[FFmpeg-user] Difference Between -t and -to Options?

[Sam Logan]

On 9/21/13, Paul B Mahol <onemda at gmail.com> wrote:
>> So what situation is there in which -t and -to would ever be different?
>
> When you do not use -copy.

No, that makes no difference. I just tested with

ffmpeg -ss 00:00:30 -i "Input.mp4" -t 00:01:00 "Output1.mkv"
ffmpeg -ss 00:00:30 -i "Input.mp4" -to 00:01:00 "Output2.mkv"

And the produced files are still identical.

On 9/21/13, Stefano Sabatini <stefasab at gmail.com> wrote:
> Not if the file doesn't start with 0 (or if -ss is used).

My original test DID use -ss, and the output files were identical. I
just tested without -ss:

ffmpeg -i "Input.mp4" -t 00:01:00 "Output1.mkv"
ffmpeg -i "Input.mp4" -to 00:01:00 "Output2.mkv"

And the output files are still identical.

You're probably right, though, about files that don't start with 0. So
I guess the only time there's ever going to be a difference between -t
and -to is for badly-encoded video files that don't start at time 0?