<p>You can use <a href="http://ffmpeg.org/download.html" rel="nofollow">FFmpeg</a>, a free command-line tool, to do this.</p>

<p>Basic command is</p>

<pre><code>ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontfile=font.ttf:
                        fontsize=45:fontcolor=white:
                        box=1:boxcolor=black@0.4:
                        text='Time\: %{pts\:gmtime\:1466507118}'" output.mp4
</code></pre>

<p>(this should be in one line)</p>

<p>The value you need to change is <code>1466507118</code>. This is the Unix <a href="http://www.epochconverter.com/" rel="nofollow">epoch time</a> representation of your intended date and time.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-13T21:19:08.017Z
Fantastic! This worked perfect once I changed the fontfile path to     fontfile=/Windows/Fonts/arial.ttf
SomeGuy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-12T14:42:48.660Z
2016-08-12T14:42:48.660Z
Gyan
<p>I have some video footage from my phone's dash camera app. In the app, the video plays with the timestamp showing. However, exporting the file to my computer does the video only, without the timestamp.</p>

<p>Is there a simple way to add the timestamp with (preferably free) Windows software? I don't need the timestamp to be extracted from metadata. I can compare the video on my phone app to the one on my PC, and get the timestamp 'close enough' if it will let me put the start time on it manually where I want.</p>

<video-editor><editing>
Add a timestamp to a video file?
SomeGuy
# Add a timestamp to a video file?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-08-12)

I have some video footage from my phone's dash camera app. In the app, the video plays with the timestamp showing. However, exporting the file to my computer does the video only, without the timestamp.

Is there a simple way to add the timestamp with (preferably free) Windows software? I don't need the timestamp to be extracted from metadata. I can compare the video on my phone app to the one on my PC, and get the timestamp 'close enough' if it will let me put the start time on it manually where I want.

**Tags:** video-editor, editing


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-08-12. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

You can use FFmpeg, a free command-line tool, to do this.
Basic command is
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontfile=font.ttf:
                        fontsize=45:fontcolor=white:
                        box=1:boxcolor=black@0.4:
                        text='Time\: %{pts\:gmtime\:1466507118}'" output.mp4

(this should be in one line)
The value you need to change is 1466507118. This is the Unix epoch time representation of your intended date and time.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Fantastic! This worked perfect once I changed the fontfile path to     fontfile=/Windows/Fonts/arial.ttf  

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