extract stuff from .mkv with ffmpeg

ffmpeg_mkv_ops.md

Extract stuff from .mkv with ffmpeg

Full documentation: https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html

List all tracks

ffmpeg -i input.mkv

track indexes are zero-based.

Track types

v - video
a - audio
s - subtitles
t - attachments
d - data
m - metadata

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Pick tracks

syntax

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -map 0:type -map 0:type -c copy output.mkv
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -map 0:type:index -map 0:type:index -c copy output.mkv

examples

pick all video tracks, second audio track and third subtitle track:

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -map 0:v -map 0:a:1 -map 0:s:2 -c copy output.mkv

only pick first video, audio and subtitle tracks but keep all attachments:

ffmpeg -i "$i" -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 -map 0:s:0 -map 0:t -c copy

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Omit tracks (negative mapping)

syntax

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -map 0 -map -0:type:index -c output.mkv

examples

keep all tracks except first audio and first subtitle tracks:

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -map 0 -map -0:a:0 -map -0:s:0 -c output.mkv

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Extract subtitle track

syntax

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -map 0:m:key:value -c:s copy|format output.srt

examples

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -map 0:m:language:eng -c:s copy output.srt
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -map 0:m:title:SDH -c:s copy output.srt
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -map 0:m:key:value -c:s srt output.srt

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Batch operations

extract subtitles

for i in *.mkv; do ffmpeg -i "$i" -map 0:m:key:value -c:s copy "${i%.*}.srt"; done

pick tracks

for i in *.mkv; do ffmpeg -i "$i" -map 0:v -map 0:a:0 -map 0:s:0 -c copy "_${i}"; done

omit tracks

for i in *.mkv; do ffmpeg -i "$i" -map 0 -map -0:a:0 -c copy "_${i}"; done

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Show only stats, warnings and errors

ffmpeg -v 24 -stats ...