fftool — An FFmpeg Terminal UI

ffmpeg is one of the most capable pieces of software on Linux. It can cut, convert, transcode, normalize, stabilize, resize, concatenate, and generate media from scratch. It can also be genuinely hostile to use. The flag ordering matters. The argument syntax is non-obvious. Two-pass workflows require you to chain invocations manually.

fftool solves that without hiding ffmpeg. It's a terminal UI written in Go — a navigable menu that wraps the common operations and shows you the actual command it's going to run before it runs it. You pick the operation, fill in the fields, and see the ffmpeg invocation on a confirm screen. Execute it or go back and adjust. Either way, you're reading real ffmpeg commands, not abstractions.

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Operations

Video

• trim — cut a clip from a video
• convert format — change codec or container
• resize — scale resolution
• extract audio — pull audio from video
• merge A/V — combine video with separate audio
• concatenate — join multiple files
• change speed — speed up or slow down
• reverse — play backwards
• crop — remove edges
• stabilize — two-pass stabilization (libvidstab)

Audio

• convert format — change codec or bitrate
• extract from video — pull audio track
• generate sine tone — test tone generator
• generate noise — white/pink/brown noise
• normalize loudness — EBU R128 two-pass
• trim — cut a clip
• mix two tracks — combine stereo or dual-mono

Image

• image + audio to MP4 — still image with soundtrack
• image sequence to video — frames from directory
• extract frame — pull a still from video

Generative

• Mandelbrot zoom — fractal animation
• testsrc — classic test pattern
• SMPTE color bars — broadcast standard
• Conway's Life — cellular automaton
• cellular automaton — generalized CA
• sine wave — audio visualization
• noise source — signal visualization

Info / Probe

• ffprobe wrapper — displays streams, codec, resolution, FPS, bitrate

Keyboard Controls

Key	Action
↑ / ↓	Navigate / move between fields
Enter	Select / confirm
Esc	Back one level
Tab	Next form field
← / →	Cycle select options
q	Quit
c	Copy command to clipboard
Ctrl+C	Cancel immediately

How It Works

Every operation goes through a confirm screen. Before anything executes, fftool renders the full ffmpeg command with all flags and arguments:

ffmpeg \
  -i input.mp4 \
  -ss 00:01:30 \
  -to 00:02:45 \
  -c copy \
  output.mp4

You can review it, go back to adjust, or confirm and run. The command isn't generated behind the scenes — it's shown to you first. Over time, you stop needing the menus for the operations you use most.

Multi-Pass Operations

Some ffmpeg workflows require more than one invocation. fftool handles these transparently:

• Stabilize — two passes: first analyzes motion, second applies correction
• Normalize — two phases: first measures loudness, second encodes with values substituted
• Extract Audio — tries primary codec, falls back if it fails

About

fftool is written in Go and builds to a single static binary. You need Go 1.21 or later. The binary has no runtime dependencies beyond ffmpeg and ffprobe on PATH.

Uses bubbletea for the TUI framework and lipgloss for styling — open source libraries.

Build from source:

go mod tidy
go build -o fftool .