ffmpeg

Installation

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Recording

This will record a lossless video using the 'huffyuv' codec at 1024x768 resolution at 25 frames per second.

ffmpeg -f x11grab -r 25 -s 1024x768 -i :0.0 -vcodec huffyuv screencast.avi

Converting to other formats

MPEG2

ffmpeg -i screencast.avi -f mpeg2video -sameq mpeg2.mpg

MPEG4 4.2

Convert MPEG2 video (created above) into MPEG4. This should play back in Windows Media Player.

mencoder -forceidx -mc 0 -noskip -skiplimit 0 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=msmpeg4v2:vhq -o windows_mpeg4.avi mpeg2.mpg

Libavcodec MPEG 4

ffmpeg -i screencast.avi -sameq mpeg4.avi

X264

Convert HuffYUV AVI to mp4 (libx264) video.

ffmpeg -i screencast.avi -vcodec libx264 -sameq libx264.mp4

Xvid

ffmpeg -i screencast.avi -vcodec libxvid -sameq XviD.avi