DEV Community

poloxue
poloxue

Posted on

MoviePy: Basic Usage


In an era dominated by short-form videos, numerous user-friendly editing software options exist.

However, for specialized video formats like eBook presentations or comic readings, streamlining the video creation process through automation stands as a crucial enhancement for efficiency.

In this tutorial, we'll delve into MoviePy, a Python library designed to automate video production processes. We'll explore its capabilities and demonstrate how it simplifies video editing tasks through simple Python code.

Installation

To utilize MoviePy, the initial requirement is installation. Python's package manager - pip, can install it.

pip install moviepy
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

This automatically installs essential dependencies like ffmpeg. For text clips, imagemagick is necessary, which can be installed via HomeBrew:

brew install imagemagick
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Additionally, for previewing work in progress, pygame is required:

pip install pygame
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Getting Started with MoviePy

To access all necessary functions and classes in MoviePy, import them:

from moviepy.editor import *
video = VideoFileClip("input_video.mp4")
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

We initialize a video variable that represents the underlying video clip we are operating on.

Resizing and Rotating Videos

Let's begin by resizing a video:

video.resize(width=404, height=240).write_videofile("resized_video.mp4")
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Similarly, we can rotate videos:

video.rotate(180).write_videofile("rotated_video.mp4")
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Cutting and Extracting Segments

Trimming segments from a video is effortless with MoviePy:

video.subclip(5, 15).write_videofile("subclip_5_15_video.mp4")
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Exporting a GIF

Creating a GIF from a video segment is easy:

video.subclip(5, 15).resize(width=404).rotate(180).to_gif("output_video.gif")
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we covered various features of MoviePy, showcasing its simplicity and efficiency in video editing tasks. For more advanced techniques with MoviePy, consider subscribing to our channel for future tutorials.

Explore these examples, experiment, and enjoy the creative possibilities MoviePy offers in simplifying video editing!

Top comments (0)

Read next

chen_debra_3060b21d12b1b0 profile image

The Heart of DolphinScheduler: In-Depth Analysis of the Quartz Scheduling Framework

Chen Debra -

tharindumadubashna profile image

Master Docker

H.M Tharindu Madubashana -

tecno-security profile image

Web vulnerability bounty rules update

TECNO Security -

fabrikapp profile image

I created a Realtime Voice Assistant for my ESP-32, here is my journey - Part 1 : Hardware, PlatformIO & C++

Fabrikapp -