Getting started

node-ffmpeg is a typed Node.js interface around the FFmpeg and ffprobe command-line tools. It does not bundle a binary: your application stays in control of the FFmpeg build, codecs, and protocols it uses.

Requirements

• Node.js 24 or newer
• ffmpeg and ffprobe on PATH, or explicit executable paths

npm install ffmpeg

Your first pipeline

import ffmpeg from 'ffmpeg';

const video = await ffmpeg('/media/input.mp4');

await video
  .setVideoCodec('libx264')
  .setVideoBitRate(2_000)
  .setAudioCodec('aac')
  .setAudioBitRate(192)
  .save('/media/output.mp4');

The initial await probes the source and the local FFmpeg capabilities. The returned Video instance holds normalized metadata and a chainable output pipeline.

Modern named factory

New TypeScript applications can use the explicit create export:

import { create } from 'ffmpeg';

const video = await create('/media/input.mp4', {
  overwrite: true,
  timeout: 120_000,
});

CommonJS and the classic constructor

The historical callable CommonJS export remains intact:

const ffmpeg = require('ffmpeg');

const video = await new ffmpeg('/media/input.mp4');
await video.setVideoCodec('copy').setAudioCodec('copy').save('/media/remuxed.mkv');

Read the source

Every Video exposes both a stable metadata model and the complete ffprobe response:

console.log(video.metadata.duration.seconds);
console.log(video.metadata.video.resolution);
console.log(video.metadata.audio.codec);
console.log(video.metadata.raw);

Next, configure executable paths and process behavior.