@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg

What is @ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg?

@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg is an npm package that provides a simple way to install the FFmpeg binary. FFmpeg is a powerful multimedia framework that can decode, encode, transcode, mux, demux, stream, filter, and play almost anything that humans and machines have created. This package makes it easy to include FFmpeg in your Node.js projects without worrying about the complexities of installing it manually.

What are @ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg's main functionalities?

Video Conversion

This feature allows you to convert video files from one format to another. The code sample demonstrates converting an MP4 file to an AVI file using the FFmpeg binary.

const ffmpeg = require('@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg');
const { exec } = require('child_process');

exec(`${ffmpeg.path} -i input.mp4 output.avi`, (error, stdout, stderr) => {
  if (error) {
    console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`);
    return;
  }
  if (stderr) {
    console.error(`Stderr: ${stderr}`);
    return;
  }
  console.log(`Stdout: ${stdout}`);
});

Audio Extraction

This feature allows you to extract audio from a video file. The code sample demonstrates extracting the audio from an MP4 file and saving it as an MP3 file.

const ffmpeg = require('@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg');
const { exec } = require('child_process');

exec(`${ffmpeg.path} -i input.mp4 -q:a 0 -map a output.mp3`, (error, stdout, stderr) => {
  if (error) {
    console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`);
    return;
  }
  if (stderr) {
    console.error(`Stderr: ${stderr}`);
    return;
  }
  console.log(`Stdout: ${stdout}`);
});

Video Compression

This feature allows you to compress video files to reduce their size. The code sample demonstrates compressing an MP4 file using the H.265 codec.

const ffmpeg = require('@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg');
const { exec } = require('child_process');

exec(`${ffmpeg.path} -i input.mp4 -vcodec libx265 -crf 28 output.mp4`, (error, stdout, stderr) => {
  if (error) {
    console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`);
    return;
  }
  if (stderr) {
    console.error(`Stderr: ${stderr}`);
    return;
  }
  console.log(`Stdout: ${stdout}`);
});

Other packages similar to @ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg

fluent-ffmpeg

fluent-ffmpeg is a Node.js module that provides a fluent API for working with FFmpeg. It allows you to perform complex video and audio processing tasks with a more readable and maintainable syntax compared to using raw FFmpeg commands. It also handles the installation of FFmpeg binaries for you.

ffmpeg-static

ffmpeg-static is an npm package that provides static binaries for FFmpeg. It simplifies the process of including FFmpeg in your Node.js projects by providing precompiled binaries for various platforms. Unlike @ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg, it focuses solely on providing the binaries without additional features.

node-ffmpeg

node-ffmpeg is a Node.js module that provides a simple interface for using FFmpeg. It allows you to perform basic video and audio processing tasks, such as conversion and extraction, with a straightforward API. It is less feature-rich compared to fluent-ffmpeg but can be easier to use for simple tasks.

README

node-ffmpeg-installer

Platform independent binary installer of FFmpeg for node projects. Useful for tools that should "just work" on multiple environments.

Installs a binary of ffmpeg for the current platform and provides a path and version. Supports Linux, Windows and Mac OS/X.

A combination of package.json fields optionalDependencies, cpu, and os let's the installer only download the binary for the current platform. See also "Warnings during install", below.

Install

npm install --save @ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg

Usage examples

const ffmpeg = require('@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg');
console.log(ffmpeg.path, ffmpeg.version);

process.spawn()

const ffmpegPath = require('@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg').path;
const spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
const ffmpeg = spawn(ffmpegPath, args);
ffmpeg.on('exit', onExit);

fluent-ffmpeg

const ffmpegPath = require('@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg').path;
const ffmpeg = require('fluent-ffmpeg');
ffmpeg.setFfmpegPath(ffmpegPath);

Known issues

Warnings during install

To automatically choose the binary to install, optionalDependencies are used. This currently outputs warnings in the console, an issue that is tracked by the npm team here.

AWS and/or Elastic Beanstalk

If you get permissions issues, try adding a .npmrc file with the following:

unsafe-perm=true

See issue #21

Wrong path under Electron with Asar enabled

It's a known issue that Asar breaks native paths. As a workaround, if you use Asar, you can do something like this:

const ffmpegPath = require('@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg').path.replace('app.asar', 'app.asar.unpacked');

Compiling ffmpeg for platforms other than your own

If you need to install a version of ffmpeg that differs than your current platform (e.g. compiling a Linux version to upload to AWS Lambda from MacOS), you can use npm install @ffmpeg-installer/linux-x64 --force (substituting linux-x64 with whatever platform you need). Note that if you are compressing your project into a .zip for Lambda, you will need to exclude the other platforms' builds from your archive.

The binaries

Downloaded from the sources listed at ffmpeg.org:

• Linux 32-bit: (20181210-g0e8eb07980): https://www.johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/
• Linux 64-bit: (20181210-g0e8eb07980): https://www.johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/
• Mac OS/X (92718-g092cb17983): https://www.osxexperts.net/
• Mac OS/X (92718-g092cb17983): https://evermeet.cx/ffmpeg/
• Windows 32-bit (20181217-f22fcd4): https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/win32/static/
• Windows 64-bit (20181217-f22fcd4): https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/win64/static/

For version updates, submit issue or pull request.

Upload new versions

In every updated platforms/* directory:

npm run upload

See also

• node-ffprobe-installer - fork of this project that does the same thing for FFprobe