15 Must-Know FFmpeg Commands for Video, Audio & Image Conversion

Introduction

FFmpeg is a powerful and versatile multimedia framework that can be used to manipulate and convert audio, video, and image files. Knowing some essential FFmpeg commands can greatly enhance your ability to work with multimedia files efficiently. In this article, we'll explore 16 must-know FFmpeg commands for various tasks, including video conversion, audio conversion, and image conversion.

1. Convert Video Formats

Convert a video from one format to another:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.avi

2. Extract Audio from Video

Extract audio from a video file:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -acodec copy output.mp3

3. Resize Video

Resize a video to a specific width and height:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=640:480 output.mp4

4. Convert Audio Formats

Convert an audio file from one format to another:

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 output.ogg

5. Merge Video and Audio

Merge a video file and an audio file into one:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i input.mp3 -c copy output.mp4

6. Convert Video to GIF

Convert a video to an animated GIF:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "fps=10,scale=320:-1:flags=lanczos" -c:v gif output.gif

7. Extract Frames from Video

Extract frames from a video as images:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf fps=1 output%d.png

8. Change Video Codec

Change the video codec of a video file:

ffmpeg -i input.avi -c:v libx264 -crf 23 output.mp4

9. Add Watermark to Video

Add a watermark image to a video:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i watermark.png -filter_complex "overlay=10:10" output.mp4

10. Increase Audio Volume

Increase the volume of an audio file:

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -af "volume=2" output.mp3

11. Concatenate Videos

Concatenate multiple video files into one:

ffmpeg -i "concat:input1.mp4|input2.mp4" -c copy output.mp4

12. Extract Audio from Video Stream

Extract audio from a specific stream in a video file:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -map 0:a:0 -vn output.mp3

13. Convert Image Formats

Convert an image from one format to another:

ffmpeg -i input.jpg output.png

14. Convert Video to MP3

Extract audio from a video and save it as an MP3 file:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -acodec libmp3lame -q:a 4 output.mp3

15. Speed up Video

Speed up a video by a specific factor:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v "setpts=0.5*PTS" output.mp4

16. Convert Video to Slow Motion

Convert a video to slow motion by a specific factor:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v "setpts=2*PTS" output.mp4

Conclusion

These are 16 must-know FFmpeg commands for video, audio, and image conversion. Experimenting with these commands can help you efficiently manipulate and convert multimedia files according to your needs.