How to Convert PAL to NTSC in Linux

DVDs and other digital video in the United States generally are encoded in NTSC aspect ration and framerate format, whereas those in Europe come in PAL format. Converting one to the other is quite easy to do in Linux.

Things You'll Need

• FFmpeg (see Resources for link)

Instructions

1. Open a terminal. If you're using Ubuntu or something similar, this is found in the main menu under "Accessories".

2. Enter the following command at the prompt:
   <code>ffmpeg -i video.mpg -target ntsc-dvd -s 720x480 -r 29.970 new-video.mpg</code>
   Replace "video.mpg" with the name of your file. This will change the video clip's size and framerate to match NTSC standards. Wait for it to finish: if your file is large, converting it could take quite a while.

3. When the conversion is finished, play it on your computer, transfer it to your media player device, or burn it to DVD.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want to burn your files to DVD, or convert an entire PAL DVD to NTSC, see the link in References.

References

• Converting PAL DVDs to NTSC, Creating and Burning DVDs, and Other Video Conversions

Resources

• Download FFmpeg