How to export AviSynth project to video file?

Question

I am just starting on AviSynth for video production. My understanding is that AviSynth only does frameserving and not file export, but several export filters are available. TWriteAVI seems the tool for the job but the plugin link is no longer available on the host.

The title links to a forum with what looks like VB code:

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ForceProcessAVI(clip c,bool "Debug"=True)
 Force Process clip c, ie read from first to last frame, for TWriteAVI writes the AVI file (Video + Audio) without having to play clip.
...

I didn't see how to turn this code into an executable, as I mostly use Unix and Windows is for AviSynth only.

How can I hook this code into AviSynth, or how can I export an .avs text file to a movie file?

Answer 1

Forget about output filters.

Use FFmpeg (Linux, Mac, Windows) with this simple command

ffmpeg -i your_avs_file.avs  output.mp4

(or output.avi, output.mkv, ...),

or any conversion program which accepts .avs files as input, e. g. Any Video Converter Free (for Mac and Windows).

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Note 1:

The Windows link points to the site for downloading Zeranoe's FFmpeg build. Unpack the downloaded file and use it — no installation is needed, perhaps only adding the path to ffmpeg.exe into your PATH environment variable.

Note 2:

If you want build FFmpeg by yourself, don't forget add --enable-avisynth option.

Note 3:

You may directly play back your AviSynth script files (.avs) with some Media Players, e.g. with Media Player Classic.