FFmpeg: Cutting Video from Time to Time

When it comes to streaming or transcoding videos, FFmpeg is an incredibly powerful tool. Its capabilities range from decoding, encoding, transcoding, muxing, demuxing, and even playing back various multimedia formats. In this article, we will explore how to use FFmpeg to cut a video into smaller segments at specific times.

The first step in achieving this task is to open the terminal on your Linux machine (in our case, Ubuntu) and navigate to the directory where your video file is located. Once there, you can use the following command to specify the input file and the timestamps for cutting:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:00:10 -t 00:00:30 output.mp4

In this example, 'input.mp4' is the original video file, '00:00:10' specifies the start time in HH:MM:SS format, and '00:00:30' sets the duration of the cut segment. The resulting video will be saved as 'output.mp4.'

But what if you want to cut a video into multiple segments at specific times? FFmpeg allows you to do this by using the '-f' option followed by the number of segments you want to create, like so:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:00:10 -t 00:00:30 -f segment -segment_time 00:01:00 output%03d.mp4

In this example, FFmpeg will cut the video into multiple segments, each lasting 1 minute and 0 seconds. The resulting files will be named 'output001.mp4,' 'output002.mp4,' and so on.

Another common task when working with videos is to stream them over a network. FFmpeg makes this easy by providing support for various streaming protocols, including RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol). To use FFmpeg as an RTMP server, you can follow these steps:

1. Install the necessary dependencies:

```

sudo apt-get install nginx-rtmp

```

2. Configure Nginx to use RTMP:

```bash

server {

listen 1935;

rtmp {

server localhost:1935;

}

```

3. Start the Nginx service:

```bash

sudo systemctl start nginx

```

4. Use FFmpeg to stream your video file over RTMP:

```

ffmpeg -re -i input.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://localhost:1935/stream_name

```

In this example, 'input.mp4' is the original video file, and 'stream_name' is the name of the stream you want to create. The '-re' option tells FFmpeg to read from the input file at real-time speed.

FFmpeg is an incredibly powerful tool that can help you achieve a wide range of tasks related to video processing and streaming. By mastering its various options and commands, you can unlock a world of possibilities for manipulating and sharing your multimedia files.

Ffmpeg cut video from time to time