Concatenating Video Files using FFmpeg

When working with video files, it's not uncommon to need to concatenate multiple files into a single output file. In this scenario, FFmpeg comes to the rescue. With its powerful command-line interface, you can easily merge multiple video files into a single MP4 or other format file.

One common approach is to use the concat command in FFmpeg. This command allows you to read a list of video files from a text file and copy them into an output file in the specified order. To do this, simply create a text file containing the list of video files you want to concatenate, one file per line.

For example, let's say you have a text file called `fileList.txt` that contains the following:

```

file 'video1.mp4'

file 'video2.mp4'

file 'video3.mp4'

```

You can then use the following FFmpeg command to concatenate these files into a single output file called `mergedVideo.mp4`:

```bash

ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i fileList.txt -c copy mergedVideo.mp4

```

This command tells FFmpeg to read the list of files from `fileList.txt`, concatenate them in order, and copy each individual file into the output file `mergedVideo.mp4`.

However, there may be cases where you want to apply a date format to your video files. In these situations, you can use the `-strftime` option with the concat command. This allows you to specify a format for your output file names.

For example, if you want to create a file name in the format `video%Y%m%d.m3u8`, you can use the following command:

```bash

ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i fileList.txt -strftime 1 'dir/video%%05d.ts' 'dir/video.m3u8'

```

This command tells FFmpeg to read the list of files from `fileList.txt`, concatenate them in order, and copy each individual file into an output file with the specified date format.

It's worth noting that if a crash occurs while running this command, the old files may be automatically deleted. To avoid this issue, you can use a batch file to run the command and ensure that any old files are preserved.

In conclusion, FFmpeg provides a powerful tool for concatenating video files into a single output file. With its concat command and `-strftime` option, you can easily merge multiple video files into a single MP4 or other format file with custom date formatting.

Ffmpeg copy filename