Adding a timestamp on frames captured using FFmpeg

Question

I am trying to capture frames using FFmpeg and add current timestamp on to it.

Below code is working fine for a Linux PC :

ffmpeg -i  input -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/usr/share/fonts/TTF/Vera.ttf: text='%{localtime}': x=(w-tw)/2: y=h-(2*lh): fontcolor=white: box=1: boxcolor=0x00000000@1" image%03d.png

But same is not working for Windows because of:

• The filter applied in the -vf option.
• fontfile=/usr/share/fonts/TTF/Vera.ttf is not valid for Windows PC.
• Some other things are also invalid.

I tried editing and removing it with some other option but nothing worked.

1. I need to add time stamp on the images captured using FFmpeg in Windows.
2. How could I add timestamp to it accurate to milliseconds - don't need a date in the timestamp.

What I have tried so far is:

text='%{localtime\:%X}%{pts\:hms}'

The above prints local time and the pts. I need to add both and print, so that I could get it exactly correct.

Any kind of help would be appreciated. I am cracking my head for this from last couple of hours.

Solution 1

I got it working. Just posting it here :

ffmpeg -i input -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/Windows/Fonts/Arial.ttf: text='%{localtime}': x=(w-tw)/2: y=h-(2*lh): fontcolor=white: box=1: boxcolor=0x00000000@1: fontsize=30" -r 25 -t 5 image%03d.png

Solution 2

Another approach that get's you timestamps with millisecond granularity is

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf drawtext="fontsize=60:fontcolor=yellow:text='%{e\:t*1000}':x=(w-text_w):y=(h-text_h)" output.mp4

Comments

[Gyan]

Can you post full command that you last tried with its console output? I was able to do it in Windows, with the same text expression and with a valid path to a font file.

[coder3521]

Ya thanks . . I figured it out . only thing i was mistaking is valid path to the font file . But now i need the timestamp correct to milliseconds . will post my working code..