What is the best codec and video format to use ?

[ANaaim]

[ANaaim]

Some answer from chatGPT :

Codec	Container	Compression	Truly lossless?	Compatible?	Notes
FFV1	.mkv / .avi	Excellent	✅ Yes (lossless)	✅ Widely supported via FFmpeg	Best choice for scientific archival use
H.264 lossless	.mp4 / .mkv	Good	✅ Yes (in special config)	✅ Universally decodable	Use -qp 0 with libx264, but not always byte-identical
H.265 (HEVC)	.mp4 / .mkv	Better compression than H.264	❌ Visually lossless only	❗ Less supported on older systems	Use if size is very limited and minor loss is acceptable
ProRes (Apple)	.mov	Moderate	✅ Yes	❗ Only on macOS / Adobe ecosystem	Useful for video editing workflows
Ut Video	.avi	Large	✅ Yes	❗ Niche use, mostly in Windows	Fast decoding, but not compact

Best pick for markerless motion capture

🟩 Recommended: FFV1 + .mkv

Why?

✅ Fully lossless

✅ Designed for archival, used in scientific and archival media projects

✅ Decodable on all systems with FFmpeg

✅ Transparent (no license or patent issues)

✅ Smaller than uncompressed .avi

Example command to encode with FFmpeg

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v ffv1 -level 3 -g 1 -c:a copy output.mkv

-g 1: forces keyframes every frame (better for frame-exact processing)

-c:a copy: copies audio if presen

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🟨 Alternative: H.264 lossless

Great if you're optimizing for compatibility + size and can accept that it's not truly byte-identical

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast -qp 0 -c:a copy output.mp4

-qp 0: quantizer = 0 ⇒ lossless

-preset ultrafast: fastest encoding (can be adjusted)

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The two first have been integrated in the document.