Chop Up a Video Based on Timestamps?

raindog308

I have a set of videos that are about 2 hours each. Each contains numerous short lessons - let's say 40 per video.

What I'd like to do is watch each video and mark the start of each lesson, then feed that into an app or script that splits the video file and produces 40 videos from it, each starting and stopping at times I specify.

I know how to do this manually in Final Cut Pro but...tedious.

Is there a way to do this with an app, or some kind of command-line script? Linux (Debian, natch), macOS, and Windows are all available platforms.

ehhthing

https://shotstack.io/learn/use-ffmpeg-to-trim-video/

lowendtalkxdax

@ehhthing said:
https://shotstack.io/learn/use-ffmpeg-to-trim-video/

ffmpeg best tool

yokowasis

I use copilot + ffmpeg.

gh copilot suggest "extract video from ./somevideo.mp4 00:10:30 - 00:30:00"

dev_vps

Use the following command to cut the video:

ffmpeg -ss 00:01:00 -to 00:02:00 -i input.mp4 -c copy output.mp4

-ss: Specifies the start time
-to: Specifies the duration from start to end
-i input.mp4: input video file.
-c copy: Trims the video via stream copy (very fast).

This does not re-encode the video, ensuring fast processing.

johndeo983

!/bin/bash # For Linux/macOS

@ECHO OFF # For Windows

Path to your video file

input_video="path/to/your/video.mp4"

Loop through each lesson with start and end times

while IFS=':' read -r start_time end_time output_name; do
ffmpeg -i "$input_video" -ss "$start_time" -to "$end_time" -c copy "output_name.mp4"
done < timestamps.txt # Replace with your timestamp file path

Xrmaddness

Perhaps have a look at lossless-cut?
https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut

It's a ffmpeg gui. You could watch the video in it, since you're doing that anyway, and select the cut points as you go along.

yoursunny

We print the video on KODAK motion picture film and cut it with scissors.
The analog way is the most intuitive.

dev_vps

@yoursunny said:
We print the video on KODAK motion picture film and cut it with scissors.
The analog way is the most intuitive.

The undo takes longer time

farsighter

This can be done using MPV player keybindings and Lua scripting capabilities.