Converting Video into Animated Images Using FFmpeg
Tags: images, avif, av1, webp
Published: 2021-06-11 03:55:58

---
title: Converting Video into Animated Images Using FFmpeg
published: true
date: 2021-06-11 03:47:28 UTC
tags: [Images, AVIF, AV1, WebP]
canonical_url: https://codelab.farai.xyz/posts/snippets/ffmpeg-animated-images/
---

_[Converting Video into Animated Images Using FFmpeg](https://codelab.farai.xyz/posts/snippets/ffmpeg-animated-images/) was first published on [Farai's Codelab](https://codelab.farai.xyz/)._
* * *

**This post has been republished with new information.**

* * *

This post will supplement an upcoming post on why you should stop using GIFs in favor of newer image and video formats. Here’s how to generate animated images in various media formats using [FFmpeg](https://ffmpeg.org/download.html).

<nav id="TableOfContents">
  <ul>
    <li><a href="#preparing-the-source-clip-for-further-conversion">Preparing The Source Clip For Further Conversion</a></li>
    <li>
<a href="#images">Images</a>
      <ul>
        <li><a href="#gif">GIF</a></li>
        <li><a href="#webp">WebP</a></li>
        <li><a href="#sequenced-avif-chrome-for-now">Sequenced AVIF (Chrome For Now)</a></li>
      </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
<a href="#videos">Videos</a>
      <ul>
        <li><a href="#avch264-mp4-widest-support">AVC/h.264 MP4 (widest support)</a></li>
        <li><a href="#hevch265-webkit">HEVC/h.265 (WebKit)</a></li>
        <li><a href="#vp8vp9-not-webkit">VP8/VP9 (Not WebKit)</a></li>
        <li>
<a href="#av1-video-chrome-and-firefox">AV1 Video (Chrome and Firefox)</a>
          <ul>
            <li><a href="#aomenc-reference-encoder">aomenc (Reference Encoder)</a></li>
            <li><a href="#rav1e-fastest">rav1e (Fastest)</a></li>
            <li><a href="#svt-av1">SVT-AV1</a></li>
          </ul>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </li>
  </ul>
</nav>
## Preparing The Source Clip For Further Conversion

First thing to do is convert it to an uncompressed `y4m` video, slicing it up and setting the framerate as necessary:

```
ffmpeg -ss <start_point> -t <duration_from_start> -i <source_media> -an -vf 'scale=<width>:<height>,setpts=<stretch_factor>*PTS,fps=<framerate>' -pix_fmt yuv420p <raw_input>.y4m

```

What the option flags mean:

| Option | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `-ss` | Marks the start position of the video stream as a [time duration](http://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-utils.html#time-duration-syntax) |
| `-t` | Specifies the duration of the datastream from `-ss` (or 0) as a [time duration](http://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-utils.html#time-duration-syntax). Use both `-ss` and `-t` before `-i` to limit the video input. |
| `-an` | Removes audio |
| `-vf` | The [video filters](https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#Video-Filters) |
| `scale` | Sets the **w** idth and **h** eight of the video |
| `setpts` | Sets the presentation timestamps (PTS) for the video. Used to [speed up and slow down video](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/How%20to%20speed%20up%20/%20slow%20down%20a%20video) |
| `fps` | Specifies the framerate for the video. |
| `pix_fmt` | Sets the color format. Necessary if you’re converting from GIFs. |

Note, if you are going to set a framerate for a GIF, it [has a delay between frames](https://superuser.com/a/1449370) in hundreths of a second (<var>fps</var>=100/<var>delay</var>). So:

| Delay | Framerate |
| --- | --- |
| 1 | 10pfs |
| 2 | 50fps |
| 3 | 33fps |
| 4 | 25fps |
| 5 | 20fps |
| 6 | 15fps |

## Images

### GIF

```
ffmpeg -i <source_input>.y4m -filter_complex "[0:v] split [a][b];[a] palettegen [p];[b][p] paletteuse" -loop 0 <output>.gif

```

Simply put the `-filter_complex` flag in this case generates a color palette to use in the GIF. See [GIPHY’s Engineering blog on how to make GIFs](https://engineering.giphy.com/how-to-make-gifs-with-ffmpeg/) to explain the flag.

`-loop 0` makes it loop forever.

You can leave it out, resulting in a much smaller GIF (at the expense of quality).

### WebP

```
ffmpeg -i <raw_input>.y4m -loop 0 -q:v 100 -compression_level 6 <output>.webp

```

`q:v` is the image quality, from 0 to 100. It’ll be much smaller, but WebP can get blocky if you push the quality too hard.

Like GIF, `-loop 0` makes it loop forever.

### Sequenced AVIF (Chrome For Now)

ffmpeg doesn’t support writing to AVIF containers when I wrote this, so you nee to use [avifenc](https://github.com/AOMediaCodec/libavif/releases) to do this.

```
avifenc <raw_input>.y4m <output>.avif

```

## Videos

From here on out, I won’t go over the options too much since there’s a lot to consider, most of which I don’t understand so I’ll link to the respective encoding guide if you want more options.

### AVC/h.264 MP4 (widest support)

```
ffmpeg -i <raw_input>.y4m -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow <output>.mp4

```

The [`preset`](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264#Preset) flag tries to find the best tradeoff between quality and compression at a given bitrate and file size.

[H.264 Encoding Guide](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264)

### HEVC/h.265 (WebKit)

```
ffmpeg -i <raw_input>.y4m -c:v libx265 -preset veryslow -tag:v hvc1 <output>.mp4

```

You need the `-tag:v hvc1` for the video to play in Safari. [Thanks Aaron!](https://aaron.cc/ffmpeg-hevc-apple-devices/).

`preset` is the same as in AVC.

[H.265 Encoding Guide](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.265)

### VP8/VP9 (Not WebKit)

Switch the `vp8` for `vp9` depending on which one you choose. `vp9` is newer so better, although it doesn’t have the support of `vp8` (although it’s reasonable).

```
ffmpeg -i <raw_input>.y4m -c:v vp9 <output>.webm

```

[VP8 Encoding Guide](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/VP8)/[VP9 Encoding Guide](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/VP9)

### AV1 Video (Chrome and Firefox)

<ins><strong>Update 21 May 2021:</strong> When I initially wrote this post, my build of ffmpeg didn’t include different av1 encoders so I tried to encode AV1 videos using the encoders directly. As I was updating this post to add instructions on how them, I noticed that the alternatate encoders are now built in the standard build of ffmpeg.</ins>

Encoding AV1 will use a lot of CPU and it takes longer than the others.

```
ffmpeg -i <raw_input>.y4m -c:v libaom-av1 <output>.webm

```

If you’re on an older version of ffmpeg, you need to add `-strict -2`. Note that you can also use `rav1e` and `SVT-AV1` in FFmpeg to encode AV1 videos.

[AV1 Encoding Guide](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/AV1).

#### aomenc (Reference Encoder)

You’ll either have to [compile aomenc yourself](https://aomedia.googlesource.com/aom/+/master) or you can use [aomenc’s Windows builds](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/marcomsousa/build-aom/build/artifacts) by [Marco Sousa](https://github.com/marcomsousa).

```
aomenc.exe -o <output_file>.webm <raw_input>.y4m

```

#### rav1e (Fastest)

You can find [rav1e’s builds on GitHub](https://github.com/xiph/rav1e/releases). Note that rav1e only generates the raw video stream (saved as an ivf file) which needs to be muxed into a webm container file.

```
rav1e.exe <raw_input>.y4m -o <intermediate>.ivf
ffmpeg -i <intermediate>.ivf-c:v copy <output>.webm -hide_banner -loglevel error

```

#### SVT-AV1

While there are some [SVT-AV1 builds on GitHub](https://github.com/AOMediaCodec/SVT-AV1/releases), the project is marked as archived and [SVT-AV1’s Gitlab Repo](https://gitlab.com/AOMediaCodec/SVT-AV1) doesn’t have any prebuilt binaries so you’ll have to compile it yourself. However you get the binary, like rav1e, you need to mux the raw video stream into a webm container file.

```
SvtAv1EncApp.exe -b <intermediate>.ivf -i <raw_input>.y4m
ffmpeg -i $destIvf -c:v copy <output>.webm

```

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