To limit CPU usage of the process called avconv to 70%, enter:

cpulimit -e avconv -l 30

To limit CPU usage of the process to 70% by using its PID, enter:

cpulimit -p 6969 -l 70

If the process isn’t running cpulimit will wait for it.

Process using 100% of the CPU

3028 pjrfiguei 20 0 131M 13948 4404 R 100. 1.4 0:27.49 avconv -i video.wmv -vsync 1 -s 300x200 -qscale 1 -r 2 -an -y img%05d.jpg -benchmark

Process using 30% of the CPU

3028 pjrfiguei 20 0 131M 13948 4404 T 30.0 1.4 2:24.25 avconv -i video.wmv -vsync 1 -s 300x200 -qscale 1 -r 2 -an -y img%05d.jpg -benchmark