ffmpeg examples

ffmpeg.txt

# Add a subtitle to a video, set the language=eng, make it the default subtitle and store it as mkv
# $1 = video file, $2 = subtitle file
ffmpeg -i "$1" -i "$2" -map 0 -map 1 -metadata:s:0 language=eng -c copy -disposition:s:0 default "$1.mkv"`

# Add a subtitle to a video, copy just one audio stream, set metadata language=eng for the subtitle, make it the default one and store it as mkv 
ffmpeg -i "$1.mp4" -i "$1.srt" -map 0 -map 1 -map -0:a:0 -c copy -metadata:s:s:0 language=eng -disposition:s:0 default "$1.mkv"

# Scale down every file to H265 720p using Intel QSV hardware encoding 
find . -type f -exec ffmpeg -i {} -c:v hevc_qsv -s 1280x720 -global_quality 20 -c:a copy -c:s copy {}.mkv \; && find . ! -name '*.mkv.mkv' -exec rm {} \; && rename 's/.mkv.mkv/.mkv/' *

# Copy the video, convert the audio to opus 5.1 surround and store as mkv
ffmpeg -i file.mkv -map 0:v -c:v copy map 0:s -c:s copy -c:a libopus -b:a 250k -ac 6 out.mkv

# Copy all video and audio tracks, remove title metadata of first audio stream, disable default for first subtitle track and set it for the second one
ffmpeg -i file.mkv -map 0 -c:v copy -c:a copy -c:s copy -metadata:s:a:0 title= -disposition:s:s:0 none -disposition:s:s:1 default out.mkv

# Copy just one stream of each
ffmpeg -i file.mkv -c:v copy -c:a copy -c:s copy out.mkv

# Convert audio to flac with compression level 8 and copy other streams
ffmpeg -i file.mkv -map 0 -c:v copy -c:s copy -c:a flac -compression_level 8 out.mkv

# Keep one audio stream and all other streams. Every stream type needs a -map, otherwise the result will not be what you want
ffmpeg -i file.mkv -map 0:v -map 0:s -map 0:a:0 -c:v copy -c:s copy -c:a copy out.mkv

# Copy all subs and attachments
ffmpeg -i file.mkv -map 0:s -c:s copy -map 0:t -c:t copy out.mkv