More about AviSynth

Revision as of 06:05, 19 September 2014

How it works

AviSynth works by faking AVI files. That means that AviSynth script files work in principle with all media applications and players capable of opening AVI files. What you might see in real life is that not all applications treat video files like they are supposed to. (For instance, Ligos MPEG encoder will not let you choose anything but straight AVI files in the file selector. But if you load an AVI, and manually change the name in the filename box to .AVS - it works perfectly.)

Because AviSynth works like a frameserver your filters are being applied 'on-the-fly'. That means that when a program that has opened an AVS file requests frame 303, it is read from the source, the filters are applied before the frame is delivered to the program.

If you are already eager to begin, have a look at your First script.

When is it a good idea to use AviSynth?

Not all tasks are equally easy to do in AviSynth. In general AviSynth makes it very easy to adjust the look of your video, and doing fast and easy editing. In general it's not easy to use AviSynth for cutting your videos, or doing advanced post-processing. For that it is much better to use programs like Adobe Premiere and Adobe AfterEffects. A very good use for AviSynth is however to prepare your video before you cut it in one of these programs, and adjust color, remove noise, crop / resize.

In general AviSynth is a very good tool when having to compress video. Many filters are written specifically for tasks regarding video pre-processing when compressing or recompressing video. There are many well written plugins to help you make your movie more compressible, reduce noise, adjust color and resize your source material. And because AviSynth works as a frameserver, you often do not need a temporary file before you compress it.

I need a GUI!

Yes, we are talking about video, and it's not possible to make scripts without testing the results. There are some really great programs that support AviSynth or utilize it behind the scenes.

The most well-tested application is VirtualDubMod. It has a great built in editor that allows you to edit scripts and test the result with a keypress. The easiest way to create a script is to create a simple script, open it and enter Tools/Script Editor (or press Ctrl+E). Now you can edit your script and press "F5" to see the result in the main window.

The best GUI solution is DVX it provides complete integration with AviSynth and very powerful GUI's for creating scripts. It provides visual cropping, resizing and many filters. It is able to store the settings for later use so you can reuse the scripts. A definite must-try!

Another powerful, GUI-like approach is AVSGenie. It generates scripts, and allows you to very easy adjust filter parameters visually, and see your result instantly. This is a program with very big potential - only problem for now that it isn't capable of reading scripts, so you can re-edit them.

Applications that work well with AviSynth

If you are planning on having your files end up as AVI files (either XviD, DivX, Huffyuv or similar), you should give VirtualDubMod a spin. This program has the best support for AviSynth files.

Another good GUI based software is MeGUI.

If you are making MPEG 1 or MPEG 2 files, both TMPGEnc and CCE support AviSynth files, but both have some quirks. Have a look in the AviSynth FAQ area.

History

As a curiosity you can find Ben Rudiak Gould's original AviSynth announcement here (mirror).

Frequently Asked Questions

Read even more about AviSynth in the AviSynth FAQ.