Dither Video and Reduce Colors

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====== Dither Video and Reduce Colors ======

Sometimes you need to reduce the number of colors you can use.

Typically for gif, but sometimes other reasons.


===== Step 1 - create the palette =====

Example to batch process a bunch of Mp4 files for reducing to 14 colors

  parallel --ungroup -j16 -q ffmpeg -i "{}" -vf palettegen=max_colors=16  -y "{.}.png" ::: *.mp4


===== Step 2 - use it =====

Here is my sample command

  parallel --ungroup -j24 -q ffmpeg -i "{}" -i "{.}.png" -filter_complex "paletteuse=dither=sierra3" -c:v libx264 -an -s 640x450 -crf 26 -pix_fmt yuv420p -y "{.}.MP4" ::: *.mp4
  
NOTE: this will give you the APPEARANCE of a dithered video, but the output is still full 8 bit color.

This matters for images like gif or if you're turning to raw vidoe, but otherwise, it's simply for aesthetics