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?

Answer 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
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