It’s very simple.
ffmpeg -i input_file <deep-dark-magic-you-should-be-afraid-of> output_file
Couldn’t be simpler.
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026
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That you don't need to prepend output-file with -o but need(?) to do it with the input / -i weirds me out every time I use ffmpeg (which is a lot).
No but that’s understandable- you can have any number of inputs (what’s the upper limit, I wonder) but everything goes into only one output…
-filter_complex sends its regards
Why learn when you can do what I do and look it up every single time you want to do something as though you are but a goldfish who learned to type?
Humans are fish who learned to type. And on average pretty golden
I find it wild there are countless "convert videos online for free!" sites on the Internet full of bonus malware which are all just thin wrappers around ffmpeg. And yet they persist because people want googleable answers to their problem which don't need a command line or downloading anything.
Personally I've got a Python script which provides a slightly friendlier wrapper around ffmpeg for my common use-cases.
But honestly ffmpeg is such a beast, so much of what we use daily depends on it under the hood.
There are many nice and FOSS GUIs for the tasks ffmpeg is usually used for.
Handbrake is a great example for macOS, windows, Linux.
For more advanced video compression Shutter Encoder is fantastic.
Good old AVIDemux has a few other cool features as well, like cutting without reencoding.
There are also a bunch of straight up ffmpeg front ends as well.
Why do people use those shitty websites?
They show up as a fast and easy option without having to research, download, install, and learn to use a more complicated application.
For sure yeah.
I still end up having to use ffmpeg directly (in combination with other CLI tools) because there's always something the GUIs haven't caught up with yet. Most recently for me it was converting animated webp's into something I could actually work with
Yes! The picture is inaccurate, people who need to learn ffmpeg rarely know they do.
fr feels like its own programming language
This is literally only for the ffmpeg filters 😅
I fucking love the default video. Classic.
the video it pulled for cross-fade was fun too
i have never seen this tool before and now i am forever in your debt
Nah you’re not. We’re Lemmy. Just pay it forward 😘
Why learn ffmpeg when you can find the holy words that invokes the machine spirits transmutation codex and write them on your data slate to be used again later?
More like ffmpreg amirite?
Is that the fork that converts regexes into mp4?
i cannot fix her. I'd let her read the wiki or just install canvas
Why do you need to learn ffmpeg
Wanting to do anything with video for one
don't let your dreams be dreams
create that ffm pegging video
Not true. You can:
- create
- delete
- copy
- move
- spend an afternoon with windows movie maker
- think you are creating but forgot to reinstall the sd card
- upload to youtube without any editing like a boss
So many things you can do without ffmpeg
You really named probably the only video editing software that isn’t using ffmpeg somewhere.
YouTube uses ffmpeg to convert the video, even if you don’t edit the video.
Does it still convert if you upload in its formats (AV1 & Opus)?
Yeah it needs to create the different files for each resolution. But also the bitrate of the original file is probably too high for YouTube’s liking anyway so they re-encode it.
I guess I should clarify that I'm talking from a video engineering perspective.
man