Question 1

How do I stabilize a video using vidstab with FFmpeg?

Accepted Answer

Run two passes: first with vidstabdetect to generate a transforms file (e.g., ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf vidstabdetect -f null -), then with vidstabtransform and the unsharp filter for output (e.g., ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf vidstabtransform,unsharp out.mp4). Always use unsharp for best results.

Question 2

Is vidstab better than the deshake filter in FFmpeg?

Accepted Answer

Vidstab generally provides superior stabilization with its two-pass algorithm and configurable parameters like shakiness and smoothing, while deshake is a simpler single-pass filter suitable for quick fixes but less effective for severe shakes.

Question 3

Can I use vidstab for live video stabilization?

Accepted Answer

No, with FFmpeg it requires two-pass processing, making it unsuitable for real-time streams. Single-pass mode is only available with Transcode, so for live applications, other tools or filters are needed.

Question 4

How to install vidstab on Ubuntu?

Accepted Answer

Clone the repository, run cmake, make, and sudo make install for vidstab. Then compile FFmpeg with --enable-libvidstab flag and set LD_LIBRARY_PATH if using a custom install directory. Refer to the README for detailed steps.

Question 5

What are the best vidstab settings for action sports footage?

Accepted Answer

Increase shakiness to 10 and accuracy to 15 for strong shakes, use smoothing around 10-30 frames to balance smoothness and motion preservation, and enable optzoom=2 to automatically handle borders without losing frame content.

Question 6

Does vidstab work on Windows?

Accepted Answer

Not natively; it requires a Linux environment. You can use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) or a virtual machine to run it, but this adds complexity compared to Windows-native stabilization software.

Vid.stab

What is Vid.stab?

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