node-ffprobe-installer

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

Installs a standalone static binary of ffprobe for the current platform and provides a path and version. Supports Linux, Windows 7+, and MacOS 10.9+.

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

Supports Node >= 14.21.2

Install

npm install --save @ffprobe-installer/ffprobe

Usage examples

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

process.spawn()

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

fluent-ffmpeg

const ffprobePath = require('@ffprobe-installer/ffprobe').path;
const ffmpeg = require('fluent-ffmpeg');
ffmpeg.setFfprobePath(ffprobePath);

Warnings during install

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

Known Issues

AWS and/or Elastic Beanstalk

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

unsafe-perm=true

See node-ffmpeg-installer/issues/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 ffprobePath = require('@ffprobe-installer/ffprobe').path.replace(
	'app.asar',
	'app.asar.unpacked'
);

The binaries

Downloaded from the sources listed at ffmpeg.org:

• Linux (armhf, arm64, ia32, x64) (20230721-c2b3861): https://www.johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/
• macOS (x64) (20230213-f8d6d0f): https://evermeet.cx/ffmpeg/
• macOS (arm64) (5.1.2-7268323): contributed by wongyiuhang
• Windows 32-bit (20230213-f8d6d0f): https://github.com/sudo-nautilus/FFmpeg-Builds-Win32/
• Windows 64-bit (20230213-2296078): https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/

For version updates, submit issue or pull request.

Upload new versions

In every updated platforms/* directory:

npm run upload

See also

• node-ffmpeg-installer - This project is a fork of ffmpeg-installer

Contributors ✨

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind are welcome!