Start FFplay Playback at a Specific Timestamp

This article explains how to configure FFplay to start video or audio playback at a specific timestamp. By utilizing the -ss command-line option, you can bypass the beginning of a media file and resume playback from any designated hour, minute, or second.

To start playback at a specific time in FFplay, you must use the -ss (seek) option followed by your desired timestamp before specifying the input file. FFplay accepts timestamps in two different formats: sexagesimal (hours:minutes:seconds) or as a total number of seconds.

Method 1: Using the Seconds Format

If you want to start playback at a specific number of seconds from the beginning of the video, pass the raw number of seconds to the -ss argument.

For example, to start a video at exactly 90 seconds (1 minute and 30 seconds):

ffplay -ss 90 input.mp4

Method 2: Using the Sexagesimal Format (HH:MM:SS)

For longer videos, it is often easier to specify the time in the standard HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS format. You can also include fractions of a second (milliseconds) if precise accuracy is required.

To start playback at 1 hour, 15 minutes, and 30 seconds:

ffplay -ss 01:15:30 input.mp4

To start playback with millisecond precision (e.g., 5 minutes, 10 seconds, and 500 milliseconds):

ffplay -ss 00:05:10.500 input.mp4

Key Considerations

• Placement of the flag: Always place the -ss option before the input file name in your command line.
• Keyframes: FFplay seeks to the nearest keyframe to the specified timestamp. While this makes the seek operation nearly instantaneous, the actual starting frame might differ slightly from the exact timestamp requested depending on the video’s keyframe interval.