No it is possible, but the -ss needs to be after the -i not before: https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Main-options https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Main-options >

No it is possible, but the -ss needs to be after the -i not before: https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Main-options https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Main-options > -ss position (input/output) > When used as an input option (before -i), seeks in this input file to position. Note that in most formats it is not possible to seek exactly, so ffmpeg will seek to the closest seek point before position. When transcoding and -accurate_seek is enabled (the default), this extra segment between the seek point and position will be decoded and discarded. When doing stream copy or when -noaccurate_seek is used, it will be preserved. > When used as an output option (before an output url), decodes but discards input until the timestamps reach position. It is much slower when used an output option, and I don't really know what it does when you do stream copy, but I suspect it leaves the whole segment with some sort of offset instruction. I often get artefacts when I play it back on vlc, so I try to avoid that option (unless I am re-encoding).