PNG encoder - which container?

[thany]

This is probably an incredibly silly question, but which container should I use with the PNG encoder?

I have a use case where it's sensible to encode to PNG first (any lossless codec will do actually), and to a lossy one later. But I can't seem to work out with container to pick.
AVI -> crashes at 4GB (please fix this?)
MKV -> says "Cannot open"
MP4 -> says "Only MP4Video & H264 supported for video" and then "Cannot open"
MP4v2 -> says "Cannot open"
FLV -> says "Only FLV1 & VP6 supported for video" and then "Cannot open"
Dummy -> I suspect this is like a simulation for developing codecs?
Video only -> Not an option, I need audio too.
Mpeg-TS/PS -> I seriously doubt that will work with anything but MPEG2 video.

I'm starting to wonder why the PNG encoder is even there in the first place... I tried YV12 as well, but it's all the same.

So... What should I do for lossless encoding?

I'm using Avidemux 2.6.6 r8962 on Windows 7.

[styrol]

AVI -> crashes at 4GB (please fix this?

AVI OpenDML (YV12/PCM) is suitable, but FAT-32 file system only allows files up to 4GB.

[thany]

I was saving to an NTFS drive, and yet it crashed at 4GB... The encoding window showed it had selected OpenDML for the AVI container.

Did I discover a bug then?

[macduke]

By the way: isn't HuffYUV lossless as well? Am I wrong?

[styrol]

By the way: isn't HuffYUV lossless as well?

Well, there are many lossless codecs, but only a few are popular: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_codecs#Lossless_compression_2

[thany]

It seems HuffYUV is indeed more usable - it's listed as lossless and is "fits" in a matroska container.

I'm quite certain MKV doesn't make avidemux crash when hitting 4GB, because there used to be a bug that caused the bitrate for H.264 to become abnormally high. But it did work, and I did use MKV... I never tried it with AVI though.

Still, strange that AVI crashes when hitting 4GB. Perhaps it's already fixed even - I haven't updated in 2 weeks or so... I probably should

/edit
Yup, the encode with HuffYUV+PCM into MKV just passed the 4GB mark and it's working just fine. Next, I'll get the latest nightly and see if the problem still exists with AVI/OpenDML.

[styrol]

It seems HuffYUV is indeed more usable - it's listed as lossless and is "fits" in a matroska container.

... so is MKV more usable. But your initial subject was "PNG encoder - which container?"

I suggested AVI because the MKV muxer didn't accept "YV12" (your second choice für encoding).

AVI is a deprecated file format. A lot of hacks were created to allow e.g. h.264 encoding in it and file size greater than 4GB. If you don't have to use AVI, do not use it.

[thany]

Exactly, so the PNG encoder is basically as deprecated as the containers that it fits in. I found that it fits in AVI only, so the PNG encoder is not too useful in many cases, especially seeing that files with this encoder can very easily grow beyond 4GB - which on its turns appears to be the crash-limit for Avidemux (or maybe it's fixed in the mean time, I haven't tested).