FFmpeg Video Converter Tutorial for Beginners — Batch & Automation

This tutorial shows how to convert videos with FFmpeg, automate repeated tasks, and create simple batch workflows for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It assumes no prior FFmpeg experience and provides ready-to-run commands and scripts.

What is FFmpeg?

FFmpeg is a free, cross-platform command-line tool for processing audio and video: converting formats, extracting audio, resizing, changing codecs, and more.

Install FFmpeg

Windows: Download a static build from ffmpeg.org, extract, and add the “bin” folder to PATH.
macOS: Install via Homebrew:
```
bash
brew install ffmpeg 
```

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

bash
sudo apt update sudo apt install ffmpeg

Basic single-file conversions

Convert to MP4 (H.264 + AAC):
```
bash
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4 
```
- -c:v libx264: H.264 video encoder
- -crf 23: quality (lower = better quality, range ~18–28)
- -preset medium: encoding speed vs. compression

Convert to WebM (VP9 + Opus):

bash
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx-vp9 -b:v 0 -crf 30 -c:a libopus -b:a 96k output.webm

Extract audio:

bash
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k output.mp3

Common useful options

Resize video:

bash
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf “scale=1280:720” -c:a copy output720p.mp4

Change frame rate:
bash
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -r 30 -c:a copy output30fps.mp4

Fast remux (no re-encoding):
bash
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c copy output.mp4

Preserve subtitles:
bash
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c copy -c:s mov_text output.mp4

Batch conversion: Windows (Batch script)

Create convert.bat in the folder with videos: “`bat @echo off for %%F in (*.mkv.avi *.mov *.mp4) do ( echo Converting %%F… ffmpeg -y -i “%%F” -c:v libx264 -preset

FFmpeg Video Converter Tutorial for Beginners — Batch & Automation