remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

Both an output flag (--output) and an output location as a p

Error message

Both an output flag (--output) and an output location as a positional argument were passed. Please choose only one of the ways.

What it means

Thrown by getOutputLocation when both a positional output argument (args[0]) and the --output flag (parsedCli.output) are supplied. Remotion accepts either form but not both, because they would compete to specify the destination.

Source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/user-passed-output-location.ts:37

	compositionId,
	defaultExtension,
	args,
	type,
	outputLocationFromUi,
	compositionDefaultOutName,
}: {
	compositionId: string;
	outputLocationFromUi: string | null;
	compositionDefaultOutName: string | null;
	defaultExtension: string;
	args: (string | number)[];
	type: 'asset' | 'sequence';
}) => {
	if (
		typeof args[0] !== 'undefined' &&
		typeof parsedCli.output !== 'undefined'
	) {
		throw new Error(
			'Both an output flag (--output) and an output location as a positional argument were passed. Please choose only one of the ways.',
		);
	}

	return (
		getUserPassedOutputLocation(args, outputLocationFromUi) ??
		getDefaultOutLocation({
			compositionName: compositionId,
			defaultExtension,
			type,
			compositionDefaultOutName,
		})
	);
};

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

1. Remove one of the two: either drop the --output flag or drop the positional output argument.
2. Standardise your scripts on a single form (positional is more common for render).

Example fix

// before
$ npx remotion render MyComp out.mp4 --output other.mp4
// after - keep one
$ npx remotion render MyComp out.mp4

const validateOutputArgs = (args: string[], hasOutputFlag: boolean) => {
  if (typeof args[0] !== 'undefined' && hasOutputFlag) {
    throw new Error('Pass either a positional output or --output, not both');
  }
};

validateOutputArgs(positionalArgs, parsedCli.output !== undefined);

const hasBothOutputForms = (args: string[], outputFlag: unknown): boolean =>
  typeof args[0] !== 'undefined' && typeof outputFlag !== 'undefined';

When it happens

Trigger: Running `remotion render <comp> <positional-out> --output <flag-out>` (or `remotion still ...`) so that both the positional and the flag are set.

Common situations: Combining an npm script that already passes --output with a positional argument from the user; copy-pasting a command that mixes the two syntaxes; refactoring a script and forgetting to remove one form.

Related errors

• The output directory of the image sequence cannot have an ex
• Comma-separated `--frames` cannot be combined with `--every-
• Cannot find composition with ID "${compNameResult.compName}"
• Cannot render an image sequence with a codec that renders no
• Comma-separated frame selections are only supported by the l

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/84ecd579a1c3824a. Report an issue: GitHub.