Useful FFmpeg Commands for Video Conversion and Manipulation
FFmpeg is a highly versatile command-line tool that enables users to manipulate digital media. With its extensive capabilities, FFmpeg can perform a wide range of tasks, including video and audio conversion, editing, streaming, and more.
This article explores various useful FFmpeg commands for converting between different video formats, adjusting quality, splitting and concatenating videos, and creating GIFs.
Convert mov to mp4
ffmpeg -i original_video.MOV -map_metadata 0:g -q:v 0 output_video.mp4
Convert webm to mp4
ffmpeg -i original_video.webm -map_metadata 0:g -q:v 0 output_video.mp4
Lower Quality (with specific resolution)
ffmpeg -i original_video.mp4 -map_metadata 0:g -r 30 -s 960x540 -vcodec libx264 output_video.mp4
Lower Quality (with specific codec and rate)
ffmpeg -i original_video.mp4 -vcodec libx265 -crf 20 output_video.mp4
Additional options that might be worth considering is setting the Constant Rate Factor, which lowers the average bit rate, but retains better quality. Vary the CRF between around 18 and 24 — the lower, the higher the bitrate.
Options for ffmpeg
- -vf “transpose=2” (rotate)
- -map_metadata 0:g (keep metadata)
- -q:v 0 (lower quality)
- -r 30 (rate)
- -s 960x540 (resolution)
Convert all files in a folder
for f in *.webm; do
ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:v copy -c:a copy "${f%.*}.mkv"
done
Split Video
ffmpeg -i original_video.mkv -t 00:10:00 -c:v copy -c:a copy output_video.mkv
Keep Part of VIdeo
The following command keeps the part of video between the 1 minute and for duration of 5 minutes
ffmpeg -i original_video.mkv -ss 00:01:00 -t 00:05:00 output_video.mkv
Concat Videos
ffmpeg -i video_1.mkv -i video_2.mkv -i video_3.mkv -i video_4.mkv -filter_complex "[0:v] [0:a] [1:v] [1:a] [2:v] [2:a] concat=n=4:v=1:a=1 [v] [a]" -map "[v]" -map "[a]" output_video.mkv
Create gif
ffmpeg.exe -i original_video.mkv -f gif image.gif
Create gif scaled down
ffmpeg.exe -i original_video.mkv -vf fps=15,scale=1024:-1 scaled_image.gif
- -fps=15 (number of fps)
- -scale=1024:-1 (scale resolution)