What do you want to do?
-Select from the following.
+Click one of the following categories to see possible commands of that type:
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Change container (rewrap)
+Change container (rewrap)
@@ -77,7 +93,7 @@MKV to MP4
Change codec (transcode)
+Change codec (transcode)
@@ -372,36 +388,7 @@WAV to AAC/MP4
Change formats
- - - -Change video properties
@@ -503,46 +490,6 @@Change Display Aspect Ratio without reencoding video
Deinterlace a video
-ffmpeg -i input_file -c:v libx264 -vf "yadif,format=yuv420p" output_file
This command takes an interlaced input file and outputs a deinterlaced H.264 MP4.
--
-
- ffmpeg
- starts the command -
- -i input file
- path, name and extension of the input file -
- -c:v libx264
- tells ffmpeg to encode the video stream as H.264 -
- -vf
- video filtering will be used (
-vfis an alias of-filter:v)
- - "
- start of filtergraph (see below) -
- yadif
- deinterlacing filter (âyet another deinterlacing filterâ)
- By default, yadif will output one frame for each frame. Outputting one frame for each field (thereby doubling the frame rate) withyadif=1may produce visually better results.
- - ,
- separates filters -
- format=yuv420p
- chroma subsampling set to 4:2:0
- By default,libx264will use a chroma subsampling scheme that is the closest match to that of the input. This can result in Yâ˛CBCR 4:2:0, 4:2:2, or 4:4:4 chroma subsampling. QuickTime and most other non-FFmpeg based players canât decode H.264 files that are not 4:2:0, therefore itâs advisable to specify 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.
- - "
- end of filtergraph -
- output file
- path, name and extension of the output file -
"yadif,format=yuv420p" is an ffmpeg filtergraph. Here the filtergraph is made up of one filter chain, which is itself made up of the two filters (separated by the comma).
- The enclosing quote marks are necessary when you use spaces within the filtergraph, e.g. -vf "yadif, format=yuv420p", and are included above as an example of good practice.
Note: ffmpeg includes several deinterlacers apart from yadif: bwdif, w3fdif, kerndeint, and nnedi.
-For more H.264 encoding options, see the latter section of the encode H.264 command.
-Example
-Before and after deinterlacing:
-
- 
- Examples
Inverse telecine a video file
-ffmpeg -i input_file -c:v libx264 -vf "fieldmatch,yadif,decimate" output_file
The inverse telecine procedure reverses the 3:2 pull down process, restoring 29.97fps interlaced video to the 24fps frame rate of the original film source.
+Set stream properties
+Find undetermined or unknown stream properties
+These examples use QuickTime inputs and outputs. The strategy will vary or may not be possible in other file formats. In the case of these examples it is the intention to make a lossless copy while clarifying an unknown characteristic of the stream.
+ffprobe input_file -show_streams
-
+
- ffprobe
- starts the command +
- input_file
- path, name and extension of the input file +
- -show_streams
- Shows metadata of stream properties +
Values that are set to 'unknown' and 'undetermined' may be unspecified within the stream. An unknown aspect ratio would be expressed as '0:1'. Streams with many unknown properties may have interoperability issues or not play as intended. In many cases, an unknown or undetermined value may be accurate because the information about the source is unclear, but often the value is intended to be known. In many cases the stream will played with an assumed value if undetermined (for instance a display_aspect_ratio of '0:1' may be played as 'WIDTH:HEIGHT'), but this may or may not be what is intended. Use carefully.
+Set aspect ratio
+If the display_aspect_ratio is set to '0:1' it may be clarified with the -aspect option and stream copy.
+ffmpeg -i input_file -c copy -map 0 -aspect DAR_NUM:DAR_DEN output_file
- ffmpeg
- starts the command -
- -i input file
- path, name and extension of the input file -
- -c:v libx264
- encode video as H.264 -
- -vf "fieldmatch,yadif,decimate"
- applies these three video filters to the input video.
- Fieldmatch is a field matching filter for inverse telecine - it reconstructs the progressive frames from a telecined stream.
- Yadif (âyet another deinterlacing filterâ) deinterlaces the video. (Note that ffmpeg also includes several other deinterlacers).
- Decimate deletes duplicated frames.
- - output file
- path, name and extension of the output file +
- -i input_file
- path, name and extension of the input file +
- -c copy
- Usings stream copy for all streams +
- -map 0
- Tells ffmpeg to map all streams of the input to the output. +
- -aspect DAR_NUM:DAR_DEN
- Replace DAR_NUM with the display aspect ratio numerator and DAR_DEN with the display aspect ratio denominator, such as -aspect 4:3 or -aspect 16:9. +
- output_file
- path, name and extension of the output file +
Adding other stream properties.
+Other properties may be clarified in a similar way. Replace -aspect and its value with other properties such as shown in the options below. Note that setting color values in QuickTime requires that -movflags write_colr is set.
+-
+
- -color_primary VALUE -movflags write_colr
- Set a new color_primary value. The vocabulary for values is at ffmpeg. +
- -color_trc VALUE -movflags write_colr
- Set a new color_transfer value. The vocabulary for values is at ffmpeg. +
- -field_order VALUE
- Set interlacement values. The vocabulary for values is at ffmpeg.
"fieldmatch,yadif,decimate" is an ffmpeg filtergraph. Here the filtergraph is made up of one filter chain, which is itself made up of the three filters (separated by commas).
- The enclosing quote marks are necessary when you use spaces within the filtergraph, e.g. -vf "fieldmatch, yadif, decimate", and are included above as an example of good practice.
Note that if applying an inverse telecine procedure to a 29.97i file, the output framerate will actually be 23.976fps.
-This command can also be used to restore other framerates.
-Example
-Before and after inverse telecine:
-
- 
- Filters
+Join, trim, or excerpt a video
- - -Creates a visualization of the bits in an audio stream
-ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input_file, asplit=2[out1][a], [a]abitscope=colors=purple|yellow[out0]"
This filter allows visual analysis of the information held in various bit depths of an audio stream. This can aid with identifying when a file that is nominally of a higher bit depth actually has been 'padded' with null information. The provided GIF shows a 16 bit WAV file (left) and then the results of converting that same WAV to 32 bit (right). Note that in the 32 bit version, there is still only information in the first 16 bits.
+Join files together
+ffmpeg -f concat -i mylist.txt -c copy output_file
This command takes two or more files of the same file type and joins them together to make a single file. All that the program needs is a text file with a list specifying the files that should be joined. However, it only works properly if the files to be combined have the exact same codec and technical specifications. Be careful, ffmpeg may appear to have successfully joined two video files with different codecs, but may only bring over the audio from the second file or have other weird behaviors. Donât use this command for joining files with different codecs and technical specs and always preview your resulting video file!
-
-
- ffplay -f lavfi
- starts the command and tells ffplay that you will be using the lavfi virtual device to create the input -
- "
- quotation mark to start the lavfi filtergraph -
- amovie=input_file
- path, name and extension of the input file -
- asplit=2[out1][a]
- splits the audio stream in two. One of these [a] will be passed to the filter, and the other [out1] will be the audible stream. -
- [a]abitscope=colors=purple|yellow[out0]
- sends stream [a] into the abitscope filter, sets the colors for the channels to purple and yellow, and outputs the results to [out0]. This is what will be the visualization. -
- "
- quotation mark to end the lavfi filtergraph +
- ffmpeg
- starts the command +
- -f concat
- forces ffmpeg to concatenate the files and to keep the same file format +
- -i mylist.txt
- path, name and extension of the input file. Per the ffmpeg documentation, it is preferable to specify relative rather than absolute file paths, as allowing absolute file paths may pose a security risk.
+ This text file contains the list of files to be concatenated and should be formatted as follows: +file './first_file.ext' +file './second_file.ext' +. . . +file './last_file.ext'
+In the above, file is simply the word "file". Straight apostrophes ('like this') rather than curved quotation marks (âlike thisâ) must be used to enclose the file paths.
+Note: If specifying absolute file paths in the .txt file, add-safe 0before the input file.
+e.g.:ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i mylist.txt -c copy output_file
+ - -c copy
- use stream copy mode to re-mux instead of re-encode +
- output_file
- path, name and extension of the output file
Comparison of mono 16 bit and mono 16 bit padded to 32 bit.
-
- For more information, see the ffmpeg wiki page on concatenating files.
Plays a graphical output showing decibel levels of an input file
-ffplay -f lavfi "amovie='input.mp3', astats=metadata=1:reset=1, adrawgraph=lavfi.astats.Overall.Peak_level:max=0:min=-30.0:size=700x256:bg=Black[out]"
Split file into segments
+ffmpeg -i input_file -c copy -map 0 -f segment -segment_time 60 -reset_timestamps 1 output_file-%03d.mkv
-
-
- ffplay
- starts the command -
- -f lavfi
- tells ffplay to use the Libavfilter input virtual device -
- "
- quotation mark to start the lavfi filtergraph -
- movie='input.mp3'
- declares audio source file on which to apply filter -
- ,
- comma signifies the end of audio source section and the beginning of the filter section -
- astats=metadata=1
- tells the astats filter to ouput metadata that can be passed to another filter (in this case adrawgraph) -
- :
- divides between options of the same filter -
- reset=1
- tells the filter to calculate the stats on every frame (increasing this number would calculate stats for groups of frames) -
- ,
- comma divides one filter in the chain from another -
- adrawgraph=lavfi.astats.Overall.Peak_level:max=0:min=-30.0
- draws a graph using the overall peak volume calculated by the astats filter. It sets the max for the graph to 0 (dB) and the minimum to -30 (dB). For more options on data points that can be graphed see the ffmpeg astats documentation -
- size=700x256:bg=Black
- sets the background color and size of the output -
- [out]
- ends the filterchain and sets the output -
- "
- quotation mark to end the lavfi filtergraph +
- ffmpeg
- Starts the command. +
- -i input_file
- Takes in a normal file. +
- -c copy
- Use stream copy mode to re-mux instead of re-encode. +
- -map 0
- Tells ffmpeg to map all streams of the input to the output. +
- -f segment
- Use segment muxer for generating the output. +
- -segment_time 60
- Set duration of each segment (in seconds). This example creates segments with max. duration of 60s each. +
- -reset_timestamps 1
- Reset timestamps of each segment to 0. Meant to ease the playback of the generated segments. +
- output_file-%03d.mkv +
-
+
Path, name and extension of the output file.
+
+ In order to have an incrementing number in each segment filename, FFmpeg supports printf-style syntax for a counter.In this example, '%03d' means: 3-digits, zero-padded
+
+ Examples:-
+
%03d: 000, 001, 002, ... 999
+ %05d: 00000, 00001, 00002, ... 99999
+ %d: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ... 23, 24, etc.
+
Example of filter output
-
- Shows all pixels outside of broadcast range
-ffplay -f lavfi "movie='input.mp4', signalstats=out=brng:color=cyan[out]"
Trim a video without re-encoding
+ffmpeg -i input_file -ss 00:02:00 -to 00:55:00 -c copy -map 0 output_file
This command allows you to create an excerpt from a video file without re-encoding the image data.
-
-
- ffplay
- starts the command -
- -f lavfi
- tells ffplay to use the Libavfilter input virtual device -
- "
- quotation mark to start the lavfi filtergraph -
- movie='input.mp4'
- declares video file source to apply filter -
- ,
- comma signifies closing of video source assertion and ready for filter assertion -
- signalstats=out=brng:
- tells ffplay to use the signalstats command, output the data, use the brng filter -
- :
- indicates thereâs another parameter coming -
- color=cyan[out]
- sets the color of out-of-range pixels to cyan -
- "
- quotation mark to end the lavfi filtergraph +
- ffmpeg
- starts the command +
- -i input_file
- path, name and extension of the input file +
- -ss 00:02:00
- sets in point at 00:02:00 +
- -to 00:55:00
- sets out point at 00:55:00 +
- -c copy
- use stream copy mode (no re-encoding)
+ - -map 0
- Tells ffmpeg to map all streams of the input to the output. + Note: watch out when using
- output_file
- path, name and extension of the output file
-ss with -c copy if the source is encoded with an interframe codec (e.g., H.264). Since ffmpeg must split on i-frames, it will seek to the nearest i-frame to begin the stream copy.
+ Example of filter output
-
- Variation: trim video by setting duration, by using -t instead of -to
ffmpeg -i input_file -ss 00:05:00 -t 10 -c copy output_file
-
+
- -ss 00:05:00 -t 10
- Beginning five minutes into the original video, this command will create a 10-second-long excerpt. +
Note: In order to keep the original timestamps, without trying to sanitise them, you may add the -copyts option.
Work with interlaced video
+ + + +Exports OCR data to screen
-Note: ffmpeg must be compiled with the tesseract library for this script to work (--with-tesseract if using brew install ffmpeg method)
ffprobe -show_entries frame_tags=lavfi.ocr.text -f lavfi -i "movie=input_file,ocr"
Deinterlace a video
+ffmpeg -i input_file -c:v libx264 -vf "yadif,format=yuv420p" output_file
This command takes an interlaced input file and outputs a deinterlaced H.264 MP4.
-
-
- ffprobe
- starts the command -
- -show_entries
- sets a list of entries to show -
- frame_tags=lavfi.ocr.text
- shows the lavfi.ocr.text tag in the frame section of the video -
- -f lavfi
- tells ffprobe to use the Libavfilter input virtual device -
- -i "movie=input_file,ocr"
- declares 'movie' as input_file and passes in the 'ocr' command +
- ffmpeg
- starts the command +
- -i input file
- path, name and extension of the input file +
- -c:v libx264
- tells ffmpeg to encode the video stream as H.264 +
- -vf
- video filtering will be used (
-vfis an alias of-filter:v)
+ - "
- start of filtergraph (see below) +
- yadif
- deinterlacing filter (âyet another deinterlacing filterâ)
+ By default, yadif will output one frame for each frame. Outputting one frame for each field (thereby doubling the frame rate) withyadif=1may produce visually better results.
+ - ,
- separates filters +
- format=yuv420p
- chroma subsampling set to 4:2:0
+ By default,libx264will use a chroma subsampling scheme that is the closest match to that of the input. This can result in Yâ˛CBCR 4:2:0, 4:2:2, or 4:4:4 chroma subsampling. QuickTime and most other non-FFmpeg based players canât decode H.264 files that are not 4:2:0, therefore itâs advisable to specify 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.
+ - "
- end of filtergraph +
- output file
- path, name and extension of the output file
"yadif,format=yuv420p" is an ffmpeg filtergraph. Here the filtergraph is made up of one filter chain, which is itself made up of the two filters (separated by the comma).
+ The enclosing quote marks are necessary when you use spaces within the filtergraph, e.g. -vf "yadif, format=yuv420p", and are included above as an example of good practice.
Note: ffmpeg includes several deinterlacers apart from yadif: bwdif, w3fdif, kerndeint, and nnedi.
+For more H.264 encoding options, see the latter section of the encode H.264 command.
+Example
+Before and after deinterlacing:
+
+
+ Inverse telecine a video file
+ffmpeg -i input_file -c:v libx264 -vf "fieldmatch,yadif,decimate" output_file
The inverse telecine procedure reverses the 3:2 pull down process, restoring 29.97fps interlaced video to the 24fps frame rate of the original film source.
+-
+
- ffmpeg
- starts the command +
- -i input file
- path, name and extension of the input file +
- -c:v libx264
- encode video as H.264 +
- -vf "fieldmatch,yadif,decimate"
- applies these three video filters to the input video.
+ Fieldmatch is a field matching filter for inverse telecine - it reconstructs the progressive frames from a telecined stream.
+ Yadif (âyet another deinterlacing filterâ) deinterlaces the video. (Note that ffmpeg also includes several other deinterlacers).
+ Decimate deletes duplicated frames.
+ - output file
- path, name and extension of the output file +
"fieldmatch,yadif,decimate" is an ffmpeg filtergraph. Here the filtergraph is made up of one filter chain, which is itself made up of the three filters (separated by commas).
+ The enclosing quote marks are necessary when you use spaces within the filtergraph, e.g. -vf "fieldmatch, yadif, decimate", and are included above as an example of good practice.
Note that if applying an inverse telecine procedure to a 29.97i file, the output framerate will actually be 23.976fps.
+This command can also be used to restore other framerates.
+Example
+Before and after inverse telecine:
+
+
+ Use filters or scopes
+ + + +Creates a visualization of the bits in an audio stream
+ffplay -f lavfi "amovie=input_file, asplit=2[out1][a], [a]abitscope=colors=purple|yellow[out0]"
This filter allows visual analysis of the information held in various bit depths of an audio stream. This can aid with identifying when a file that is nominally of a higher bit depth actually has been 'padded' with null information. The provided GIF shows a 16 bit WAV file (left) and then the results of converting that same WAV to 32 bit (right). Note that in the 32 bit version, there is still only information in the first 16 bits.
+-
+
- ffplay -f lavfi
- starts the command and tells ffplay that you will be using the lavfi virtual device to create the input +
- "
- quotation mark to start the lavfi filtergraph +
- amovie=input_file
- path, name and extension of the input file +
- asplit=2[out1][a]
- splits the audio stream in two. One of these [a] will be passed to the filter, and the other [out1] will be the audible stream. +
- [a]abitscope=colors=purple|yellow[out0]
- sends stream [a] into the abitscope filter, sets the colors for the channels to purple and yellow, and outputs the results to [out0]. This is what will be the visualization. +
- "
- quotation mark to end the lavfi filtergraph +
Comparison of mono 16 bit and mono 16 bit padded to 32 bit.
+
+ Plays a graphical output showing decibel levels of an input file
+ffplay -f lavfi "amovie='input.mp3', astats=metadata=1:reset=1, adrawgraph=lavfi.astats.Overall.Peak_level:max=0:min=-30.0:size=700x256:bg=Black[out]"
-
+
- ffplay
- starts the command +
- -f lavfi
- tells ffplay to use the Libavfilter input virtual device +
- "
- quotation mark to start the lavfi filtergraph +
- movie='input.mp3'
- declares audio source file on which to apply filter +
- ,
- comma signifies the end of audio source section and the beginning of the filter section +
- astats=metadata=1
- tells the astats filter to ouput metadata that can be passed to another filter (in this case adrawgraph) +
- :
- divides between options of the same filter +
- reset=1
- tells the filter to calculate the stats on every frame (increasing this number would calculate stats for groups of frames) +
- ,
- comma divides one filter in the chain from another +
- adrawgraph=lavfi.astats.Overall.Peak_level:max=0:min=-30.0
- draws a graph using the overall peak volume calculated by the astats filter. It sets the max for the graph to 0 (dB) and the minimum to -30 (dB). For more options on data points that can be graphed see the ffmpeg astats documentation +
- size=700x256:bg=Black
- sets the background color and size of the output +
- [out]
- ends the filterchain and sets the output +
- "
- quotation mark to end the lavfi filtergraph +
Example of filter output
+
+ Shows all pixels outside of broadcast range
+ffplay -f lavfi "movie='input.mp4', signalstats=out=brng:color=cyan[out]"
-
+
- ffplay
- starts the command +
- -f lavfi
- tells ffplay to use the Libavfilter input virtual device +
- "
- quotation mark to start the lavfi filtergraph +
- movie='input.mp4'
- declares video file source to apply filter +
- ,
- comma signifies closing of video source assertion and ready for filter assertion +
- signalstats=out=brng:
- tells ffplay to use the signalstats command, output the data, use the brng filter +
- :
- indicates thereâs another parameter coming +
- color=cyan[out]
- sets the color of out-of-range pixels to cyan +
- "
- quotation mark to end the lavfi filtergraph +
Example of filter output
+
+