Using ffmpeg to convert a set of images into a video

Original 2012–11–16, Updated 2016–04–05: cleanup and information about overlaying images.

When using ffmpeg to compress a video, I recommend using the libx264 codec, from experience it has given me excellent quality for small video sizes. I have noticed that different versions of ffmpeg will produce different output file sizes, so your mileage may vary.

Download: https://ffmpeg.org/download.html

To take a list of images that are padded with zeros (pic0001.png, pic0002.png…. etc) use the following command:

ffmpeg -r 60 -f image2 -s 1920x1080 -i pic%04d.png -vcodec libx264 -crf 25 -pix_fmt yuv420p test.mp4

Demo render image to video with ffmpeg https://www.youtube.com/c/tintuconlinetvofficial

where the %04d means that zeros will be padded until the length of the string is 4 i.e 0001…0020…0030…2000 and so on. If no padding is needed use something similar to pic%d.png or %d.png.

• -r is the framerate (fps)
• -crf is the quality, lower means better quality, 15-25 is usually good
• -s is the resolution
• -pix_fmt yuv420p specifies the pixel format, change this as needed

the file will be output (in this case) to: test.mp4

You can comment, i will support create video with ffmpeg.