Commands for converting, processing, optimising and managing media files
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>
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>
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>
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
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>
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
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>}" -