ffmpeg

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• SKILL.md
• reference.md

SKILL.md (first lines)

# FFmpeg for Video Production

FFmpeg is the essential tool for video/audio processing. This skill covers common operations for Remotion video projects.

## Quick Reference

### GIF to MP4 (Remotion-compatible)

```bash
ffmpeg -i input.gif -movflags faststart -pix_fmt yuv420p \
  -vf "scale=trunc(iw/2)*2:trunc(ih/2)*2" output.mp4
```

**Why these flags:**
- `-movflags faststart` - Moves metadata to start for web streaming
- `-pix_fmt yuv420p` - Ensures compatibility with most players
- `scale=trunc(...)` - Forces even dimensions (required by most codecs)

### Resize Video

```bash
# To 1920x1080 (maintain aspect ratio, add black bars)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1920:1080:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1920:1080:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2" output.mp4

# To 1920x1080 (crop to fill)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1920:1080:force_original_aspect_ratio=increase,crop=1920:1080" output.mp4

# Scale to width, auto height
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1280:-2" output.mp4
```

### Compress Video

```bash
# Good quality, smaller file (CRF 23 is default, lower = better quality)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset medium -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4

# Aggressive compression for web preview
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 28 -preset fast -c:a aac -b:a 96k output.mp4

# Target file size (e.g., ~10MB for 60s video = ~1.3Mbps)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -b:v 1300k -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4
```

### Extract Audio

```bash
# Extract to MP3
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -acodec libmp3lame -q:a 2 output.mp3

# Extract to AAC
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -acodec aac -b:a 192k output.m4a

# Extract to WAV (uncompressed)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn output.wav
```

### Convert Audio Formats

```bash
# M4A to MP3 (for ElevenLabs voice samples)
ffmpeg -i input.m4a -codec:a libmp3lame -qscale:a 2 output.mp3

# WAV to MP3
ffmpeg -i input.wav -codec:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k output.mp3

# Adjust volume
ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -filter:a "volume=1.5" output.mp3
```

### Trim/Cut Video

```bash
# Cut from timestamp to duration (recommended - reliable)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:00:30 -t 00:00:15 -c:v libx264 -c:a aac output.mp4

# Cut from timestamp to timestamp
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:00:30 -to 00:00:45 -c:v libx264 -c:a aac output.mp4

# Stream copy (faster but may lose frames at cut points)
# Only use when source has frequent keyframes
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:00:30 -t 00:00:15 -c copy output.mp4
```

**Note:** Re-encoding is recommended for trimming. Stream copy (`-c copy`) can silently drop video if the seek point doesn't align with a keyframe.

### Speed Up / Slow Down

```bash
# 2x speed (video and audio)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter_complex "[0:v]setpts=0.5*PTS[v];[0:a]atempo=2.0[a]" -map "[v]" -map "[a]" output.mp4

# 0.5x speed (slow motion)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter_complex "[0:v]setpts=2.0*PTS[v];[0:a]atempo=0.5[a]" -map "[v]" -map "[a]" output.mp4

# Video only (no audio)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v "setpts=0.5*PTS" -an output.mp4
```

### Concatenate Videos

```bash
# Create file list
echo "file 'clip1.mp4'" > list.txt
echo "file 'clip2.mp4'" >> list.txt
echo "file 'clip3.mp4'" >> list.txt

# Concatenate (same codec/resolution)
ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i list.txt -c copy output.mp4

# Concatenate with re-encoding (different sources)
ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i list.txt -c:v libx264 -c:a aac output.mp4
```

### Add Fade In/Out

```bash
# Fade in first 1 second, fade out last 1 second (30fps video)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "fade=t=in:st=0:d=1,fade=t=out:st=9:d=1" -c:a copy output.mp4

From digitalsamba/claude-code-video-toolkit, MIT.

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