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manipulating audio size and metadata with ffmpeg

2026-01-05

Audio conversion to get a one-hour mp3 file under 100 MB

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 output.mp3

Extract album art from an input file

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -an -vcodec copy cover_%03d.jpg

Display album cover art in supported terminals

# Note: uses `viu`, which you can install on macos with `brew install via`
# https://github.com/atanunq/viu
# Note: -w, for width, is in text columns, I think?
viu -w 20 cover.jpg

Delete album art from an input file

# Note: `-map 0:a` strips all but the audio, ie it omits all images
ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -map 0:a output.mp3

Add album art from cover file

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -i cover.jpg -map 0 -map 1 -c copy output.mp3