title: Why does ffmpeg stop randomly in the middle of a process?
body: <p>ffmpeg feels like its taking a long time. I then look at my output file and i see it stops between 6 and 8mbs. A fully encoded file is about 14mb. Why does ffmpeg stop? My code locks up on StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();. I had to kill the process (after seeing it not move for more then 10 seconds when i see it update every second previously) then i get the results of stdout and err. stdout is "" stderr is below.</p>
  
  <p>The output msg shows the filesize ended. I also see a drop in my CPU usage when it stops. I copyed the argument from visual studios. CD to the same working directory and ran the cmd (bin/ffmpeg) and pasted the argument. It was able to complete.</p>
  
  <p>NOTE: I must get std out and err to check for failures.</p>
  
  <pre><code>    int soundProcess(string infn, string outfn)
      {
          string aa, aa2;
          aa = aa2 = "DEAD";
  
          var app = new Process();
  
          app.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
          app.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
          app.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
          //*/
          app.StartInfo.FileName = @"bin\ffmpeg.exe";
          app.StartInfo.Arguments = string.Format(@"-i ""{0}"" -ab 192k -y {2} ""{1}""", infn, outfn, param);
          app.Start();
          try
          {
              app.PriorityClass = ProcessPriorityClass.BelowNormal;
          }
          catch (Exception ex)
          {
              if (!Regex.IsMatch(ex.Message, @"Cannot process request because the process .*has exited"))
                  throw ex;
          }
  
          aa = app.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
          aa2 = app.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
  
          app.WaitForExit();
  
          if (aa2.IndexOf("could not find codec parameters") != -1)
              return 1;
          else if (aa == "DEAD" || aa2 == "DEAD")
              return -1;
          else if (aa2.Length != 0)
              return -2;
          else
              return 0;
      }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The output of stderr. stdout is empty.</p>
  
  <pre><code>FFmpeg version SVN-r15815, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
    configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --enable-postproc --enable-swscale --enable-gpl --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --disable-ffserver --disable-vhook --enable-avisynth --enable-pthreads
    libavutil     49.12. 0 / 49.12. 0
    libavcodec    52. 3. 0 / 52. 3. 0
    libavformat   52.23. 1 / 52.23. 1
    libavdevice   52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
    libswscale     0. 6. 1 /  0. 6. 1
    libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
    built on Nov 13 2008 10:28:29, gcc: 4.2.4 (TDM-1 for MinGW)
  Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'C:\dev\src\trunk\prjname\prjname\App_Data/temp/m/o/6304266424778814852':
    Duration: 00:12:53.36, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 154 kb/s
      Stream #0.0(und): Audio: aac, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16
  Output #0, ipod, to 'C:\dev\src\trunk\prjname\prjname\App_Data\temp\m\o\2.m4a':
      Stream #0.0(und): Audio: libfaac, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 192 kb/s
  Stream mapping:
    Stream #0.0 -&gt; #0.0
  Press [q] to stop encoding
  size=      87kB time=4.74 bitrate= 150.7kbits/s    
  size=     168kB time=9.06 bitrate= 151.9kbits/s    
  size=     265kB time=14.28 bitrate= 151.8kbits/s    
  size=     377kB time=20.29 bitrate= 152.1kbits/s    
  size=     487kB time=26.22 bitrate= 152.1kbits/s    
  size=     594kB time=32.02 bitrate= 152.1kbits/s    
  size=     699kB time=37.64 bitrate= 152.1kbits/s    
  size=     808kB time=43.54 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=     930kB time=50.09 bitrate= 152.2kbits/s    
  size=    1058kB time=57.05 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    1193kB time=64.23 bitrate= 152.1kbits/s    
  size=    1329kB time=71.63 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    1450kB time=78.16 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    1578kB time=85.05 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    1706kB time=92.00 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    1836kB time=98.94 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    1971kB time=106.25 bitrate= 151.9kbits/s    
  size=    2107kB time=113.57 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    2214kB time=119.33 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    2345kB time=126.39 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    2479kB time=133.56 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    2611kB time=140.76 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    2745kB time=147.91 bitrate= 152.1kbits/s    
  size=    2880kB time=155.20 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    3013kB time=162.40 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    3146kB time=169.58 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    3277kB time=176.61 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    3412kB time=183.90 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    3540kB time=190.80 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    3670kB time=197.81 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    3805kB time=205.08 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    3932kB time=211.93 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    4052kB time=218.38 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    4171kB time=224.82 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    4277kB time=230.55 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    4378kB time=235.96 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    4486kB time=241.79 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    4592kB time=247.50 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    4698kB time=253.21 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    4804kB time=258.95 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    4906kB time=264.41 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    5012kB time=270.09 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    5118kB time=275.85 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    5234kB time=282.10 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    5331kB time=287.39 bitrate= 151.9kbits/s    
  size=    5445kB time=293.55 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    5555kB time=299.40 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    5665kB time=305.37 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    5766kB time=310.80 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    5876kB time=316.70 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    5984kB time=322.50 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    6094kB time=328.49 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    6212kB time=334.76 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  size=    6327kB time=340.99 bitrate= 152.0kbits/s    
  </code></pre>