Convert JPG files to video

Question

from a trail camera we have many JPG files, that was shot in every 5 mins about a construction.

We have Ubuntu + Win10 desktops.

What should we use to convert the JPG files to different FPS videos? Ex.: few frames per sec, isn't an issue that it is not 24/sec.

Q: Any solution can come handy, but which is recommended? (ex.: maybe preferred free/legal softwares and on Ubuntu!)

Answer 1

FFmpeg can do that (free, open source, cross-platform, has official Ubuntu packages). Assuming you have a folder full of JPG files named like "img043251.jpg", "img043252.jpg" and so on, something like this would convert them into a video:

ffmpeg -framerate 60 -i img%06d.jpg output_video.mp4

where %06d means the file name ends with 6 digits, change it to %04d is there are only 4 digits, etc. Set the framerate as low as you like. Can do many more things with it (crop, rotate and other image operations, overlay text or additional images, add sound tracks, etc.)

MoviePy is a Python module for video editing, it uses the same FFMpeg, among other things. IIRC, Python is installed by default in Ubuntu, installing MoviePy would take a second with pip install moviepy. A MoviePy version of the above command line would be something like this:

from glob import glob
from moviepy.editor import *

files = glob("*.jpg")
frames = [ImageClip(f, duration = 0.5) for f in files]
clip = concatenate_videoclips(frames, method = "compose")
clip.write_videofile("video.mp4", fps = 2)

Looks way more verbose for something as simple as converting a set of files into a video, but for more complex cases it might become more manageable than a long long long command line.