How to render a watermark with transparency into a video

Question

I'm trying to render a watermark into a video. The moment the image file (.png) for the watermark contains transparency the image isn't rendered into the video anymore. If I convert that image to .jpg and back to .png it works well. If I create a new png that don't have transparency it works too. But when I add e.g. layer opacity to that image it isn't rendered anymore.

I use avconv 0.8.6-4:0.8.6-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 with the following command

avconv -y -i video.mp4 -f 'movie=watermark.png [watermark]; [in][watermark] overlay=10:10 [out]' -c:v libx264 -t 255 -strict experimental out.mp4

If I use .gif for the watermark I get the image, but it's all opaque.

Any clue?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 04 '13 at 13:32

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The answer to my question is simple, though it took me a day to find it.

The "normal" ffmpeg that comes with the repository of my Ubuntu distro complained about the "c: v libx264" parameter. avconv knows that parameter but is buggy; it just doesn't render transparent images.

The solution was as simple as installing the very latest ffmpeg version (i choosed the static version). Now it works like a charm. :)

answered Jul 04 '13 at 13:32

PaulS

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Yes, ubuntu no longer comes with ffmpeg, but with avconv, which is not quite the same. – tomsv Jan 13 '14 at 18:05

PJunior · Answer 2 · 2013-09-21T20:51:19.560

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This is how I'v managed to add a watermark on a mp4 file (top left) with avconv version 0.8.6-6:0.8.6-1ubuntu2.

avconv -y -i source.mp4 -vf "movie=watermark.png [watermark]; [in][watermark] overlay=10:10 [out]" -c:v libx264 target.mp4

Hope it helps someone.

edited Sep 21 '13 at 20:51

answered Sep 21 '13 at 20:30

PJunior

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If you get *Unknown encoder ‘libx264′* error, this is how to solve it. apt-get install libavcodec-extra-53 – PJunior Sep 21 '13 at 20:52

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 21 '14 at 22:23

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If you happen to be using ffmpeg-1.2 rather than avconv then the command is a fairly simple:

ffmpeg -i source.mp4 -i logo.png -filter_complex 'overlay' -strict -2 outputmovie.mp4

This worked fine for me, with the transparency baked into the logo.png file. Just make sure there is an alpha there. This also assumes the logo.png file is the same size as the reference material.

edited Dec 21 '14 at 22:23

Pawel

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answered Feb 21 '14 at 19:15

fxsam

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 25 '15 at 09:10

I Used the transparent png image and it worked for me. Now I can see the scene behind the watermark in the video as the png watermark image is transparent. So just edit the image via photoshop and add 50% opacity(or whatever value you want) in the image.

How to render a watermark with transparency into a video

4 Answers4