PICTURE IN PICTURE effect using FFMPEG

In a recent time I had a task to make a picture in picture effect of two videos using ffmpeg.In this blog I am going to share the details of how to make a PIP effect using ffmpeg and also configuring some of its factors.

I have two flv videos with download links :

pipInput1.flv

pipInput2.flv

Here are the youtube links:

pipInput1.flv

pipInput2.flv

I have ffmpeg commands for various PIP combinations.

Combination 1: overlaying pipInput2.flv on bottom right with sound of pipInput1.flv video

Following is the command for doing this operation.

For Windows

ffmpeg -i pipInput1.flv -i pipInput2.flv -filter_complex "[1]scale=iw/5:ih/5 [pip]; [0][pip] overlay=main_w-overlay_w-10:main_h-overlay_h-10" -profile:v main -level 3.1 -b:v 440k -ar 44100 -ab 128k -s 720x400 -vcodec h264 -acodec libvo_aacenc PIP_output1.mp4

For Ubuntu

ffmpeg -i pipInput1.flv -i pipInput2.flv -filter_complex "[1]scale=iw/5:ih/5 [pip]; [0][pip] overlay=main_w-overlay_w-10:main_h-overlay_h-10" -profile:v main -level 3.1 -b:v 440k -ar 44100 -ab 128k -s 720x400 -vcodec h264 -acodec libfaac PIP_output1.mp4

-filter_complex:

Filters in ffmpeg are used configure input file parameters based on some multiple parallel processing.Filters can have multiple inputs and multiple outputs.Filters in the same linear chain are separated by commas, and distinct linear chains of filters are separated by semicolons.The points where the linear chains join are labelled by names enclosed in square brackets.

In this command, there are two filters one after the other in chain.First filter scale down one video, and second filter overlays one video on another.

-filter_complex "[1]scale=iw/5:ih/5 [pip]; [0][pip] overlay=main_w-overlay_w-10:main_h-overlay_h-10"

scale option will reduce the size of the video having index=1 to width=w/5 and height=h/5.Indexing of files starts with 0  i.e. pipInput1.flv has index 0 and pipInput2.flv has index 1.

The scaled version of pipInput2.flv video has named as pip in the filter chain.

Next this scaled pip video and video at index=0 i.e. “[0][pip]” are allowed to overlayed.That is, pipInput2.flv will be on full screen and pipInput1.flv will be overlayed.

The position for the scaled version of pipInput2.flv will be decided by parameters of “overlay” parameter.

dimension of pipInput1.flv video = main_w

dimension of scaled pipInput2.flv video = overlay_w

PIP output video:

download link

youtube link

NOTE: Sound of first video in ffmpeg command, having index=0, will come in final PIP output video.

Combination 2: overlaying pipInput2.flv on bottom right with sound of pipInput2.flv video

For Windows

ffmpeg -i pipInput2.flv -i pipInput1.flv -filter_complex "[0]scale=iw/5:ih/5 [pip]; [1][pip] overlay=main_w-overlay_w-10:main_h-overlay_h-10" -profile:v main -level 3.1 -b:v 440k -ar 44100 -ab 128k -s 720x400 -vcodec h264 -acodec libvo_aacenc PIP_output2.mp4

For Ubuntu

ffmpeg -i pipInput2.flv -i pipInput1.flv -filter_complex "[0]scale=iw/5:ih/5 [pip]; [1][pip] overlay=main_w-overlay_w-10:main_h-overlay_h-10" -profile:v main -level 3.1 -b:v 440k -ar 44100 -ab 128k -s 720x400 -vcodec h264 -acodec libfaac PIP_output2.mp4

To make PIP video having sound of pipInput2.flv it must have index=0 in ffmpeg command.But this will change the indexing for creating scaled video.so just swaping index of 0 and 1.

PIP output video:

download link

youtube link

Combination 3: overlaying pipInput1.flv on top right with sound of pipInput2.flv video

For Windows

ffmpeg -i pipInput2.flv -i pipInput1.flv -filter_complex "[1]scale=iw/5:ih/5 [pip]; [0][pip] overlay=main_w-overlay_w-10:10" -profile:v main -level 3.1 -b:v 440k -ar 44100 -ab 128k -s 720x400 -vcodec h264 -acodec libvo_aacenc PIP_output3.mp4

For Ubuntu

ffmpeg -i pipInput2.flv -i pipInput1.flv -filter_complex "[1]scale=iw/5:ih/5 [pip]; [0][pip] overlay=main_w-overlay_w-10:10" -profile:v main -level 3.1 -b:v 440k -ar 44100 -ab 128k -s 720x400 -vcodec h264 -acodec libfaac PIP_output3.mp4

Replacing “main_h-overlay_h-10” with “10” will make the overlayed video at top right.

PIP output video:

download link

youtube link

Thanks

Akash Sharma