ffmpeg4discord 0.1.1

A tool to help convert a video file to a target file size.

ff4d -- Target File Size Video Compression for Discord with FFmpeg

This repository houses scripts and applications to assist with compressing a video file to a desired size.

ff4d takes a video file as its input and encodes it to be less than 25MB unless specified otherwise. Discord's free-tier file size sharing limit is 25MB. You can change the file's name in a way that trims the file to a timestamped section. I created this package to share large NVIDIA ShadowPlay clips on Discord quickly, without the need for a visual editor.

The TwoPass() Class showcases a 2-pass encoding methodology for the ffmpeg-python library, which is not well-documented on the web. The Class also supports a few FFmpeg video filters, like cropping and resolution scaling. It can be used in a variety of different audio/video workflows.

Installation and Usage

This package works with Python >= 3.8. For Windows users, ensure that Python is added to your system's PATH.

Install this package with the following command.

pip install ffmpeg4discord

You must first have FFmpeg installed on your system. ffmpeg needs to be registered in your PATH. macOS or Linux users can use their favorite package manager to do this, but this process is a little more tricky for Windows users.

Help for Windows users

After installing this package, Windows users can run this command in a terminal to download the necessary ffmpeg binaries:

install-ffmpeg-windows

This will place ffmpeg.exe, ffprobe.exe, and ffplay.exe into the same location as your Python executable.

Usage

Run the program with:

ff4d cool_clip.mp4

I've had a good time using this command with a Batch file on Windows. Refer to the Sample Batch File section for more information.

File name formatting

1. 000020.mp4
   • This clips and compresses the video from 00:00:20 to the end of the clip.
2. 000020-000145.mp4
   • This clips and compresses the video from 00:00:20 to 00:01:45.
3. SomethingElse.mp4
   • Compresses the entire video if the first six characters of the file's name aren't numeric.

Optional Arguments

• -o, --output
  • default: the current working directory
  • If there is a folder that you want all of your smaller clips to land in, specify it with this argument.
• -s, --filesize
  • default: 25.0
  • Increase or decrease this value if you want to compress your video to something other than the 8MB Discord limit.
• -a, --audio-br
  • You can change this value if you want to increase or decrease your audio bitrate. Lowering it will allow for a slight increase in the compressed file's video bitrate.
• -r, --resolution
  • Example: 1280x720
  • Modify this value to change the output resolution of your video file. I'd recommend lowering your output resolution by 1.5x or 2x. Example: 1920x1080 video should get an output resolution of 1280x720
• -x, --crop
  • Example: 255x0x1410x1080
  • From the top-left of your video, this example goes 255 pixels to the right, 0 pixels down, and it carves out a 1410x1080 section of the video.
  • FFmpeg crop documentation
• --web
  • A Boolean flag. No value is needed after the flag. See Web UI for more information on the Web UI.
• --config
  • Example: custom_run_config.json
  • Path to a json file containing the configuration for the above parameters. This config file takes precedence over all of the other flags.

JSON Configuration

If your encoding job will always be the same, you can reference a JSON configuration file instead of passing a long list of arguments to the command line.

{
    "target_filesize": 8.0,
    "audio_br": 96,
    "crop": "",
    "resolution": "",
    "codec": "libx264",
    "times": {
        "from": "00:00:00",
        "to": "00:00:40"
    }
}

Notes:

• All of the keys except for "from" and "to" must always be present. Those entries can be deleted if you do not have a timestamp entry for the given field. Examples:
  • "times": {} -> if you do not wish to trim the start and stop time of the file. This falls back to the file name formatting.
  • "times": {"from": "00:00:10"} -> trim the clip from 00:00:10 to the end of the file
  • "times": {"to": "00:00:20"} -> trim the clip from the beginning of the file up to 00:00:20
• You can set audio_br to null if you want to maintain the clip's audio bitrate.

Detailed Example

ff4d 000050-000145.mp4 \
    -c 1280x0x2560x1440 \
    -r 1920x1080 \
    -s 50 \
    -a 48 \
    -o D:/shadowplay/

The example above takes a 5120x1440 resolution video as its input. The script trims the video from 00:00:50 to 00:01:45 (specified in the file name). It crops a 2560x1440 section starting at 1280 pixels from the top-left and 0 pixels down (-c). The output file will be located in D:/shadowplay/ (-o) with a new resolution of 1920x1080 (-r), and it will be 50MB (-s). The audio bitrate will be reduced to 48k (-a) as well, but that's probably going to sound terrible.

Web UI

The web UI can be activated by adding --web to your ff4d call.

ff4d cool_clip.mp4 -r 1280x720 -s 20 --web

That command will spin up a Flask server on your local machine and launch a rendered webpage with the video as the centerpiece. The flags you provide to ff4d will fill in the defaults for the form. You can override/replace the values.

You can drag the video playhead to different portions of the video and click the "Set Start/End Time" buttons to specify the section of the video you want to be clipped out. You can also use the range sliders underneath the buttons if you prefer. A "Preview Selection" button is provided for your convenience, and it does what it sounds like.

https://github.com/zfleeman/ffmpeg4discord/assets/1808564/ff323bcb-4747-437b-808f-ce48b8c269ce

The Flask server doesn't automatically stop itself, so you'll have to terminate it manually by closing the terminal it leaves hanging.

Sample Batch File

To enable "drag and drop" functionality for this package, Windows users can create a .bat file with the following code snippet. Once the file is created, you can drag and drop any .mp4 file on top of it, and it will run with the flags specified in the "Optional Arguments" section. This example is a Batch file that will launch the web UI.

@echo off
Set filename=%1
ff4d %filename% -o "C:/output/folder/" --web
DEL "ffmpeg2*"
PAUSE

Thanks!

Yes, this is a simple collection of Python files using FFmpeg tricks that is masquerading as a robust Audio/Video tool. But! I use this nearly every day to quickly share videos with people on various messaging apps that have built-in video players. I don't have to share a link that embeds a video player this way, and I guess that's important to me?

I like working on this! Enjoy!