add support for mp4 + audio and `screen_recorder.py` rewritted to use `FFMPEG` by RgeditV1 · Pull Request #416 · Baekalfen/PyBoy

RgeditV1 · 2026-05-05T20:31:25Z

patch for: #368

add full support for mp4 + audio
add new hotkey U for toggle mp4 recording
screen recorder backend rewritted to FFMPEG

GIF

MP4

POKEMON.RED-2026.05.05-15.54.24.mp4

UNIT TEST TRACE

uv run python -m pytest -s -vv test_screen_recorder.py  

============================================= test session starts ==============================================
platform linux -- Python 3.11.15, pytest-9.0.3, pluggy-1.6.0 -- /home/rgedit/Documentos/repo/PyBoy/.venv/bin/python3
cachedir: .pytest_cache
benchmark: 5.2.3 (defaults: timer=time.perf_counter disable_gc=False min_rounds=5 min_time=0.000005 max_time=1.0 calibration_precision=10 warmup=False warmup_iterations=100000)
rootdir: /home/rgedit/Documentos/repo/PyBoy
configfile: pyproject.toml
plugins: xdist-3.8.0, benchmark-5.2.3, lazy-fixtures-1.4.0
collected 2 items                                                                                              

test_screen_recorder.py::test_screen_recorder_gif_ffmpeg_pipeline [screen-recorder-test] Starting GIF recorder flow
[screen-recorder-test] Toggle ON GIF recording
[screen-recorder-test] Toggle OFF GIF recording
[screen-recorder-test] Captured 2 ffmpeg calls for GIF
[screen-recorder-test] GIF call #1 args: ['/usr/bin/ffmpeg', '-y', '-f', 'rawvideo', '-pix_fmt', 'rgba', '-s:v', '160x144', '-r', '60', '-i', './recordings/screenrec-53vs8olz/video.rgba', '-vf', 'fps=60,palettegen=stats_mode=diff', './recordings/screenrec-53vs8olz/palette.png']
[screen-recorder-test] GIF call #2 args: ['/usr/bin/ffmpeg', '-y', '-f', 'rawvideo', '-pix_fmt', 'rgba', '-s:v', '160x144', '-r', '60', '-i', './recordings/screenrec-53vs8olz/video.rgba', '-i', './recordings/screenrec-53vs8olz/palette.png', '-lavfi', 'fps=60[x];[x][1:v]paletteuse=dither=bayer:bayer_scale=3:diff_mode=rectangle', './recordings/DEFAULT-ROM-2026.05.05-16.46.31.gif']
[screen-recorder-test] GIF recorder flow finished
PASSED
test_screen_recorder.py::test_screen_recorder_mp4_with_audio [screen-recorder-test] Starting MP4 recorder flow
[screen-recorder-test] Toggle ON MP4 recording
[screen-recorder-test] Toggle OFF MP4 recording
[screen-recorder-test] Captured 1 ffmpeg calls for MP4
[screen-recorder-test] MP4 call args: ['/usr/bin/ffmpeg', '-y', '-f', 'rawvideo', '-pix_fmt', 'rgba', '-s:v', '160x144', '-r', '60', '-i', './recordings/screenrec-breuoi5c/video.rgba', '-f', 's8', '-ar', '48000', '-ac', '2', '-i', './recordings/screenrec-breuoi5c/audio.s8', '-c:v', 'libx264', '-preset', 'veryfast', '-crf', '18', '-pix_fmt', 'yuv420p', '-c:a', 'aac', '-b:a', '128k', '-shortest', './recordings/DEFAULT-ROM-2026.05.05-16.46.31.mp4']
[screen-recorder-test] MP4 recorder flow finished
PASSED

============================================== 2 passed in 0.70s ===============================================

Baekalfen

Nice work. The only thing that doesn’t look right, is the gif. It seems like it’s dropping frames? It should be completely smooth 60 FPS, as we are storing every frame and playing it back with perfect timing.

RgeditV1 · 2026-05-09T16:00:04Z

i was watching the gif frame rate and now im sure its working now, i cant notice a drop frame rate, try dont use visual studio to watch the gif

PD: for some reason in file explorer its see fine but using visual studio and github see too slow

File Explorer:

screenrecording-2026-05-09_12-08-28.mp4

Github Version and Visual Studio

RgeditV1

seems like its working fine for me

Baekalfen · 2026-05-11T06:41:48Z

Ok, it seems it’s not dropping frames, rather the framerate is far too low. Maybe there’s some metadata that should be configured? I think that was initially an issue with the current implementation, but I fixed it somehow with different parameters.

The current GIFs work fine in Safari, while the one you sent might be around 10-15 FPS?
https://github.com/Baekalfen/PyBoy/blob/master/extras/README/1.gif

RgeditV1 · 2026-05-11T07:08:28Z

Ok, it seems it’s not dropping frames, rather the framerate is far too low. Maybe there’s some metadata that should be configured? I think that was initially an issue with the current implementation, but I fixed it somehow with different parameters.

The current GIFs work fine in Safari, while the one you sent might be around 10-15 FPS?
https://github.com/Baekalfen/PyBoy/blob/master/extras/README/1.gif

Yeah, your gif is fine right now
Pd: the workflows isnt working 😭😭😭

RgeditV1 · 2026-05-11T07:12:27Z

hope you could helpme with the workflows

Baekalfen · 2026-05-13T06:34:21Z

You can ignore the workflow for now. As long as the macOS ones are working, it’s just some setup

RgeditV1 · 2026-05-13T07:20:03Z

You can ignore the workflow for now. As long as the macOS ones are working, it’s just some setup

Take ur time for feedbacks
If you see something else, ill be here
🧐🧐

Baekalfen · 2026-05-14T10:52:29Z

Did you fix the frame rate issue? You can post a GIF here so I can verify, I’m not much at the computer these weeks

RgeditV1 · 2026-05-14T15:41:48Z

Did you fix the frame rate issue? You can post a GIF here so I can verify, I’m not much at the computer these weeks

there isnt frame rate issue, its working now, but when u open it with github or vscode it seems slow.

look at this

screenrecording-2026-05-09_12-08-28.mp4

its really working fine

Baekalfen · 2026-05-14T16:07:11Z

But it also has to work in Visual Studio. There's a small detail you're missing. Try opening extras/README/1.gif. This works fine in VSCode too.

The GIFs in the readme here on GitHub are recorded with this code, so it has to keep working on GitHub.

RgeditV1 · 2026-05-14T16:09:35Z

But it also has to work in Visual Studio. There's a small detail you're missing. Try opening extras/README/1.gif. This works fine in VSCode too.

The GIFs in the readme here on GitHub are recorded with this code, so it has to keep working on GitHub.

i think i got it

RgeditV1 · 2026-05-14T16:10:16Z

Baekalfen · 2026-05-21T11:04:17Z

+# cannot be represented exactly and some players jitter or clamp playback.
+# 50 FPS maps exactly to 2 centiseconds per frame and is broadly compatible.
+# Finally DONE!!
+GIF_FPS = 50


It’s a good insight, and you might be onto something. But the current GIFs work fine at 60 fps, so there must be a way to configure it.

I've been researching 60fps in GIFs and I understand that 60fps doesn't actually exist; Pillow uses a technique to create the illusion of 60fps.

I understand that 60 frames per second is not possible due to limitations of the GIF file in question.

i can use pillow and ffmpeg at same time but in theroy will be the same thing
ill be waiting your answer to put my hand to work

I see. That’s surprising. Wonder how it’s done now.

Did you try this? Changing the delay per frame: https://superuser.com/a/1449427

yes i did but isnt work

Alright, maybe just do the original plan and have a separate mp4 recorder? That should be easy, right?

I really appreciate the effort you put into this

Alright, maybe just do the original plan and have a separate mp4 recorder? That should be easy, right?

So, pillow=gif and ffmpeg=mp4?

Alright, maybe just do the original plan and have a separate mp4 recorder? That should be easy, right?

I think it should be in same file

So, pillow=gif and ffmpeg=mp4?

Exactly. You can decide if it needs separate files

Signed-off-by: Rgeditv1 <rgeditv1@protonmail.com>

Baekalfen reviewed May 9, 2026

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RgeditV1 requested a review from Baekalfen May 11, 2026 00:21

RgeditV1 commented May 11, 2026

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Baekalfen requested changes May 21, 2026

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SQUASH COMMIT: add full support for mp4 and rewritte for ffmpeg

c0875fc

Signed-off-by: Rgeditv1 <rgeditv1@protonmail.com>

RgeditV1 force-pushed the screen-recorder branch from abe960e to c0875fc Compare May 21, 2026 19:37

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RgeditV1 commented May 5, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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GIF

MP4

UNIT TEST TRACE

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RgeditV1 commented May 9, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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File Explorer:

Github Version and Visual Studio

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Baekalfen commented May 11, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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