[ffmpeg] Fixing audio file ruins video file

[arisboch]

Strangely, some video need to by "fixed" by ffmpeg, when using the parameters I use, but the resulting video files aren't playable ;(
Here's the stdout log:
ProxyChains-3.1 (http://proxychains.sf.net)
[youtube] Confirming age
[youtube] wV1FrqwZyKw: Downloading webpage
[youtube] wV1FrqwZyKw: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] wV1FrqwZyKw: Extracting video information
[youtube] wV1FrqwZyKw: Encrypted signatures detected.
[youtube] {22} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {43} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {18} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {5} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {36} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {17} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {137} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {248} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {136} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {247} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {135} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {244} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {134} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {243} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {133} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {242} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {160} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {140} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {171} signature length 43.42, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {137} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {248} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {136} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {247} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {135} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {244} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {134} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {243} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {133} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {242} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {160} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {140} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] {171} signature length 45.43, html5 player en_US-vfln6g5Eq
[youtube] wV1FrqwZyKw: Downloading DASH manifest
[info] Writing video description to: Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.mp4.description
[debug] Invoking downloader on u'https://r7---sn-q4f7dnzz.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?fexp=907259%2C927622%2C932404%2C943909%2C947209%2C947215%2C948124%2C952302%2C952605%2C952901%2C953757%2C953912%2C957103%2C957105%2C957201&upn=61lAj8SZ_nU&ip=204.45.29.30&expire=1415932852&gcr=us&ratebypass=yes&requiressl=yes&mm=31&ipbits=0&sver=3&sparams=gcr%2Cid%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Cmime%2Cmm%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cratebypass%2Crequiressl%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&key=yt5&itag=22&mt=1415911163&id=o-APQC4AWjKv6A5_pj6CeawXw1D9akGBFri23gCnoF3aOS&mv=u&source=youtube&ms=au&mime=video%2Fmp4&signature=558686351C34A240A2FDFB9B45D81C55B4525E7F.96AA65273AA9089E46873A4114D694FD01BF07CD'
[download] Destination: Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.mp4

[download] 0.0% of 92.70MiB at 243.78KiB/s ETA 06:30
_download notices removed from log or else it'd be needlessly long_
[download] 100.0% of 92.70MiB at 493.97KiB/s ETA 00:00
[download] 100% of 92.70MiB in 03:12
[ffmpeg] Fixing audio file "Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.mp4"
[debug] ffmpeg command line: avconv -y -i 'Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.mp4' -vn -acodec copy 'Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.temp.mp4'
[atomicparsley] Adding thumbnail to "Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.mp4"
[debug] AtomicParsley command line: AtomicParsley 'Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.mp4' --artwork 'Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.thumb.mp4' -o 'Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.temp.mp4'

Here's the stderr log:
[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw', '-i', '--write-description', '-t', '--audio-format', 'best', '--abort-on-error', '--all-subs', '--embed-thumbnail', '-v']
[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs UTF-8, out None, pref UTF-8
[debug] youtube-dl version 2014.11.13.3
[debug] Python version 2.7.6 - Linux-3.13.0-24-generic-x86_64-with-LinuxMint-17-qiana
[debug] exe versions: avconv 1.2.6-7, avprobe 1.2.6-7, ffmpeg 1.2.6-7, ffprobe 1.2.6-7
[debug] Proxy map: {}
|D-chain|-<>-204.45.29.30:18108-<><>-173.194.44.78:443-<><>-OK
|D-chain|-<>-204.45.29.30:18108-<><>-173.194.44.78:443-<><>-OK
|D-chain|-<>-204.45.29.30:18108-<><>-173.194.44.78:443-<><>-OK
|D-chain|-<>-204.45.29.30:18108-<><>-173.194.44.78:443-<><>-OK
|D-chain|-<>-204.45.29.30:18108-<><>-173.194.44.78:443-<><>-OK
|D-chain|-<>-204.45.29.30:18108-<><>-173.194.44.70:443-<><>-OK
WARNING: video doesn't have subtitles
|D-chain|-<>-204.45.29.30:18108-<><>-173.194.44.64:443-<><>-OK
|D-chain|-<>-204.45.29.30:18108-<><>-74.125.1.204:443-<><>-OK
|D-chain|-<>-204.45.29.30:18108-<><>-173.194.44.78:443-<><>-OK

[jaimeMF]

I can play it with VLC and mpv, what player are you using?
Also, you are using an old version of avconv, you could try using a newer version (your package manager may provide a version too old), with avconv 11 it seems to work fine.

[arisboch]

I tried to play it with vlc and mpv, but the file still won't play. I also installed more recent versions of ffmpeg and libav ([debug] exe versions: avconv 2.4.3, avprobe 2.4.3, ffmpeg 2.4.3, ffprobe 2.4.3), but it still won't work ;( ;(

[jaimeMF]

Try using the --prefer-ffmpeg.
Could you post the output of ffprobe "Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.mp4"?
Also which version of AtomicParsley do you have?

[arisboch]

I tried --prefer-ffmpeg, to no avail. The version of AtomicParsley is 0.9.2~svn110-4 (-version tells me "AtomicParsley from svn built on Oct 28 2010 (utf8)").

ffprobe output:
ffprobe Lady\ Gaga\ -\ Born\ This\ Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.mp4
ffprobe version 2.4.3 Copyright (c) 2007-2014 the FFmpeg developers
built on Nov 9 2014 17:21:35 with gcc 4.8 (Ubuntu 4.8.2-19ubuntu1)
configuration: --extra-libs=-ldl --prefix=/opt/ffmpeg --enable-avresample --disable-debug --enable-nonfree --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-x11grab --enable-libpulse --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --disable-decoder=amrnb --disable-decoder=amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libvorbis --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-libvpx --enable-libspeex --enable-libass --enable-avisynth --enable-libsoxr --enable-libxvid
libavutil 54. 7.100 / 54. 7.100
libavcodec 56. 1.100 / 56. 1.100
libavformat 56. 4.101 / 56. 4.101
libavdevice 56. 0.100 / 56. 0.100
libavfilter 5. 1.100 / 5. 1.100
libavresample 2. 1. 0 / 2. 1. 0
libswscale 3. 0.100 / 3. 0.100
libswresample 1. 1.100 / 1. 1.100
libpostproc 53. 0.100 / 53. 0.100
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x29ca020] stream 0, timescale not set
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'Lady Gaga - Born This Way-wV1FrqwZyKw.mp4':
Metadata:
major_brand : isom
minor_version : 512
compatible_brands: isomiso2mp41
encoder : Lavf56.4.101
Duration: 00:07:19.74, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 194 kb/s
Stream #0:0(und): Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 191 kb/s (default)
Metadata:
handler_name : SoundHandler
Stream #0:1: Video: mjpeg, yuvj420p(pc, bt470bg), 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 90k tbr, 90k tbn, 90k tbc

[jaimeMF]

The last AtomicParsley version was released last March, it could be that.

[arisboch]

Where'd I get a more recent version of atomicparsley, the one on the homepage (http://sourceforge.net/projects/atomicparsley/files/) is more than 8 years old. ;(

[jaimeMF]

I use https://bitbucket.org/wez/atomicparsley/overview/

[arisboch]

I downloaded and compiled AtomicParsley, but it didn't help ;( ;( ;(

[clampak]

With your options 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw', '-i', '--write-description', '-t', '--audio-format', 'best', '--abort-on-error', '--all-subs', '--embed-thumbnail', '-v', I get a playable audio file, but there's no video, is that what you're getting?

If so, here's what I think is happening. You have conflicting, outdated, and other odd parameters on your command line. The major one here is that you want a video, but you're telling it to --embed-thumbnail which is only for audio, thereby telling youtube-dl to pass it on to ffmpeg to extract and make it audio only, since you don't have an alternative video format. Why ffprobe still reports there's video, I don't know.

The other conflicts and oddities are that you're telling it to ignore errors (-i), but --abort-on-error as well. Also, --audio-format is only for specifying a format type (mp3, etc.), not quality level, when you're extracting the audio in conjunction with -x, therefore it's unneeded here since (I think) you want the video, not the audio only. Youtube-dl picks the best video+audio by default, so specifying best is never needed as far as I can tell. And -t is deprecated, the title is by default the name of the output file.

There are no subtitles in this video, so --all-subs is unnecessary as well, although it doesn't conflict with anything.

A much simplified command which will give you the video is this:
youtube-dl --verbose --write-description https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw

I don't know if it's possible to embed a thumbnail in a video.

Does that fix it?

[arisboch]

@clampak
Thx, that was the problem :)