Install ffmpeg for integration tests

for more information, see https://pre-commit.ci

.github/workflows/test.yml

@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ jobs:
       # portaudio19-dev is needed to install pyaudio
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update && \
-          sudo apt-get install -y libegl1-mesa-dev portaudio19-dev
+          sudo apt-get install -y libegl1-mesa-dev ffmpeg portaudio19-dev
 
       - name: Install uv and python
         uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v5

benchmarks/video/run_video_benchmark.py

@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def parse_int_or_none(value) -> int | None:
 def check_datasets_formats(repo_ids: list) -> None:
     for repo_id in repo_ids:
         dataset = LeRobotDataset(repo_id)
-        if dataset.video:
+        if len(dataset.meta.video_keys) > 0:
             raise ValueError(
                 f"Use only image dataset for running this benchmark. Video dataset provided: {repo_id}"
             )

lerobot/common/datasets/lerobot_dataset.py

@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ from lerobot.common.datasets.utils import (
 )
 from lerobot.common.datasets.video_utils import (
     VideoFrame,
-    decode_video_frames_torchvision,
+    decode_video_frames,
     encode_video_frames,
     get_video_info,
 )
@@ -462,8 +462,8 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
             download_videos (bool, optional): Flag to download the videos. Note that when set to True but the
                 video files are already present on local disk, they won't be downloaded again. Defaults to
                 True.
-            video_backend (str | None, optional): Video backend to use for decoding videos. There is currently
-                a single option which is the pyav decoder used by Torchvision. Defaults to pyav.
+            video_backend (str | None, optional): Video backend to use for decoding videos. Defaults to torchcodec.
+                You can also use the 'pyav' decoder used by Torchvision, which used to be the default option, or 'video_reader' which is another decoder of Torchvision.
         """
         super().__init__()
         self.repo_id = repo_id
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
         self.episodes = episodes
         self.tolerance_s = tolerance_s
         self.revision = revision if revision else CODEBASE_VERSION
-        self.video_backend = video_backend if video_backend else "pyav"
+        self.video_backend = video_backend if video_backend else "torchcodec"
         self.delta_indices = None
 
         # Unused attributes
@@ -707,9 +707,7 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
         item = {}
         for vid_key, query_ts in query_timestamps.items():
             video_path = self.root / self.meta.get_video_file_path(ep_idx, vid_key)
-            frames = decode_video_frames_torchvision(
-                video_path, query_ts, self.tolerance_s, self.video_backend
-            )
+            frames = decode_video_frames(video_path, query_ts, self.tolerance_s, self.video_backend)
             item[vid_key] = frames.squeeze(0)
 
         return item
@@ -1029,7 +1027,7 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
         obj.delta_timestamps = None
         obj.delta_indices = None
         obj.episode_data_index = None
-        obj.video_backend = video_backend if video_backend is not None else "pyav"
+        obj.video_backend = video_backend if video_backend is not None else "torchcodec"
         return obj
 
 

lerobot/common/datasets/video_utils.py

@@ -27,6 +27,35 @@ import torch
 import torchvision
 from datasets.features.features import register_feature
 from PIL import Image
+from torchcodec.decoders import VideoDecoder
+
+
+def decode_video_frames(
+    video_path: Path | str,
+    timestamps: list[float],
+    tolerance_s: float,
+    backend: str = "torchcodec",
+) -> torch.Tensor:
+    """
+    Decodes video frames using the specified backend.
+
+    Args:
+        video_path (Path): Path to the video file.
+        timestamps (list[float]): List of timestamps to extract frames.
+        tolerance_s (float): Allowed deviation in seconds for frame retrieval.
+        backend (str, optional): Backend to use for decoding. Defaults to "torchcodec".
+
+    Returns:
+        torch.Tensor: Decoded frames.
+
+    Currently supports torchcodec on cpu and pyav.
+    """
+    if backend == "torchcodec":
+        return decode_video_frames_torchcodec(video_path, timestamps, tolerance_s)
+    elif backend in ["pyav", "video_reader"]:
+        return decode_video_frames_torchvision(video_path, timestamps, tolerance_s, backend)
+    else:
+        raise ValueError(f"Unsupported video backend: {backend}")
 
 
 def decode_video_frames_torchvision(
@@ -127,6 +156,76 @@ def decode_video_frames_torchvision(
     return closest_frames
 
 
+def decode_video_frames_torchcodec(
+    video_path: Path | str,
+    timestamps: list[float],
+    tolerance_s: float,
+    device: str = "cpu",
+    log_loaded_timestamps: bool = False,
+) -> torch.Tensor:
+    """Loads frames associated with the requested timestamps of a video using torchcodec.
+
+    Note: Setting device="cuda" outside the main process, e.g. in data loader workers, will lead to CUDA initialization errors.
+
+    Note: Video benefits from inter-frame compression. Instead of storing every frame individually,
+    the encoder stores a reference frame (or a key frame) and subsequent frames as differences relative to
+    that key frame. As a consequence, to access a requested frame, we need to load the preceding key frame,
+    and all subsequent frames until reaching the requested frame. The number of key frames in a video
+    can be adjusted during encoding to take into account decoding time and video size in bytes.
+    """
+    video_path = str(video_path)
+    # initialize video decoder
+    decoder = VideoDecoder(video_path, device=device)
+    loaded_frames = []
+    loaded_ts = []
+    # get metadata for frame information
+    metadata = decoder.metadata
+    average_fps = metadata.average_fps
+
+    # convert timestamps to frame indices
+    frame_indices = [round(ts * average_fps) for ts in timestamps]
+
+    # retrieve frames based on indices
+    frames_batch = decoder.get_frames_at(indices=frame_indices)
+
+    for frame, pts in zip(frames_batch.data, frames_batch.pts_seconds, strict=False):
+        loaded_frames.append(frame)
+        loaded_ts.append(pts.item())
+        if log_loaded_timestamps:
+            logging.info(f"Frame loaded at timestamp={pts:.4f}")
+
+    query_ts = torch.tensor(timestamps)
+    loaded_ts = torch.tensor(loaded_ts)
+
+    # compute distances between each query timestamp and loaded timestamps
+    dist = torch.cdist(query_ts[:, None], loaded_ts[:, None], p=1)
+    min_, argmin_ = dist.min(1)
+
+    is_within_tol = min_ < tolerance_s
+    assert is_within_tol.all(), (
+        f"One or several query timestamps unexpectedly violate the tolerance ({min_[~is_within_tol]} > {tolerance_s=})."
+        "It means that the closest frame that can be loaded from the video is too far away in time."
+        "This might be due to synchronization issues with timestamps during data collection."
+        "To be safe, we advise to ignore this item during training."
+        f"\nqueried timestamps: {query_ts}"
+        f"\nloaded timestamps: {loaded_ts}"
+        f"\nvideo: {video_path}"
+    )
+
+    # get closest frames to the query timestamps
+    closest_frames = torch.stack([loaded_frames[idx] for idx in argmin_])
+    closest_ts = loaded_ts[argmin_]
+
+    if log_loaded_timestamps:
+        logging.info(f"{closest_ts=}")
+
+    # convert to float32 in [0,1] range (channel first)
+    closest_frames = closest_frames.type(torch.float32) / 255
+
+    assert len(timestamps) == len(closest_frames)
+    return closest_frames
+
+
 def encode_video_frames(
     imgs_dir: Path | str,
     video_path: Path | str,

pyproject.toml

@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "rerun-sdk>=0.21.0",
     "termcolor>=2.4.0",
     "torch>=2.2.1",
+    "torchcodec>=0.2.1",
     "torchvision>=0.21.0",
     "wandb>=0.16.3",
     "zarr>=2.17.0",