diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 74b969b..ef04f8e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -17,7 +17,15 @@ Currently, it supports imagej tif files, czi files, micromanager tif sequences a
 pip install ndbioimage
 ```
 
+### Installation with option to write mp4 or mkv:
+Work in progress!
+
+```
+pip install ndbioimage[write]
+```
+
 ## Usage
+### Python
 
 - Reading an image file and plotting the frame at channel=2, time=1
 
@@ -57,6 +65,12 @@ with Imread('image_file.tif', axes='cztyx') as im:
     array = np.asarray(im[0, 0])
 ```
 
+### Command line
+```ndbioimage --help```: show help  
+```ndbioimage image```: show metadata about image  
+```ndbioimage image {name}.tif -r```: copy image into image.tif (replacing {name} with image), while registering channels  
+```ndbioimage image image.mp4 -C cyan lime red``` copy image into image.mp4 (z will be max projected), make channel colors cyan lime and red
+
 ## Adding more formats
 Readers for image formats subclass AbstractReader. When an image reader is imported, Imread will
 automatically recognize it and use it to open the appropriate file format. Image readers
diff --git a/ndbioimage/__init__.py b/ndbioimage/__init__.py
index 9ec0799..49caec9 100755
--- a/ndbioimage/__init__.py
+++ b/ndbioimage/__init__.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from numpy.typing import ArrayLike, DTypeLike
 from ome_types import OME, from_xml, model, ureg
 from pint import set_application_registry
 from tiffwrite import IFD, IJTiffFile  # noqa
-from tqdm.auto import tqdm
+from tqdm.auto import tqdm, trange
 
 from .jvm import JVM, JVMException
 from .transforms import Transform, Transforms
@@ -959,12 +959,52 @@ class Imread(np.lib.mixins.NDArrayOperatorsMixin, ABC):
         warnings.warn('Imread.new has been deprecated, use Imread.view instead.', DeprecationWarning, 2)
         return self.view(*args, **kwargs)
 
+    def save_as_movie(self, fname: Path | str = None,
+                      c: int | Sequence[int] = None, z: int | Sequence[int] = None,  # noqa
+                      t: int | Sequence[int] = None,  # noqa
+                      colors: tuple[str] = None, brightnesses: tuple[float] = None,
+                      scale: int = None) -> None:
+        """ saves the image as a mp4 or mkv file """
+        from matplotlib.colors import to_rgb
+        from skvideo.io import FFmpegWriter
+
+        def get_ab(tyx: Imread, p: tuple[float, float] = (1, 99)) -> tuple[float, float]:
+            s = tyx.flatten()
+            s = s[s > 0]
+            a, b = np.percentile(s, p)
+            if a == b:
+                a, b = np.min(s), np.max(s)
+            if a == b:
+                a, b = 0, 1
+            return a, b
+
+        def cframe(frame: ArrayLike, color: str, a: float, b: float, scale: float = 1) -> np.ndarray:  # noqa
+            color = to_rgb(color)
+            frame = (frame - a) / (b - a)
+            frame = np.dstack([255 * frame * i for i in color])
+            return np.clip(np.round(frame), 0, 255).astype('uint8')
+
+        ab = list(zip(*[get_ab(i) for i in self.transpose('cztyx')]))
+        colors = colors or ('r', 'g', 'b')[:self.shape['c']] + max(0, self.shape['c'] - 3) * ('w',)
+        brightnesses = brightnesses or (1,) * self.shape['c']
+        scale = scale or 1
+        with FFmpegWriter(
+                str(fname).format(name=self.path.stem, path=str(self.path.parent)),
+                outputdict={'-vcodec': 'libx264', '-preset': 'veryslow', '-pix_fmt': 'yuv420p', '-r': '7',
+                            '-vf': f'setpts={25 / 7}*PTS,'
+                                   f'scale={self.shape["x"] * scale}:{self.shape["y"] * scale}:flags=neighbor'}
+        ) as movie:
+            im = self.transpose('tzcyx')
+            for t in trange(self.shape['t'], desc='Saving movie'):
+                movie.writeFrame(np.max([cframe(yx, c, a, b / s, scale)
+                                         for yx, a, b, c, s in zip(im[t].max('z'), *ab, colors, brightnesses)], 0))
+
     def save_as_tiff(self, fname: Path | str = None, c: int | Sequence[int] = None, z: int | Sequence[int] = None,
                      t: int | Sequence[int] = None, split: bool = False, bar: bool = True, pixel_type: str = 'uint16',
                      **kwargs: Any) -> None:
         """ saves the image as a tif file
             split: split channels into different files """
-        fname = Path(fname)
+        fname = Path(str(fname).format(name=self.path.stem, path=str(self.path.parent)))
         if fname is None:
             fname = self.path.with_suffix('.tif')
             if fname == self.path:
@@ -1242,7 +1282,7 @@ class AbstractReader(Imread, metaclass=ABCMeta):
 def main() -> None:
     parser = ArgumentParser(description='Display info and save as tif')
     parser.add_argument('file', help='image_file')
-    parser.add_argument('out', help='path to tif out', type=str, default=None, nargs='?')
+    parser.add_argument('out', help='path to tif/movie out', type=str, default=None, nargs='?')
     parser.add_argument('-o', '--extract_ome', help='extract ome to xml file', action='store_true')
     parser.add_argument('-r', '--register', help='register channels', action='store_true')
     parser.add_argument('-c', '--channel', help='channel', type=int, default=None)
@@ -1250,6 +1290,10 @@ def main() -> None:
     parser.add_argument('-t', '--time', help='time', type=int, default=None)
     parser.add_argument('-s', '--split', help='split channels', action='store_true')
     parser.add_argument('-f', '--force', help='force overwrite', action='store_true')
+    parser.add_argument('-C', '--movie-colors', help='colors for channels in movie', type=str, nargs='*')
+    parser.add_argument('-B', '--movie-brightnesses', help='scale brightness of each channel',
+                        type=float, nargs='*')
+    parser.add_argument('-S', '--movie-scale', help='upscale movie xy size, int', type=int)
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
     with Imread(args.file) as im:
@@ -1261,6 +1305,9 @@ def main() -> None:
             out.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
             if out.exists() and not args.force:
                 print(f'File {args.out} exists already, add the -f flag if you want to overwrite it.')
+            elif out.suffix in ('.mkv', '.mp4'):
+                im.save_as_movie(out, args.channel, args.zslice, args.time,
+                                 args.movie_colors, args.movie_brightnesses, args.movie_scale)
             else:
                 im.save_as_tiff(out, args.channel, args.zslice, args.time, args.split)
         if args.extract_ome:
diff --git a/ndbioimage/readers/bfread.py b/ndbioimage/readers/bfread.py
index bb0b0b8..1bf6188 100644
--- a/ndbioimage/readers/bfread.py
+++ b/ndbioimage/readers/bfread.py
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 import multiprocessing
 from abc import ABC
 from multiprocessing import queues
-from traceback import format_exc
 from pathlib import Path
+from traceback import format_exc
 
 import numpy as np
 
-from .. import AbstractReader, JVM, JVMException
+from .. import JVM, AbstractReader, JVMException
 
 jars = {'bioformats_package.jar': 'https://downloads.openmicroscopy.org/bio-formats/latest/artifacts/'
                                   'bioformats_package.jar'}
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 8d869ec..2ee665b 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "ndbioimage"
-version = "2024.5.1"
+version = "2024.5.2"
 description = "Bio image reading, metadata and some affine registration."
 authors = ["W. Pomp <w.pomp@nki.nl>"]
 license = "GPLv3"
@@ -32,10 +32,13 @@ SimpleITK-SimpleElastix = [
 scikit-image = "*"
 imagecodecs = "*"
 xsdata = "^23"  # until pydantic is up-to-date
+matplotlib = { version = "*", optional = true }
+scikit-video = { version = "*", optional = true }
 pytest = { version = "*", optional = true }
 
 [tool.poetry.extras]
 test = ["pytest"]
+write = ["matplotlib", "scikit-video"]
 
 [tool.poetry.scripts]
 ndbioimage = "ndbioimage:main"