<p>Forgive me for I'm new to here, but I've been searching for solutions all the day,  yet still puzzled by this problem. I try to downscale a 3840*2160 video to 1080p, and here's what I first did: </p>

<p><code>ffmpeg -i original.mkv -vf scale=1920:-1 downscaled.mkv</code></p>

<p>And here are the results:</p>

<p>Original:
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/OFm9I.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/OFm9I.jpg" alt="Original video screenshot"></a></p>

<p>Downscaled:
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/X3wfR.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/X3wfR.jpg" alt="Downscaled video screenshot"></a></p>

<p>At first, I thought it's because I didn't apply the correct settings to my video player (potplayer), but even I set exactly the same splitter/decoder/renderer/..., it still didn't work.</p>

<p>Then I searched and tried different ways like  <code>pix_fmt yuv444p10le</code> which is from a <a href="https://video.stackexchange.com/questions/28889/ffmpeg-does-not-preserve-colors-after-resizing">post here</a>, and later defined encoders, crf...... but all didn't work.</p>

<p><strong>Could anyone please help me, many thanks!</strong>
<hr>
Add: I then used HandBrake, a GUI video transcoder, to downscale the original video, it worked well, at least, looks a lot better.
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/YSwkI.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/YSwkI.jpg" alt="Downscaled video using HandBrake screenshot"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-21T11:28:02.257Z
Interesting. I suspect it has something to do with the color-space you're in. The original footage might have been in srgb but then got converted into an ACES colorspace (for example), and thus the values for each color shifted a bit. You might want to try to find out the color-space of your original footage and then setting it during the downscaling with ffmpeg.
Florian Claaßen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-21T14:07:12.600Z
Share the readout of `ffmpeg -i original.mkv `
Gyan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-22T02:41:39.740Z
@Gyan too long to comment, so I'll separately comment.
Xiaobao
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-22T02:43:34.163Z
`Metadata:
    title           : Frozen.II.2019.2160p.BluRay.REMUX.HEVC.DTS-HD.MA.TrueHD.7.1.Atmos-FGT
    ENCODER         : Lavf58.35.101
  Duration: 00:01:40.64, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 68129 kb/s
    Chapter #0:0: start 0.000000, end 100.000000
    Metadata:
      title           : Chapter 15
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: hevc (Main 10), yuv420p10le(tv, bt2020nc/bt2020/smpte2084), 3840x2160 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 23.98 tbc`
Xiaobao
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-22T02:44:54.693Z
`Metadata:
      title           : Frozen.II.2019.2160p.BluRay.REMUX.HEVC.DTS-HD.MA.TrueHD.7.1.Atmos-FGT
      BPS-eng         : 60669047
      DURATION-eng    : 01:43:13.646000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 148499
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 46970325317
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v43.0.0 ('The Quartermaster') 64-bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-02-15 09:08:44
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
      DURATION   : 00:01:40.642000000
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: truehd, 48000 Hz, 7.1, s32 (24 bit) (default)`
Xiaobao
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-22T02:45:31.690Z
`Metadata:
      title           : Frozen.II.2019.2160p.BluRay.REMUX.HEVC.DTS-HD.MA.TrueHD.7.1.Atmos-FGT
      BPS-eng         : 8448778
      DURATION-eng    : 01:43:13.646000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 7432376
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 6541093050
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v43.0.0 ('The Quartermaster') 64-bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-02-15 09:08:44
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
      DURATION        : 00:01:40.336000000
    Stream #0:2(eng): Subtitle: subrip (default)`
Xiaobao
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-22T02:45:52.263Z
`Metadata:
      title           : English-SRT
      BPS-eng         : 53
      DURATION-eng    : 01:41:34.123000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 1562
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 40405
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v43.0.0 ('The Quartermaster') 64-bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-02-15 09:08:44
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
      DURATION        : 00:01:39.221000000`
Xiaobao
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-24T21:30:39.210Z
You should [edit] your question to add this info instead of trying to cram it in multiple comments.
llogan
<ffmpeg><video-quality><color-correction><handbrake>
Color loss and grayish after downscaling using ffmpeg
Xiaobao
# Color loss and grayish after downscaling using ffmpeg

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-02-21)

Forgive me for I'm new to here, but I've been searching for solutions all the day, yet still puzzled by this problem. I try to downscale a 3840\*2160 video to 1080p, and here's what I first did:

`ffmpeg -i original.mkv -vf scale=1920:-1 downscaled.mkv`

And here are the results:

Original:
[![Original video screenshot](https://i.sstatic.net/OFm9I.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/OFm9I.jpg)

Downscaled:
[![Downscaled video screenshot](https://i.sstatic.net/X3wfR.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/X3wfR.jpg)

At first, I thought it's because I didn't apply the correct settings to my video player (potplayer), but even I set exactly the same splitter/decoder/renderer/..., it still didn't work.

Then I searched and tried different ways like `pix_fmt yuv444p10le` which is from a [post here](https://video.stackexchange.com/questions/28889/ffmpeg-does-not-preserve-colors-after-resizing), and later defined encoders, crf...... but all didn't work.

**Could anyone please help me, many thanks!**

---

Add: I then used HandBrake, a GUI video transcoder, to downscale the original video, it worked well, at least, looks a lot better.
[![Downscaled video using HandBrake screenshot](https://i.sstatic.net/YSwkI.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/YSwkI.jpg)

**Tags:** ffmpeg, video-quality, color-correction, handbrake

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Interesting. I suspect it has something to do with the color-space you're in. The original footage might have been in srgb but then got converted into an ACES colorspace (for example), and thus the values for each color shifted a bit. You might want to try to find out the color-space of your original footage and then setting it during the downscaling with ffmpeg.  
> **username_2**: Share the readout of `ffmpeg -i original.mkv `  
> **username_0**: @username_2 too long to comment, so I'll separately comment.  
> **username_0**: `Metadata:     title           : Frozen.II.2019.2160p.BluRay.REMUX.HEVC.DTS-HD.MA.TrueHD.7.1.Atmos-FGT     ENCODER         : Lavf58.35.101   Duration: 00:01:40.64, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 68129 kb/s     Chapter #0:0: start 0.000000, end 100.000000     Metadata:       title           : Chapter 15     Stream #0:0(eng): Video: hevc (Main 10), yuv420p10le(tv, bt2020nc/bt2020/smpte2084), 3840x2160 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 23.98 tbc`  
> **username_0**: `Metadata:       title           : Frozen.II.2019.2160p.BluRay.REMUX.HEVC.DTS-HD.MA.TrueHD.7.1.Atmos-FGT       BPS-eng         : 60669047       DURATION-eng    : 01:43:13.646000000       NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 148499       NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 46970325317       _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v43.0.0 ('The Quartermaster') 64-bit       _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-02-15 09:08:44       _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES       DURATION   : 00:01:40.642000000     Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: truehd, 48000 Hz, 7.1, s32 (24 bit) (default)`  
> **username_0**: `Metadata:       title           : Frozen.II.2019.2160p.BluRay.REMUX.HEVC.DTS-HD.MA.TrueHD.7.1.Atmos-FGT       BPS-eng         : 8448778       DURATION-eng    : 01:43:13.646000000       NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 7432376       NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 6541093050       _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v43.0.0 ('The Quartermaster') 64-bit       _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-02-15 09:08:44       _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES       DURATION        : 00:01:40.336000000     Stream #0:2(eng): Subtitle: subrip (default)`  
> **username_0**: `Metadata:       title           : English-SRT       BPS-eng         : 53       DURATION-eng    : 01:41:34.123000000       NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 1562       NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 40405       _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v43.0.0 ('The Quartermaster') 64-bit       _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-02-15 09:08:44       _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES       DURATION        : 00:01:39.221000000`  
> **username_3**: You should [edit] your question to add this info instead of trying to cram it in multiple comments.  

---

## 0 answers

