ffmpeg

reduce video size and quality

You can reduce the dimensions of the video frame, the video framerate, compression bitrate (quality).

Use ffmpeg -i video_input.mp4 to determine the current video parameters. To determine bitrate look for a line in the output like Duration: 00:28:04.17, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 40705 kb/s. To determine framerate look for a line in the output like Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 2880x1800 [SAR 1:1 DAR 8:5], 40283 kb/s, 59.50 fps, 60 tbr, 6k tbn, 12k tbc (default).

The following would reduce the bitrate by approximately 1/8.

ffmpeg -i video_input.mp4 -b 5000k video_output.mp4

The following would reduce the framerate by approximately 1/4. We could use either the -r 15 option or a -filter:v fps=fps=15.

ffmpeg -i video_input.mp4 -filter:v fps=fps=15 video_output.mp4
ffmpeg -i video_input.mp4 -r 15 video_output.mp4

Combined framerate and bitrate for even more reduction:

ffmpeg -i video_input.mp4 -r 15 -b 5000k video_output.mp4

Extract original JPEG images from MJPEG video

You can check if your video is in MJPEG format using ffprobe. You should get the output codec_name=mjpeg.

ffprobe -v error -select_streams v:0 -show_entries stream=codec_name -of default=nw=1 input.mov

You can extract lossless individual JPEG images from an MJPEG file. Note the two form of syntax that may be required depending on the version of ffmpeg being used.

ffmpeg -i input.mov -codec:v copy -bsf:v mjpeg2jpeg frame-%04d.jpg

Alternate syntax:

ffmpeg -i input.mov -vcodec copy frame-%04d.jpg

Extract the best quality of still images from a video

Note, if your video is in MJPEG format then see #MJPEG for even better best quality still image extraction.

See the options -qscale:v or the alias -q:v for ffmpeg.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -qscale:v 1 frame-%04d.jpg
# or the alias:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -q:v 1 frame-%04d.jpg

Note that some people say to use 1 for the quality value, but others say to use 2. I found that 1 seemed to work.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -qscale:v 1 frame-%04d.jpg

Create video from a sequence of images

This assumes the images have sequential naming.

ffmpeg -pattern_type glob -i "image-*.jpg" video_output.mov

This sets the framerate and format options.

ffmpeg -framerate 10 -pattern_type glob -i "*.jpg" -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 23 video_output.mp4

text file to scrolling video credits

This will create a blank, black video with white text from a plain text file that scrolls up like the credits in a film.

Note that I have not figured out how to wrap text, so the text file must be formatted with line breaks at 70 columns.

You must also play around with the output timing to fit the text. For a 260 line text file I found that I needed about 5 minutes (300 seconds), -t 300. I have not figured out a way to make the video length fit the amount of time needed to scroll any given text file.

The y=h-30*t parameter sets the scroll speed. Between 20 and 40 is usually comfortable. 20 is fast. 40 is slow. You will need to adjust the length of the video if you modify the scroll speed.

ffmpeg -f lavfi -i "color=color=black:s=1280x720, drawtext=fontsize=32:fontfile=FreeSerif.ttf:fontcolor=white:x=40:y=40:textfile=text.txt:y=h-30*t" -t 300 20200324-transcript.mp4

video with timecode

Playback with H:M:S time format starting at 0.

ffplay -i video_input.mp4 -vf "drawtext='x=10:y=10:fontcolor=white:fontsize=32:text=%{pts\:gmtime\:0\:%T}'"

Re-encode video with hard embedded time code showing seconds with decimals starting at 0. Notice that -vf becomes -filter_complex and [0:v] (with a space) is prefixed to the expression.

ffmpeg -i video_input.mp4 -filter_complex "[0:v] drawtext='x=20:y=40:fontcolor=white:fontsize=32:text=%{pts}'" video_output.mp4

Blank video with black screen (320x240 10 FPS), keep audio, embed time code. Notice that the -filter_complex uses [1:v], which is created by the lavfi filter that precedes it.

ffmpeg -i video_input.mp4 -f lavfi -i color=c=black:s=320x240:r=10 -map 1 -map 0:a -shortest -filter_complex "[1:v] drawtext='x=20:y=40:fontcolor=white:fontsize=32:text=%{pts}'" video_output.mp4

Blank video with audio and multiple lines of text including multiple formats of timecode output.

ffmpeg -i video_input.mp4 -f lavfi -i color=c=black:s=320x240:r=10 -map 1 -map 0:a -shortest -filter_complex "[1:v] drawtext='x=10:y=40:fontcolor=white:fontsize=32:text=%{pts\:hms}', drawtext='x=134:y=80:fontcolor=white:fontsize=18:text=%{pts}', drawtext='x=22:y=110:fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:text=AUDIO 2020-03-25'" video_output.mp4

Create slideshow video that is most compatible across many devices -- it will play back under QuickTime

This will create a video that displays a slideshow of all the JPEG images in the current directory. The specified framerate will show each slide for 4 seconds.

ffmpeg -framerate 0.25 -pattern_type glob -i "*.jpg" video_output.mp4