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Mute or Edit Specified Sections of a Video or Audio File Using ffmpeg

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:02 pm
by Eli
Install the ffmpeg


  1. sudo snap install ffmpeg  # version 4.3.1, or
  2. sudo apt-get  install ffmpeg



ffmpeg is a Hyper fast Audio and Video encoder. Its general usage format is:

  1. ffmpeg [options] [[infile options] -i infile]... {[outfile options] outfile}...


For example, to mute two video sections between 5-15 seconds and 20-25 seconds we run the command:

  1. ffmpeg -i Original_video.mp4 -af "volume=enable='between(t,5, 15)':volume=0, volume=enable='between(t,20,25)':volume=0" Output_video.mp4


-af is the audio filter which works by specifying multiple volume filters that are enabled/disabled at the specified duration of time.

  1. volume=enable='between(t,5,15)':volume=0


means use a volume filter that is enabled between 5 and 15 seconds to set the volume in a specified portion to 0. In our case, the input file is the Original_video.mp4 and the output file with specified sections muted is Output_video.mp4.

Re: Mute Specified Sections of a Video or Audio File Using ffmpeg

Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 8:24 pm
by Eli
Extracting part of a video with a command line using ffmpeg

Say we want to cut out part of a video starting at 00:00:20 out of the original file with 5 minutes and 25 seconds (00:05:25) length, and ending at 00:04:59 without re-encoding. The following command will do the trick:

  1. ffmpeg -ss 00:00:20 -i original_file.webm -t 00:04:59 -vcodec copy -acodec copy new_file.webm


Re-encoding requires replacing a copy with audio and video codecs. For a list of available codecs issue ffmpeg -formats -E to find out. However, you'll have to replace original_file.webm and new_file.webm with actual file names and their extensions. In our case the input file is original_file.webm and the resulting truncated file is new_file.webm.

To do the same with encoding, issue the command:

  1. ffmpeg -i original_file.webm -ss 00:00:20 -t 00:04:59 -async 1 -strict -2 new_file.mp4


Using mencoder

You can achieve similar results using mencoder by issuing the command below (as for ffmpeg, if you want to re-encode the video you have to replace copy with audio and video codecs, for a list of available audio codecs issue mencoder -oac help, for a list of available video codecs issue mencoder -ovc help).

  1. mencoder -ss 00:00:20 -endpos 00:04:59 -oac copy -ovc copy original_file.webm -o new_file.webm


Check here for more discussion.

Re: Mute Specified Sections of a Video or Audio File Using ffmpeg

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:14 pm
by Eli
Another useful ffmpeg usage is conversion between formats, for example converting the .webm file to .mp4:

  1. ffmpeg -i input_filename.webm output_filename.mp4


Re: Mute Specified Sections of a Video or Audio File Using ffmpeg

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2022 12:43 am
by Eli
Cut a video (.MP4) from 0 seconds to 10 minutes and 30 seconds:

  1. ffmpeg -ss 00:00:00 -i original_video.mp4 -t 00:10:30 -vcodec copy -acodec copy new_video.mp4


Re: Mute or Edit Specified Sections of a Video or Audio File Using ffmpeg

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2023 5:55 pm
by Eli
Usually the associated packages such as vlc can be similarly installed:

  1. sudo snap install vlc
  2. sudo  apt-get install vlc