I hope it can be useful, but please let me know if there is anything missing!
https://img.ly/blog/ultimate-guide-to-ffmpeg/

As an introduction, please know that I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know the first thing about computer science or coding or anything, I just got ytarchive and need to mux the .ts files it spits out.

I'm on windows 10, if that matters. I downloaded the second download link from gyan , the one called "ffmpeg-git-full.7z" . It downloaded fine, extracted fine, and it's got 3 .exe files in a folder called "bin" , but not a one does anything. If I spam click them fast enough, I can see the outline of a new window pop up for like a tenth of a second, but that's it. I tried running as admin, and aside from asking if I wanna let it make changes to my computer, it's the exact same.

I have no idea what to do. Any help you could offer would be super appreciated. Including suggestions of easier, more idiotproof programs to use, maybe.

Can you recommend a way to learn many things about ffmpeg?

I want to learn to edit video with ffmpeg. I tried some basic commands to trim and concatenate videos, and I was amazed at how fast it was

I’ve known about it for years, and was finally in a place where I HAD to use it - (needed footage from a Samsung phone, it was recorded at a variable frame rate and wouldn’t sync with my other footage)

I think I was always intimidated by its lack of GUI (I’m aware there are paid versions for this) but it really wasn’t hard. Just converted 6 files in terminal and they came out great.

Don’t fear the FFMPEG!

I’m collecting practical, real-world ffmpeg moves that save time or fix messy media. What do you use?

Simple daily commands I actually use

These are small, reliable lines I reach for every day. Sometimes I stack more advanced filters/encoders, but this set covers a lot of real-world tasks fast.

# Convert M4A to MP3 (VBR ~190 kbps).
ffmpeg -i song.m4a -codec:a libmp3lame -qscale:a 2 song.mp3


# Loop a short .mov several times without re-encoding (fast remux).
ffmpeg -stream_loop 4 -i 1.mov -c copy looped_1.mov


# Remux MP4 to MOV with no quality change. Useful for NLE/project needs.
ffmpeg -i vid.mp4 -c copy vid.mov


# Resize an image to exactly 512×512. (Fixed size; will distort if aspect differs.)
ffmpeg -i img.png -vf "scale=512:512" resized_img.png


# Turn a static image + audio into a video.
ffmpeg -loop 1 -i img.png -i song.wav -c:v libx264 -tune stillimage -c:a aac -b:a 192k -shortest -movflags +faststart video.mp4


# Extract best-quality MP3 from a video file (audio-only output).
ffmpeg -i voiceover.mp4 -q:a 0 -map a voiceover.mp3


# Resize wide to 3000 px, keep aspect; write compact PNG without alpha.
# Note: PNG -compression_level caps at 9; 10 behaves like 9.
ffmpeg -i img.png -vf "scale=3000:-1" -compression_level 10 -pix_fmt rgb24 compressed_img.png


# Upscale a small thumbnail to 1280×720 for a quick 16:9 placeholder.
ffmpeg -i thumb_small.png -vf "scale=1280:720" thumb_resized.png

If you’ve got cleaner flags or better defaults for these basics, I’m all ears. For heavier jobs (denoise/deband, loudness targets, hardware AV1/HEVC, HLS/DASH packaging), I switch to longer chains.

My setup:

OS: macOS 15.5
CPU/GPU: Apple M1 Pro
Install: Homebrew
Shell: zsh
ffmpeg Version: 7.1.1 built with Apple clang version 17.0.0

Hi, I do a little bit of casual video editing in FCPX and I'd like to start putting these videos in WebM format. It doesn't seem like Compressor supports this, so I'm looking at alternatives, namely ffmpeg.

I've tried to use ffmpeg in the past, but always find the gazillion arguments and such that must be used to be overwhelming. This is probably because I'm a command line newb.

If anyone could point me to resources or give me tips on learning to use ffmpeg from the CLI, I'd appreciate it.

i want to use FFmpeg because APNG's are the most obscure file type and i can almost cant find any program that supports it apart from FFmpeg
sadly all documentation regarding the installation assumes any prior knowledge regarding windows command prompt and something called PATH (system variables??)
does an easy install exist? or is this just to gatekeep the software to keep simple folk out?

i'm really confused why the install seems to be so complicated

id like to extract the audio or download mp4 from videos, though im not sure where to get ffmpeg and then where to put it , and then how to write its location in command prompt. can someone link a video or explain the most basic way to do this to get audio? thanks in advance your the best

I created a Dynamic Library with C++ for the FFmpeg API in C to facilitate integration for graphical applications and with more speed. Available for Windows and GNU/Linux, but can be adapted to any other operating system: macOS, Haiku, FreeBSD and others.

FFpp repository: https://github.com/terroo/ffpp

Hello all!

I saw a post here for Best command line for compressing to x265?

And one of the comments said that this script is best: ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx265 -crf 25 -preset fast -pix_fmt yuv420p10le -c:a libopus -b:a 96k output.mkv

I have a few questions:

1. i just feel like I am walking in the dark and don't know where or how I can learn they 'why' is this faster, or better - without learning the deep workings of ffmpeg. Are there any resources where I can learn this?

2. Does anyone know if there are any 'cookbooks' of high quality / common ffmpeg commands which is reputable? I'm sure I can find some scripts online, but I do not know what is 'a good recipe' and 'a bad recipe'.

Thanks!

Like I said in the title it's my first time to use it so is there some guide I can use for it (like how to Hardsub using FFMPEG and copy audio to the new encoded video and how to transcode audio too like from FLAC to AAC) because I've using handbrake for a while but it doesn't have the feature to copy OPUS audio codec to the encoded video I have to to convert it to AAC or some other lossy codec

How to use FFmpeg for Video Compression

Settings:

1. Video Codec: x265 (libx265) {or} if you want it even smaller and can wait a lot, you can use AV1 (libsvtav1) with CRF 28-32, but it's much slower and less widely supported.

2. Quality mode: CRF 18 (visually nearly identical), (CRF 18-22 For visually lossless qualities.) {Lower CRF = better quality + Larger file; and vice versa}

3. Speed preset: “veryslow” (smallest file, very long encode) (can also change to "slow" or “medium”, but remember - the slower the process, the smaller the output)

4. Container (output video): ".mkv" - best for encoding and most stable and safest, usually not compatible with old TVs and few devices and some video editors. {or} ".mp4" - can fail on longer files, much stricter format, doesn't support some audio formats, can corrupt easily if the encode is interrupted, But Much better compatibility than .mkv.

Best option, imo, is encode the video in .mkv format for the output, then you can change the format to .mp4 later if absolutely needed.

5. Audio: AAC 128 kb/s is fine (but I recommend not to touch it and copy it as it is).

Downloading ffmpeg:

1.      Use the following link: https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/

2.      In the sections, go to “release builds”

3.      Download the latest version of the full static file named “ffmpeg-release-full.7z”

4.      Extract the file to where you want it to be.

5.       You will see a license, readme.txt and 3 folders.

6.      Open bin folder and you should see 3 applications.

a. ffmpeg.exe

b. ffplay.exe

c. ffprobe.exe

7.      On Windows, press Win+ S and search “Edit the system Variables” alternatively, you can right click on “my pc” and go to “Advanced system setting”

8.      Make sure you’re logged in as administrator. In the Advanced Tab, find “Environment Variables” button, usually located in the bottom right hand side.

9.      In System variables, find Path and double click on it.

10.  Press “New” and then “Browse…” then find the “bin” folder, select and add it.

11.  Press “ok” and we’re ready.

Starting the Codec:

1. Locate the folder of the video that you want to compress. If the video is on the desktop and not in any folder, open file explorer and go to Desktop where the video is.

2.  Hold shift, and right-mouse click an empty space in the folder, then press “open PowerShell window here” or “open command Prompt here”.

3.  Using the settings:

a. libx265

b. maximum compression – “veryslow”

c. CRF 18

d. Copy audio (-c:a copy)

Use this exact command: ffmpeg -i "[Video File name that you want to compress]” -c:v libx265 -preset veryslow -crf 18 -c:a copy "[Result_File_name.mkv]"

For example: ffmpeg -i "yourfile.mp4" -c:v libx265 -preset veryslow -crf 18 -c:a copy "output_compressed.mkv"

4. If you’re getting an error like “No such file or directory”, instead of opening the PowerShell window by right clicking, you can go the address bar of the folder the video is in and type “cmd” there. Then a command prompt will open and you can paste the above-mentioned command line there and the process should start.

5. If you want to compress the audio as-well, instead of (-c:a copy), use (-c:a aac -b:a 128k) so the final command would look something like this: ffmpeg -i "input.mp4" -c:v libx265 -preset veryslow -crf 18 -c:a aac -b:a 128k "output.mkv"

6.  When you run the command, you will see a line that would look something like this: "frame= 292 fps=1.1 q=24.1 size= 2560KiB time=00:00:09.66 bitrate=2169.5kbits/s speed=0.0381x elapsed=0:04:13.92"

This is what it means:

a. Frame = how many frames have been processed thus far.

b. Fps = What rate it is encoding at.

c. q = internal quality variable.

d. size = What the size of the output file is thus far.

e. Time = How much of your video has been encoded so far.

f. Bitrate = current average bitrate.

g. Speed = 0.038x means the encoding is 3.8% of real-time speed.

h. Elapsed = How much time you have spent.

7.   It’s very important that you don’t stop this process or switch off your pc or put it to sleep as it will cancel the whole process and you’ll have to start from the beginning.

Converting from .mkv to .mp4

1.      After the encode is done, if you really need .mp4, paste this command in the command prompt: ffmpeg -i [Output file name.mkv] -c copy [New_Output.mp4]

2.      For [Output file name.mkv], use the name of the real output file that was the result of the codec.

3.      And for [New_Output.mp4], Type in what your video should be name + “.mp4” just like in the command above.

4.      Can also be used in the opposite direction.

5.      This process will be much faster and will take only a few seconds since it’s just remuxing.

Disclaimer

I am in no way, shape or form an expert in using ffmpeg. This method may not be the best but this is the method I use and I find satisfactory results. If there’s a better way, please feel free to share and correct me where I am wrong. I am only a student there’s still a lot that I have to learn.

How is it any different/better than say, AME? Or Handbrake? Whats so special about it?