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FFmpeg Media Processing

@donghaozhang/ffmpeg-claude-skill
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Use when user asks to convert, compress, trim, resize, extract audio, add subtitles, create GIFs, or process video/audio files

Install Skill

1Download skill
2Enable skills in Claude

Open claude.ai/settings/capabilities and find the "Skills" section

3Upload to Claude

Click "Upload skill" and select the downloaded ZIP file

Note: Please verify skill by going through its instructions before using it.

SKILL.md

name FFmpeg Media Processing
description Use when user asks to convert, compress, trim, resize, extract audio, add subtitles, create GIFs, or process video/audio files
dependencies ffmpeg

FFmpeg Media Processing Skill

FFmpeg is a universal media converter that reads from multiple inputs, applies filters/transformations, and writes to multiple outputs.

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when the user wants to:

  • Convert video/audio formats (MP4, MKV, WebM, MP3, etc.)
  • Compress or resize videos
  • Trim, cut, or merge media files
  • Extract audio from video
  • Add subtitles or text overlays
  • Create GIFs from video
  • Adjust speed, rotate, crop, or apply effects
  • Stream media (HLS, DASH, RTMP)

Example Inputs/Outputs

User Says Claude Does
"Convert video.mkv to mp4" ffmpeg -i video.mkv output.mp4
"Extract audio from movie.mp4" ffmpeg -i movie.mp4 -vn audio.mp3
"Compress this video" ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -crf 23 output.mp4
"Make a GIF from the first 5 seconds" ffmpeg -t 5 -i input.mp4 -vf "fps=10,scale=320:-1" output.gif
"Add subtitles to my video" ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf subtitles=subs.srt output.mp4

Additional Resources

  • CONCEPTS.md - Core concepts: video, audio, codecs, containers, processing pipeline
  • REFERENCE.md - Complete command reference for all operations
  • ADVANCED.md - Streaming (HLS/DASH/RTMP), complex filters, batch processing

Synopsis

ffmpeg [global_options] {[input_file_options] -i input_url} ... {[output_file_options] output_url} ...

IMPORTANT: Order matters! Options apply to the next specified file and reset between files.

Quick Reference - Main Options

Option Purpose
-i url Specify input file
-c copy Stream copy (no re-encode, fast)
-c:v codec Set video codec (libx264, libx265, libvpx-vp9)
-c:a codec Set audio codec (aac, libmp3lame, libopus)
-vf filter Apply video filter
-af filter Apply audio filter
-ss time Seek to position
-t duration Limit duration
-y Overwrite output
-vn No video
-an No audio

Most Common Commands

Convert Format

ffmpeg -i input.mkv output.mp4
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx-vp9 -c:a libopus output.webm

Extract Audio

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -c:a copy audio.aac
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k audio.mp3

Compress Video

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

Trim/Cut

ffmpeg -ss 00:01:00 -i input.mp4 -t 00:00:30 -c copy output.mp4

Resize

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=1280:720 output.mp4
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=640:-1 output.mp4

Create GIF

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "fps=10,scale=320:-1" output.gif

Add Text

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=text='Hello':fontsize=36:fontcolor=white:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2" output.mp4

Burn Subtitles

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

Extract Frames

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf fps=1 frame_%04d.png

Speed Up/Slow Down

# 2x speed
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

Merge Files

# Create filelist.txt with: file 'part1.mp4' (one per line)
ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i filelist.txt -c copy output.mp4

Video Options

Option Purpose
-r fps Set frame rate
-s WxH Set resolution
-crf N Quality (0-51, lower=better, default 23)
-b:v bitrate Set video bitrate
-preset name Encoding speed (ultrafast to veryslow)

Audio Options

Option Purpose
-ar freq Sample rate (44100, 48000)
-ac N Channels (1=mono, 2=stereo)
-b:a bitrate Audio bitrate

Common Filters

Filter Example Purpose
scale scale=1280:720 Resize
crop crop=640:480:100:50 Crop (w:h:x:y)
transpose transpose=1 Rotate 90° CW
hflip/vflip hflip Mirror
fade fade=t=in:d=2 Fade in/out
drawtext drawtext=text='Hi' Text overlay
subtitles subtitles=subs.srt Burn subtitles
overlay overlay=10:10 Image overlay

File Info

ffprobe input.mp4
ffprobe -v quiet -print_format json -show_format -show_streams input.mp4

Best Practices

  1. Use -c copy when possible (fast, no quality loss)
  2. Place -ss before -i for fast seeking
  3. Use -y to overwrite without prompts
  4. Use -crf 18-28 for quality control
  5. Check file info with ffprobe first

For complete reference, see REFERENCE.md, CONCEPTS.md, and ADVANCED.md.