ffmpeg: Concatenating MP4 files adding chapters for each one

[Keyser]

Hi

I'm using AVStoDVD to convert several MP4 files to one DVD. I want them to be part of one title only, but since AVStoDVD doesn't allow adding files as chapters (only as titles), I'm joining them first with ffmpeg using the following command:

ffmpeg -f concat -i mylist.txt -c copy output

The thing is, I'd like to add chapters corresponding to each MP4 file that is joined. Is there a way to tell ffmpeg to do this?

Thanks

P.S. If ffmpeg does not support this operation, do you know of another tool that does?

[smrpix]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/329339-AVStoDVD-Chapter-Problem?p=2041224&viewfull=1#post2041224

Does this help? No need to join files.

[Keyser]

@smrpix

I tried you sugestion, but there is a problem with the sound. It is very fast (high pitch) and stops much earlier than the video.

[thefinalprophecy]

@smrpix

I tried you sugestion, but there is a problem with the sound. It is very fast (high pitch) and stops much earlier than the video.

Did you ever find a solution for this? I'm trying to do the same thing: merge multiple mp4 files into one file with chapter markers for each file.

Thanks!

[videobruger]

@thefinalpropphecy (since it's an old thread)

You could try try DVDStyler:

- Create a project using a template
- Delete the two menus created
- use: DVD -> Add -> File ... to add the first file
- use: DVD -> Add -> File as chapter ... to select the remaining files
- use: DVD -> Add -> Chapter menu

Create an ISO image or DVD Folder structure and test in a software player.

[thefinalprophecy]

@thefinalpropphecy (since it's an old thread)

You could try try DVDStyler:

- Create a project using a template
- Delete the two menus created
- use: DVD -> Add -> File ... to add the first file
- use: DVD -> Add -> File as chapter ... to select the remaining files
- use: DVD -> Add -> Chapter menu

Create an ISO image or DVD Folder structure and test in a software player.

Not sure that's what I'm looking for. I want to merge/concatenate the mp4 files without reencoding, and I definitely don't want to convert to DVD format. Also looking for something more command line friendly so I can do this in bulk.

I have a hundreds of TV episodes each in their own directory split up like this:

finished/2000/01.04
├── [4.5M] ds_04076_01_stw_480.mp4
├── [ 23M] ds_04076_02_nws_480.mp4
├── [ 18M] ds_04076_03_car_480.mp4
├── [9.5M] ds_04076_04_nws_480.mp4
├── [ 23M] ds_04076_05_gst_480.mp4
├── [ 13M] ds_04076_06_deg_480.mp4
├── [ 11M] ds_04076_07_rbr_480.mp4
└── [1.2M] ds_04076_08_zen_480.mp4
finished/2000/01.05
├── [ 13M] ds_04077_01_nws_480.mp4
├── [7.8M] ds_04077_02_nws_480.mp4
├── [ 26M] ds_04077_03_col_480.mp4
├── [ 10M] ds_04077_04_nws_480.mp4
├── [ 26M] ds_04077_05_gst_480.mp4
├── [ 13M] ds_04077_06_blk_480.mp4
├── [3.2M] ds_04077_07_nws_480.mp4
└── [1.2M] ds_04077_08_zen_480.mp4

I want to run a command that will go through each episode subdirectory and merge the mp4 files into one. Chapter markers would be nice but aren't as important as processing these files in bulk.

Running Ubuntu.

Thanks

[jeremybrooks]

Google brought me here, and further googling found this answer:
https://ikyle.me/blog/2020/add-mp4-chapters-ffmpeg

I hope this helps someone who might be searching for how to do this as well.