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Introduction

fmov is a blazing-fast Python library for rendering videos frame-by-frame using PIL (Pillow), OpenCV or any other image generation tool (that can be converted to a Numpy array). It combines the simplicity of high-level APIs with the performance of low-level tools like FFmpeg — perfect for generative art, animations, or automated video creation.

Features

  • Fast: Built on FFmpeg for high-performance rendering.
  • Scalable: No confusing flags or unreadable code.
  • Audio Support: Register sound effects from within your frame function, at any frame or timestamp.
  • Helpful Utilities: Easy time/frame conversions.
  • GPU Acceleration: Optimized commands based on your machine
  • Modern Pythonic API: Functional, frame-driven, and context-free.

Installation

pip install fmov

You must also have FFmpeg installed on your system and available in your PATH.

Installing FFmpeg
sudo apt install ffmpeg     # Linux
brew install ffmpeg         # MacOS
choco install ffmpeg        # Windows

Quick Example

hello_world.py
from fmov import Video
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw

# using 'with Video() as video' makes rendering simpler, as when the context ends it calls render automatically
with Video(path="video.mp4", width=1920, height=1080, fps=60) as video:
    total_frames = video.time_to_frame("10s") # turns the timestamp "60s" into the number of frames in the video

    # create all the frames in the video
    for i in range(total_frames):

        # PIL stuff, just rendering out the text "Hello World"
        img = Image.new("RGB", (video.width, video.height), "#000000")
        draw = ImageDraw.Draw(img)

        draw.text(
            (100, video.height // 2),
            f"Hello world! This is frame {i}",
            fill="#ffffff"
        )

        video.add(img) # add the frame to the end of the video