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When using either ffmpeg or ffprobe tools, they have this uncanny habit of spewing multiple lines of version build data that is utterly uninteresting during normal use (ie: unless you're updating the software). This clutters the terminal screen... adding frustration, unnecessary scrolling and prevents me from quickly comparing two outputs.

ffprobe version n4.4-6-g7e9b9f24df Copyright (c) 2007-2021 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 10-win32 (GCC) 20210408
  configuration: --prefix=/ffbuild/prefix --pkg-config-flags=--static --pkg-config=pkg-config --cross-prefix=x86_64-w64-
mingw32- --arch=x86_64 --target-os=mingw32 --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-debug --disable-w32threads --enable-
pthreads --enable-iconv --enable-libxml2 --enable-zlib --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-gmp --enable-lz
ma --enable-fontconfig --enable-libvorbis --enable-opencl --enable-libvmaf --enable-vulkan --enable-amf --enable-libaom
--enable-avisynth --enable-libdav1d --enable-libdavs2 --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuda-llvm --enable-libglslang --enable
-libgme --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-libtheora --enable-libvpx --ena
ble-libwebp --enable-lv2 --enable-libmfx --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --en
able-librav1e --enable-librubberband --enable-schannel --enable-sdl2 --enable-libsoxr --enable-libsrt --enable-libsvtav1
 --enable-libtwolame --enable-libuavs3d --enable-libvidstab --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs2 --enable
-libxvid --enable-libzimg --extra-cflags=-DLIBTWOLAME_STATIC --extra-cxxflags= --extra-ldflags=-pthread --extra-libs=-lg
omp
  libavutil      56. 70.100 / 56. 70.100
  libavcodec     58.134.100 / 58.134.100
  libavformat    58. 76.100 / 58. 76.100
  libavdevice    58. 13.100 / 58. 13.100
  libavfilter     7.110.100 /  7.110.100
  libswscale      5.  9.100 /  5.  9.100
  libswresample   3.  9.100 /  3.  9.100
  libpostproc    55.  9.100 / 55.  9.100

How do I instruct ffmpeg and ffprobe to never display these lines on my screen again, unless I specifically ask for them?

I am using the Windows builds.

I am incapable of compiling my own builds. Sorry.

raccoon
  • 115
  • Use -hide_banner for ffmpeg. For ffprobe use -v error / -loglevel error if you are parsing the stdout output. See examples. – llogan May 18 '21 at 16:56
  • @llogan Thanks. -hide_banner works for ffprobe as well, while -v error and -loglevel error both eliminate normal stdout completely. So my question now becomes: Is there an ffmpeg.config or ffmpeg.ini or ffmpeg.rc file that I can add to my program directory to permanently affix hide_banner to all uses for all time? – raccoon May 18 '21 at 17:09
  • You must just be using ffprobe like ffmpeg and just reading the stderr. That's fine for human eyes, but not recommended for machine parsing. No config file, but if Windows is like Linux you can make an alias, so when you execute "ffmpeg" you are actually executing "ffmpeg -hide_banner". I'll leave that up to you to see if it is possible. Note: if asking for help with ffmpeg commands, please always omit -hide_banner. – llogan May 18 '21 at 17:13
  • @llogan Thanks. Yes, most of my operations are simple use for eyeball interpretation. Thanks for your help, I'll try creating ffmpeg.cmd and ffprobe.cmd aliases to prefix these options. Could you ask the developer community to set -hide_banner as the default configuration, adding a -show_banner option for those 0 individuals interested in seeing clutter. – raccoon May 18 '21 at 17:27
  • Such a feature request would most certainly not be considered. It would make helping users and debugging very difficult. That information is very important for helping. For most ffmpeg questions on Stack Exchange I would have to ask the user to include -show_banner every time which would delay the answer and would get tiring very quickly. The option is there: users just have to use it. – llogan May 18 '21 at 17:49

0 Answers0