FFmpeg drawtext - Could not load fontface from file

Question

I've try to add simple text on top of video with FFmpeg using drawtext parameter. Every time i'm going to do this, error is returned:

Could not load fontface from file 'arial.ttf': cannot open resource

To indicate the location of the font I used the following methods:

ffmpeg -i C:\Test\rec\vid_1321909320.avi -vf drawtext=fontfile=arial.ttf:text=test -sameq vid_1321909320.flv
ffmpeg -i C:\Test\rec\vid_1321909320.avi -vf drawtext=fontfile=C:\Windows\Fonts\arial.ttf:text=test -sameq vid_1321909320.flv

All have failed. Does anyone have experience with adding text using ffmpeg?

FFMPEG version: N-34549-g13b7781 build on Nov 6 2011

score 23 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

23

You cannot have a colon in the path to your font file as the colon acts as a key sepperator in ffmpeg. I had the same problem.

try:

ffmpeg -i C:\Test\rec\vid_1321909320.avi -vf drawtext=fontfile=/Windows/Fonts/arial.ttf:text=test -sameq vid_1321909320.flv

edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

Community

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answered Nov 21 '11 at 14:09

Jay

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score 19 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 25 '13 at 16:57

19

A colon ":" and a backslash "\" have special meaning when specifying the parameters for drawtext. So what you can do is to escape them by converting ":" to "\:" and "\" to "\\". Also you can enclose the path to your font file in single quotes incase the path contains spaces.

So you will have

ffmpeg -i C:\Test\rec\vid_1321909320.avi -vf drawtext=fontfile='C\:\\Windows\\Fonts\\arial.ttf':text=test vid_1321909320.flv

answered Jan 25 '13 at 16:57

adentum

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Answer from 2011 was not working but adentum's answer worked. – Jaex Jun 30 '14 at 01:08
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Still usefull in 2015. – DrHaze Jan 20 '15 at 14:44
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Still usefull in 2017 – MarianD Mar 23 '17 at 08:52
:D So I am an archaeologist :) – adentum Jun 13 '17 at 08:39
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Still useful in 2018! – Brad Sep 11 '17 at 21:05
@adentum: The age of your reply (6 years) is now greater than the age of the question at the time your reply (1 year). What do you call a fossilised archaeologist? – 7vujy0f0hy Jan 06 '19 at 16:12
Did not work with me, this did: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47432274/920323 – Rick Mar 21 '19 at 19:43
Using forward slashes is the appropriate way to reference a font file, even on Windows. To do this properly, I escaped the colon and use forward slashes, and enclosed it in single quotes, e.g. `fontfile='C\:/WINDOWS/fonts/lucon.ttf'` – Chris Woods Jan 19 '20 at 11:07
Windows 10 fix: Copy font from C:\Windows\Fonts\Lato\Lato-Bold.ttf to the same folder as where the input file is located. Then just reference it like so ```drawtext=fontfile=Lato-Bold.ttf``` – sigur7 May 16 '20 at 13:24

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 09 '13 at 20:24

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I was also having trouble with ffmpeg recognizing Windows paths. I finally just put the font Arial.ttf in the same folder as the input file and it worked.

[drawtext @ 03C66EA0] Key '/Windows/Fonts/Arial.ttf: text' not found.
[drawtext @ 03C66E00] Error parsing options string: 'fontfile=C:/Windows/Fonts/Arial.ttf: text=Test Text:x=100: y=50: fontsize=24: fontcolor=yellow@0.2: box=1: boxcolor=red@0.2'
Error initializing filter 'drawtext' with args 'fontfile=C:/Windows/Fonts/Arial.ttf: text=Test Text:x=100: y=50: fontsize=24: fontcolor=yellow@0.2: box=1: boxcolor=red@0.2'
Error opening filters!

edited Apr 09 '13 at 20:24

sjngm

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answered Nov 19 '11 at 15:42

charles young

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Using forward slashes is the appropriate way to reference a font file, including on Windows. To do this on my Win10 machine, I escaped the colon, used forward slashes and enclosed the path in single quotes, e.g. `fontfile='C\:/WINDOWS/fonts/lucon.ttf'` – Chris Woods Jan 19 '20 at 11:09

FFmpeg drawtext - Could not load fontface from file

3 Answers3

try:

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