2x2 sheet
job_a72ef018f8ef4737Sample, shrink, then tile.
ffmpeg -i https://cdn.rendobar.com/assets/examples/sample.mp4 -vf "select='not(mod(n\,30))',scale=320:-2,tile=2x2" -t 5 out.mp4video filter
The FFmpeg tile filter
Lays consecutive frames out in a grid, the contact-sheet filter.
3 of 3 variants measured Measured 2026-08-20
The part that catches people
tile consumes frames to fill the grid, so a 3x3 tile from a video that has fewer than nine frames after your select expression outputs nothing at all rather than a partial sheet. Feed it more frames than the grid needs.
Measured, not described
Every row below is a real job. The same 1280x720 five-second H.264 source went through each variant, so the numbers are comparable to each other and to every other filter page on this site. Encode time is the FFmpeg step on its own, separated from the download and the upload.
| Variant | Encode | Output | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2x2 sheet | 243 ms | 92.1 KB · 640x360 | $0.0015 |
| 3x3 sheet | 253 ms | 100.3 KB · 720x408 | $0.0017 |
| Filmstrip | 233 ms | 85.9 KB · 800x112 | $0.0017 |
The exact commands
3x3 sheet
job_09600710d3de4ceaDenser sampling for a bigger grid.
ffmpeg -i https://cdn.rendobar.com/assets/examples/sample.mp4 -vf "select='not(mod(n\,15))',scale=240:-2,tile=3x3" -t 5 out.mp4Filmstrip
job_1e63c61af424442dSingle row, the timeline-strip shape.
ffmpeg -i https://cdn.rendobar.com/assets/examples/sample.mp4 -vf "select='not(mod(n\,30))',scale=200:-2,tile=4x1" -t 5 out.mp4How these numbers were produced
Each variant was submitted to the Rendobar API as an ffmpeg job against the same public source file, and the response was recorded verbatim. Encode time is the API's own per-step timing for the FFmpeg step. Output size is the byte count of the file the job produced. Cost is what the job was actually billed.
Nothing here was estimated, and the whole set is re-runnable, so if a figure looks wrong it can be checked rather than argued about. The 72 variants behind this filter reference cost $0.193082 in total to measure.
Frequently asked questions
What does the FFmpeg tile filter do?
Lays consecutive frames out in a grid, the contact-sheet filter.
What is the most common mistake with tile?
tile consumes frames to fill the grid, so a 3x3 tile from a video that has fewer than nine frames after your select expression outputs nothing at all rather than a partial sheet. Feed it more frames than the grid needs.
How long does tile take to run?
On a 1280x720 five-second H.264 source, the fastest variant on this page (Filmstrip) spent 233 ms inside FFmpeg. That figure is the encode step alone, measured separately from the download and the upload, so it is the filter's own cost rather than the round trip.
Do I need FFmpeg installed to use tile?
Not with Rendobar. Every command on this page ran through the Rendobar API against a URL, with no local FFmpeg install and no server. The job id next to each row is the real job that produced the numbers.
Other filters, measured the same way
scale Resizes video to a target width and height, with optional aspect-preserving arithmetic. crop Cuts a rectangle out of each frame, positioned from the top-left corner. fps Resamples video to a constant frame rate by duplicating or dropping frames. transpose Rotates video by 90 degree steps, optionally flipping as it goes. pad Adds bars around the frame to reach a target size without cropping the picture.
Run tile without installing FFmpeg
Every command on this page ran through the API against a URL. No binary, no server.