Is it possible to quick merge still image and audio without reencoding?

[rcuriuos]

Hello,

1. Is it possible to quickly combine still image (one) and audio to video without reencoding audio and encoding video? Because for 2 hours long audio it takes 30min.
2. Maybe there is a secret code to the video encoder, not to encode the same image over and over - but just encode it one time and repeat it. So it would take f.e. 5 minutes to complete the same job.

[rcuriuos]

Found myself, what I was looking for:
ffmpeg -loop 1 -framerate 1 -i image.jpg -i audio.mp3 -c copy -shortest output.mkv

Now it takes 3 seconds, instead of 30 minutes on SSD disk.

[butterw]

OK but -framerate 1 could possibly cause issues and it does encode video.
no-reencoding: do .m4a + cover Art.

If you are feeling adventurous, and want smallest filesize, try:
ffmpeg -loop 0 -i "photo.jpg" -i "audio.m4a" -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -crf 16 -tune stillimage -t 60 "out.mkv"
-loop 0 actually gives you a single frame of video, and you need to specify the duration in seconds instead of shortest, ex: -t 60:
It muxes fast, overhead vs audio-only is low and you can display subtitles (which you cannot do with audio+cover art).

[rcuriuos]

Thanks for your feedback. I have just uploaded video, made with command I found, to YouTube and everything is fine. YouTube processing was also very fast.

[rcuriuos]

OK but -framerate 1 could possibly cause issues and it does encode video.
no-reencoding: do .m4a + cover Art.

If you are feeling adventurous, and want smallest filesize, try:
ffmpeg -loop 0 -i "photo.jpg" -i "audio.m4a" -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -crf 16 -tune stillimage -t 60 "out.mkv"
-loop 0 actually gives you a single frame of video, and you need to specify the duration in seconds instead of shortest, ex: -t 60:
It muxes fast, overhead vs audio-only is low and you can display subtitles (which you cannot do with audio+cover art).

Hello,
I got very big sizes with my command, so uploading was long sometimes.
So I tried your suggested command, but with jpg I get zero size mkv. Then I use png, I get playing mkv, small size, but with no picture, only audio track. Where might be the problem?

[butterw]

Not all players support this (mpc-hc/be does).

With your original command (1fps): filesize should not be much larger than audio.
-c:v libx264 -tune stillimage