Answers.Body: <p>FourCCs are Microsoft's ID tags for <strong>streams</strong> e.g. <code>avc1</code> for H.264/AVC or <code>mp4a</code> for an AAC audio stream. The container doesn't really matter.</p>
  
  <p>If you want to change the FourCC, use ffmpeg like so</p>
  
  <pre><code>ffmpeg -i input.mov -strict -2 -c copy -vtag ABCD new.mov
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>where <code>ABCD</code> is your new 4CC/tag.</p>
  
  <p>You current file already shows <code>avc1</code> for the video stream, which is default and expected.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-05-05T19:12:37.377Z
Answers.Text: I'm not looking to change the fourcc I actually want to know for sure I use the right value when I pass them as a argument to an OpenCV VideoWriter function call to split the original file into smaller segments. Does .avi or .mov matter if I have the fourcc set correctly?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-05-05T19:23:08.767Z
Answers.Text: Ah, don't know about OpenCV but there's broadly two steps involved - calling a demuxer so that OpenCV can locate and extract the video track. FourCC isn't involved here. And once the video track is being read, calling a H.264 bitstream reader/decoder to correctly split the video - FourCC is required to call the correct library or module. `avc1` is good for the 2nd part. Don't know OpenCV, so can't help with first. Maybe, based on extension, it auto-selects?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Gyan
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-05-08T15:49:52.173Z
Answers.Text: Found this property value in OpenCV `current_vid.get(cv2.CAP_PROP_FOURCC) `which might do the trick for me but
Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-05-05T04:53:16.963Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-05-05T04:53:16.963Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Gyan
Body: <p>I'm trying to figure out what fourcc value I need to use but I'm a bit confused between file formats and codecs. 
  I have a .mov file and MediaInfo reports it as shown below</p>
  
  <p>I need to specify the fourcc value but can't see it explicitly listed. Is it the Color Space and Chroma subsampling values?
  If it is the text I'm using suggests I call the file a .avi but does it matter if I call it a .mov? </p>
  
  <pre><code>Video
  ID                                       : 1
  Format                                   : AVC
  Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
  Format profile                           : Main@L4.1
  Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
  Format settings, ReFrames                : 2 frames
  Format settings, GOP                     : M=2, N=5
  Codec ID                                 : avc1
  Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
  Duration                                 : 1h 8mn
  Source duration                          : 1h 8mn
  Bit rate mode                            : Variable
  Bit rate                                 : 3 224 Kbps
  Maximum bit rate                         : 768 Kbps
  Width                                    : 1 024 pixels
  Height                                   : 576 pixels
  Display aspect ratio                     : 1.942
  Original display aspect ratio            : 16:9
  Frame rate mode                          : Variable
  Frame rate                               : 25.000 fps
  Minimum frame rate                       : 3.125 fps
  Maximum frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
  Color space                              : YUV
  Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
  Bit depth                                : 8 bits
  Scan type                                : Progressive
  Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.219
  Stream size                              : 1.53 GiB (100%)
  Source stream size                       : 1.54 GiB (100%)
  Language                                 : English
  Encoded date                             : UTC 2016-01-16 15:40:20
  Tagged date                              : UTC 2016-03-09 18:41:42
  Color range                              : Limited
  Color primaries                          : BT.601 PAL
  Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
  Matrix coefficients                      : BT.601
  </code></pre>
  
Tags: <video><codec><quicktime>
Title: MediaInfo Fourcc Values
UserDisplayName: Michael
ThreadText: # MediaInfo Fourcc Values
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-05-04)
  
  I'm trying to figure out what fourcc value I need to use but I'm a bit confused between file formats and codecs.
  I have a .mov file and MediaInfo reports it as shown below
  
  I need to specify the fourcc value but can't see it explicitly listed. Is it the Color Space and Chroma subsampling values?
  If it is the text I'm using suggests I call the file a .avi but does it matter if I call it a .mov?
  
  ```
  Video
  ID                                       : 1
  Format                                   : AVC
  Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
  Format profile                           : Main@L4.1
  Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
  Format settings, ReFrames                : 2 frames
  Format settings, GOP                     : M=2, N=5
  Codec ID                                 : avc1
  Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
  Duration                                 : 1h 8mn
  Source duration                          : 1h 8mn
  Bit rate mode                            : Variable
  Bit rate                                 : 3 224 Kbps
  Maximum bit rate                         : 768 Kbps
  Width                                    : 1 024 pixels
  Height                                   : 576 pixels
  Display aspect ratio                     : 1.942
  Original display aspect ratio            : 16:9
  Frame rate mode                          : Variable
  Frame rate                               : 25.000 fps
  Minimum frame rate                       : 3.125 fps
  Maximum frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
  Color space                              : YUV
  Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
  Bit depth                                : 8 bits
  Scan type                                : Progressive
  Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.219
  Stream size                              : 1.53 GiB (100%)
  Source stream size                       : 1.54 GiB (100%)
  Language                                 : English
  Encoded date                             : UTC 2016-01-16 15:40:20
  Tagged date                              : UTC 2016-03-09 18:41:42
  Color range                              : Limited
  Color primaries                          : BT.601 PAL
  Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
  Matrix coefficients                      : BT.601
  
  ```
  
  **Tags:** video, codec, quicktime
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2016-05-05. Score: 1
  
  FourCCs are Microsoft's ID tags for **streams** e.g. `avc1` for H.264/AVC or `mp4a` for an AAC audio stream. The container doesn't really matter.
  
  If you want to change the FourCC, use ffmpeg like so
  
  ```
  ffmpeg -i input.mov -strict -2 -c copy -vtag ABCD new.mov
  
  ```
  
  where `ABCD` is your new 4CC/tag.
  
  You current file already shows `avc1` for the video stream, which is default and expected.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: I'm not looking to change the fourcc I actually want to know for sure I use the right value when I pass them as a argument to an OpenCV VideoWriter function call to split the original file into smaller segments. Does .avi or .mov matter if I have the fourcc set correctly?  
  > **username_1**: Ah, don't know about OpenCV but there's broadly two steps involved - calling a demuxer so that OpenCV can locate and extract the video track. FourCC isn't involved here. And once the video track is being read, calling a H.264 bitstream reader/decoder to correctly split the video - FourCC is required to call the correct library or module. `avc1` is good for the 2nd part. Don't know OpenCV, so can't help with first. Maybe, based on extension, it auto-selects?  
  > **username_0**: Found this property value in OpenCV `current_vid.get(cv2.CAP_PROP_FOURCC) `which might do the trick for me but  
  
  ---
  
  