FFmpeg Basics: Inputs, Codecs, Filters

Understand the core structure of FFmpeg commands and the role of common options and filters.

FFmpeg commands are composed of an input (-i), stream options (video -c:v, audio -c:a, bitrates, filters), and an output file name.

Typical structure

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 192k output.mp4

Filters

The -vf flag applies a chain of video filters separated by commas, such as scale, crop, oryadif.