Useful FFmpeg command examples for everyday media tasks like converting, compressing, and creating GIFs

ffmpeg.md

🎬 FFmpeg Command Guide — Practical Workflow

📥 0. Install FFmpeg

On Ubuntu :

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg

For Check:

ffmpeg -version

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▶️ 1. Play or Preview Media (using ffplay)

• Play a video:

  ffplay input.mp4

• Play an audio file:

  ffplay input.mp3

• Play without sound:

  ffplay -an input.mp4

• Play specific section:

  ffplay -ss 00:00:10 -t 00:00:05 input.mp4

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🔄 2. Convert Media

• Convert video format (e.g., .mp4 → .webm):

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.webm

• Extract audio from video:

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.mp3

• Convert GIF → video:

  ffmpeg -i input.gif -movflags faststart -pix_fmt yuv420p output.mp4

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✂️ 3. Cut / Trim Videos

• Cut from specific time:

  ffmpeg -ss 00:00:05 -i input.mp4 -t 00:00:10 -c copy output.mp4

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📉 4. Compress Videos

• Basic compression:

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec libx264 -crf 23 output.mp4

• Resize & compress:

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=640:-1" -vcodec libx264 -crf 23 output.mp4

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🖼️ 5. Create Optimized GIFs

✅ Best Method (2-step palette process):

• Step 1 – Generate palette:

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "fps=10,scale=480:-1:flags=lanczos,palettegen" palette.png

• Step 2 – Create optimized GIF:

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i palette.png -filter_complex \
  "fps=10,scale=480:-1:flags=lanczos[x];[x][1:v]paletteuse" output.gif

• 💡 Tips:

  • Lower fps and scale for smaller size
  • Example: fps=7, scale=360:-1

🚫 Simple Method (not recommended):

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.gif

⚠️ Generates large files with poor performance.

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🧼 6. Audio Editing

• Remove audio:

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -an output.mp4

• Increase volume:

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:a "volume=2.0" output.mp4

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⏩ 7. Control Video Speed

• Speed up (2× faster):

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "setpts=0.5*PTS" -an fast.mp4

• Slow down (0.5× speed):

  ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "setpts=2.0*PTS" -an slow.mp4