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Software

FFmpeg

Video compression tool

FFmpeg

ffmpeg is a powerful tool for video compression.

What is FFmpeg?

  • Official site: https://ffmpeg.org/
  • FFmpeg is an open-source video compression tool
  • FFmpeg is a command-line video conversion tool

FFmpeg

Test Environment

  • PC: MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
  • OS: Sonoma 14.7.2
  • Terminal: zsh

Installation

Open terminal and install ffmpeg using package manager Homebrew

brew install ffmpeg

Version check

ffmpeg -version

Usage

Navigate to the folder containing the video you want to compress in terminal and enter commands.

ffmpeg -i [input file] [output options] [output file]

Neil’s encoding introduced in FabAcademy is shown below. These commands are used for video/audio compression, trimming, compositing, and quality settings for efficient web video delivery.

Neil’s Encoding

  • HTML5 MP4 ffmpeg encoding

  • codecs

    • H.264: good compression, widely supported
    • H.265: better compression, less widely supported

  • ~megabytes/minute compression for Web

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

Contact

If you have any questions about using FFmpeg, please feel free to ask our staff.

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