A list of useful commands for the ffmpeg command line tool.
Full documentation: https://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.mkv
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c copy output.mp4
Use the crf
(Constant Rate Factor) parameter to control the output quality. The lower crf, the higher the quality (range: 0-51). The default value is 23, and visually lossless compression corresponds to -crf 18
. Use the preset
parameter to control the speed of the compression process. Additional info: https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -preset slower -crf 18 out.mp4
Without re-encoding:
ffmpeg -ss [start] -i in.mp4 -t [duration] -c copy out.mp4
-ss
specifies the start time, e.g.00:01:23.000
or83
(in seconds)-t
specifies the duration of the clip (same format).-to
specified the end time. Must be used in place of-t
.
-c
copy copies the first video, audio, and subtitle bitstream from the input to the output file without re-encoding them. This won't harm the quality and make the command run within seconds.
With Re-encoding:
If you leave out the
-c copy
option,ffmpeg
will automatically re-encode the output video and audio according to the format you chose. For high quality video and audio, read the x264 Encoding Guide and the AAC Encoding Guide, respectively.
ffmpeg -ss [start] -i in.mp4 -t [duration] -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -strict experimental -b:a 128k out.mp4
To copy the video from in0.mp4 and audio from in1.mp4:
ffmpeg -i in0.mp4 -i in1.mp4 -c copy -map 0:0 -map 1:1 -shortest out.mp4
- With -c copy the streams will be
stream copied
, not re-encoded, so there will be no quality loss. If you want to re-encode, see FFmpeg Wiki: H.264 Encoding Guide. - The
-shortest
option will cause the output duration to match the duration of the shortest input stream. - See the
-map
option documentation for more info.
To convert a video to 720p:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=-1:720 output.mp4
To convert a video to 4K:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=-1:2160 output.mp4
To make a .gif
that is half the size of the input video (recommended)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter_complex "scale=iw/2:ih/2,split [a][b];[a] palettegen=stats_mode=diff [p];[b][p] paletteuse=new=1" output.gif
To make a .gif
that is the same size with 30fps (slow, not recommended)
ffmpeg.exe -i input.mp4 -filter_complex "[0:v] fps=30,split [a][b];[a] palettegen=stats_mode=diff [p];[b][p] paletteuse=new=1" output.gif
To double the speed of a video:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "setpts=0.5*PTS" output.mp4
Use the following for setpts
to change the speed:
setpts=2*PTS
= Half Speedsetpts=0.5*PTS
= 2x Speedsetpts=0.25*PTS
= 4x Speed
First, make a text file.
file 'in1.mp4'
file 'in2.mp4'
file 'in3.mp4'
file 'in4.mp4'
Then, run ffmpeg
:
ffmpeg -f concat -i list.txt -c copy out.mp4
Delay video by 3.84 seconds:
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -itsoffset 3.84 -i in.mp4 -map 1:v -map 0:a -vcodec copy -acodec copy out.mp4
Delay audio by 3.84 seconds:
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -itsoffset 3.84 -i in.mp4 -map 0:v -map 1:a -vcodec copy -acodec copy out.mp4
ffmpeg -i left.mp4 -i right.mp4 -filter_complex hstack output.mp4
Use the libass library (make sure your ffmpeg install has the library in the configuration --enable-libass
).
First convert the subtitles to .ass format:
ffmpeg -i sub.srt sub.ass
Then add them using a video filter:
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vf ass=sub.ass out.mp4
Rotate 90 clockwise:
ffmpeg -i in.mov -vf "transpose=1" out.mov
For the transpose parameter you can pass:
0 = 90CounterCLockwise and Vertical Flip (default)
1 = 90Clockwise
2 = 90CounterClockwise
3 = 90Clockwise and Vertical Flip
Use -vf "transpose=2,transpose=2"
for 180 degrees.
ffmpeg -i input.ts -vf yadif=1 -c:v libx264 -preset slow -c:a copy output.ts
yadif=0
will output a frame for each frameyadif=1
will output a frame for each fields (recommended)
Parameters: -r
marks the image framerate (inverse time of each image); -vf fps=25
marks the true framerate of the output.
ffmpeg -r 1/5 -i img%03d.png -c:v libx264 -vf fps=25 -pix_fmt yuv420p out.mp4
Note: Converting to
.bmp
will process a lot faster than.jpg
- Extract all frames:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 thumb%04d.jpg
- Extract a frame each second:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf fps=1 thumb%04d.jpg
- Extract only one frame:
ffmpeg -ss 0:10 -i input.mp4 -vframes 1 thumb.jpg
ffmpeg -i in.mov -vf "drawtext=fontfile=arial.ttf: text=%{n}: x=(w-tw)/2: y=h-(2*lh): fontcolor=white: box=1: boxcolor=0x00000099: fontsize=72" -y out.mov
ffmpeg -hide_banner -loglevel -i input.mp4 -ss 0:01 -vframes 6 -vf "select=not(mod(n\,300)),scale=-1:320,tile=3x2" -vsync vfr thumbnails.jpg
-ss 0:01
= Starts the frame previews at 0:01-vframes 6
= Generates 6 framesmod(\n,300)
= Selects every 300 framesscale=-1:320
= Resizes the frames to 360 heighttile=3x2
= Output image grid is 3 columns + 2 rows
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v copy -c:a copy -sn -f hls -hls_time 4 -hls_playlist_type event output.m3u8
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -map_metadata -1 -metadata title="My Title" -c:v copy -c:a copy out.mp4
- Locate the playlist file, e.g. using Chrome > F12 > Network > Filter: m3u8
- Download and concatenate the video fragments:
ffmpeg -i "path_to_playlist.m3u8" -c copy -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc out.mp4
If you get a "Protocol 'https not on whitelist 'file,crypto'!" error, add the protocol_whitelist
option:
ffmpeg -protocol_whitelist "file,http,https,tcp,tls" -i "path_to_playlist.m3u8" -c copy -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc out.mp4
To replace the first 90 seconds of audio with silence:
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vcodec copy -af "volume=enable='lte(t,90)':volume=0" out.mp4
To replace all audio between 1'20" and 1'30" with silence:
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vcodec copy -af "volume=enable='between(t,80,90)':volume=0" out.mp4
This command uses FOR
to run ffmpeg
to convert every .mp4
in the current folder to .mkv
without quality loss
FOR %a in (*.mp4) DO ffmpeg -i "%a" -c copy -strict experimental "%~na.mkv"
-i
= input file-c
= codec-c:a
- audio codec-c:v
- video codec-c:s
- subtitle codec
-sn
= disable subtitles-an
= disable audio-vn
= disable video-ab
= audio bitrate-hide_banner
= hide banner in output-loglevel quiet
= hides usual metadata from output
Video Containers
.mp4
- MPEG-4 (Part 14).m4v
- Raw MPEG-4.mov
- QuickTime.mkv
- Matroska.webm
- WebM (Used for HTML5).m2ts
- Blu-ray MPEG-2 TS (Blu-ray Transport Stream)- Outdated:
.avi
- Audio Video Interleave (Microsoft).wmv
- Windows Media Video (Microsoft).ts
/.tp
- MPEG-TS (Transport Stream)
Audio Containers
.flac
- Free Lossless Audio Codec.mp3
- MPEG Layer III Audio.m4a
- An audio-only MPEG-4 file.opus
- Opus Container Format.wav
- Standard Microsoft lossless container.aiff
- Standard Apple lossless container