Source: https://vokal.co/blog/color-noise-ffmpeg
Description: If you're looking to add some color noise to your video, FFmpeg is a great tool to use. I'll show you some ways to spice up your videos with some noise.
Published: 2022-05-24T00:00:00.000Z
Modified: 2022-05-30T14:39:43.259Z

[ffmpeg](https://vokal.co/blog/tags/ffmpeg)

# How to add Color Noise to your Video with FFmpeg

By [Frizky](https://twitter.com/frizurd)

· May 24, 2022 ·

3 min read

![TS to MP4 with FFmpeg](https://vokal.co/images/blog/noise-ffmpeg/noise-6822d97b99db-1200.webp)

Adding color noise to video with FFmpeg is a great way to add some extra visual interest to your footage. Don't know what FFmpeg? Read the [final chapter](https://vokal.co/blog/color-noise-ffmpeg#what-is-ffmpeg-and-how-do-i-install-it) for a short guide.

When you add color noise to a video, you are essentially adding errors to your existing video. So that's what we're going to do now.

The problem is that when we damage our video, it won't play in all browsers and video players. No worries. Once it's damaged we can easily fix it with the included visual errors so it can be played anywhere.

Here is the video that we're going to play with today.

[Video demonstration](https://vokal.co/assets/blog/noise-ffmpeg/space.mp4)

I'll show you some ways below to add color noise and glitches to your video.

Check out the included previews and decide which one you like best.

## Add a subtle color noise effect

Use the following command to add noise to your video. Make sure to change **input.mp4** with the name of your video file.

```text
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -bsf:v noise -c:v mpeg2video -q:v 2 -c:a copy noise.ts
```

Repair the video with the following command

```text
ffmpeg -i noise.ts -codec:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p output.mp4
```

[Video demonstration](https://vokal.co/assets/blog/noise-ffmpeg/space-burn.mp4)

You can pixelate your input video by increasing the **\-q:v 2** amount. I've adjusted it to 30 for demonstration purposes, here's the command:

```text
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -bsf:v noise -c:v mpeg2video -q:v 30 -c:a copy noise.ts
```

The command created the following video.

[Video demonstration](https://vokal.co/assets/blog/noise-ffmpeg/space-blur.mp4)

Don't forgot the repair your video once you see what you like.

## Add a color burn noise effect

Use the following command to add a more chaotic color noise to your video.

```text
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -codec:v huffyuv -c:a pcm_s16le -bsf noise=1000000 output.mkv
```

Change **input.mp4** to your filename. Increase the **noise=1000000** amount to make the effect more subtle.

Repair the damaged video with the following command

```text
ffmpeg -i output.mkv -codec:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p final.mp4
```

[Video demonstration](https://vokal.co/assets/blog/noise-ffmpeg/space-glitch.mp4)

## Add a film grain noise effect

Adding a simple film noise effect to your video is super easy with FFmpeg. It also does not require you to damage your video first.

Execute the following command and make sure to replace **input.mp4** with your filename.

```text
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf noise=c0s=14:c0f=t+u output.mp4
```

The command creates the following result.

[Video demonstration](https://vokal.co/assets/blog/noise-ffmpeg/space-grain.mp4)

This creates a very subtle effect on your video. Very familiar with what you see in older movies and film noir. It gives a vintage or classy feel to your videos.

## Create a new video with noise in color

Don't want to add an effect to an existing video? You can use FFmpeg to create a brand new video with colored noise.

It is quite simple and only requires one command.

```text
ffmpeg -f rawvideo -video_size 1280x720 -pixel_format yuv420p -framerate 25 \
-i /dev/urandom -ar 48000 -ac 2 -f s16le -i /dev/urandom -codec:a copy \
-t 3 output.mkv
```

Adjust **\-video\_size 1280x720** and **\-framerate 25** to change the resolution and frame rate of your video.

![Color noise video with FFmpeg](https://vokal.co/images/blog/noise-ffmpeg/raw-noise-00b6354df9ad-1200.webp)

The result should be an animated color noise video.

## What is FFmpeg and how do I install it?

FFmpeg is a free and open-source command-line tool. It is used for transcoding video and audio files. It is a cross-platform solution that can be used on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Installing FFmpeg is relatively simple. On Windows, you can download a pre-built binary. For Linux, you can install it from your distribution's package manager. On macOS, you can use Homebrew to install FFmpeg.

Once FFmpeg is installed, you can use it to convert between various video and audio formats. For example, to convert an MP4 file to an AVI file, you would use the following command:

```text
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.avi
```

FFmpeg can also be used to resize, crop, and add watermarks to video files. It is a powerful tool that can be used for a variety of tasks.

![Picture of Frizky](https://vokal.co/profile.jpg)

Frizky [@frizurd](https://twitter.com/frizurd)

Creator of Vokal. Designer and developer for 15+ years, on a mission to make great design accessible to everyone.

[PreviousHow to generate an audio waveform animation for your videos](https://vokal.co/blog/audio-waveform)[NextHow to Convert TS to MP4 with FFmpeg](https://vokal.co/blog/ts-to-mp4-ffmpeg)

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