FFmpeg Examples: Crop Videos to Desired Frame

When it comes to video editing, cropping a video is an essential task that helps you focus on the desired area of the frame and discard everything else. FFmpeg, a powerful command-line tool, offers a simple way to crop videos using the `-filter:v` flag with the `crop` filter.

The syntax for cropping a video is as follows:

```

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v 'crop=out_w:out_h:x:y' output.mp4

```

In this example, replace `input.mp4` with your input video file and `output.mp4` with the desired output file name. The parameters `out_w`, `out_h`, `x`, and `y` specify the width, height, x-coordinate, and y-coordinate of the cropped area.

For instance, if you want to crop a 1920x1080 video to a 1280x720 frame with the top-left corner at (100,100), you would use the following command:

```

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -filter:v 'crop=1280:720:100:100' output.mp4

```

Cropping works similarly to cropping images. You can specify the desired area of the frame and discard everything else.

If you want to trim a video instead of cropping it, FFmpeg provides another useful feature. Trimming allows you to extract a specific timespan from a video without re-encoding it. This is particularly useful when you need to remove unwanted parts of a video or create shorter versions for sharing.

To trim a video, use the following syntax:

```

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

```

In this example, `-ss` specifies the start time in HH:MM:SS.xxx or SS.xxx format, and `-to` specifies the end time. The `-c copy` flag ensures that FFmpeg copies the necessary parts of the video without re-encoding it.

FFmpeg's trimming feature is incredibly fast because it only requires copying the desired timespan into a new file. This is in contrast to regular video editors, which may take longer to process and render the trimmed video.

In this first installment of our FFmpeg tutorials series, we have covered basic video editing techniques such as cropping and trimming. In future articles, we will explore more advanced features and applications of FFmpeg.

Ffmpeg examples crop