Text on video ffmpeg

Question

How can I add text overlay on my video in ffmpeg?

i.e. given a video "video1.flv", how can I add "StackOverflow" text during the whole video, positioned in the middle of the screen, with white text and a border?

Solution 1

Use the drawtext filter for simple text on video. If you need more complex timing, formatting, or dynamic text see the subtitles filter. This answer focuses on the drawtext filter.

Example

Print Stack Overflow in white text onto center of video, with black background box of 50% opacity:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:text='Stack Overflow':fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:box=1:[email protected]:boxborderw=5:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2" -codec:a copy output.mp4

• The audio is stream copied in this example (like a copy and paste).
• @0.5 controls background box opacity. 0.5 is 50%. Remove @0.5 if you do not want any transparency.
• See the drawtext filter documentation for a complete list and explanations of options.

Preview

You can use ffplay to preview your text without having to wait for a file to encode:

ffplay -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:text='Stack Overflow':fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:box=1:[email protected]:boxborderw=5:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2" input.mp4

Alternatively you can use mpv but the syntax is slightly different:

mpv --vf="lavfi=[drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:text='Stack Overflow':fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:box=1:[email protected]:boxborderw=5:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2]" input.mp4

Multiple texts

You can chain multiple drawtext filters:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:text='Stack Overflow':fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:box=1:[email protected]:boxborderw=5:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2,drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:text='Bottom right text':fontcolor=black:fontsize=14:x=w-tw-10:y=h-th-10" -codec:a copy output.mp4

Position

x and y determine text position:

Position	x:y	With 10 px padding
Top left	x=0:y=0	x=10:y=10
Top center	x=(w-text_w)/2:y=0	x=(w-text_w)/2:y=10
Top right	x=w-tw:y=0	x=w-tw-10:y=10
Centered	x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2
Bottom left	x=0:y=h-th	x=10:y=h-th-10
Bottom center	x=(w-text_w)/2:y=h-th	x=(w-text_w)/2:y=h-th-10
Bottom right	x=w-tw:y=h-th	x=w-tw-10:y=h-th-10
Random	See this answer

Repositioning text on demand

You can reposition the text with the sendcmd and zmq filters:

• sendcmd if you have predetermined positions and timing. See Sendcmd in ffmpeg and FFmpeg drawtext filter - is it possible to use variables with live data for x,y coordinates?
• zmq for live, on-the-fly positioning. See ffmpeg cli filter that require user input.

Moving / animated / looping / scrolling text

See:

• ffmpeg moving text drawtext
• Loop text that wipes left to right using FFMPEG drawtext filter
• Scrolling from RIGHT to LEFT in ffmpeg / drawtext

Timing

Use the enable option to control when the text appears.

Show text between 5-10 seconds:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:text='Stack Overflow':fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:box=1:[email protected]:boxborderw=5:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:enable='between(t,5,10)'" -codec:a copy output.mp4

Show text after 3 seconds:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:text='Stack Overflow':fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:box=1:[email protected]:boxborderw=5:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:enable='gte(t,3)'" -codec:a copy output.mp4

Blinking text. For every 10 seconds show text for 5 seconds:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:text='Stack Overflow':fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:box=1:[email protected]:boxborderw=5:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:enable='lt(mod(t,10),5)'" -codec:a copy output.mp4

Random position every 30 seconds:

See ffmpeg - Dynamic letters and random position watermark to video?

Changing / updating text

Add the textfile and reload options for drawtext:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/path/to/font.ttf:textfile=text.txt:reload=1:fontcolor=white:fontsize=24:box=1:[email protected]:boxborderw=5:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2" -codec:a copy output.mp4

• Update text.txt every time you want the text to change.
• Important: You must update the text file atomically or it may fail. You can do this with the mv command on Linux or macOS.
• If you have many text changes, such as making subtitles, it is easier to make a subtitle file (such as an .ass file via Aegisub) and using the subtitles filter.

Font family instead of font file

You can declare the font family, such as Times New Roman, instead of having to point to a font file. See How to include font in FFMPEG command without using the fontfile option?

Requirements

The drawtext filter requires ffmpeg to be compiled with --enable-libfreetype. If you get No such filter: 'drawtext' it is missing --enable-libfreetype. Most of the ffmpeg static builds available support this: see the FFmpeg Download page for links.

Solution 2

On macOS with enable='between(t,0,10)'

On macOS the syntax of enable='between(t,start_second, end_seconds)' is different. Input should be in seconds, not in hh:mm:ss.

My ffmpeg version 4.3.1

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=text='My Text':enable='between(t,20,120)': x=(w-text_h)/2: y=(h-text_h)/2: fontsize=32: fontcolor=white: box=1: [email protected]: boxborderw=5:" -c:a copy output.mp4

Comments

[Noah Ternullo]

Thank you. This produces text that is static. Other than date/time features, is there a way to produce an overlay of text that changes (such as a ticker tape at the bottom of the screen) or input from a text stream?

[rogerdpack]

@NoahTernullo there's also strftime options and "pts" variable you can use. In terms of making it ticker along the bottom, you can probably use some function for x variable value changes based on pts or frame number.

[Janki Gadhiya]

Unable to find suitable output format for 'text='Stack'. Getting this error please help me..!!

[llogan]

@jankigadhiya I can't help without seeing your actual command and the complete console output.

[Janki Gadhiya]

@LordNeckbeard see my question here :stackoverflow.com/q/37404476/6127411. And please help me if you can.

[Chinmay235]

Thanks for answering. But I have faced some problem. How to add special character in my watermark text? Here I posted question. Please answer me - stackoverflow.com/questions/38266469/…

[llogan]

@chovy Your ffmpeg needs to be built with --enable-libfreetype.

[chovy]

fyi, for those installing with brew, you can pass that flag --with-libefreetype to the install command.

[Ferguson]

Have tryed on Armbian: ffmpeg -i rtsp://mpv.cdn3.bigCDN.com:554/bigCDN/definst/mp4:bigbuckbun‌​nyiphone_400.mp4 -vf drawtext="fontfile=/home/projekt/StreamTest/DejaVuSans.ttf: \ text='Stack Overflow': fontcolor=white: fontsize=36: box=1: [email protected]: \ boxborderw=5: x=(w-text_w)/2: y=(h-text_h)/2" -codec:a copy localhost:8090/monitoring1.ffm but I don't get any text in my stream.. also th --enable-libfreetype is present when i run ffmpeg

[llogan]

@Ferguson Provide a link to a pastebin that shows the complete ffmpeg console output. Does it work if you output to a local file such as output.mp4? I know nothing of FFM (FFserver live feed), so I won't be helpful for anything to do with ffserver.

[Rico Picone]

@chovy I think the homebrew option you mentioned should be --with-freetype

[Kishore Jethava]

@LordNeckbeard can you please look into this thread

[llogan]

@Eftekhari I believe RTL is problematic with libfreetype (the library used by drawtext). You may have better results using the subtitles filter with ASS files.

[Eftekhari]

@llogan Thanks.

[deFreitas]

add :enable='between(t,00:00:15,00:00:20) to specify the text duration, something like ffmpeg -i part02.mp4 -vf drawtext="text='Stack Overflow': fontcolor=white: fontsize=24: box=1: [email protected]: \ boxborderw=5: x=(w-text_w)/2: y=(h-text_h)/2: enable='between(t,00:00:15,00:00:20)" -codec:a copy output.mp4

[Vivek Thummar]

I tried your command to draw text and it works well but when i increased font size it looks fuzzy just like text drawn in paint without antialias,can you please help me in this problem??

[llogan]

@VivekThummar Can you show your command and the complete log? You can use a pastebin site and provide a link in a comment.

[Vivek Thummar]

I have created pastebin account and posted code there,check out it - pastebin.com/iupjh8Cx

[llogan]

@VivekThummar You're scaling after using drawtext. Remove -s and use the scale filter before drawtext: -vf scale=1280:720,drawtext=...

[Vivek Thummar]

I tried your solution and i got some error can you please check pastebin url again because i updated my command there!

[llogan]

@VivekThummar It needs to be in the form of -vf "scale=1920:1080,drawtext=..." Notice the comma (,) connecting the filters. The comma is missing in your command being executed. This is a problem with your implementation of the ffmpeg command in android.