FFmpeg cheat sheet

Basic conversion

$ ffmpeg -i in.mp4 out.avi

Remux an MKV file into MP4

$ ffmpeg -i in.mkv -c:v copy -c:a copy out.mp4

High-quality encoding

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.

 $ ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -preset slower -crf 18 out.mp4

Trimming

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 or 83 (in seconds)
[-t] specifies the duration of the clip (same format).
Recent ffmpeg also has a flag to supply the end time with -to.
[-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 example:

$ ffmpeg -ss [start] -i in.mp4 -t [duration] -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -strict experimental -b:a 128k out.mp4

Mux video and audio from another video

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.
The -shortest option will cause the output duration to match the duration of the shortest input stream.

Concat demuxer

First, make a text file.

$ cat > list.txt
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 audio/video

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

Burn subtitles

Use the libass library

Ensure 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

Extract the frames from a video

To extract all frames from between 1 and 5 seconds, and also between 11 and 15 seconds:

$ ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vf select='between(t,1,5)+between(t,11,15)' -vsync 0 out%d.png

To extract one frame per second only:

$ ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -fps=1 -vsync 0 out%d.png

Rotate a video

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.

Download "Transport Stream" video streams

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

Mute some of the audio

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

Deinterlace

Deinterlacing using "yet another deinterlacing filter".

$ ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vf yadif out.mp4

Create a video slideshow from images

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

Extract images from a video

Extract all frames:

$ ffmpeg -i input.mp4 thumb%04d.jpg -hide_banner

Extract a frame each second:

$ ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf fps=1 thumb%04d.jpg -hide_banner`

Extract only one frame:

$ ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:00:10.000 -vframes 1 thumb.jpg

Metadata: Change the title

$ ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -map_metadata -1 -metadata title="My Title" -c:v copy -c:a copy out.mp4

Variable bit rate 1080p MP3:

 $ ffmpeg -i input_video -vcodec libx264 -crf 25 -preset medium -vf scale=-2:1080 -acodec libmp3lame -q:a 4 -ar 48000 -ac 2 output_video.mp4

Fixed bit rate 1080p MP2:

 $ ffmpeg -i input_video -vcodec libx264 -b:v 1000k -vf scale=-2:1080 -acodec mp2 -b:a 256k -ar 48000 -ac 2 output_video.mp4

No audio:

 $ ffmpeg -i input_video -vcodec libx264 -b:v 1000k -vf scale=-2:1080 -an output_video.mp4

Crop size (width:height:xoffset:yoffset):

 $ ffmpeg -i input_video -vf crop=1500:800:200:100 -vcodec libx264 -b:v 1000k -an output_video.mp4

Trim time (-ss start time, -t duration):

 $ ffmpeg -i input_video -vcodec libx264 -b:v 1000k -an -ss 00:00:10 -t 00:00:10 output_video.mp4

Mix audio and video:

   ffmpeg -i input_video -vcodec libx264 -b:v 1000k -vf crop=1120:876:0:100 -i input_audio -acodec mp2 -b:a 256k -ar 48000 -ac 2 -ss 00:00:20 -t 00:00:20 output_video.mp4

Crop, pan, composite:

  $ ffmpeg -i input_video_1 -i input_video_2 -filter_complex '[1:v]crop=175:95:930:860[cropout];[cropout]scale=350:190[scaleout];[0:v][scaleout]overlay=10:10[outv]' -map '[outv]' -vcodec libx264 -b:v 1000k -map 0:a -acodec mp2 -b:a 256k -ac 2 -t 00:00:05 output_video.mp4

Numbered images to video:

 $  ffmpeg -r 30 -i %04d.jpg -vcodec libx264 -b:v 1000k -vf scale=-2:1080 -an output_video.mp4

FFmpeg export audio from any video to mp3

$ ffmpeg -i "$video" -vn -c:a libmp3lame -y "$audio";

FFmpeg export frames from video to images

$ ffmpeg -i "$video" "$frames_folder/%08d.ppm";

Retrieve the frame rate from the input video
To view it on screen

$ ffprobe -v 0 -of csv=p=0 -select_streams v:0 -show_entries stream=r_frame_rate "$video";

To create a video out of a folder with frames/images and an audio file.

$ ffmpeg -framerate "$frame_rate" -i "$frames_folder/%08d.ppm" -i "$audio" -pix_fmt yuv420p -acodec copy -y "$output_video";

To set a custom starting index for the frames you can use the -start_number argument

$ ffmpeg -start_number 62 -framerate "$frame_rate" -i "$frames_folder/%08d.ppm" -i "$audio" -pix_fmt yuv420p -acodec copy -y "$output_video";

To use the MP4 coded use -vcodec libx264

$ ffmpeg -framerate "$frame_rate" -i "$frames_folder/%08d.ppm" -i "$audio" -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -acodec copy -y "$output_video";

To merge an audio less video with an audio file

$ ffmpeg -i "$no_audio_video" -i "$audio" -shortest -vcodec copy -acodec copy "$output_video";

To change the frame rate of a video

$ ffmpeg -i "$video" -filter:v fps=20 "$output_video";

To merge two videos side by side

$ ffmpeg -i "$left_video" -i "$right_video" -filter_complex hstack "$output_video"

Concatenate multiple videos into one

The easiest way without writing huge commands is the following:

First, create a file named parts.txt and add content similar to what we list below:

$ cat > parts.txt
#Lines starting with # will be ignored
file 'part00-03.mp4'
file 'part04.mp4'
file 'part05-07.mp4'
file 'part08-09.mp4'
file 'part10.mp4'
file 'part11-13.mp4'

Then execute the following command to concatenate all those videos into one:

 $ ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i parts.txt -c copy "$output_video";

Speed up a video

Using the following command, you can speed up a video by dropping excess frames:

 $ ffmpeg -i "$video" -filter:v "setpts=0.5*PTS" "$output_video";

The above example will double the speed (the value 0.5 controls it.)

To speed the video up without losing frames, you can increase the FPS value of the output video. To retrieve the frame rate, please see the command that was posted earlier.

$ ffmpeg -i "$video" -r 80 -filter:v "setpts=0.25*PTS" "$output_video";

In the second example, we assumed that the input video had 20 frames per second. Using the 0.25 value, we decided to speed the video up by a factor of 4. To preserve the input frames, we increased the frame rate from 20 to 80 using the parameter -r.

Extract audio from .MKV to .MP3

The following command will find all mkv files that are in the current directory and in all sub-folders and extract the audio to mp3 format.

$ find . -type f -name "*.mkv" -exec bash -c 'FILE="$1" 
$ ffmpeg -i "${FILE}" -vn -c:a libmp3lame -y "${FILE%.mkv}.mp3";' _ '{}' \;

Extract a 5 seconds video from 3-8

$ ffmpeg -ss 00:00:03 -t 00:00:08 -i input.mp4 -async 1 cut.mp4

Cut first X seconds from a video

$ ffmpeg -ss 10 -i input.mp4 -async 1 cut.mp4

Mix a video with an audio

$ ffmpeg -i original_video.mkv -i clean_audio.mp3 -c:v copy -c:a flac -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 out.mkv

Recording

Screencasting (software encoding) with dynamic screen size

$ ffmpeg -y -f x11grab -s `xdpyinfo | grep 'dimensions:'| awk '{print $2}'` -i :0.0 -f pulse -i default -c:v libx264 -r 48 -c:a flac out.mkv

Screencasting (hard encoding) with provided screen size

$ ffmpeg -f alsa -i default -c:a flac \
    -vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -y -f x11grab -s 1920x1080  -i :0.0+1366,0 \
    -vf 'format=nv12|vaapi,hwupload' -c:v h264_vaapi -preset ultrafast -crf 0 \
    -tune film -r 60 out.mkv

Podcast recording

$ ffmpeg -f pulse -i 2 -ac 2 -acodec libmp3lame -ab 320k out.mp3

Cropping

The following will create a 640x480 sized output video by copying a corresponding window at offset x=100px y=25px from the input video

 $ ffmpeg -i <input> -filter:v "crop=640:480:100:25" <output>

Scaling

 $ ffmpeg -i <input> -vf scale=640:480 <output>

Cutting a video part

$ ffmpeg -i <input> -ss 00:01:45 -t 00:02:35 -vcodec copy -acodec copy <output>

$ ffmpeg -ss 00:00:30 -i orginalfile.mpg -t 00:00:05 -vcodec copy -acodec copy newfile.mpg

Fixing rotation

Do not recode for rotation but simple add a video metadate field for the rotation angle

$ ffmpeg -i <input> -c copy -metadata:s:v:0 rotate=90 <output>

H265 2-pass encoding

For H265 2-pass encoding you need to combine 2 ffmpeg calls.

$ ffmpeg -y -i input -c:v libx265 -b:v 2600k -x265-params pass=1 -an -f mp4 /dev/null && \
$ ffmpeg    -i input -c:v libx265 -b:v 2600k -x265-params pass=2 -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4

Extracting Audio Stream

Combine -vn (for no video) with -acodec copy.

Note that the output file extension must match the audio codec in the input file for “-acodec copy” to work.

$ ffmpeg -i file.mp4 -vn -acodec copy output.aac

Creating Thumbnails

To create a single thumb at 10s

$ ffmpeg -ss 10 -i <input file> -vframes 1 -vcodec png -an thumb.png

To create thumbnails every n seconds use “-vf fps=1/n” for example

$ ffmpeg -i <input file> -vf fps=1/60 thumbnails/thumb%03d.png

Handling id3 tags

Extracting

$ ffmpeg -i file.mp3 -f ffmetadata metadata.txt

Setting metadata.txt

 $ ffmpeg -i file.mp3 -acodec copy -metadata title="<title>" -metadata artist="<artist>" -metadata album="<album>" out.mp3

Resample/Convert Audio

$ ffmpeg -i file.aac -acodec mp3 -ar 44100 -ab 128000 output.mp3

Change container from MKV to MP4

$ ffmpeg -i file.mkv -acodec copy -vcodec copy file.mp4

Video from Images

If you have multiple numbered images image1.jpg, image2.jpg… create a video from them like this

$ ffmpeg -f image2 -i image%d.jpg video.mp4

Split Video to Images

$ ffmpeg -i video.mp4 image%d.jpg

Mute some of the audio
- 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

Dump video code, duration etc..

 $ ffmpeg -hide_banner -filter:v idet -frames:v 100 -an -f rawvideo -y /dev/null -i VIDEO.mp4

Boost volume of your song (4 is 4 times, so this could lead to clipping)

 $ ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -filter:a "volume=4.0" output.mp3

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