Ffmpeg Audio Stereo to Mono using only left channel

I use the following command to extract video parts of an '.MTS' record (video).

ffmpeg -i 00402.MTS -s 1280x720 -r 25 -ss 0:00:05.38608 -vcodec libxvid -qscale:v 2 -acodec ac3 -ar 48000 -ab 256k -t 0:00:06.613917 m001_mono.avi

The audio stream is stereo but the right channel only recorded noise. Here are the input informations:

Stream #0.0[0x1011]: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1440x1080 [PAR 4:3 DAR 16:9], 50 fps, 50 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
Stream #0.1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 256 kb/s

I would like the output's audio stream to be mono (with the original left channel only). I already made tests using '-ac 1' option, but in this case the two channels are merged and I lose ~6dB of gain.

What option should I use to discard right channel and output with mono audio stream ?

EDIT: ffmpeg output with map_channel option

/home/eric/buildsys/ffmpeg-2.0.1/ffmpeg -i 00402.MTS -s 1280x720 -r 25 -ss 0:00:05.38608    -vcodec libxvid -qscale:v 2 -acodec ac3 -ar 48000 -ab 256k -t 0:00:06.61391 -map_channel -1 -map_channel 0.1.0 m001_test.avi
ffmpeg version 2.0.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2013 the FFmpeg developers
 built on Sep 24 2013 05:31:18 with gcc 4.8 (Debian 4.8.1-10)
configuration: --extra-cflags=-I../static/include --extra-ldflags='-L../static/lib -static' --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-static --disable-shared --disable-debug --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-libspeex --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libfreetype --enable-libxvid --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libtheora --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-gray --enable-libopenjpeg --disable-ffserver
libavutil      52. 38.100 / 52. 38.100
libavcodec     55. 18.102 / 55. 18.102
libavformat    55. 12.100 / 55. 12.100
libavdevice    55.  3.100 / 55.  3.100
libavfilter     3. 79.101 /  3. 79.101
libswscale      2.  3.100 /  2.  3.100
libswresample   0. 17.102 /  0. 17.102
libpostproc    52.  3.100 / 52.  3.100
Input #0, mpegts, from '00402.MTS':
Duration: 00:01:18.25, start: 0.455556, bitrate: 12217 kb/s
Program 1 
Stream #0:0[0x1011]: Video: h264 (High) (HDMV / 0x564D4448), yuv420p, 1440x1080 [SAR 4:3 DAR 16:9], 25 fps, 50 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
Stream #0:1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3 (AC-3 / 0x332D4341), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 256 kb/s
File 'm001_test.avi' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y
-map_channel is forwarded to lavfi similarly to -af pan=0x3:c1=c0.
[pan @ 0x248a560] This syntax is deprecated. Use '|' to separate the list items.
[pan @ 0x248a560] Pure channel mapping detected: M 0
Output #0, avi, to 'm001_test.avi':
Metadata:
ISFT            : Lavf55.12.100
Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg4 (libxvid) (xvid / 0x64697678), yuv420p, 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
Stream #0:1: Audio: ac3 ([0] [0][0] / 0x2000), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 256 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 -> libxvid)
Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (ac3 -> ac3)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=  166 fps= 23 q=2.0 Lsize=    4012kB time=00:00:06.64 bitrate=4950.3kbits/s    
video:3787kB audio:207kB subtitle:0 global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.464949%

Solution 1:

You can modify a video file directly without having to re-encode the video stream. However the audio stream will have to be re-encoded.

Left channel to mono:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -map_channel 0.1.0 -c:v copy mono.mp4

Left channel to stereo:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -map_channel 0.1.0 -map_channel 0.1.0 -c:v copy stereo.mp4

If you want to use the right channel, write 0.1.1 instead of 0.1.0.

Working with ffmpeg version 3.1.3.

Solution 2:

The following is a confirmed working example with ffmpeg version 2.4.1-tessus:

ffmpeg -i stereo.wav -map_channel 0.0.0 left.wav

More info on FFMPEG's Audio Channel Page.

Solution 3:

Using the -map_channel option as suggested here did not work for me on 4.3.1, using a video from my mobile phone:

mapchan: stream #0.1 is not an audio stream

Solution (working with ffmpeg 4.3.1)

The ffmpeg wiki article Manipulating audio channels recommends using the pan audio filter as the shortest option for this:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -af "pan=mono|c0=FL" mono.mp4

To get the right channel included as mono, replace FL with FR.

Solution 4:

Manipulating audio channels with ffmpeg

Chapter Mute a channel

This example will mute the first channel (the left channel) but keep the second channel as is:

ffmpeg -i stereo.wav -map_channel -1 -map_channel 0.0.1 output.wav

in your case its need to mute right channel. right?

Solution 5:

I solved the problem using the last version of Ffmpeg (2.0.1). The following command line makes the work:

/home/eric/buildsys/ffmpeg-2.0.1/ffmpeg -i 00402.MTS -s 1280x720 -ss 0:00:05.38608 -vcodec libxvid -qscale:v 2 -acodec ac3 -ar 48000 -ab 256k -t 0:00:06.61391 -af pan=1:c0=c0 m001_mono.avi

Btw, this post was very instructive!