Converting video to high-quality gif using ffmpeg
📅️ Published: February 13, 2021 • 🕣1 min read
Converting videos to GIFs using ffmpeg is a pain in the ass if you don’t know what’s happening.GIF size getting 10x the size of original video ? Don’t worry, I got you!
Below are few points that can help:
- Always create a custom palette
- Don’t increase/decrease file dimensions
- Save unnecessary frame conversion by skipping timeframes (using
-t). - Experiment with
fps(default value is 24)
# Get video dimensionsffprobe-v error-select_streams v:0-show_entriesstream=width,height-ofcsv=s=x:p=0 video.mp4# generate a paletteffmpeg-i video.mp4-vf"fps=22,scale=1024:-1:flags=lanczos,palettegen" palette.png# use the generated paletteffmpeg-t 29-i video.mp4-i palette.png-filter_complex"fps=22,scale=1024:-1:flags=lanczos[x];[x][1:v]paletteuse" output.gifA more generic version in a simple bash script
#!/usr/bin/env bash# Utility to convert video files to GIFs using ffmpeg## Usage: convert-to-gif.sh <video-file-path># To skip frames: convert-to-gif.sh <video-file-path> <time-in-seconds># Example:# convert-to-gif.sh video.mp4 28if[[-z"$1"]];thenecho"No video file specified"exit1fi# get everything after last /video=${1##*/}# remove everything after .filename=${video%.*}echo-e"$(tput bold)Getting video dimensions$(tput sgr0)"# Get video dimensionsdimensions=$(ffprobe-v error-select_streams v:0-show_entriesstream=width,height-ofcsv=s=x:p=0"$1")echo-e"$(tput bold)Generating Palette$(tput sgr0)"# Generate paletteffmpeg-i"$1"-vf"fps=22,scale=${dimensions%x*}:-1:flags=lanczos,palettegen""$filename".pngecho-e"$(tput bold)Converting Video to GIF$(tput sgr0)"if[["$2"]];thenffmpeg-t"$2"-i"$1"-i"$filename".png-filter_complex"fps=22,scale=${dimensions%x*}:-1:flags=lanczos[x];[x][1:v]paletteuse""$filename".gifelseffmpeg-i"$1"-i"$filename".png-filter_complex"fps=22,scale=${dimensions%x*}:-1:flags=lanczos[x];[x][1:v]paletteuse""$filename".giffiecho-e"Removing palette"rm"$filename".png