FFmpeg Cheatsheet - Media Processing

All essential FFmpeg commands organized by use case, with 39+ entries you can copy and run directly. Find the right command fast when you need it.

SysOps·39 commands·Last updated 2026-07-21

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Format Conversion 6

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.avi

Convert container; auto-select encoder

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 output.mp4

Re-encode with H.264

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx265 output.mp4

Encode to H.265 (smaller)

ffmpeg -i input.wav -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 2 output.mp3

WAV to MP3, -q:a 2 ~190kbps

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v copy -c:a copy output.mkv

Stream copy into MKV, very fast

ffmpeg -i input.gif -movflags faststart output.mp4

GIF to MP4, faststart for web

Trim & Crop 5

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:01:00 -to 00:02:00 -c copy clip.mp4

Cut 1:00-2:00, -c copy fast

ffmpeg -ss 10 -i input.mp4 -t 30 clip.mp4

Start at 10s, take 30s (-ss before -i)

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=640:480:0:0" output.mp4

Crop to 640x480 at (0,0)

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=iw/2:ih:0:0" output.mp4

Crop the left half

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1280:720:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1280:720:-1:-1:black" output.mp4

Scale and pad to 1280x720 with black bars

Extract & Separate 6

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn audio.aac

Extract audio, -vn drops video

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -an video_only.mp4

Drop audio, keep video (-an)

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "select=eq(pict_type\,I)" -vsync vfr thumb_%03d.png

Extract keyframes as images

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -r 1 frame_%03d.png

Extract one frame per second

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -map 0:s:0 subtitle.srt

Extract subtitle track to SRT

ffmpeg -i "image_%03d.png" -r 30 video.mp4

Images to video

Compression & Quality 6

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

CRF compress; higher = lower quality (18-28)

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -preset slow output.mp4

High quality; slow preset = smaller

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -b:v 1M output.mp4

Cap video bitrate at 1Mbps

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1280:-1" output.mp4

Scale width to 1280px

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4

Audio to AAC at 128kbps

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -preset fast -tune zerolatency output.mp4

Low-latency encode for live streaming

Watermark & Subtitle 5

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

Image watermark at top-left

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i logo.png -filter_complex "overlay=W-w-10:H-h-10" output.mp4

Watermark at bottom-right

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "subtitles=sub.srt" output.mp4

Burn SRT subtitles into video

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=text=Hello:fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:x=10:y=10" output.mp4

Add a text watermark

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i sub.srt -c copy -c:s mov_text output.mp4

Soft (toggleable) subtitle in MP4

Audio 5

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k output.mp3

To MP3 at 192kbps

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -af "volume=2.0" output.mp3

Double the volume

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -af "atempo=2.0" output.mp4

2x audio speed (pitch preserved)

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -af "silenceremove=stop_periods=1:stop_duration=1:stop_threshold=-50dB" output.mp3

Remove silent segments

ffmpeg -i "concat:a.mp3|b.mp3" -c copy output.mp3

Concatenate audio files

Capture & Streaming 6

ffmpeg -f avfoundation -i "0:" -r 30 -t 60 screen.mp4

macOS screen record 60s (avfoundation)

ffmpeg -f x11grab -i :0.0 -r 25 screen.mp4

Linux screen record (X11)

ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i /dev/video0 -t 10 webcam.mp4

Record webcam for 10s

ffmpeg -re -i input.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://live.example.com/live

RTMP live push

ffmpeg -i http://example.com/stream.m3u8 -c copy output.mp4

Download an HLS stream locally

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -hls_time 10 -hls_list_size 0 output.m3u8

Slice video into an HLS playlist

Tips

-c copy only remuxes streams without re-encoding — very fast, but no filtering.
Recommended CRF is 18-28: 18 near-lossless, 23 default, 28 smaller.
-ss before -i is fast but imprecise; after -i is precise but slower.
In scale, -1 means proportional; scale=1280:-1 sets width 1280, height auto.
Slower -preset means better compression: ultrafast … veryslow.
For live push, -re reads at the native rate to avoid overwhelming the server.

Official References

Commands are compiled from the official docs below. Click to verify the latest usage.

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Maintained by LaoHand

Publicly updated on Jul 21, 2026, continuously proofread against official docs.

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