OpenCV Video Writer on Mac OS X

Fourcc tests:

• x : not worked
• o: worked (able to open in quicktime but need conversion)
• oo: worked well (preview worked but wrong aspect ratio)
• ooo: worked very well (preview worked, and aspect ratio’s right)

(Codecs are extracted from https://web.archive.org/web/20120722124832/http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/QuickTimeCodecs )

FourCC	Result	Codec Name	Description
‘3IV2'	x	3ivx D4 4.5.1	Compresses an image into 3ivx D4 format.
‘8BPS'	o	Apple Planar RGB	Compresses images in the Planar RGB format.
‘SVQ1'	o	Sorenson Video™ Compressor	Compresses video using the Sorenson Video™ V2.30.302 compressor from Sorenson™ Media, Inc.
‘SVQ3'	o	Sorenson Video 3 Compressor	Compresses video using the Sorenson Video® 3 SE V 3.3.302 compressor from Sorenson® Media, Inc.
‘WRLE'	o	Apple BMP	Compresses images in the BMP format.
‘XVID'	x	XviD	Decompresses video stored in XviD format.
‘avc1'	ooo	H.264 Encoder	Compresses video to the H.264 format.
‘cvid'	o	Apple Cinepak	Compresses images using Apple Computer's Cinepak compression algorithm
‘dv5n'	oo	Apple DVCPRO50 - NTSC	Compresses an image to DVCPRO50 NTSC format.
‘dv5p'	oo	Apple DVCPRO50 - PAL	Compresses an image to DVCPRO50 PAL format.
'dvc ‘	oo	Apple DV/DVCPRO - NTSC	Compresses an image to DV/DVCPRO NTSC format.
‘dvcp'	oo	Apple DV - PAL	Compresses an image to DV PAL format.
‘dvpp'	oo	Apple DVCPRO - PAL	Compresses an image to DVCPRO PAL format.
‘h261’	o (but small)	Apple H.261	Compresses images using H.261 compression algorithm
‘h263’	ooo (but small)	H.263	Compresses images using H.263 compression algorithm
‘jpeg'	ooo	Apple Photo - JPEG	Compresses images using the ISO standard baseline JPEG algorithm
‘mjp2'	o	JPEG 2000 Encoder	Compresses images to the JPEG 2000 JP2 format.
‘mjpa'	o	Apple Motion JPEG A	Compresses images compressed using Motion JPEG Format A
‘mjpb'	o	Apple Motion JPEG B	Compresses images compressed using Motion JPEG Format B
‘mp4v'	ooo	Apple MPEG4 Compressor	Compresses images using MPEG4 compression algorithm
'png ‘	o	Apple PNG	Compresses images in the PNG format.
‘pxlt'	o	Apple Pixlet Video	Apple Pixlet Video Info
'raw ‘	ooo (but preview didn’t work)	Apple None	Stores images without any compression
'rle ‘	o	Apple Animation	Compresses images using run length encoding
‘rpza'	o	Apple Video	Compresses images using Apple Computer's Video compression algorithm
'smc ‘	x	Apple Graphics	Compresses images using Sean's secret recipe (optimal for 8-bit dithered images)
'tga ‘	o	Apple TGA	Compresses images stored into the TGA format.
‘tiff'	o	Apple TIFF	Compresses images in the TIFF format.
‘yuv2'	o	Apple Component Video - YUV422	Compresses an image into YUV format.

Conclusion

Use 'mp4v' or 'avc1'

Another codec that worked for me: MJPG and one that I could not get to work: DIVX
I added a list of file size comparisons in my fork to see how much compression each codec offers.

In terms of quality and size avc1 (H.264) is the overall winner - best compression ratio and pretty much no block artefacts, compared to mp4v.

Do I need install any other codec?

I tried a whole bunch but then opening the recorded files in quicktime the codec mostly ended up being H264.
I was hoping to use the recorded videos to looped them in PALINDROME mode. But playing these videos back in reverse causes a stutter, which I believe is due to the codec.

 //                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('M','J','P','G'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor);
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('P','I','M','1'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor);
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('R','P','Z','A'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //apple video
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('G','P','E','G'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //motion jpeg
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('A','V','C','1'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //Compresses video to the H.264 format.
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('W','R','L','E'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //Compresses images in the BMP format.
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('J','P','E','G'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //Apple Photo - JPEG
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('P','N','G',' '),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //png
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('I','Y','U','Y'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //png
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('F','F','V','1'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('H','E','V','C'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,CV_FOURCC('H','D','Y','C'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //
//                outputVideo.open(filePath,-1,30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); // 
//                outputVideo.open(filePath, CV_FOURCC('Y', '4', '2', '2'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //                 
//                outputVideo.open(filePath, CV_FOURCC('r', 'a', 'w', ' '),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //        
outputVideo.open(filePath, CV_FOURCC('m', 'p', '4', 'v'),30, cv::Size(1920,1080),isColor); //    

@chrisidefix @xujialiang @stephanschulz
Does anyone managed to record on mac os?

I have not worked on this for a while. But at this point I would use the HAP codec with which I had good results.

I have not worked on this for a while. But at this point I would use the HAP codec with which I had good results.

thanks @stephanschulz but what are you referring to by saying HAP, its not showing in the table above.