<p>Depending on your final use case, a non-standard way to deal with that would be to keep the original TC as LTC (audio TC) on an additional track. Concatenating clips would then preserve the original TCs on that separate track.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-25T19:00:23.943Z
2019-08-25T19:00:23.943Z
Jim Mack
<p>I know you can change the timecode of a file with FFmpeg with the option <code>–timecode</code>. This modifies the whole timecode of the file starting from the  <code>-timecode</code> added. </p>

<p>Can you change the timecode with FFmpeg in the middle of the file? Jumping to another timecode (always in the future). This can be useful with the <code>–concat</code> option. Merging a bunch of files into a unique file. Reflecting the actual time every isolated file was recorded.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-22T15:05:15.037Z
Timecode set by the -timecode options sets the starting TC so it will always be continuous.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-22T16:50:50.863Z
So, I assume that’s no possible with FFmpeg. That would be an interesting feature, although.  Imagine the following scenario (a real scenario): You are shooting a long press conference (or whatever) where you’re turning your camera on and off when necessary. Then you merged all clips you recorded into a unique file. You desire to keep the original timecode of every clip into the merged clip in order to localize into your unique file when some action occurred. A continuous timecode will fail after the first interrupted clip
antonio 
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-22T17:15:55.513Z
The MOV/MP4 formats only store starting timecode, so that's a format limitation.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-22T18:36:57.223Z
Ah! OK. thanks for your reply. All the files -I use- are `.mxf` by the way-
antonio 
<ffmpeg><timecode>
Change the timecode with ffmpeg in the middle of the track?
antonio 
# Change the timecode with ffmpeg in the middle of the track?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-08-22)

I know you can change the timecode of a file with FFmpeg with the option `–timecode`. This modifies the whole timecode of the file starting from the `-timecode` added.

Can you change the timecode with FFmpeg in the middle of the file? Jumping to another timecode (always in the future). This can be useful with the `–concat` option. Merging a bunch of files into a unique file. Reflecting the actual time every isolated file was recorded.

**Tags:** ffmpeg, timecode

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Timecode set by the -timecode options sets the starting TC so it will always be continuous.  
> **username_0**: So, I assume that’s no possible with FFmpeg. That would be an interesting feature, although.  Imagine the following scenario (a real scenario): You are shooting a long press conference (or whatever) where you’re turning your camera on and off when necessary. Then you merged all clips you recorded into a unique file. You desire to keep the original timecode of every clip into the merged clip in order to localize into your unique file when some action occurred. A continuous timecode will fail after the first interrupted clip  
> **username_1**: The MOV/MP4 formats only store starting timecode, so that's a format limitation.  
> **username_0**: Ah! OK. thanks for your reply. All the files -I use- are `.mxf` by the way-  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-08-25. Score: 1

Depending on your final use case, a non-standard way to deal with that would be to keep the original TC as LTC (audio TC) on an additional track. Concatenating clips would then preserve the original TCs on that separate track.


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