Media

Media

Commands for converting, processing, optimising and managing media files

Information

Show basic information about media file

file <media-file>

Show detailed information about image files (macOS only)

sips -g all <image-file>

Show detailed information about audio files (macOS only)

afinfo <audio-file>

Show information from multimedia streams and files (requires ffmpeg)

ffprobe <audio-file>

Images

Sips

Sips - Scriptable image processing system (macOS only)

• Formats: jpeg, tiff, png, gif, jp2, pict, bmp, qtif, psd, sgi, tga

Convert image between file formats (Quality: 0 - 100 or low, normal, high, best)

sips -s format <format> -s formatOptions <quality> <input-file> --out <output-file>

Example converting PNG to JPG using high quality compression

sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions high foo.png --out foo.jpg

Examples batch processing all JPG files

sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions low *.jpg
sips --resampleWidth 300 *.jpg

Scale width or height of image in pixels maintaining aspect ratio

sips --resampleWidth <width> <input-file> --out <output-file>
sips --resampleHeight <height> <input-file> --out <output-file>

Scale both width and height until either reach the max dimension (-Z flag)

sips --resampleHeightWidthMax <max-dimension> <input-file> --out <output-file>
sips -Z <max-dimension> <input-file> --out <output-file>

Resize image to exact height and width regardless of aspect ratio

sips -z <height> <width> <file>

Rotate image by specified degrees clockwise

sips -r <degrees-clockwise> <file>

Flip image in specified direction (horizontal, vertical)

sips -f <direction> <file>

Crop image to specified height and width

sips -c <height> <width> <file>

Pad image by expanding size (with optional fill colour for added region)

sips -p <height> <width> <file>
sips -p <height> <width> --padColor <hex-color> <file>

WebP

Install Google WebP image processor

brew install webp

Decompress WebP image to PNG

dwebp <wepb-image-file> -o <png-output-filename>

Decompress all WebP images in current directory to PNG images (processing 8 in parallel)

find . -type f -name "*.webp" | xargs -P 8 -I {} dwebp {} -o {}.png

Compress image to WebP format using specified quality from 0 to 100

cwebp -q <quality> <input-file> -o <output-file>

Audio / Video

Audio File Utilities

Play audio file (macOS only)

afplay <file>

Play audio file with volume (-v), playback rate (-r) and duration in seconds (-t)

afplay <file> -v <volume> -r <rate> -t <time>

Convert audio file format

afconvert -f <file-format> -d <data-format> -b <bit-rate> <input-file> <output-file>

Example converting audio file from wav to mp3 at 128kbps

afconvert -f mp4f -d aac -b 128000 input.wav output.mp3

FFmpeg

Install FFmpeg audio / video processor

brew install ffmpeg

Play audio file (-nodisp for direct CLI playback without GUI)

ffplay <audio-file>
ffplay -nodisp <audio-file>

VLC

Open network stream

vlc <stream-url>

Demuxing raw PCM audio for playback

vlc --demux=rawaud --rawaud-channels <channel-count> --rawaud-samplerate <sample-rate> <file>

Example 2 channel PCM audio at 8kHz

vlc --demux=rawaud --rawaud-channels 2 --rawaud-samplerate 8000 audio.pcm

youtube-dl

Install youtube-dl

brew install youtube-dl

List media format and quality options available

youtube-dl -F '<video-url>'

Download mp4 video file

youtube-dl -f best[ext=mp4] '<video-url>'

Download mp3 audio file

youtube-dl -fx best --audio-format mp3 '<video-url>'

Pipe output directly to VLC

youtube-dl -o - '<video-url>' | vlc -

Pipe output directly to Chromecast via VLC

youtube-dl -o - '<video-url> | vlc --sout="#chromecast{ip=<chromecast-ip>}" -