In some cases, we might not want to re-encode the video. However, there’s an alternative that we’ll cover in the next section. We should note that re-encoding takes time depending on the size and the type of codec used. Moreover, to limit errors, we should avoid adding lots of keyframes. Therefore, we forced FFmpeg to add keyframes at the first and last frames to ensure we encode a perfect clip. However, if the first frame is not a keyframe, then the frames before the first keyframe in the clip will not be playable.

We used the -force_key_frames option because video clipping occurs at keyframes. Finally, it will carry out an audio correction to match the timestamp and re-encode the video with the original my_video.mp4 codec.Īlternatively, if we need a more time-accurate cut, we can manually add the keyframes to the start and end of the clipped video: $ ffmpeg -i my_video.mp4 -force_key_frames 00:00:15,00:00:25 clip.mp4 The value of -t is added to the sought timestamp, which is 15 seconds. The command above will process the my_video.mp4 input file and seek 15 seconds forward in the video.

The value 1 will correct the start of the stream without any later correction.

The -async option specifies whether to contract or stretch the audio to match the timestamp.

The -t argument is used to specify the duration of the clip.

The -ss argument seeks to the timestamp specified as the argument.

The -i argument is used for specifying input files.

Now, let’s review each of the options and arguments we used here: Video:5132kB audio:157kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.167893%

Ffmpeg ubuntu tutorial