Compiling Mencoder for Windows

Mencoder is a command-line tool for creating multimedia files. It allows you to convert video from one format to another. When used together with OGMRip, mencoder helps you to rip DVD into a video file that's convenient to watch on computers. Note that the instruction herein explains how to compile Mencoder for the Windows platform, not Linux.

MinGW must be installed first (Look here for how). Once you have MinGW, launch MSYS (rxvt) from the Start menu and type the following commands.

1. PNG and JPEG

   
   

   PNG depends on zlib compression library. Download the zlib source from zlib.net and compile as follows:
   

   tar xzvf zlib-1.2.3.tar.gz
   cd zlib-1.2.3
   ./configure --prefix=/mingw
   make
   make install

   
   

   Now get the PNG library here and compile it as follows:
   

   tar xzvf libpng-1.2.34.tar.gz
   cd libpng-1.2.34/
   ./configure --prefix=/mingw --disable-shared
   make
   make install

   
   

   Download the source for JPEG library, compile and install JPEG as follows:
   

   tar xzvf jpegsrc.v7.tar.gz
   cd jpeg-7
   ./configure --prefix=/mingw
   make
   make install

   
   
   

2. libdca Library

   
   

   Download the libdca source from videolan.org and compile it like this:

   
   

   tar xjvf libdca-0.0.5.tar.bz2
   cd libdca-0.0.5
   ./configure --prefix=/mingw
   make
   make install

   
   
   

3. OGG, Vorbis and Theora

   
   

   The source for these libraries can be obtained from xiph.org. Compile them like this:
   

   ./configure --prefix=/mingw --disable-shared
   make
   make install

   
   
   

4. Libcdio Library

   
   

   Download the libcdio source from here. Compile and install libcdio as follows:
   

   tar xzvf libcdio-0.81.tar.gz
   cd libcdio-0.81
   ./configure --prefix=/mingw --disable-shared
   make
   make install

   
   
   

5. Live555 library

   
   

   The Live555 library is used to decode streaming media. Get the live555 source from here and compile it as follows:
   

   cd /mingw/lib
   tar xzvf live.2009.07.28.tar.gz
   cd live
   ./genMakefiles mingw
   make

   
   
   

6. LAME

   
   

   LAME is an MP3 encoder. This library allows Mencoder to encode DVD sound into MP3 audio. Download LAME from lame.sf.net and compile it as follows.

   
   

   ./configure --prefix=/mingw --enable-expopt=full
   
   make
   
   make install

   
   
   

7. TwoLame

   
   

   TwoLAME is an MP2 audio encoder. Get the source from twolame.org and compile it:
   

   ./configure --prefix=/mingw CPPFLAGS='-DLIBTWOLAME_STATIC'
   make
   make install

   
   
   

8. XviD

   
   

   In case you didn't know, XviD is the most popular video encoder used in creating movie files found on the P2P networks. With this library, mencoder can rip a DVD into XviD video. Get the XviD source from xvid.org and compile as follows:

   
   

   tar xzvf xvidcore-1.2.2.tar.gz
   
   cd xvidcore/build/generic
   
   ./configure --prefix=/mingw
   
   make
   
   make install

   
   

   In addition, change to the /mingw/bin directory and copy xvidcore.a to libxvidcore.a.

   
   

   cd /mingw/lib
   
   cp xvidcore.a libxvidcore.a

   
   
   

9. FAAC

   
   

   FAAC is an MPEG-4 AAC audio encoder. Get the source (faac-1.28.tar.gz) and unpack the package. Then, edit Makefile.am:
   

   SUBDIRS = include libfaac

   
   

   Also, edit the line beginning with AC_OUTPUT in the file configure.in:
   

   AC_OUTPUT(libfaac/Makefile include/Makefile Makefile)

   
   

   Then, compile FAAC like this
   

   sh bootstrap
   ./configure --prefix=/mingw --enable-static --disable-shared
   make
   make install

   
   
   

10. x264

    
    

    x264 is yet another good video encoder. x264 requires YASM to build an optimized executable. So get yasm and save it as /mingw/bin/yasm.exe. Then, compile x264 like this:

    
    

    sh configure --prefix=/mingw --extra-cflags="-DX264_VERSION=20090608"
    
    make
    
    make install

    
    
    

11. Compiling Mencoder

    
    

    Now you're ready to compile mencoder. Download the MPlayer source snapshot from mplayerhq.hu and unpack it. Then, type the following commands into the MSYS window to produce the executable mencoder.exe.

    
    

    CPPFLAGS='-DHAVE_INT32_T -DLIBTWOLAME_STATIC'./configure --prefix=/mingw --enable-runtime-cpudetection --enable-static --enable-theora --yasm=/mingw/bin/yasm
    
    make mencoder
    
    strip *.exe
    
    mv -iv mencoder.exe /c/Windows

    
    

    This produces a static executable mencoder.exe and copies it into the C:\WINDOWS folder.

    
    

If you'd like to try my mencoder build, download it from here. Its filename is MPlayer-svn-r30521-snapshot-3.4.5.zip.