Text on video using FFMPEG

Question

i am trying to add text on a video using ffmpeg. I have seen so-many helps in stackoverflow and followed, but hard luck i couldn't succeed.

i have followed this thread.

Here is my command

ffmpeg -i C:/source/TestScene.mov -vf drawtext="fontfile=c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf: text='TestMessage': fontcolor=white: fontsize=24: box=1: boxcolor=black@0.5: boxborderw=5: x=(w-text_w)/2: y=(h-text_h)/2" -codec:a copy C:/source/TestScene_test.mov

Here is my error traceback

F:\SW\ffmpeg\bin>ffmpeg -i C:/source/TestScene.mov -vf drawtext="fontfile=c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf: text='TestMessage': fontcolor=white: fontsize=24: box=1: boxcolor=black@0.5: boxborderw=5: x=(w-text_w)/2: y=(h-text_h)/2" -codec:a copy C:/source/TestScene_test.mov
ffmpeg version N-89127-g8f4702a93f Copyright (c) 2000-2017 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 7.2.0 (GCC)
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-sdl2 --enable-bzlib --enable-fontconfig --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib --enable-gmp --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-cuda --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-nvenc --enable-dxva2 --enable-avisynth --enable-libmfx
  libavutil      56.  0.100 / 56.  0.100
  libavcodec     58.  3.103 / 58.  3.103
  libavformat    58.  2.100 / 58.  2.100
  libavdevice    58.  0.100 / 58.  0.100
  libavfilter     7.  2.100 /  7.  2.100
  libswscale      5.  0.101 /  5.  0.101
  libswresample   3.  0.101 /  3.  0.101
  libpostproc    55.  0.100 / 55.  0.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'C:/source/TestScene.mov':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : qt
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: qt
    encoder         : Lavf58.2.100
  Duration: 00:00:04.67, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 187 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (Constrained Baseline) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 1280x720, 185 kb/s, 24 fps, 24 tbr, 12288 tbn, 48 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : DataHandler
      encoder         : Lavc58.3.103 libx264
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> h264 (libx264))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file
[Parsed_drawtext_0 @ 0000009cfe42ef20] Cannot find a valid font for the family Sans
[AVFilterGraph @ 0000009cfed15fc0] Error initializing filter 'drawtext' with args 'fontfile=c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf: text=TestMessage: fontcolor=white: fontsize=24: box=1: boxcolor=black@0.5: boxborderw=5: x=(w-text_w)/2: y=(h-text_h)/2'
Error reinitializing filters!
Failed to inject frame into filter network: No such file or directory
Error while processing the decoded data for stream #0:0
Conversion failed!

Hope to see some solution.

Answer 1

You have to escape the font path and present it as a string:

fontfile='c\:\/windows\/fonts\/arial.ttf'