-acodec is an alias for -c:a which is an alias for -codec:a (audio stream).
-vcodec is an alias for -c:v which is an alias for -codec:v (video stream).
-af is an alias for -filter:a (audio stream).
-vf is an alias for -filter:v (video stream).
Turn a portrait video into a landscape one, adding a blurred background of the video
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf 'split[original][copy];[copy]scale=ih*16/9:-1,crop=h=iw*9/16,gblur=sigma=20[blurred];[blurred][original]overlay=(main_w-overlay_w)/2:(main_h-overlay_h)/2' output.mp4
Cross fade a video for seamless loops
curl -o ./video-crossfade -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joeyhoer/video-crossfade/master/video-crossfade.sh
chmod +x ./video-crossfade
./video-crossfade.sh -f 2 -o output.mp4 input.mp4 # 2 second crossfade
Scale a 2.7K (2704x1520) video down to 1080p
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1920:1080,setsar=1" -acodec copy output.mp4
Convert a video framerate to NTSC (29.97002997)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -r ntsc -acodec copy output.mp4
Split a video in several chunks of same duration
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy -map 0 -segment_time 00:00:30 -f segment -reset_timestamps 1 output%03d.mp4
Add optional subtitles
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i subtitle.eng.srt -i subtitle.deu.srt -map 0 -map 1 -map 2 -c copy -c:s mov_text -metadata:s:s:0 language=eng -metadata:s:s:1 language=deu output_eng_deu.mp4
Add embedded subtitles (burned-in subtitles)
sudo apt install subtitlecomposer
In subtitlecomposer, import the video, add subtitles, and export the file as filename.ass. Edit the exported text file, change the font from 16px to 22. Then:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf ass=filename.ass output.mp4
Create a video out of several images
ffmpeg -r 24 -f image2 -s 1440x1080 -i image%04d.jpg -vcodec libx264 -crf 25 -pix_fmt yuv420p output.mp4 # image0001.jpg, image0002.jpg, etc
Create a GIF from a video
palette="/tmp/palette.png"
filters="fps=15,scale=320:-1:flags=lanczos"
ffmpeg -v warning -i input.mp4 -vf "$filters,palettegen" -y $palette
ffmpeg -v warning -i input.mp4 -i $palette -lavfi \
"$filters [x]; [x][1:v] paletteuse" -y output.gif
Create a GIF from images (01.jpg, 02.jpg, 03.jpg, etc...)
ffmpeg -f image2 -framerate 1 -i %02d.jpg output.gif
Crop an OGV video
ffmpeg -i input.ogv -vcodec libtheora -vf crop=700:400:0:0 -f ogg output.ogv
Merge an audio track (delayed) with a video, and cut the final video according to the shortest stream
ffmpeg -itsoffset 00:00:15 -i input.mp4 -i audio.mp3 -acodec copy -vcodec copy \
-map 0:0 -map 1:0 -shortest output.mp4
Cut a video (set the starting time and the duration)
Two options mostly.
-
Process all the input and then precisely cut the re-encoded output at the requested time, the rest of the input that came out before is discarded. It is very slow because it has to process the beginning of the input even though it is discarded.
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:00:13 -t 00:09:00 output.mp4 -
Seek in input (fast but imprecise, can only cut at key frames) and do not re-encode to preserve quality:
ffmpeg -ss 00:00:13 -i input.mp4 -t 00:09:00 -c copy -avoid_negative_ts make_zero output.mp4
Extract EVERY image from a video
ffmpeg -i foo.avi -r 1 -s WxH -f image2 foo-%03d.jpeg
Create a 24fps video from many images
ffmpeg -framerate 1 -i foo-%02d.jpg -c:v libx264 -r 24 -pix_fmt yuv420p foo.mp4
Accelerate a video by 2
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v "setpts=0.5*PTS" output.mp4
Keep the original metadata of a MP4 file
ffmpeg -i original_video.mp4 -c:v libx264 -c:a copy -map_metadata 0 transcoded_video.mp4
touch -r original_video.mp4 transcoded_video.mp4
Flip by 180° a video and fix the metadata
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "transpose=2,transpose=2" -metadata:s:v:0 rotate=0 output.mp4
Remove the audio stream
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -an -vcodec copy output.mp4
Convert from .mov to .mp4
ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libx264 -c:a copy output.mp4
Concatenate several MP4 files
find . -type f -iname "*.MP4" -exec ffmpeg -i '{}' -c copy -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -f mpegts '{}.ts' \;
ffmpeg -i "concat:$(find . -type f -iname "*.ts" | sort | tr '\n' '|' | head -c -1)" -c copy -avoid_negative_ts make_zero -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc output.mp4
Fade out last 2 seconds of audio track
ffmpeg -i output-with-sound.mp4 -c:v copy -filter_complex "areverse, afade=d=2, areverse" output-with-sound-fadeout.mp4
Merge two videos placed side by side with audio from first video
ffmpeg -i left.mp4 -i right.mp4 \
-filter_complex "[0:v][1:v]hstack=inputs=2[myvideo]" \
-map "[myvideo]" -map "0:a" wide.mp4
You might want to scale it down and add black padding at the top and bottom:
ffmpeg -i left.mp4 -i right.mp4 \
-filter_complex "[0:v][1:v]hstack=inputs=2[myvideo];[myvideo]scale=1920:-1,pad=1920:1080:0:270[myvideo]" \
-map "[myvideo]" -map "0:a" wide.mp4
:::bash
Alternatively, you can crop the initial two inputs and directly produce a 1920x1080 video:
ffmpeg -i left.mp4 -i right.mp4 \
-filter_complex "[0:v]crop=960:1080:480:0[left];[1:v]crop=960:1080:480:0[right];[left][right]hstack=inputs=2[myvideo]" \
-map "[myvideo]" -map "0:a" 16-9-video.mp4
If one of the two videos is not correctly synced with the other one, you can delay an input. Add -ss 00:00:0x before the -i input that needs adjustment.
Put one video on top of another one (overlay), alternate between the two, and use audio from first video
ffmpeg -i initial.mp4 -i ontop.mp4 -filter_complex \
"[0:0][1:0]overlay=enable='between(t\,19,28)'[myvideo];[myvideo][1:0]overlay=enable='between(t\,37,45)'[myvideo]" \
-map "[myvideo]" -map "0:a" -shortest output.mp4
Replace the audio track with another
ffmpeg -i output.mp4 -i yo.mp3 -map 0:0 -map 1 -vcodec copy -acodec copy output2.mp4
(Down) Scaling a video from 1080p to 720p
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=1280:-1 -acodec copy output.mp4
Concat MTS files to MP4
ffmpeg -i "concat:$(find . -type f -iname "*.ts" | sort | tr '\n' '|' | head -c -1)" -vcodec copy -acodec aac -ab 512k -cutoff 22050 -sn output.mp4
Reduce the size of a video
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec libx265 -crf 24 -r 25 output.mp4
# OR if libx265 is not supported
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec libx264 -crf 24 -r 25 output.mp4