Video editing is a crucial part of content creation. It can help you achieve better engagement, convey your message more effectively, and leave a lasting impression on your audience.
However, video resizing can be a challenging task as it involves maintaining the quality of the video. In this tutorial, we will explore how to resize a video while keeping the quality high with FFmpeg.
What is FFmpeg?
FFmpeg is an open-source multimedia framework that allows users to record, convert, and stream audio and video files. It is widely used in the media industry and provides advanced features for manipulating multimedia files. FFmpeg is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems.
Resizing Video with FFmpeg
To resize a video using FFmpeg, you need to use the `-vf` option followed by a scale filter. The scale filter resizes the input video to your desired dimensions while maintaining the aspect ratio of the original video.
Here’s an example of how to resize a video to 720p resolution:
Step 1: Install FFmpeg on your system.
Step 2: Open Command Prompt or Terminal on your computer.
Step 3: Navigate to the folder where your input video file is located using CD command.
Step 4: Enter this command:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=1280:720 output.mp4
In this command, `input.mp4` is your input file name and `output.mp4` is your output file name. `-vf` specifies that you are using a video filter. `scale=1280:720` sets the output resolution to 720p (1280×720).
You can adjust the output resolution according to your requirements by changing these values.
Preserving Video Quality
Resizing a video can often result in a loss of quality. However, FFmpeg provides several options that can help you preserve the quality of your video.
Bitrate: Bitrate is the amount of data used to represent one second of video. A higher bitrate results in better quality but larger file size.
You can increase the bitrate of your output file by using the `-b:v` option followed by a value in bits per second (bps). For example:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=1280:720 -b:v 2M output.mp4
This command sets the bitrate to 2 Mbps.
Crf: Crf (Constant Rate Factor) is a video encoding parameter that controls the visual quality and compression ratio of your output file. A lower crf value results in better quality but larger file size.
You can set the crf value by using the `-crf` option followed by a value between 0 and 51.mp4 -vf scale=1280:720 -crf 18 output.mp4
This command sets the crf value to 18.
Conclusion
In conclusion, resizing a video while maintaining its quality is essential for content creators who want to enhance their videos’ engagement and effectiveness without compromising their resolution or clarity. With FFmpeg, you can easily resize your videos to meet your desired resolution without losing any quality. Using FFmpeg’s advanced features such as bitrate and crf, you can further optimize your output file’s size and quality according to your needs.
