[FFmpeg-user] -c:v or -vcodec copy or -codec:v

[Moritz Barsnick]

On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 04:58:12 -0800, DopeLabs wrote:
> c:v is an abbreviated version of codec:v
> vcodec is an alias of codec:v
> 
> So all 3 function the same, but are not limited to 'copy' only. It is used to specify the codec, or copy.

(I don't find this confusing either. And the docs/wiki seem to
concentrate primarily on the "-c:X" variant.)

To add to the absolutely perfect answer:

You can also set a "default" method with an initial "-c", and more
specific ones afterwards:

$ ffmpeg [...] -c copy -c:s srt [...]
will use "copy" for all stream types, except for subtitles.

$ ffmpeg [...] -c:a copy -c:a:3 mp2 [...]
will use "copy" for all audio streams except for the third (fourth!) audio
stream.

Moritz