In this article we are going to look at some options and examples of how you can use FFmpeg multimedia framework to perform various conversion procedures on audio and video files.
For more details about FFmpeg and steps to install it in different Linux distros, read the article from the link below:
FFmpeg Multimedia Framework Installation Guide on Linux – Part 1
Useful FFmpeg Commands
FFmpeg utility supports almost all major audio and video formats, if you want to check the ffmpeg supported available formats you can use ./ffmpeg -formats command to list all supported formats. If you are new to this tool, here are some handy commands that will give you a better idea about the capabilities of this powerful tool.
1. Get Video File Information
To get information about a file (say video.mp4), run the following command. Remember you have to specify an ouput file, but in this case we only want to get some information about the input file.
$ ffmpeg -i video.flv -hide_banner
Note: The -hide_banner option is used to hide a copyright notice shown my ffmpeg, such as build options and library versions. This option can be used to suppress printing this information.
For example, if you run the above command without adding -hide_banner option it will print the all FFmpeg tools copyright information as shown.
$ ffmpeg -i video.flv
2. Split a video into images
To turn a video to number of images, run the command below. The command generates the files named image1.jpg, image2.jpg and so on…
$ ffmpeg -i video.flv image%d.jpg
After successful execution of above command you can verify that the video turn into multiple images using following ls command.
$ ls -l total 11648 -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14592 Oct 19 13:19 image100.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14603 Oct 19 13:19 image101.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14584 Oct 19 13:19 image102.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14598 Oct 19 13:19 image103.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14634 Oct 19 13:19 image104.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14693 Oct 19 13:19 image105.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14641 Oct 19 13:19 image106.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14581 Oct 19 13:19 image107.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14508 Oct 19 13:19 image108.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14540 Oct 19 13:19 image109.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 12219 Oct 19 13:18 image10.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 tecmint tecmint 14469 Oct 19 13:19 image110.jpg
3. Convert images into a video
Turn number of images to a video sequence, use the following command. This command will transform all the images from the current directory (named image1.jpg, image2.jpg, etc…) to a video file named imagestovideo.mpg.
There are many other image formats (such as jpeg, png, jpg, etc) you can use.
$ ffmpeg -f image2 -i image%d.jpg imagestovideo.mpg
4. Convert a video into mp3 format
To convert an .flv format video file to Mp3 format, run the following command.
$ ffmpeg -i video.flv -vn -ar 44100 -ac 2 -ab 192 -f mp3 audio.mp3
Description about the options used in above command:
- vn: helps to disable video recording during the conversion.
- ar: helps you set audio sampling rate in Hz.
- ab: set the audio bitrate.
- ac: to set the number of audio channels.
- -f: format.
5. Covert flv video file to mpg format
To convert a .flv video file to .mpg, use the following command.
$ ffmpeg -i video.flv video.mpg
6. Convert video into animated gif
To convert a .flv video file to animated, uncompressed gif file, use the command below.
$ ffmpeg -i video.flv animated.gif.mp4
7. Convert mpg video file to flv
To convert a .mpg file to .flv format, use the following command.
$ ffmpeg -i video.mpg -ab 26k -f flv video1.flv
8. Convert avi video file to mpeg
To convert a .avi file to mpeg for dvd players, run the command below:
$ ffmpeg -i video.avi -target pal-dvd -ps 2000000000 -aspect 16:9 video.mpeg
Explanation about the options used in above command.
- target pal-dvd : Output format
- ps 2000000000 maximum size for the output file, in bits (here, 2 Gb).
- aspect 16:9 : Widescreen.
9. Convert a video to CD or DVD format
To create a video CD or DVD, FFmpeg makes it simple by letting you specify a target type and the format options required automatically.
You can set a target type as follows: add -target type; type can of the following be vcd, svcd, dvd, dv, pal-vcd or ntsc-svcd on the command line.
To create a VCD, you can run the following command:
$ ffmpeg -i video.mpg -target vcd vcd_video.mpg
10. Extract audio from video file
To extract sound from a video file, and save it as Mp3 file, use the following command:
$ ffmpeg -i video1.avi -vn -ar 44100 -ac 2 -ab 192 -f mp3 audio3.mp3
Explanation about the options used in above command.
- Source video : video.avi
- Audio bitrate : 192kb/s
- output format : mp3
- Generated sound : audio3.mp3
11. Mix a video and audio together
You can also mix a video with a sound file as follows:
$ ffmpeg -i audio.mp3 -i video.avi video_audio_mix.mpg
12. Increase/Reduce Video Playback Speed
To increase video play back speed, run this command. The -vf option sets the video filters that helps to adjust the speed.
$ ffmpeg -i video.mpg -vf "setpts=0.5*PTS" highspeed.mpg
You can also reduce video speed as follows:
$ ffmpeg -i video.mpg -vf "setpts=4.0*PTS" lowerspeed.mpg -hide_banner
13. Compare/Test Video and Audio Quality
To compare videos and audios after converting you can use the commands below. This helps you to test videos and audio quality.
$ ffplay video1.mp4
To test audio quality simply use the name of the audio file as follows:
$ ffplay audio_filename1.mp3
You can listen to them while they play and compare the qualities from the sound.
14. Add Photo or Banner to Audio
You can add a cover poster or image to an audio file using the following command, this comes very useful for uploading MP3s to YouTube.
$ ffmpeg -loop 1 -i image.jpg -i Bryan\ Adams\ -\ Heaven.mp3 -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -strict experimental -b:a 192k -shortest output.mp4
15. Add subtitles to a Movie
If you have a separate subtitle file called subtitle.srt, you can use following command to add subtitle to a movie file:
$ ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -i subtitles.srt -map 0 -map 1 -c copy -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset veryfast video-output.mkv
Summary
That is all for now but these are just few examples of using FFmpeg, you can find more options for what you wish to accomplish. Remember to post a comment to provide information about how to use FFmpeg or if you have encountered errors while using it.
Reference: https://ffmpeg.org/
Hi tecMint,
Elsewhere
(https://larryjordan.com/articles/change-your-movies-poster-frame/)a solution was provided several years ago – Can I ask if you think this command (by PAJ) will work to change a movie files poster-image and hence finder icon on Big Sur in 2021ffmpeg : ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -I yourposterimage.jpg -map 0 -map 1 -c copy -c:v:1 mjpeg -disposition:v:1 attached_pic out.mp4Thanks
Hi, I do not know how to edit the comment. If the formula as a bat file also, I would be happy.
thank you
@jraju
Try to understand the command syntax, it is easy. Give it a try. You can start by running the same commands in the guide.
Hi, can you please tell the ffmpeg, ffprobe, or ffplay command to test all the files in a folder that has the same video codec and audio codec? For eg, if the video is x264 and audio mp3 is in a reference file I want all the files that differ from it has to be shown through the command. I do not want any other parameters.
can you supply the command?
In a number of the examples above, you have missed off the
"k"[kilo] for the -ab [bitrate] parameter.In your screen grabs, it even shows the warning message from ffmpeg stating that the bit rate is extremely low and did you forget to include the
"k".So in the examples it should be
"-ab 192k","-ab 320k"etc …@Erik
Thanks for mentioning this.
it is possible to reduce the image size but not the resolution ?
If possible how?
@Kamal
I guess it it possible, we will find a way to do that and let you know soon.
command using ffmpeg for live video streaming ???
how to change volume of video or audio file without re-encoding that?
Very useful.
Can we change/set codec value of video file without compressing file.
@Rakesh
Yes, you can change/set the codec of a video file without compressing it. For instance:
ffmpeg -i input.avi -vcodec h264 output.avi
Very useful.
Hi
How can we compress the output image in ffmpeg. What parameter I need to add to make it.
eg: ffmpeg -i input.jpg -vf scale=320:240 output_320x240.png I need compressed version of the output image
@shams
Make use of -compression_level especially for PNG output as in the example command above. The compression values range from 0-100 and the default is 100, the highest compression value meaning that it offers the smallest output file size. I hope this will help.
I have stupid question, if i just need my visitor play video from my website, why use ffmpeg to stream video on my website if i just want display a video
Thanks for sharing.Can you please show me to convert avi video to :(mediainfo) Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 57.7 MiB
Duration : 21mn 39s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 372 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2016-03-06 07:59:42
Tagged date : UTC 2016-03-06 07:59:42
gsst : 0
gstd : 1299690
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=60
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 21mn 39s
Bit rate : 274 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 698 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 360 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.048
Stream size : 42.5 MiB (74%)
Tagged date : UTC 2016-03-06 07:59:48
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 21mn 39s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 96.0 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 104 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 14.9 MiB (26%)
Title : IsoMedia File Produced by Google, 5-11-2011
Encoded date : UTC 2016-03-06 07:59:45
Tagged date : UTC 2016-03-06 07:59:48
@Adam,
Try the following ffmpeg command to convert AVI files to MP4 as shown.
Thanks for this follow-up tutorial on FFmpeg. FFmpeg is an excellent, full-featured media toolkit, but its total capabilities can be quite overwhelming. The code examples help with understanding and as a starting point for further exploration.
Before using FFmpeg, I usually want to know more about the input media file formats I will be using. For this, I usually use FFprobe (one of the useful utility programs included with the FFmpeg suite). FFprobe was created to extract detailed configuration info from a media file. For example:
$ ffprobe -v quiet -pretty -of default -show_format -show_streams “video.flv” > “video.flv.info”
FFprobe will produce a nicely formatted report saved to an output file as documentation and for further follow-up analysis. FFprobe can also generate the report in several other print formats (including JSON and XML).
For repeat usage, I placed the above FFprobe command in a script file, and execute the script passing just the input filename as a parameter. The script handles the rest (including creating the output filename by appending ‘.info’ to the input filename). The double-quotes around the filenames are optional, but are required if the filenames contain spaces. Recommend including double-quotes in the script file to avoid later potential run-time errors.
@Dennis Thanks for the info about FFprobe. It can help new FFmpeg users to learn more.
There are several errors: 1. hide_banner is a global option, so it should go before -i. 3. “-f image2” is superfluous. 4. You really don’t need any of those other options, and you should have used -ab 192k, not -ab 192. 6. This example does not make an animated GIF at all. 8. -ps does not limit file size; -fs does, but you shouldn’t use it anyway because it will just end when it reaches the specified limit. 10. The input already was MP3, so stream copy would be better (-c:a copy).
@Hangover Man thanks for catching the errors, hope users will identify them and use the options carefully.
Extremely useful. Thanks.