ffmpeg command to extract first two minutes of a video
This is an adapted version of David542's post since my edit was rejected as "completely superfluous or actively harm[ing] readability".
For extractions, it is essential to add the -c copy
flag,
ffmpeg -i in.mov -ss 0 -t 120 -c copy out.mov
what is shorthand for -vcodec copy -acodec copy
.
Otherwise ffmpeg reencodes the selection what is about 1000 times slower on my machine here and possibly alters the outcome in quality due to default settings taken.
$ ffmpeg -i in.mov -ss 0 -t 120 out.mov