ffmpeg is, mainly, a bunch of libraries. libavcodec, libavformat, libswresample, etc, is almost all of ffmpeg. If a project is using those libraries, it's using ffmpeg.
The ffmpeg command line utility is "just" an interface to those libraries.
ffmpeg is a lot more than just a wrapper on libraries. It can do a lot of filtering and rewiring of audio channels, video channels and subtitles.
Handbrake doesn't do any of that. You can't even drag a bunch of audio files on to handbrake because handbrake doesn't do audio, while ffmpeg is great for encoding audio.
What I'm saying is that ffmpeg is the libraries. When you use the ffmpeg CLI to filter and rewrite audio, the ffmpeg command is just decoding it using a decoder in libavcodec, filtering using a filter from libavfilter, and encoding again using an encoder from libavcodec. The ffmpeg CLI is "just" an interface for the libraries.
The fact that Handbrake doesn't expose the same features as the ffmpeg CLI tool is frankly irrelevant.
The fact that Handbrake doesn't expose the same features as the ffmpeg CLI tool is frankly irrelevant.
It's not just relevant, it's the whole thing. They asked for an ffmpeg GUI and someone recommended a GUI that doesn't use ffmpeg and doesn't do what ffmpeg can do. ffmpeg can not only rewire channels, it can stream video, capture video from the screen, capture video from a tv tuner, overlay text etc.
Also the libraries you listed are part of the ffmpeg project. They come from ffmpeg.
to be fair, I have never seen a GUI that could do everything its complex command-line equivalent could do, that wasn't, in the end, just simpler and easier to use the command-line in the first place. so when people ask for "a GUI", I think a lot more information is needed about what it should be able to do.
Never argued otherwise. Specifically, the thing I'm saying is wrong is:
> someone recommended a GUI that doesn't use ffmpeg
Handbrake uses ffmpeg.
But I recognize your username. I don't remember from where but I remember reading or having a conversation with you which went nowhere. I think I'm done.
The thing I have a problem with, specifically, is your statement that Handbrake doesn't use ffmpeg. That statement is incorrect.
I have no problem with the statement "Handbrake doesn't make a good ffmpeg GUI, because it only exposes a small part of what ffmpeg can do". That part is totally 100% fine.
And I have a problem with the response "ffmpeg is a lot more than just a wrapper around the libraries" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39941964), given the fact that ffmpeg project is the libraries and that the ffmpeg CLI tool is just an interface to them. "ffmpeg is more than a wrapper around the libraries" is strictly speaking true (because ffmpeg is both the libraries themselves and the "wrapper" ffmpeg command line tool), but it doesn't make sense as a response in context.
Do you understand? Or do I need to break it down further?
A wrapper would be some sort of straight pass through and ffmpeg does more than that. That's how you can create big commands that rewire channels, use audio from a different source, subtitles from a specific language, filter, overlay text then stream it all out. That's not trivial, but I don't know why you're getting upset over it.
Because HandBrake uses some parts of the FFmpeg libraries, but HandBrake scope is much smaller than FFmpeg, and while it uses some parts, it's definitely not FFmpeg CLI GUI.
Whenever I search for ffmpeg commands, there is always some person suggesting an 8 liner with 25 arguments, and next to that someone suggesting a command with two -i and one -o argument. On visual inspection both do the same, but I’m always left with the feeling that I did something wrong or just “got lucky” with the shorter command.
I would love a “unless you’re a pro with hyper specific needs, forget these 90% of arguments and only use this 10% in this way” type of guide.
That’s tame for FFmpeg, likely just specifying a bunch of encoder parameters the simpler command left out for defaults, maybe with some input/output streams explicitly spelled out. If you want to look at really incomprehensible FFmpeg commands, try anything with filtergraphs.
My experience is that ChatGPT is dreadful at everything but the simplest ffmpeg invocations, and will often produce command lines with subtle quirks (such as "only works if the input is an even number of pixels wide").
But then again, my experience is that ChatGPT is dreadful at everything but the simplest anything.
My experience is similar, but I find it can still be useful if you go step by step, check its work and explain errors and corrections as you go. Admittedly when I describe it like that it doesn't seem very useful, but if I'm figuring things out by myself then most of that work is a given anyway and the bot helps that process along.
Sometimes... but most often, after I explain in detail an error it did, it will just say "I apologize for the mistake, you are correct, <re-iteration of my explanation of the error>. Here is a version with the error fixed:", followed by either the exact same output or an equally wrong alternate output.
The fact that these glorified Markov chains manage to fool people into thinking they posses some kind of actual intelligence or ability to reason baffles me.
That still feels like a chore, opening some text file, copying the right command, opening a terminal, messing around with input and output file paths..
I don't like interacting with command line parameters in general, it feels clunky to me, but I don't think there's a point in arguing about it since it is more of a personal preference
But all of them have parameters. And depend on each other. And the order of filters matters. There is no way to make a simple interface for all ffmpeg can do.
I don't know if I agree with that. The official docs do list a lot but often you get something like compression_level takes an integer from 1-8. But doesn't tell you if 1 is smaller output or 8 is to work the hardest.
However the wiki pages can be quite good if they cover your use case and the real strength is so many examples online. Even if many of the example command lines feel like they have been cargo-culted through the years and no one actually understands what exactly they do.
No, that's bad advice imho. ChatGPT (and Claude etc.) are all pretty damned good at this. Strongly recommend using them over reading the docs or asking other people if you're getting started.
So this is a good use case for it: you will most likely get immediate feedback if it's wrong, and a bit delayed feedback if it achieved the wrong thing; and you can prod it to try harder. LLMs are best used when you can easily verify the results.
use ffprobe on the file first then paste that output and what you want done to it. Helps if there’s something about the file/codec that GPT would have to work around. Had better success that way.
Agreed with other posters: CLI is the best way to go…
ChatGPT can help with learning a lot now but the mailing lists are incredible sources of kind and wonderful (and incredibly knowledgeable) people… go there!
Handbrake, Permute are super as mentioned… I’ve put down a couple to add to the list.)
There isn’t one. Handbrake very weird about interpreting what you want and you’ll find yourself having to double check dimensions and stuff every time and the queue is very fiddly. On the Mac version at least.
Don’t think anything exists like XLD for FFMPEG video where you can just drop a file in set the quality and codec and get the exact same dimensiond file out every time.
