deepfakes/faceswap · error · FaceswapError

The input file '{input_location}' is not a valid video

Error message

The input file '{input_location}' is not a valid video

What it means

Raised by is_video() in lib/video.py when the input location is a file (not a directory, not a non-str value) whose extension is not in VIDEO_EXTENSIONS. Faceswap routes jobs between 'folder of images' and 'video' mode based on this check, so a file with an unknown extension can be neither and is rejected.

Source

Thrown at lib/video.py:62

    ----------
    input_location
        Full path to an input file

    Returns
    -------
    bool: 'True' if input is a video 'False' if it is a folder.

    Raises
    ------
    FaceswapError
        If the given location is a file and does not have a valid video extension.
    """
    if not isinstance(input_location, str) or os.path.isdir(input_location):
        retval = False
    elif os.path.splitext(input_location)[1].lower() in VIDEO_EXTENSIONS:
        retval = True
    else:
        raise FaceswapError(f"The input file '{input_location}' is not a valid video")
    logger.debug("Input '%s' is_video: %s", input_location, retval)
    return retval


def validate_video_file(file_path: str) -> str:
    """Validates that a given file exists and is a valid video format

    Parameters
    ----------
    file_path
        The full path to the video file to validate

    Returns
    -------
    The full expanded video file path

    Raises
    ------

View on GitHub (pinned to f530cb7508)

Solutions

1. Check the file path and its extension; rename the file to a supported video extension (.mp4, .avi, .mkv, .mov, ...) if the content really is a video.
2. If the input is images, pass the folder containing them rather than a single file.
3. If the extension is valid but unusual, remux with ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -c copy out.mkv to a supported container.

Example fix

# before
faceswap extract -i clip.download -o faces/

# after
faceswap extract -i clip.mp4 -o faces/

from lib.video import VIDEO_EXTENSIONS
import os
path = "input.mp4"
assert os.path.isdir(path) or os.path.splitext(path)[1].lower() in VIDEO_EXTENSIONS, \
    f"{path} is neither a folder nor a supported video ({VIDEO_EXTENSIONS})"

def looks_like_video(path: str, exts: set[str]) -> bool:
    return os.path.splitext(path)[1].lower() in exts

When it happens

Trigger: Passing -i/--input that points at a file whose extension is not a recognized video format (e.g. .txt, .mp4.part, .webm variants not in the list, a file with no extension) to any CLI job that calls is_video (extract, convert, sort, etc.).

Common situations: Typos in the path; an incomplete download still named '.part' or '.crdownload'; pointing at an image file instead of a folder of images; uncommon container extension not in VIDEO_EXTENSIONS.

Related errors

• File '{file_path}' is not a valid video file
• Video file '{file_path}' does not exist
• There is a mismatch between the number of frames found in th
• Video file '{self._video_file}' cannot be processed. Missing
• Output as video selected, but using frames as input. You mus

AI-assisted analysis of deepfakes/faceswap@f530cb7508 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d58a9a4da4e11e30. Report an issue: GitHub.