ffmpeg drawtext fontfile error "Cannot find a valid font for family Sans"

Question

I'm using ffmpeg to burn frame number into video. I suspect the error has something to do with file path.

Here's my command

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontfile='E\:\\ffmpegTool\\bin\\arialbd.ttf':fontsize=30: fontcolor=black:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:text=%{expr\\\\\:n+1}: box=1" -y out.mp4

I've tried this, this and this. They didn't work

Here's the error

ffmpeg version N-85091-g23ae3cc Copyright (c) 2000-2017 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 6.3.0 (GCC)
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-cuda --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-dxva2 --enable-libmfx --enable-nvenc --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-fontconfig --enable-frei0r --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libilbc --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenh264 --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librtmp --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib
  libavutil      55. 57.100 / 55. 57.100
  libavcodec     57. 88.100 / 57. 88.100
  libavformat    57. 70.100 / 57. 70.100
  libavdevice    57.  5.100 / 57.  5.100
  libavfilter     6. 81.100 /  6. 81.100
  libswscale      4.  5.100 /  4.  5.100
  libswresample   2.  6.100 /  2.  6.100
  libpostproc    54.  4.100 / 54.  4.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'E:\ffmpegTool\bin\00872.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 0
    compatible_brands: mp42mp41
    creation_time   : 2017-04-01T08:35:15.000000Z
  Duration: 00:00:52.31, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 11442 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 1920x1080, 11130 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 24k tbn, 47.95 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2017-04-01T08:35:15.000000Z
      handler_name    : Alias Data Handler
      encoder         : AVC Coding
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 317 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2017-04-01T08:35:15.000000Z
      handler_name    : Alias Data Handler
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> h264 (libx264))
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (aac (native) -> aac (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file
[Parsed_drawtext_0 @ 00000000010ab340] Cannot find a valid font for the family Sans
[AVFilterGraph @ 00000000052c9280] Error initializing filter 'drawtext' with args 'fontfile=E\:\\ffmpegTool\\bin\\arialbd.ttf:fontsize=30: fontcolor=black:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:text=%{expr\\:n+1}: box=1'
Error reinitializing filters!
Failed to inject frame into filter network: No such file or directory
Error while processing the decoded data for stream #0:0
Conversion failed!

Appreciate the help.

Solution 1

2019 Windows builds seem to have changed syntax or something again; here's what works for me today:

-vf "drawtext=fontfile=C\\:/Windows/fonts/consola.ttf:fontsize=72:fontcolor='white':timecode='00\:00\:00\:00':rate=25:text='TCR\:':boxcolor=0x000000AA:box=1:x=860-text_w/2:y=960"

In my case, I'm running FFmpeg from PWD, not C:, so I have to specify font path C:\ with escaped colon and forward-slash for folder/file path.

Solution 2

Omit double quotes (") around the whole filter, use them only for the path to font file and omit spaces after ::

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vf drawtext=fontfile="E\:\\ffmpegTool\\bin\\arialbd.ttf":fontsize=30:fontcolor=black:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:text=%{expr\\\\\:n+1}:box=1 -y out.mp4

Also, your path to the font file is suspicious - try using the default Windows font path

c:\Windows\Fonts\,

so your command will be

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vf drawtext=fontfile="c\:\\Windows\\Fonts\\arialbd.ttf":fontsize=30:fontcolor=black:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:text=%{expr\\\\\:n+1}:box=1 -y out.mp4

Comments

[Moore]

It didn't work :( maybe it's the Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file?

[MarianD]

No, default config file is *nix specific - it is the file fonts.conf (in the default directory /etc/fonts/). You are using Windows - probably you wrote incorrect path. I edited my answer, see it.

[Moore]

Apparently it's the fontcolor that keeps making the error. I omitted one by one and this is the working code ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vf drawtext=fontsize=40:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:fontfile=‌​'C\:\\Windows\\Fonts‌​\\Arial.ttf':text=%{‌​n}:box=1 -y out.mp4 (") didn't work. but (') did. How very strange it's the fontcolor...

[MarianD]

It seems as something impossible (in spite of that black is the default fontcolor). Did you try some other colors or the notation fontcolor=0x000000 ?

[Moore]

Yes you're right. It seems it's the part text=%{expr\\\\\:n+1} that caused something wrong. I forgot I also omitted that part at the same time. fontcolor works as expected. Thanks!

[Moore]

It'd be great to know why text=%{expr\\\\\:n+1} Do you have an idea?

[MarianD]

You have odd number of backslashes. Try adding or removing one of them (or removing more of them). Other problem is that Windows command line itself interprets %, so you have to use it in a pair: %%{expr ....

[Moore]

Yes. It seems to be the backslashes. I think % is fine though. It's part of ffmpeg filter syntax