fluent-ffmpeg

If you prefer to manage the dependency manually, you can add it as a git submodule.

$ git submodule add git://github.com/schaermu/node-fluent-ffmpeg.git vendor/fluent-ffmpeg

If you are contributing API changes (such as new methods), you should update the README and the JSDoc comments in the source code. You can regenerate the JSDoc documentation using the make doc command. It is recommended to commit the regenerated documentation in a single, specific commit to keep the history clean.

$ make doc

fluent-ffmpeg requires ffmpeg (>= 0.9) and ffprobe to be installed. You can specify their locations using environment variables or the API.

Environment Variables:

• FFMPEG_PATH: Full path to the ffmpeg executable.
• FFPROBE_PATH: Full path to the ffprobe executable.
• FLVTOOL2_PATH or FLVMETA_PATH: Path to flvtool2 or flvmeta (required for encoding FLV videos).

Windows Users: You must set %FFMPEG_PATH% and %FFPROBE_PATH% as they are typically not in the %PATH%.

API Methods: Use these methods to set paths manually in your code.

You can install the library using npm to add it to your Node.js project.

$ npm install fluent-ffmpeg

Use output(target[, options]) to add an output file or a writable stream.

Important: Adding an output switches the "current output". Subsequent output-specific methods (like videoCodec or size) will apply to the most recently added output. To process multiple outputs, use the .run() method instead of .save() or .stream().

var stream = fs.createWriteStream('outputfile.divx');

ffmpeg('/path/to/file.avi')
  .output('outputfile.mp4')
  .output(stream)
  .on('end', function() {
    console.log('Finished processing');
  })
  .run();

The kill([signal='SIGKILL']) method sends a signal to the running ffmpeg process. This is only effective once processing has started. Sending a terminating signal will cause the error event to be emitted.

var command = ffmpeg('/path/to/video.avi')
  .videoCodec('libx264')
  .audioCodec('libmp3lame')
  .on('start', function() {
    // Send SIGSTOP to suspend ffmpeg
    command.kill('SIGSTOP');
  })
  .save('/path/to/output.mp4');

// Kill ffmpeg after 60 seconds
setTimeout(function() {
  command.on('error', function() {
    console.log('Ffmpeg has been killed');
  });

  command.kill();
}, 60000);

You can instantiate an FFmpeg command using the ffmpeg() constructor. You can pass an input file name, a readable stream, or a configuration object to the constructor.

Constructor Options:

• source: input file name or readable stream (ignored if an input file is passed to the constructor).
• timeout: ffmpeg timeout in seconds (defaults to no timeout).
• preset or presets: directory to load module presets from.
• niceness or priority: ffmpeg niceness value between -20 and 20 (ignored on Windows; defaults to 0).
• logger: logger object with debug(), info(), warn(), and error() methods.
• stdoutLines: maximum number of lines from ffmpeg stdout/stderr to keep in memory (defaults to 100; use 0 for unlimited).

Use fps(fps) to set the output framerate (e.g., 29.7). Use frames(count) to specify a fixed number of frames to encode.

ffmpeg('/path/to/file.avi').fps(29.7);
ffmpeg('/path/to/file.avi').frames(240);