ffmpeg pixel format definitions 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?
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,   ///&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)


Additionally you can read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUV and it’s cited sources and external links.