LiVES

LiVES is an open source piece of software that allows users to edit video files on GNU/Linux computing environments, as well as various Unices like BSD, Solaris, IRIX, openMosix, and OSX/Darwin. Supported architectures include 64-bit, 32-bit, PPC (PowerPC), and Xbox/x86.

The software has been designed from the ground up to provide users with a plethora of video effects, video editing, video conversion, and video playback functionality, while being stable, reliable, as well as easy to maneuver and understand.

Features at a glance

Key features include a desktop-independent graphical user interface written in GTK+, support for a wide range of video and audio streams, multitrack functionality, effects, transitions, custom extendable through RFX plugins, as well as support for skins/themes.

It supports various video input formats, such as external window capture, VCD and DVD selections, remote stream capture, multiple or single image files, Yuv4mpeg video streams, LiVES set format and backup files, v4l2 webcams, Firewire cameras, as well as TV cards.

On the audio front, the application supports the MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, Audio-CD, Mod (tracker), XM (tracker), video playback during audio recording, as well as external audio sources through PulseAudio and JACK sound servers.

Supports a wide range of audio and video file formats

The application can load and edit a plethora of video and audio file formats, especially those supported by the MPlayer software, and can encode file to over 50 output formats, including MPEG4, MPEG, MPEG-2, H.264, MP4, Ogg Vorbis, Ogg Theora, MJPEG, VCD, SVCD, DVD-Video, OGM, Matroska, DV, XviD, SWF, Dirac, MNG, Snow, as well as animated PDF and GIF files.

In addition, it supports LADSPA audio plugins, audio resampling, real time previews, audio/video auto-transitioning, automatic gain control, video panning, targeted/random zooming, as well as the Frei0r effect plugin architecture.

Bottom line

Summing up, LiVES is a great video editor software backed by the powerful FFmpeg multimedia framework and MPlayer video player software. It can be used on any GNU/Linux operating system and supports a wide range of desktop environments.

What is new in this release:

• Fix audio loss when inserting without audio in clip editor (regression).
• Fix compiler error and warnings for gcc 7 (https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=853520)
• Fix regression in mkv_decoder.
• Fix compiler warnings for openGL plugin.
• Change max seek allowed from 1 second to 2 seconds in avformat decoder.
• Update css state selectors for gtk 3.18+
• Experimental support for Wayland.
• Updated translation to Ukranian (thaks Yuri).

What is new in version :

• Fix audio loss when inserting without audio in clip editor (regression).
• Fix compiler error and warnings for gcc 7 (https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=853520)
• Fix regression in mkv_decoder.
• Fix compiler warnings for openGL plugin.
• Change max seek allowed from 1 second to 2 seconds in avformat decoder.
• Update css state selectors for gtk 3.18+
• Experimental support for Wayland.
• Updated translation to Ukranian (thaks Yuri).

What is new in version 2.4.3:

• Fix occasional hang when inserting frames in clips.
• Fix possible dataloss (effects applied) when re-entering multitrack mode.
• Work around a GTK+ bug where menu items with submenus can no longer be set insensitive.
• Fix for setting cdplayer device in Preferences.
• Fix gtk critical in clip info window.
• Fix window sizing errors in rfxbuilder.
• Fix for encoding with sox version 14.4.2
• Theming updates for darker themes with gtk+ 3.x
• Add icedax as altname for cdda2wav.
• Make better use of missing CD device warning.
• Remove some spurious effect reinitialisations for webcams.
• Allow application of audio effects to the backing audio track in multitrack mode.
• Minor GUI improvements.
• Prepend current directory to filenames in startup options when necessary.

What is new in version 2.4.1:

• General compilation fixes.
• Compilation fixes for libav.
• Minor fixes for BSD compilation.
• Minor fix for initialisation of "alien_overlay" effect.
• Fix image file previews within File Open dialog (regression).

What is new in version 2.4.0:

• Implement workaround for expose event problems in gtk+ 3.10.
• Fix threading crash in multitrack.
• Fix invalid saving of layouts in multitrack.
• Fix sizes of scrolled windows inside dialog boxes (regression).
• Fix timeline start position for gtkgrid widget in multitrack.
• Fix "fade background mode" (b) so it looks nice again.
• Stability fix for expose event during startup.
• Stability fix for mkv_decoder with broken end frames.
• Implement C++ language bindings (liblives).
• Fixes for several smaller issues (Thomas Berger).
• Code cleanup / reformat.
• Updated translations to UK English, French, Galician, German, Russian and Simplified Chinese.

What is new in version 2.2.8:

• Fix crash in Insert Frames (regression).
• Compilation fix for gtk+ 2.x
• Compilation fixes for freeBSD
• Add check for avformat_close_input in libav
• Fix crash in projectM plugin.
• Fix regression in x264_encoder.
• Fix audio codec bug in mencoder_encoder.
• Fix crash in "Show Details" after encoding failure.
• Fix regression in "Insert Silence" for clips with no existing audio.
• Check for avconv properly for Ubuntu in ffmpeg_encoder.
• Update dirac / multi_encoder to encode to dirac/vorbis/mkv.
• Add lossless dirac encoding.
• Updates to fix lives_mkv_encoder.

What is new in version 2.2.7:

• Add support for audio triggered generators.
• Add support for projectM (milkdrop) generators.
• Improvements to openGL playback plugin.
• Add permanent inputs in jack and pulse audio when handling external audio.
• Fix bug in chroma_blend transition.
• Further code cleanup.
• Fix text width for "show VJ keys" window.
• Remove unnecessary deinterlacing from threaded player.
• Added OSC commands /clip/selection/rte_apply, /clip/undo and /clip/redo.
• Add libvisual plugins to correct submenu (regression).
• Minor fixes for the rfx builder window.
• Minor fixes for merge in clip editor.

What is new in version 2.2.6:

• Fix startup bug (regression) creating config file incorrectly.
• Libav compatibility fixes.
• Updates for gtk+ >= 3.10.0
• Show warning when configured with gtk+ 3.10.x
• Add support for freenect camera.
• Minor code cleanups.

What is new in version 2.2.5:

• Fix crash (regression) in mpegts decoder.
• Add support for mplayer2.

What is new in version 2.2.4:

• Fixed various regressions from version 2.2.3, such as compiler issues with libav and a problem with GTK+ 3 < 3.8.0.

What is new in version 2.2.3:

• Run data processing plugins in both video and audio threads.
• Fix crash when loading device map (regression).
• Fix bug which prevented audio changes from being recorded when audio analysers are running.
• Updates for gtk+ >= 3.8.
• Define HAVE_AVFORMAT_FIND_STREAM_INFO in decplugin/Makefile.am
• Workaround for missing av_set_pts_info() in libav.
• Fix to handle changed option order in ffmpeg.
• Updated translations to Russian, Piemontese, Uk English, Spanish and Ukranian.

What is new in version 2.2.2:

• Fixes a major error introduced in 2.2.0 that could break files when inserting frames.
• Audio insert/encode problems for some non-standard frame rates are also fixed.
• Optimizations were made for copy/insert.

What is new in version 2.2.0:

• Add new avformat_decoder.
• Optimisations for handling larger clips.
• Use threading for pulling frames from video clips.
• Much faster loading/saving of layouts in multitrack.
• Fix crash in swscale when frame width is not multiple of 4.
• Fix crash (regression) setting parameters in multitrack.
• Fix breakage in multiple image loading.
• Fix opening preview for quick opening clips.
• Fix bug in "delete frames" for virtual clips.
• Fix audio encoding in "Encode Selection"
• Fixes for letterbox mode playback.
• Compilation fixes for Debian Sid.
• Various improvements to rte window.
• Add "randomiser" data processing plugin.
• Improvements to colour correction and tvpic effects.
• Fix jack transport during playback (regression).
• Fix for saving data connection mappings.
• Implement multiple inputs per output in the data connector.
• Optimised thread locking between audio and video effects threads.
• Fix problems with setting defaults for colour values.
• Decoder plugin fixes for ffmpeg 2.2 (needs further testing).
• Preserve clip comments and renamed clip names between restarts (bugfix).
• Small fixes for rfx_builder window.
• Minor GUI improvements.
• Add initial translation to Piemontese. (Simon Uslengh).
• Updated translations to UK English, German, Russian and Ukranian.

What is new in version 2.0.6:

• Add new "clip thumbnails window" for dual head mode.
• Add "Activated" and "Activate" pseudo-parameters in data connection mapper.
• Fix bug (regression) with "clear" button in rte mapping window.
• Fix possible issue with OSC constants lookups.
• Add "kaleidoscope" realtime effect.
• Fix crash when resetting playback speed and no audio is playing.
• Enable "wrap" for relevant parameters when using keyboard control.
• Fix vertical spacing error for radiobuttons in parameter windows.
• Updated translation to Ukranian.

What is new in version 2.0.5:

• Improvements were made for dual monitor support.
• A bug (regression) in Load New Audio was fixed.
• Some minor compilation issues were cleaned up.

What is new in version 2.0.4:

• Fix regressions in Paste as New, Fade Audio In/Out, load images
• Fix occasional crash in load new audio.
• Fix bug affecting resizing some webcam frames.
• Fix rowstride errors in effecTV plugins.
• Add revTV effect.

What is new in version 2.0.3:

• Stable and well tested core.
• Fully cross platform for Linux and many flavours of Unix (e.g. BSD, openMosix, IRIX, OSX/Darwin).
• Runs on at least x86, amd64, x86_64, i64, sparc, hppa, ppc and xbox/x86.
• The LiVES audio/video platform is now custom extendable through RFX plugins. See the Custom RFX page for more details.
• Allows quick and easy prototyping of new tools, utilities, effects, transitions and more, using the included RFX builder window.
• Plugins can be written in Perl, thus allowing O/S level access to individual frames within clips.
• Will scale for high/low end hardware. Can be split into client/server components.
• Control every function in LiVES remotely using OSC protocol.
• Packages for most major linux distributions: Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Suse, Fedora Core, Rock Linux, Source Mage, Alt Linux, and Dynebolic.
• 100% original, non-proprietary code.
• Video:
• Loading and editing of most video formats (via mplayer decoder).
• Smooth playback at variable frame rates, forward and in reverse. Display framerate can be controlled independantly of playback framerate.
• Cut and paste of frames within and between clips.
• Saving/re-encoding of clips, selections, and individual frames.
• Lossless backup/restore.
• Streaming input and output.
• Real time blending of clips (chroma and luma blends).
• Can handle in/out streams in yuv4mpeg format. Streams can be piped from stdout into other applications.
• Live inputs for firewire and TV cards
• Supports fixed and variable framerates. Playback rate can be smoothly adjusted independant of display rate.
• Ability to 'scratch' with video - that is to move smoothly backwards and forwards through it, and to record yourself doing so.
• Playback can use LiVES' own internal player, there is also a high performance fullscreen SDL playback plugin
• Support for RGB24, RGBA32, YUV420 (TV), and UYVY palettes, horizontal chroma subsampling is implemented.
• Ability to edit many filetypes and sources including remotely located files (with mplayer/ffmpeg libraries), and directories of images.
• Real time capture/recording of interactive (via mouseclicks) external windows.
• Encode to any of the 50+ output formats which are now supported (e.g. mjpeg, mpeg4, mpeg1/2, VCD, SVCD, DVD, ogg/mp4 ogm, Matroska mkv, dv, swf, Ogg Theora, Dirac, MNG, Snow, xvid, and even animated GIF and PDF!)
• Encoder formats can be extended through the encoder plugin API.
• LiVES will suggest the best settings for saving to each format.
• Resampling of video (time stretching) to any frame rate (1 to 200 fps; accurate to 8 decimal places); option to auto-resample or speed up/slow down between clips.
• Ability to instantly alter the playback speed of video and audio independently.
• Rotation, resizing and trimming of video clips.
• Deinterlacing, subtitle removal.
• Instant saving/loading of clips for performances/presentations.
• Audio:
• Can load mp3, ogg, mod, xm and wav files.
• LiVES can also load tracks directly off CD to use with your video (using cdda2wav).
• Ability to save audio selections, and append audio.
• Sound can be trimmed to fit video selections.
• Cutting and pasting of audio within and between clips.
• Resampling of audio (rate, channels, sample size, signedness and endianness); audio is auto-resampled between clips.
• Supports (auto)inserting of silence and deletion of audio sections.
• Supports LADSPA audio effects.
• Effects/Transitions:
• Many effects, including random/targeted zooming, panning of video, colour cycling and colorisation/colour filtering.
• Merging/compositing of frames is possible: e.g. frame-in-frame, fade in/out and transparency.
• Real time previews as the effect is processing.
• Support for the frei0r effect plugin architecture which allows sharing of realtime effects with other applications.
• Use real time effects to blend clips together, regardless of frame size or fps. Luma and chroma blending are currently supported.
• Multiple real time effects are now possible during playback (VJ mode), these can also be rendered to frames.
• Effects and transitions are now fully customisable using the RFX builder window.
• Effects/blends can also be applied to incoming streams in real time.
• Dynamic loading of effects.
• Multitrack:
• Multitrack window with drag and drop
• Intelligent screen organisation - shows you only the information which is relevant, no more and no less
• Support for an almost limitless number of tracks and effects
• Rapid rendering - resize/resample and effects apply done in a single pass
• Tracks can be laid out entirely with keyboard, or with mouse, or a combination of both
• Multitrack settings can be targetted for a specific encoder, or generic
• Layouts can be saved and reloaded
• Extras:
• Full crash recovery.
• Simple and intuitive menu layout.
• I18N text support. Translations into French, Dutch, Czech, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Hungarian, Russian, Slovak and Turkish are included.
• Jack audio support
• Jack transport support (master or client)
• Pulse audio support
• RFX builder allows rapid prototyping of new effects, transitions utilities and tools. Custom RFX scripts can be exported to share with others or downloaded and imported. Test scripts are run in a sandbox to allow safe testing of new plugins.
• Midi sequence synchronisation (start/stop).
• Can load single images or directories of images in numerical order and assemble them into videos or slideshows.
• Ability to play music through xmms (including random selection of tracks).
• Shuttle controls for firewire cameras/recorders. Can grab from DV and HDV formats.
• Project files (clips and layouts) can be exported and imported
• Toys!
• GUI
• Based on gtk+ 3.x (or 2.16+), runs under KDE, Gnome, Fluxbox and most other window managers.
• Several built in themes/skins available (see screenshots). Custom themes will be supported soon.

What is new in version 2.0.2:

• Fix crash in recording external audio with pulse player (regression).
• Minor widget fixes with startup dialogs and labels (regression).
• Refactor timeline drawing in multitrack.
• Enable compilation with gtk+ 3.
• Implement new timeline widget for gtk+ 3.
• Prevent some audio being dropped when re-entering multitrack.
• Fixes for beat_detector plugin.
• Various optimisations and minor bugfixes.
• Updates to all language translations (added translator credits).

What is new in version 1.8.2:

• Fix various bugs with the RFX builder menus.
• Fix compilation error (double typedef).
• Fix compilation for GTK+ < 2.24
• Fix regression error in Resize All Frames.
• Fix regression in Append Audio.
• Fix crash in audio previews (open/append new audio).
• Fix regression in encoding (after resample).
• Add experimental neural_net compound effect.
• Add motion_analyser compound effect.
• Add mini tracker player in LiVES (fourKlives).
• Various widget updates.
• Make preview in fileselector more responsive.
• Add new interface in RTE window for making/showing data connections.
• Updated translations for German, Russian and Ukranian.

What is new in version 1.8.1:

• Fix various bugs with the RFX builder menus.
• Fix compilation error (double typedef).
• Fix compilation for GTK+ < 2.24
• Fix regression error in Resize All Frames.
• Fix regression in Append Audio.
• Fix crash in audio previews (open/append new audio).
• Fix regression in encoding (after resample).
• Add experimental neural_net compound effect.
• Add motion_analyser compound effect.
• Add mini tracker player in LiVES (fourKlives).
• Various widget updates.
• Make preview in fileselector more responsive.
• Add new interface in RTE window for making/showing data connections.
• Updated translations for German, Russian and Ukranian.

What is new in version 1.8.0:

• Problems with multitrack effects, a crash when re-entering multitrack mode, and a crash in text parameter entry were fixed.
• Support for compound filters was added.
• New real-time effects were added: shift, alpha_means, data_processor, and image_stabilizer (requires openCV).

What is new in version 1.6.4:

• This version fixes a bug which caused the preferences window to flicker in some window managers, adds support for audio effects in multitrack mode, and contains several other minor fixes and updates.

What is new in version 1.6.2:

• Support was added for fast opening of MPEG TS (HDV) clips.
• Backup and restore is now much faster.
• Bugs were fixed for rendered effect triggers, undo cut, file open preview, and pad audio.
• The timer code was cleaned up, and experimental support was added for video analyzer, data processing, and audio generating plugins.
• A hang in preferences when the image type was set to JPEG was fixed, as were several other minor bugs.

What is new in version 1.6.1:

• Playback has been optimised by tweaking audio settings.
• A regression in the backup has been fixed.
• A floating point fps bug for mkv decoder has been fixed.
• External window capturing has been rewritten, and now works with Compiz.
• An (experimental) openGL playback plugin has been added.
• Minor GUI fixes have been made.
• Recording of external audio during playback has been implemented.
• Clip names no longer get squashed in sets.
• Further code cleanup has been carried out, and there are updated translations to Ukranian, Finnish, and UK English.

What is new in version 1.4.9:

• Support for v4l2loopback output has been added.
• Instant opening of WebM / Matroska clips and a Youtube download tool have been implemented.
• Fixes were made for crash recovery for virtual clips, and a possible crash when showing preview frame in multitrack.
• Memory allocation has been optimized for multiplanar images.
• A compilation problem from the last release has been fixed.

What is new in version 1.4.8:

• Optimizations were made for resizing for virtual clips, threading in colour conversions, image rescaling, and PNG loading.
• Letterbox mode has been implemented for fullscreen playback and encoding.
• Playback start may now be triggered by joystick or MIDI.
• Bugs were fixed in append_audio, undo/redo effect in multitrack, and other places.
• New mencoder formats flv and wmv2/wma were added.
• There is initial language support for Uyghur and updated translations for Chinese (Simplified), Finnish, Japanese, Slovak, Spanish, Telugu, Ukranian, and Uzbek.

What is new in version 1.4.5:

• Instant opening of some .flv files, a new fade video in/out effect, and a new startup option (-tmpdir) were added.
• Bugs were fixed to stop PAL formats reverting to NTSC in the x264 encoder, to add fewer blank lines to the ~/.lives file, to prevent showing of the "Loaded subtitles" message when subtitles are not loaded, and to move the correct pointer (start or end) when the timeline is clicked in very long clips.
• Frames were sometimes being cut after applying effects in virtual clips; this has also been fixed.
• The code for rendered effects post-processing and dynamic menu building was cleaned up.

Requirements:

• GTK+