six_bit_mp4

converts a string of text into an mp4 with audio

FAQ

what do I need to run this?

Python 3 and ffmpeg

how to use it:

$ echo "Pick a lane and drive like hell." | python3 six_bit_mp4.py

A file called hexbit.mp4 should appear in the directory when it's done.

what it does:

Takes a string from the command line then converts it to video and audio. The video is a series of varying patterns but the audio tends towards headache inducing frequencies. There's a 1000Hz low pass filter in the ffmpeg command to avoid those. If you want high tones that your dog will hate then comment it out.

how:

-converts characters from strings into 6 bits: 'a' to '100100' and squishes them together

-then it puts the big bunch of bits together repeatedly until there's enough to make a 360x360 jpg

the first iteration will contain only the first letter of the string: PPPPPPPPP..

the second iteration: PiPiPiPiPi..

and so on until all the characters from the string are exhausted

which characters does it accept?

• [0-9], [A-Z], [a-z], [_], [.]

'0' = '000000'

...

'.' = '111111'

the image on my media player doesn't change but the audio works:

Yeah this happened to me with VLC. I think the 2 fps rate is unusual and scrambles the media player's brain.

what if I want a different frame-per-second rate?

It's possible but you'll have to figure out how to make the audio accept the increased or decreased video byte rate. To increase try changing the mp4's pix_fmt to rgb8 and changing fps from 2 to 6.

will it work on Windows?

Probably. You'll have to install ffmpeg which is free and available here: http://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html#build-windows

Then alter the subprocess.call command: - change ffmpeg to [ffmpeg directory]\ffmpeg.exe

 - delete ', shell=True' from the end of the subprocess.call command

can I use this code for my own projects?

Yeah sure totally go for it and you don't even have to credit me. It's a public domain license.

If you build a twitter bot please let me know so I can make videos.

why is this Python 3 only?

It uses int.to_bytes which isn't available in Python 2. Sorry!

#####If you have questions or whatever I'm on twitter as @happyhorseskull