Installation

Install Package

npm

npm install ffmpeg-forge

yarn

yarn add ffmpeg-forge

pnpm

pnpm add ffmpeg-forge

Install FFmpeg

ffmpeg-forge requires FFmpeg 4.0 or higher to be installed on your system.

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg

Verify installation:

ffmpeg -version

macOS

Using Homebrew:

brew install ffmpeg

Windows

Option 1: Chocolatey

choco install ffmpeg

Option 2: Manual

1. Download from ffmpeg.org
2. Extract to a folder (e.g., C:\ffmpeg)
3. Add to PATH environment variable

Docker

FROM node:18
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y ffmpeg
COPY . .
RUN npm install

Custom FFmpeg Path

If FFmpeg is not in your system PATH:

import { FFmpeg } from 'ffmpeg-forge';

FFmpeg.setFFmpegPath('/custom/path/to/ffmpeg');
FFmpeg.setFFprobePath('/custom/path/to/ffprobe');

const ffmpeg = new FFmpeg();

Verify Installation

import { FFmpeg } from 'ffmpeg-forge';

const ffmpeg = new FFmpeg();

// Get FFmpeg version
const version = await ffmpeg.getVersion();
console.log(`FFmpeg ${version.version}`);

// Check capabilities
const capabilities = await ffmpeg.getCapabilities();
console.log(`Formats: ${capabilities.formats.muxing.length}`);
console.log(`Video codecs: ${capabilities.videoCodecs.encoders.length}`);

Hardware Acceleration Setup

NVIDIA (NVENC)

Install NVIDIA drivers and CUDA:

# Ubuntu
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-580 nvidia-cuda-toolkit

Verify:

nvidia-smi

Intel (Quick Sync)

Install VAAPI drivers:

# Ubuntu
sudo apt install intel-media-va-driver

AMD (AMF)

Install AMD drivers:

# Ubuntu
sudo apt install mesa-va-drivers

Troubleshooting

FFmpeg not found

If you get "FFmpeg not found" error:

1. Check FFmpeg is installed: which ffmpeg
2. Set custom path:

FFmpeg.setFFmpegPath('/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg');

Hardware acceleration not working

Check available hardware acceleration:

const hwInfo = await ffmpeg.getHardwareAccelerationInfo();
console.log('Available:', hwInfo.available);
console.log('Types:', hwInfo.types);

Next Steps

• Quick Start - Common use cases
• Filters Guide - Apply video and audio effects
• Hardware Acceleration - GPU encoding setup