Check FFV1 Fixity

Problem

Check fixity of an FFV1 file (version 3).

Solution

ffmpeg \
    -i input_file \
    -f null \
    -

Command syntax

ffmpeg

starts the command

-i input_file

path, name and extension of the input file

-f null

decodes the video with the null muxer, which allows to decode the video without creating an output file

-

a placeholder is needed, because the FFmpeg syntax requires an output file

Discussion

This decodes the video and displays any CRC (cyclic redundancy check) checksum mismatches. Note that computing of CRC checksums at frame level is enabled by default in FFV1 version 3.

A Bash script allowing to perform this transcoding is included in our collection Bash Script for Audiovisual Preservation.

2020-11-27