A base for programmatically clipping video using FFmpeg.

ffmpeg_clipping.py

#!/usr/bin/python

import subprocess, time, os


def run_command(command):
	p = subprocess.Popen(command, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
	output = p.communicate()[0]
	return output[:-1]


def create_clip(video_file, out_path, in_point, out_point, report_path=None, clip_type="encode"):
	time_stamp = str(int(time.time()))
	out_file = out_path+"/ffmpeg_clip_"+time_stamp+"_"+os.path.basename(video_file)
	if report_path == None:
		report_path = os.path.dirname(out_path)
	report = report_path+"/ffmpeg_clip_"+time_stamp+"_"+os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(video_file))[0]+".txt"
	if clip_type == "clip":
		# This command is instant but video playback is off
		command = 'ffmpeg -i '+video_file+' -ss '+in_point+' -to '+out_point+' -c copy '+out_file+' 2>>'+report
	elif clip_type == "encode":
		# This command requires a transcode ... 
		command = 'ffmpeg -i '+video_file+' -ss '+in_point+' -to '+out_point+' -c:v h264 -c:a aac '+out_file+' 2>>'+report

	print command
	run_command(command)


if __name__ == "__main__":
	import sys
	input_file_path 	= sys.argv[1] # ex. "/Path/to/input.mp4"
	output_folder_path 	= sys.argv[2] # ex. "/Path/to/output/folder/for/video/"
	in_point 			= sys.argv[3] # ex. "00:00:0.0"
	out_point			= sys.argv[4] # ex. "00:00:15.0"

	create_clip(input_file_path, output_folder_path, in_point, out_point, clip_type="encode")


	# Change "encode" to "clip" to run the faster version (no transcoding) but buggier

	# EXAMPLE OF RUNNING
	# python ffmpeg_clipping.py /Path/to/input.mp4 /Path/to/output/folder/for/video 00:00:5.0 00:00:7.0