Click one of the following categories to see possible commands of that type:
- +Click one of the following categories to see commands of that type:
+ @@ -60,42 +60,39 @@ +Many ffmpeg commands use filters that manipulate the video or audio stream in some way: for example, hflip to horizontally flip a video, or amerge to merge two or more audio tracks into a single stream.
-The use of a filter is signalled by the flag -vf (video filter) or -af (audio filter), followed by the name and options of the filter itself. For example, take the convert colourspace command:
ffmpeg -i input_file -c:v libx264 -vf colormatrix=src:dst output_file
-
Here, colormatrix is the filter used, with src and dst representing the source and destination colourspaces. This part following the -vf is a filtergraph.
It is also possible to apply multiple filters to an input, which are sequenced together in the filtergraph. A chained set of filters is called a filter chain, and a filtergraph may include multiple filter chains. Filters in a filterchain are separated from each other by commas (,), and filterchains are separated from each other by semicolons (;). For example, take the inverse telecine command:
ffmpeg -i input_file -c:v libx264 -vf "fieldmatch,yadif,decimate" output_file
Here we have a filtergraph including one filter chain, which is made up of three video filters.
-It is often prudent to enclose your filtergraph in quotation marks; this means that you can use spaces within the filtergraph. Using the inverse telecine example again, the following filter commands are all valid and equivalent: -
-vf fieldmatch,yadif,decimate-vf "fieldmatch,yadif,decimate"-vf "fieldmatch, yadif, decimate"-vf fieldmatch, yadif, decimate is not valid.
- Straight quotation marks ("like this") rather than curved quotation marks (“like this”) should be used.
-Note: if the command involves more than one input or output, you must use the flag -filter_complex instead of -vf.
For more information, check out the ffmpeg wiki Filtering Guide.
+At its basis, an ffmpeg command is relatively simple. After you have installed ffmpeg (see instructions here), the program is invoked simply by typing ffmpeg at the command prompt.
Subsequently, each instruction that you supply to ffmpeg is actually a pair: a flag, which designates the type of action you want to carry out; and then the specific action itself.
+For example, with the instruction -i input_file.ext, the -i flag tells ffmpeg that you are supplying an input file, and input_file.ext states which file it is.
Note: flags are always prepended with a hyphen.
+A very basic ffmpeg command looks like this:
+Many ffmpeg commands use filters that manipulate the video or audio stream in some way: for example, hflip to horizontally flip a video, or amerge to merge two or more audio tracks into a single stream.
+The use of a filter is signalled by the flag -vf (video filter) or -af (audio filter), followed by the name and options of the filter itself. For example, take the convert colourspace command:
ffmpeg -i input_file -c:v libx264 -vf colormatrix=src:dst output_file
+
Here, colormatrix is the filter used, with src and dst representing the source and destination colourspaces. This part following the -vf is a filtergraph.
It is also possible to apply multiple filters to an input, which are sequenced together in the filtergraph. A chained set of filters is called a filter chain, and a filtergraph may include multiple filter chains. Filters in a filterchain are separated from each other by commas (,), and filterchains are separated from each other by semicolons (;). For example, take the inverse telecine command:
ffmpeg -i input_file -c:v libx264 -vf "fieldmatch,yadif,decimate" output_file
Here we have a filtergraph including one filter chain, which is made up of three video filters.
+It is often prudent to enclose your filtergraph in quotation marks; this means that you can use spaces within the filtergraph. Using the inverse telecine example again, the following filter commands are all valid and equivalent: +
-vf fieldmatch,yadif,decimate-vf "fieldmatch,yadif,decimate"-vf "fieldmatch, yadif, decimate"-vf fieldmatch, yadif, decimate is not valid.
+ Straight quotation marks ("like this") rather than curved quotation marks (“like this”) should be used.
+Note: if the command involves more than one input or output, you must use the flag -filter_complex instead of -vf.
For more information, check out the ffmpeg wiki Filtering Guide.
+ +