The xfade and xfade_opencl filters can create transitions between two inputs with various wipes, slides, crossfades, and other effects.

Offset Parameter

The offset parameter determines when the crossfade starts.

It should be set to a value that enables the full duration of the transition between the two videos. The offset parameter in the first video stream should not be greater than the duration of the first video minus the duration of the transition itself.

For example, if your first video is 8 seconds long, and your transition is 1 second long, the offset must be less than or equal to (8-1) = 7.

Also, the duration of the second video should be at least as long as the duration of the transition itself, meaning that in the above example, the second video's duration must be equal to or greater than 1.

To calculate the offset for subsequent videos, you have to factor in the previous crossfade offsets and the duration of the current video. See this ​example on Stack Overflow.

Examples

MP4 output

Fade between two images. Each image has a duration of 5 seconds. The fade duration is set to 1 second with the duration option, and it occurs at 4 seconds using the offset option.

ffmpeg -loop 1 -t 5 -i 1.png -loop 1 -t 5 -i 2.png -filter_complex "[0][1]xfade=transition=fade:duration=1:offset=4,format=yuv420p" output.mp4

GIF output

Using the split, palettegen, and paletteuse filters:

ffmpeg -loop 1 -t 5 -i 1.png -loop 1 -t 5 -i 2.png -filter_complex "[0][1]xfade=transition=fade:duration=1:offset=4,split[s0][s1];[s0]palettegen[p];[s1][p]paletteuse" -loop 0 output.gif

Gallery

Below is gallery of the available effects. fade is the default transition. Names in bold are also available in xfade_opencl.

fade (default)	fadeblack	fadewhite	distance
wipeleft	wiperight	wipeup	wipedown
slideleft	slideright	slideup	slidedown
smoothleft	smoothright	smoothup	smoothdown
circlecrop	rectcrop	circleclose	circleopen
horzclose	horzopen	vertclose	vertopen
diagbl	diagbr	diagtl	diagtr
hlslice	hrslice	vuslice	vdslice
dissolve	pixelize	radial	hblur
wipetl	wipetr	wipebl	wipebr
fadegrays	squeezev	squeezeh	zoomin
hlwind	hrwind	vuwind	vdwind
coverleft	coverright	coverup	coverdown
revealleft	revealright	revealup	revealdown

Command used to make each gallery image; as reference for future gallery additions:

ffmpeg -f lavfi -i "color=c=blue:s=180x136:r=15:d=2,format=rgb24,drawtext=text='fadeblack':x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:box=1:boxborderw=4:boxcolor=white:fontfile=/usr/share/fonts/TTF/VeraMono.ttf:fontsize=20" -f lavfi -i "color=c=aqua:s=180x136:r=15:d=2,format=rgb24,drawtext=text='fadeblack':x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:box=1:boxborderw=4:boxcolor=white:fontfile=/usr/share/fonts/TTF/VeraMono.ttf:fontsize=20" -filter_complex "[0][1]xfade=duration=1:offset=1:transition=fadeblack,split[s0][s1];[s0]palettegen[p];[s1][p]paletteuse" fadeblack.gif

Custom effects

You can make your own custom effects using transition=custom and the expr options. See the xfade documentation for more info.

xfade_opencl

xfade_opencl is the Open CL variant of the xfade filter. This filter supports a subset of the filters available in xfade (see bold names in gallery above) and also supports creation of custom effects. It requires ffmpeg to be configured with --enable-opencl and you must initialize a hardware device in your command. See OpenCL Video Filters for general info.