Answers.Body: <p>If your question was</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Where are these pixel formats defined?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Go to <a href="http://ffmpeg.org/download.html" rel="noreferrer">http://ffmpeg.org/download.html</a> and download the source of ffmpeg. Then unpack it</p>
  
  <pre><code>tar -xavf FILENAME.tar.*
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and descend to the folder in the source code that is called <code>libavutil</code></p>
  
  <pre><code>cd ffmpeg-*/libavutil/
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and open the file <code>pixfmt.h</code> where you will find a description of all pixel formats. <strong>A few sample lines</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>AV_PIX_FMT_YUV420P,   ///&lt; planar YUV 4:2:0, 12bpp, (1 Cr &amp; Cb sample per 2x2 Y samples)          
  AV_PIX_FMT_YUYV422,   ///&lt; packed YUV 4:2:2, 16bpp, Y0 Cb Y1 Cr
  AV_PIX_FMT_RGB24,     ///&lt; packed RGB 8:8:8, 24bpp, RGBRGB...
  AV_PIX_FMT_BGR24,     ///&lt; packed RGB 8:8:8, 24bpp, BGRBGR...
  AV_PIX_FMT_YUV422P,   ///&lt; planar YUV 4:2:2, 16bpp, (1 Cr &amp; Cb sample per 2x1 Y samples)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Additionally you can read <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUV" rel="noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUV</a> and it’s cited sources and external links.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-09-15T13:27:05.370Z
Answers.Text: Or just visit https://ffmpeg.org/doxygen/trunk/pixfmt_8h_source.html
Answers.UserDisplayName: Gyan
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-09-15T21:39:26.533Z
Answers.Text: Or http://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git;a=blob;f=libavutil/pixfmt.h;hb=HEAD
Answers.UserDisplayName: llogan
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-10-27T21:22:07.077Z
Answers.Text: Or https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/blob/master/libavutil/pixfmt.h
Answers.UserDisplayName: MrPotatoHead
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-09-15T08:54:39.470Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-09-15T08:54:39.470Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: erik
Body: <p><code>ffmpeg -pix_fmts</code> lists many pixel formats. In my ffmpeg, there are 66 different pixel formats that start with <em>yuv</em>. A few of them are familiar to me (e.g., yuv422p), but most of them are not (e.g., yuva422p16be).</p>
  
  <p>Where are these pixel formats defined?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-09-11T23:29:55.183Z
Comments.Text: Most are self describing. yuva422p16be YUV are luma and chroma planes. a is the alpha channel. 422 is the plan size descriptions, p means planer, 16be means 16 bits per pixel big endian format.
Comments.UserDisplayName: SlimSCSI
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-09-12T03:32:41.567Z
Comments.Text: Thanks @SlimSCSI. Do you know what the j stands for in yuvj440p?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Doug Richardson
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-09-12T11:55:27.200Z
Comments.Text: YUV420P uses the range 16 to 239 to describe luminance and chroma values, so values from 0 to 16 get mapped to the same output level, as do values 239-255. YUVJ420P uses the full range from 0 to 255. Not sure why it's J though.
Comments.UserDisplayName: stib
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-09-12T16:53:37.313Z
Comments.Text: In `libavutil/pixfmt.h`: `AV_PIX_FMT_YUVJ420P,  ///< planar YUV 4:2:0, 12bpp, full scale (JPEG), deprecated in favor of AV_PIX_FMT_YUV420P and setting color_range`.
Comments.UserDisplayName: llogan
Tags: <ffmpeg><colorspace>
Title: ffmpeg pixel format definitions
UserDisplayName: Doug Richardson
ThreadText: # ffmpeg pixel format definitions
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2015-09-11)
  
  `ffmpeg -pix_fmts` lists many pixel formats. In my ffmpeg, there are 66 different pixel formats that start with *yuv*. A few of them are familiar to me (e.g., yuv422p), but most of them are not (e.g., yuva422p16be).
  
  Where are these pixel formats defined?
  
  **Tags:** ffmpeg, colorspace
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Most are self describing. yuva422p16be YUV are luma and chroma planes. a is the alpha channel. 422 is the plan size descriptions, p means planer, 16be means 16 bits per pixel big endian format.  
  > **username_0**: Thanks @username_1. Do you know what the j stands for in yuvj440p?  
  > **username_2**: YUV420P uses the range 16 to 239 to describe luminance and chroma values, so values from 0 to 16 get mapped to the same output level, as do values 239-255. YUVJ420P uses the full range from 0 to 255. Not sure why it's J though.  
  > **username_3**: In `libavutil/pixfmt.h`: `AV_PIX_FMT_YUVJ420P,  ///< planar YUV 4:2:0, 12bpp, full scale (JPEG), deprecated in favor of AV_PIX_FMT_YUV420P and setting color_range`.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2015-09-15. Score: 9 | Accepted answer
  
  If your question was
  
  > Where are these pixel formats defined?
  
  Go to <http://ffmpeg.org/download.html> and download the source of ffmpeg. Then unpack it
  
  ```
  tar -xavf FILENAME.tar.*
  
  ```
  
  and descend to the folder in the source code that is called `libavutil`
  
  ```
  cd ffmpeg-*/libavutil/
  
  ```
  
  and open the file `pixfmt.h` where you will find a description of all pixel formats. **A few sample lines**
  
  ```
  AV_PIX_FMT_YUV420P,   ///< planar YUV 4:2:0, 12bpp, (1 Cr & Cb sample per 2x2 Y samples)          
  AV_PIX_FMT_YUYV422,   ///< packed YUV 4:2:2, 16bpp, Y0 Cb Y1 Cr
  AV_PIX_FMT_RGB24,     ///< packed RGB 8:8:8, 24bpp, RGBRGB...
  AV_PIX_FMT_BGR24,     ///< packed RGB 8:8:8, 24bpp, BGRBGR...
  AV_PIX_FMT_YUV422P,   ///< planar YUV 4:2:2, 16bpp, (1 Cr & Cb sample per 2x1 Y samples)
  
  ```
  
  Additionally you can read <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUV> and it’s cited sources and external links.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_5**: Or just visit https://ffmpeg.org/doxygen/trunk/pixfmt_8h_source.html  
  > **username_3**: Or http://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git;a=blob;f=libavutil/pixfmt.h;hb=HEAD  
  > **username_6**: Or https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/blob/master/libavutil/pixfmt.h  
  
  ---
  
  