ffmpeg Usage - Claude Skill

October 19, 2025 · View on GitHub

A comprehensive Claude Skill for video and audio processing using ffmpeg. This skill provides battle-tested commands and workflows for common multimedia processing tasks.

License: MIT Claude Skills

🎯 Overview

The ffmpeg Usage skill teaches Claude how to perform professional video and audio processing tasks using ffmpeg. Once installed, Claude will automatically recognize video/audio processing requests and apply the appropriate ffmpeg commands.

Note: This skill was developed for research purposes to explore Claude Skills capabilities. Claude already has knowledge of ffmpeg and can handle common video/audio tasks without this skill. This skill provides optimized recipes and platform-specific presets that may be useful for advanced use cases.

Tip: If Claude doesn't automatically use this skill, you can explicitly ask: "Can you use the ffmpeg-usage skill for this task?"

Supported Operations:

  • 🎬 Format conversion (MP4, WebM, MOV, AVI, etc.)
  • 📐 Resolution scaling and aspect ratio adjustment
  • 🎨 High-quality GIF creation with palette optimization
  • 🎵 Audio extraction, conversion, and merging
  • ✂️ Video trimming, concatenation, and speed adjustment
  • 📝 Subtitle processing (burn-in, soft subs, extraction)
  • 🖼️ Thumbnail and frame extraction
  • 🗜️ Video compression and web optimization
  • 📱 Platform-specific presets (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter)

📋 Requirements

System Requirements

  • ffmpeg must be installed on your system
  • Claude Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise plan
  • Claude Code v2.0.12 or higher (for Claude Code users)

Install ffmpeg

macOS:

brew install ffmpeg

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Windows (with Chocolatey):

choco install ffmpeg

Verify installation:

ffmpeg -version

🚀 Installation

For Claude Desktop & claude.ai

Skills are automatically synced between Claude Desktop and claude.ai. Upload once to use on both platforms!

  1. Download the latest release:

    • Go to Releases
    • Download ffmpeg-usage.zip

  2. Upload the Skill:

    • In Claude Desktop or claude.ai, go to Settings > Capabilities > Skills
    • Click "Upload Skill"
    • Select the downloaded ffmpeg-usage.zip file

  3. Start using:

    • If you uploaded via claude.ai and have Claude Desktop open, restart Claude Desktop to see the Skill
    • Just ask Claude to process videos!

Note: Custom Skills require a Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise plan.

For Claude Code

Method 1: Git Clone (Recommended)

git clone https://github.com/ychoi-kr/claude-ffmpeg-skill.git
cp -r claude-ffmpeg-skill ~/.claude/skills/ffmpeg-usage

Method 2: Quick Install Script

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ychoi-kr/claude-ffmpeg-skill/main/install.sh | bash

💡 Usage

Once installed, Claude will automatically recognize video/audio processing requests. Just describe what you want in natural language!

Example Interactions

Format Conversion:

You: "Convert this MOV file to MP4"
Claude: [Uses ffmpeg Usage skill to convert with optimal settings]

GIF Creation:

You: "Create a high-quality GIF from video.mp4, starting at 10 seconds, 5 seconds long"
Claude: [Generates GIF with palette optimization]

Resolution Adjustment:

You: "Resize this 4K video to 1080p for web"
Claude: [Scales video and optimizes for web playback]

Audio Extraction:

You: "Extract the audio from this video as MP3"
Claude: [Extracts audio with high quality settings]

Social Media Optimization:

You: "Prepare this video for Instagram Stories"
Claude: [Converts to 9:16, optimizes settings, limits to 15 seconds]

Batch Processing:

You: "Convert all MOV files in this directory to MP4"
Claude: [Creates and runs batch conversion script]

📚 Features

Automatic Skill Activation

Claude automatically detects when to use this skill based on keywords like:

  • "convert video"
  • "create gif"
  • "extract audio"
  • "resize video"
  • "compress video"
  • "add subtitles"
  • "merge videos"
  • "optimize for [platform]"

Comprehensive Command Library

The skill includes optimized commands for:

  • 20+ common operations
  • Platform-specific presets (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter)
  • Quality optimization with appropriate CRF values
  • Web-ready output with faststart flag
  • Batch processing patterns

Best Practices Built-In

  • Input validation before processing
  • Appropriate codec selection
  • Quality vs file size optimization
  • Error handling and recovery
  • Progress indication for long operations

🔧 Customization

You can customize the skill by editing SKILL.md:

  1. Add your own presets
  2. Modify default quality settings
  3. Add organization-specific workflows
  4. Include custom ffmpeg filters

Example custom preset:

### Company Logo Overlay
```bash
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -i logo.png \
  -filter_complex "overlay=W-w-10:H-h-10" \
  output.mp4


## 📖 Documentation

### Full Command Reference
See [SKILL.md](SKILL.md) for the complete command library and detailed usage instructions.

### Common Use Cases
- [Format Conversion Examples](examples/conversion.md)
- [GIF Creation Guide](examples/gifs.md)
- [Social Media Presets](examples/social-media.md)
- [Batch Processing](examples/batch.md)

### Troubleshooting
See [TROUBLESHOOTING.md](TROUBLESHOOTING.md) for common issues and solutions.

## 🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

1. **Report bugs** - Open an issue describing the problem
2. **Suggest features** - Share ideas for new ffmpeg workflows
3. **Submit presets** - Add platform-specific or use-case presets
4. **Improve documentation** - Help make the skill easier to use

See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for detailed guidelines.

## 🔒 Security

This skill executes ffmpeg commands on your system. To stay safe:

- ✅ Always review generated commands before execution
- ✅ Only process trusted input files
- ✅ Validate file paths to prevent directory traversal
- ✅ Use this skill from trusted sources only

See [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) for more information.

## 📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.

## 🙏 Acknowledgments

- [FFmpeg](https://ffmpeg.org/) - The amazing multimedia framework
- [Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/) - For creating Claude and the Skills system
- Community contributors - For testing and feedback

## 📬 Support

- **Issues**: [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/ychoi-kr/claude-ffmpeg-skill/issues)
- **Discussions**: [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/ychoi-kr/claude-ffmpeg-skill/discussions)

## 🗺️ Roadmap

- [ ] Add hardware acceleration examples (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel)
- [ ] Include more social media platform presets
- [ ] Add video filter examples (blur, sharpen, color correction)
- [ ] Create interactive preset builder
- [ ] Add performance benchmarking utilities
- [ ] Support for advanced audio processing (normalization, noise reduction)

## 📊 Stats

![GitHub stars](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/ychoi-kr/claude-ffmpeg-skill)
![GitHub forks](https://img.shields.io/github/forks/ychoi-kr/claude-ffmpeg-skill)
![GitHub issues](https://img.shields.io/github/issues/ychoi-kr/claude-ffmpeg-skill)

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**Made with ❤️ for the Claude community**

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