ffmpeg audio encoder frame size

Viewed 2016

I need to convert audio data from AV_CODEC_ID_PCM_S16LE to AV_CODEC_ID_PCM_ALAW and I am using this code as an example. The example code does essentially this (error checking omitted for brevity):

const AVCodec* codec = avcodec_find_encoder(AV_CODEC_ID_MP2);
AVCodecContext* c = avcodec_alloc_context3(codec);
c->bit_rate       = 64000;
c->sample_fmt     = AV_SAMPLE_FMT_S16;
c->sample_rate    = select_sample_rate(codec);
c->channel_layout = select_channel_layout(codec);
c->channels       = av_get_channel_layout_nb_channels(c->channel_layout);
avcodec_open2(c, codec, NULL);
AVFrame* frame = av_frame_alloc();
frame->nb_samples     = c->frame_size;
frame->format         = c->sample_fmt;
frame->channel_layout = c->channel_layout;

The example code subsequently uses c->frame_size in a for loop.

My code is similar to the above with the following differences:

const AVCodec* codec = avcodec_find_encoder(AV_CODEC_ID_PCM_ALAW);
c->sample_rate    = 8000;
c->channel_layout = AV_CH_LAYOUT_MONO;
c->channels       = 1;

After calling avcodec_open2, c->frame_size is zero. The example code never sets the frame size so I assume that it expects either avcodec_alloc_context3 or avcodec_open2 to set it. Is this a correct assumption? Is the setting of the frame size based on the codec being used? If I have to set the frame size explicitly, is there a recommended size?

EDIT:

Based on @the-kamilz answer it appears that the example code is not robust. The example assumes that c->frame_size will be set but that appears to be dependent on the codec. In my case, codec->capabilities was in fact set to AV_CODEC_CAP_VARIABLE_FRAME_SIZE. So I modified my code to check c->frame_size and use it only if it is not zero. If it is zero, I just picked an arbitrary one second worth of data for frame->nb_samples.

2 Answers

In the FFmpeg documentation it is mentioned as:

int AVCodecContext::frame_size

Number of samples per channel in an audio frame.

encoding: set by libavcodec in avcodec_open2(). Each submitted frame except the last must contain exactly frame_size samples per channel.
May be 0 when the codec has AV_CODEC_CAP_VARIABLE_FRAME_SIZE set, then the frame size is not restricted.
decoding: may be set by some decoders to indicate constant frame size

Hope that helps.

you don't control the frame size explicitly, it is set by the encoder depending on the codecs provided at initialization (opening) time

once avcodec_open2() is successful, you can retrieve the frame's buffer size with av_samples_get_buffer_size()

Related