How to use FFMPEG

[@Yorkhesan]

This is the first time I've seen a 100% professional tutorial here at KZbin. You sir are going places. Thanks a lot for this!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad you like my work, and I'm very happy to have been of help!

[@PkMn05]

I'm amazed at how you were able to explain the concepts, terminologies, etc. in a way that's easy to digest. Kudos, sir. Keep at it!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad you found the video useful =)

[@victormgv]

You sir just crushed it! Blew all the videos I have watched on FFmpeg and pretty much any CLI tutorial out of the water. I love the way for broke those switches down Barney Style, I love it!!!!! Thank you again, subscribed. Keep them coming. There are too few videos that explain these tools with such clarity.

[@NERDfirst]

+victormgv Hello and thank you very much for your comment and support! Really happy to be of help! Hope to see you around in the comments section of the videos to come =)

[@H.O.D.M]

Thank you for all the help. Been needing to transfer old home video files from DVDs to online. It's cool how a community has made such an excellent tool for file transfers. .vob files to .mp4 are not easy to work with, and this did exactly what was needed. Still, 8 years later, and you're still keeping in touch with your community? It's sweet to see. Thanks again

[@NERDfirst]

You're very much welcome, very happy to be of help! Yes I'm definitely still hanging around. This channel is a passion project so I'm always appreciative of any engagement!

[@KM-ot6vo]

Whoaaaaaa. This video is a great tutorial, but this guys is so RESPECTABLE. If you scroll down all the way to as far as you can got, he has answered EVERY. SINGLE. COMMENT. He will answer this just you wait.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Guess you didn't have to wait long for a response :) Glad you found the video useful!

[@KM-ot6vo]

0612 TV w/ NERDfirst Thank you 😂

[@LiquidTurbo]

I went from completely clueless about ffmpeg to understanding the basics. Thank you so much for the easy to understand video!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@LordQueezle]

Awesome tutorial. I went from having never heard about ffmpeg to converting several files. Thank you very much!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@reedjim332]

I watched this video about two years ago. This weekend, I was wrestling with our own home-grown video rendering and decided to have another look, and now my life has changed. I wonder what other great, life-changing advice this very smart guy has?

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! I can't promise life changing videos, but if you check out the channel you can find 900+ videos created over the years =)

[@J2897Tutorials]

Very clear and simple. Exactly what I need as a first tutorial. The rest should be fairly easy to learn from here. Thanks for showing me the ladder!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to be of help, have fun with FFMPEG =)

[@irregulargamer1352]

Amazing walkthrough. when starting out you search up how to use these command line tools up on forums or reddit and you basically get told to not be dumb or they act all high and mighty and start explaining as to why what you want is wrong. in short they give you everything but a solid answer or what you want

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Unfortunately that's how the internet is, though it does bear mentioning that issues like the AB Problem are very real. At any rate, the command line gets better with time and practice. Keep at it! I'm glad I've been able to give you the nudge you need :)

[@jaymayhoi]

dude, this video is -q 0 amazing

[@NERDfirst]

Thank you very much! Glad you liked the video =)

[@itstudent5824]

After meticulously looking for a good tutorial, this is by far the best ffmpeg explanation video

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to be of help =)

[@BNLNRD]

Great tutorial! Not only does it deliver all the info I need to get started, but you also seem so enthusiastic about it that it actually got me pumped to dig in. Thanks for that!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad to be of help and glad I got you excited about FFMPEG, all the best!

[@tahep3906]

Before watching this video I wasn't able to understand what that items such as -i, -filter, v, a mean and in which place they should be placed in the array, now everything is clear to me thanks to this super helpful video, thanks a lot!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@seasesh4073]

honestly I've never been surprised by a tutorial before just woah dude

[@NERDfirst]

Heh, hope that's the good kind of surprise!

[@Irokz]

The cmd window open & close fast when i run the .exe, how i fix it ?

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! You shouldn't run the exe file directly by double clicking on it. Instead, open a command window and issue the commands as shown in the video.

[@Irokz]

oh yeah sorry aha, thank you

[@yenomeerf]

Please make more FFMPEG lessons. This is the most comprehensive howto I have seen in 8 years. Thanks

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! You'll be happy to know that there's one FFMPEG tutorial in the works at this very moment =)

[@karezaalonso7110]

Today was the first I ever heard of the FFMPEG, I just needed to replace audio track in an mp4, and I got the exact info I needed in under 4 minutes. Great Job.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad to be of help =)

[@NERDfirst]

*Expand for Important Notes* *1. On Download Availability* Zeranoe, which was featured in this video, has discontinued providing FFMPEG binaries since 2020. You can download from this github page instead, as linked to by the official FFMPEG downloads page: github.com/BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds/releases. Windows users can go for the "ffmpeg-master-latest-win64-gpl" build, as the GPL version is likely to have the most features. *2. On Debugging and Help* Unfortunately due to high IRL workloads, I'm not able to look at your commands and help diagnose problems. You may contact me at hello(at)nerdfirst(dot)net for paid consultation, if you really see the need. *3. PSA* If you have a question, please post it as a new comment, *_not_* as a reply to one of my earlier comments here. KZbin does not reliably notify me of the latter, which means I may miss your message!

[@OhManTFE]

Came here for the conversion section and wasn't disappointed. Thank you sir.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Happy to be of help :)

[@vlackschneider2167]

thank you for the clear introduction, badly needed this. thank you again, more power to your channel

[@NERDfirst]

You're very much welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@newoap]

Didn't know about ffmpeg until this morning (27/09/22). Your video has increased my understanding of the command line. Thanks once again.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@dingalong14]

This is incredibly helpful and presented in a clear, professional manner. Thank you!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@JeromeLove]

This video is the LITERAL only reason I committed to finally setting up FFmpeg! This video is ahead of it's time! HUGE DUBS TO YOU!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to be of help =)

[@piotao]

Thank you, especially for mono to stereo mapping - I have exactly that issue recently! :)

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Glad to be of help =)

[@francislegaspi2923]

and here I am, developing Flutter Mobile Apps for compressing Videos inside the app, watching explanation of FFMPEG. this 6 years old video is clear and easy to understand. Kudos to you!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad to be of help =)

[@tranquilitymaster139]

i love your nerdy voice

[@NERDfirst]

Thank you very much =)

[@ternitamas]

me too =) the video is really useful thanks

[@NERDfirst]

+ternitamas thank you! Glad to be of help :)

[@jdhatsune]

same :3

[@SirHolmes]

I'm amazed of this video's quality! It's still relevant as I'm here in 2024! 😄

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad to be of help =)

[@redpoint8823]

I truly hate things I don't understand

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Hope I helped you a little with that =)

[@watchoutdiarytv6877]

Thanks man, I found you 8 years later and it was helpful. Gracias

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@RepublicofODLUM]

@@NERDfirst Same, huge help with how you broke it down in a very easily understandable way. Very grateful!

[@NERDfirst]

I'm glad to hear this because that's what I set out to do. Happy to know it worked out well for you =)

[@camerafocuses6497]

Good tutorial. This nigga moves alot.

[@NERDfirst]

+Camera Focuses Cheers! Yeah, moving helps me think, but I'm working on cutting down on that!

[@camerafocuses6497]

You are good.

[@NERDfirst]

+Camera Focuses Thank you very much! Glad you think so =)

[@hereonmars]

dude, this is fantastic. Thank you for demystifying this. The email group that the official site recommends for this utility is full of people who have no business being asked questions about how something works.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome, very happy to be of help! Though to be fair, creating a broad how-to video versus having to answer questions are two very different skillsets, so I totally understand the discrepancy.

[@mpackman]

Fabulous tutorial. I feel a lot more confident moving forward with using it for 360-degree camera output, which is my #1 life priority right now. :)

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to be of help, have fun with 360 video! I hope to be able to dabble with that someday as well.

[@kesavguru415]

Replying to comments after 8 years is insane! Great explanation 👏

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Glad you liked the video =)

[@janey4319]

This was so helpful and simple! One extra tip for comment readers: it words best when the file name has no spaces.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment and for sharing! If you must have spaces in the file name, you can wrap it in "quotation marks", ie. ffmpeg -i "input file.mp4" "my output file name.mov"

[@8006345789]

Well done! I just DLd ffmpeg and of all the tutorials I just happened to pick this one. Thanks for saving me a lot of time and frustration!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to be of help =)

[@cezexpolankowicz4606]

Omg. Simple program and simple & clear tutorial. You've saved my day. That's why I like KZbin.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to be of help =)

[@ArumatKelewae]

Thanks a lot for the tutorial, it is very clear and all the relevant info is there. As it happens, I had FFMPEG on my computer for years without knowing about it :D Cheers

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help, have fun using FFMPEG =)

[@Aayushh07]

my man explained it 7 years ago. Thanks dude

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Glad to be of help =)

[@gabeh9748]

You rock! battled for an hour just to figure out my PATH was messed up. Thank you!!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@doug6605]

Thanks!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help, and thank you very much for the support =)

[@ultrawidegaming7205]

Was trying to use FFMPEG for the first time, this helped a lot. Thanks!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Glad to be of help :)

[@daphneleung103]

I could not get the audio works after converting it from mp4 by using vlc. This works great.... all i have to do now is to increase the audio quality. Thank you so much! Your tutorial is fantastic!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@ninline2000]

I didn't even know FFmpeg ran on windows. I've been using it on Linux for about 15 years now. Nice video.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Yeah, FFMPEG exists for Windows, Mac, and Linux now. Pretty versatile =)

[@raygarcia5759]

Hey thanks for this video! It was exactly what I needed to figure out how to convert a library of m4a music into mp3! You rock! :)

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@bradleyluskSTE]

OMFG! It works! Less than 100 mb and it works! No frills, no gui, all results! This successfully converted .MOV files (H264) to .MP4 and I can now import them to Adobe CS 5.5 (old school, I know)!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad it works out well for you. As you get more proficient with it you'll find yourself reaching out for graphical tools less and less =)

[@dasibaho]

This is a great introduction to ffmpeg concepts/basics 👍🏻

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad you liked my work :)

[@dasibaho]

@@NERDfirst I've then watched your other video about advanced filters, great too ! I knew the basics already, but it's always interesting to check how other people explain things, there's always something to learn you either didn't know or didn't use properly. I had no idea about the difference using '-ss' before '-i' vs after ! :) Thanks, your videos are very understandable and I like the effort with the animation/graphics you put in them ! Cheers

[@NERDfirst]

Thank you again! Yes, that clarity is exactly what I'm aiming for so I'm glad I was able to achieve it.

[@omnicolor573]

Very helpful. I was stuck for a good while trying to figure out how to use this.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Very happy to be of help =)

[@supercat908]

This is the first tutorial that just told me exactly what I wanted to know. Easy subscription from me sir.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to be of help =)

[@isaacassimov4096]

Thanks for a simple, but deep explanation of using FFMPEG.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Glad to be of help =)

[@Katziezi]

Very good explaination. I wondered how to install it first, I had to download a static build and watch a video on KZbin on how to install it. Getting it to run is way harder than actually working with it.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Glad you got the worst of it behind you!

[@Thiagola92]

I didn't know that shift+right click would give me the option to open with command line! Thanks for this and for the rest of the video!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help!

[@Double44]

That trick didn't work for me. I use a third party file explorer, but the option didn't appear inside Windows Explorer either

[@Thiagola92]

Make sure you are not clicking on any file

[@Double44]

No I did exactly as he suggested, the 'Open Command Prompt Here" option is not available to me in that context menu

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! I apologize for the late reply - I never get notified properly on replies to comments for some reason! I recently realized that another reason why the entry does not appear is if you have a file in the folder selected. The context menu that appears (even if you right click on empty space) is tailored towards the selected file instead, and as such the entry does not appear. Try to make sure no files are selected by clicking on empty space. Then try the described technique again and see if this helps!

[@prafullpandey3428]

awesome bro ! I am fallen in love with ffmpeg after watching this thankyou very much ! Subscribed :)

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@firstmate3975]

Thank you so much for this tutorial series about FFmpeg and CMD. It really helped a lot, and if you don't mind, could you please consider adding a video to that playlist talking about how to handle subtitles as well. Like how to bulk extract multiple subtitles from a single video and also from a bunch of videos placed in the same directory. Hope you consider, coz all other topics regarding the video and audio part were covered, except for this one. Thanks again.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Yes, subtitles and livestreaming are two major topics in FFMPEG that I haven't yet covered and are on the drawing board. I don't use these features often so I tend to need more time to research and understand them better before I feel comfortable enough to make a tutorial. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@JayFFAFAlesanaES]

Thanks. I got suggested FFmpeg by Audacity but had no idea how to use it. This made things really simple and now I can use a converter without having to open another app that would probably charge money :D

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Glad to be of help :) Though, if you're only using Audacity, it can do all the conversions for you! So you don't even have to use the command line in the way shown in the video.

[@JayFFAFAlesanaES]

@@NERDfirst Interestingly enough, I tried that and also another free application that I use in music sometimes called Virtual DJ, but neither of them were able to read the file for some reason.

[@bulcub]

absolutely the best explanation and examples of ffmpeg!! Dude you deserve more than just 29k subscribers!! Your stuff is PLATINUM!!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad you liked the video =)

[@riskybicky8335]

Awesome video! Right to the point, and not confusing! Good job lad!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad you liked the video =)

[@tsumugijohnson3220]

my goodness this was much simpler than I thought it'd be!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! I'm glad to hear! Have fun with FFMPEG =)

[@pablo69.420bl]

Wow, a quality tutorial on how to use a piece of software. Thanks!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Glad you liked the video =)

[@metaversewallet]

Great content on ffmpeg! Thank you for your input and effort!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help :)

[@dieuhoquang1]

Mine gives me the PowerShell command window option instead. I still tried your line at 4:45 converting from avi to mp4 and it works! First time that I follow a tutor on this complicated subject and it works after many failed attempt from others! Thanks a lots!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Yes, newer versions of windows prefer powershell over cmd, but it largely works the same. Glad you got it working!

[@sturmgesutz]

Superb tutorial, very well explained for anyone new to FFMPEG, Keep up the great work, you are invaluable.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad you liked the video =)

[@gaijinblackwolf8725]

I can't express how much this is helpful!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to be of help =)

[@zeeraViewer]

ffmpeg and Video.js are great examples of incredible software that go largely unused because they make no attempt to educate others on how to use them.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! I don't think software like FFMPEG are really designed for mass consumer use, which is why you may find the documentation scant or lacking. I don't blame them for that at all - GUI wrappers for FFMPEG do exist, and for the rest of the gaps, I suppose it's up to the community to help fill in! After all, that's the spirit of FOSS.

[@egjundis]

It's 2020, thanks for making Command-Line apps not so scary :)

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@Kelly520rain]

For the filter parameters at 8:54, I think there is is shortcut ( -af volume=2 ). -a for audio -f for filter Similarly to add filter to a video, you can do, for example -vf scale=-1:720, to shrink or expand a video to 720P -v for video -f for filter, scale is the filter function to scale the video input -1:720, -1 means to keep the original ratio and adjust width automatically, 720 sets the height of the video to 720px.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for sharing! Yeah, there are many shortcuts available in FFMPEG. Unfortunately the video was already running a little long and I was saving those for a future video =P Good to have a reference here though!

[@jacopotech]

This is incredibly helpful, thanks a lot man!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to have been of help :)

[@dongliu7987]

Very clear and easy-to-digest tutorial. Thanks a lot.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Glad to be of help =)

[@Dimon12321]

Wow, brilliant video and the soft is really easy to use!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad to be of help =)

[@VR360TV]

Massive help, thanks for the upload

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@yeungchung7158]

if i could like this each time i watched this for a refresher, you'd be up to 2k thumbs up. thanks again dude.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Really happy to know you've been coming back. Glad to be of help!

[@VikramThakur8]

Thanks buddy, really helpful. Good coverage of the topic

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@sethurk]

Wow! Rocket science made easy! This was just amazing.. Created new interest with FFMPEG.. Thank youuuuuu

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@blaazoon22]

You are a teacher bro. Weldon

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! I am indeed actually a teacher =P Glad you liked the video =)

[@simpsonelli]

2021 this is still awesome, thanks.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help :)

[@life4trinity]

Straight forward and correct, thank you very much

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help :)

[@LorienWicck]

Very easy tutorial, and good explanations on ffmpeg's use. Nice job

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Glad you liked the video =)

[@mdk124]

Very concise and detailed. Your explanation was easy to follow and helpful, thank you!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to know I've been of help =)

[@standuptall50]

Excellent instructional video. You're the best.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad to be of help :)

[@Ttamlin]

Thank you for this. Have to learn this cool little program for work, and your beginners' guide is a huge help.

[@NERDfirst]

That's great to hear! Very happy to be of help, and all the best for your work =)

[@phs125]

I'm watching this on a Wednesday morning

[@jesselirio5758]

Thank you so much bro! It was very helpful for me. Greetings from Latin America! Have a nice day!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@mistelko]

Thank you! I had no idea how to do this.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@SanctuaryOfTheHeart]

Very Cool! I had no idea that this existed. Thanks for going through the syntax.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help :)

[@christofferahlback]

Interesting! How heavy is ffmpeg on the computer when it runs for example scaling of live streams?

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! This question isn't easy to answer, since of course the specifications of your computer matter greatly. Plus I can't say I've had experience using FFMPEG in a live context. You'll just have to experiment with settings to see. Some operations and presets are much less CPU-intensive than others.

[@MusicMandarin8]

Very good video...thanks so much!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Glad to be of help =)

[@owenscotgerm1621]

I found this a very useful video and it got me up and going with ffmpeg. Good job!

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad to be of help =)

[@MadArtMart]

I did it thanks to your video! Thank you so much!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@AndreFortier]

Thank you for the video, well presented and packed with useful info.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Glad you liked the video =)

[@evgenkonyshock4913]

Wow thanks. This is so much better than 4ch tutorials

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@Vykhlop]

Thanks, I had no idea how to use ffmpeg.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Happy to be of help =)

[@ChandlerKluser]

Man, you are great!! Thank you very much for the video

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment! Very happy to be of help :)

[@audunseverin]

Wow! Really informative video. Thank you!

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)

[@CreeperShorts]

This is a great video. I love it. You explain it so well that everyone can understand. Thank you! :)

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help, glad you found the video useful :)

[@fungi331]

WHERE HAS THIS PROGRAM BEEN ALL MY LIFE

[@NERDfirst]

Heh, what's important is you've found it now!

[@barigerajesh1]

Hey, that's great!! 😇👏👏 Worth watching this video Thank you😊

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Glad you liked the video =)

[@deejayxcrypt]

Bloody brilliant, good sir! I shall spread out your good words of knowledge to my fellow converter-n00b-men-and-women-at-arms by pressing this arrowy button..right..here...

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you very much for your comment and support! Greatly appreciate your help, and I'm glad you've found the video useful!

[@IvynaJSpyder]

This was exactly what I needed! Thanks dude

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Glad to be of help =)

[@ArchitBohra]

Hi. Your video was nice. It was very useful as well. There are no good tutorials for ffmpeg. I wanted to learn ffmpeg complex filters..like combining videos at different positions, overlays...do you know of any good resource to learn the same ? I'm tired of stack over flow answers.

[@NERDfirst]

Hello and thank you for your comment! If you haven't already, you may want to check out the other videos I have on this topic. Advanced Filters: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2abo5ZtmN2fldU Filtergraphs & Timeline: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnbPdaavqqaEeqM

[@howellkilian5602]

Brilliant! Thanks for your hard work.

[@NERDfirst]

You're welcome! Very happy to be of help =)