ffmpeg : Copy all the streams (including cover art) except the first video stream from one MP4 file to another

Question

I want to copy all the streams (including cover art) except the first video stream from one MP4 file to another, here is what I do :

$ time ffmpeg -hide_banner -i toto1.mp4 -map 0 -vn -c:v:1 copy -c copy toto2.mp4 
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x5655577ffd00] stream 0, timescale not set
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'toto1.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    title           : LA GRACE by ISRAEL KINDOMBA
    artist          : Israel Kindomba
    comment         : Soyez édifiés par ces déclarations sur la grâce...
    date            : 20170421
    description     : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt1yUlqoB-U
    encoder         : Lavf58.20.100
  Duration: 00:08:21.29, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 443 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (Constrained Baseline) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 640x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 332 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 30k tbn, 59.94 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
    Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 96 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : IsoMedia File Produced by Google, 5-11-2011
    Stream #0:2(eng): Subtitle: mov_text (tx3g / 0x67337874), 0 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SubtitleHandler
    Stream #0:3(fra): Subtitle: mov_text (tx3g / 0x67337874), 0 kb/s
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SubtitleHandler
    Stream #0:4(spa): Subtitle: mov_text (tx3g / 0x67337874), 0 kb/s
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SubtitleHandler
    Stream #0:5(deu): Subtitle: mov_text (tx3g / 0x67337874), 0 kb/s
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SubtitleHandler
    Stream #0:6: Video: mjpeg, yuvj420p(pc, bt470bg/unknown/unknown), 480x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], 90k tbr, 90k tbn, 90k tbc
Output #0, mp4, to 'toto2.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    title           : LA GRACE by ISRAEL KINDOMBA
    artist          : Israel Kindomba
    comment         : Soyez édifiés par ces déclarations sur la grâce...
    date            : 20170421
    description     : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt1yUlqoB-U
    encoder         : Lavf58.20.100
    Stream #0:0(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 96 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : IsoMedia File Produced by Google, 5-11-2011
    Stream #0:1(eng): Subtitle: mov_text (tx3g / 0x67337874), 0 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SubtitleHandler
    Stream #0:2(fra): Subtitle: mov_text (tx3g / 0x67337874), 0 kb/s
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SubtitleHandler
    Stream #0:3(spa): Subtitle: mov_text (tx3g / 0x67337874), 0 kb/s
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SubtitleHandler
    Stream #0:4(deu): Subtitle: mov_text (tx3g / 0x67337874), 0 kb/s
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SubtitleHandler
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:0 (copy)
  Stream #0:2 -> #0:1 (copy)
  Stream #0:3 -> #0:2 (copy)
  Stream #0:4 -> #0:3 (copy)
  Stream #0:5 -> #0:4 (copy)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
size=    6026kB time=00:08:21.10 bitrate=  98.5kbits/s speed=1.18e+03x    
video:0kB audio:5873kB subtitle:44kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 1.828688%

real    0m0.583s
user    0m0.524s
sys 0m0.060s

As you can see in the Stream mapping: the input Stream #0:6: Video: mjpeg stream has not been copied.

Can you help me ?

Answer 1

-map 0 will map all streams from the first input. A negative mapping can then be applied to disable an already mapped stream.

So,

ffmpeg -i toto1.mp4 -map 0 -map -0:v:0 -c copy toto2.mp4

Answer 2

As someone already replied, -map 0 is used to grab everything from the first given input, in your case -i toto1.mp4.

To achieve what you want you can remove a specific stream this way (notice the - sign):

-map -0:0 which removes the first stream of the input
or
-map -0:v:0 which removes the first video stream of the input

But if you need to remove the second video from the input:

-map -0:6 which removes the sixth stream of the input
or
-map -0:v:1 which remove the second video stream of the input

---

More info:

• https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Map
• https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Stream-selection
• https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Stream-specifiers

Answer 3

Found the answer, I had to remove -vn and explicitly select all the streams I wanted to copy except the one I didn't want :

$ ffmpeg -hide_banner -i toto1.mp4 -map 0:a -map 0:s -map 0:v:1 -c copy toto2.mp4
....
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:0 (copy)
  Stream #0:2 -> #0:1 (copy)
  Stream #0:3 -> #0:2 (copy)
  Stream #0:4 -> #0:3 (copy)
  Stream #0:5 -> #0:4 (copy)
  Stream #0:6 -> #0:5 (copy)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=    1 fps=0.0 q=-1.0 Lsize=    6038kB time=00:08:21.10 bitrate=  98.7kbits/s speed=1.07e+03x    
video:12kB audio:5873kB subtitle:44kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 1.825498%

The input Stream #0:6: Video: mjpeg has been copied :-)