ezff

3 min read Original article ↗

ff

Stop Googling ffmpeg commands.

ff convert video.mp4 to gif

That's it. No flags. No manuals. Just plain English.

Install

Requires ffmpeg to be installed on your system.

Interactive Mode

Don't remember the syntax? Just type ff:

$ ff

  ff — Plain English ffmpeg

? File path: video.mp4
? What do you want to do? › Convert format
? Convert to: › GIF

  ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vf fps=15,scale=480:-1:flags=lanczos -loop 0 -y video_output.gif

? Run it? › Yes

  Done!

Step-by-step. No memorization needed.

Direct Commands

Already know what you want? Skip the prompts:

# Convert formats
ff convert video.mp4 to gif
ff convert video.mp4 to mp3

# Compress
ff compress video.mp4 to 10mb

# Trim
ff trim video.mp4 from 0:30 to 1:00

# Extract audio
ff extract audio from video.mp4

# Resize
ff resize video.mp4 to 1280x720
ff resize video.mp4 to 720p

# Speed
ff speed up video.mp4 by 2x
ff slow down video.mp4 by 2x

# Other operations
ff reverse video.mp4
ff mute video.mp4
ff rotate video.mp4 by 90
ff flip video.mp4 horizontal
ff thumbnail video.mp4 at 0:05
ff merge video1.mp4 and video2.mp4
ff video.mp4 grayscale

Dry Run

Preview the ffmpeg command without executing:

$ ff convert video.mp4 to gif --dry-run
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vf fps=15,scale=480:-1:flags=lanczos -loop 0 -y video_output.gif

All Commands

Command Example
Convert ff convert video.mp4 to gif
Compress ff compress video.mp4 to 10mb
Trim ff trim video.mp4 from 0:30 to 1:00
Extract audio ff extract audio from video.mp4
Resize ff resize video.mp4 to 1280x720
Scale ff resize video.mp4 to 720p
Speed up ff speed up video.mp4 by 2x
Slow down ff slow down video.mp4 by 2x
Reverse ff reverse video.mp4
Mute ff mute video.mp4
Rotate ff rotate video.mp4 by 90
Flip ff flip video.mp4 horizontal
Thumbnail ff thumbnail video.mp4 at 0:05
Crop ff crop video.mp4 to 640x480
FPS ff fps video.mp4 to 30
Loop ff loop video.mp4 3 times
Merge ff merge a.mp4 and b.mp4
Add audio ff add audio.mp3 to video.mp4
Grayscale ff video.mp4 grayscale
Stabilize ff stabilize video.mp4
Denoise ff denoise video.mp4

How It Works

"ff compress video.mp4 to 10mb"
          ↓
    ┌─────────────┐
    │   Parser    │  Extracts: action=compress, file=video.mp4, size=10mb
    └─────────────┘
          ↓
    ┌─────────────┐
    │   Builder   │  Maps to: ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -crf 28 -preset medium ...
    └─────────────┘
          ↓
    ┌─────────────┐
    │   ffmpeg    │  Executes the command
    └─────────────┘

No AI. No API calls. Just pattern matching. Fast and offline.

Output

Files are saved in the same directory with _output suffix:

video.mp4 → video_output.gif

Requirements

  • Node.js >= 16
  • ffmpeg installed and in PATH
# macOS
brew install ffmpeg

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install ffmpeg

# Windows
choco install ffmpeg

License

MIT

Contributing

PRs welcome. Keep it simple.


GitHub · Made by @josharsh