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Prerequisites

Before installing Video Compressor, ensure you have the following installed on your system:
  • Node.js (version 14 or higher recommended)
  • npm (comes with Node.js)
  • Git (for cloning the repository)
FFmpeg binaries are included via the ffmpeg-static package, so you don’t need to install FFmpeg separately.

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Installation steps

1

Clone the repository

Clone the Video Compressor repository to your local machine:
git clone https://github.com/hhussain04/videocompressor.git
2

Navigate to the project directory

Change into the project directory:
cd videocompressor
The actual directory name is videocompressor (one word, lowercase).
3

Install dependencies

Install all required npm packages:
npm install
This will install:
  • electron (v25.0.0) - The desktop application framework
  • fluent-ffmpeg (v2.1.2) - FFmpeg wrapper for Node.js
  • ffmpeg-static (v5.0.0) - Bundled FFmpeg binaries
4

Create the output directory

Create the videooutputs directory where compressed videos will be saved:
mkdir videooutputs
This step is required! The application will fail to save compressed videos if this directory doesn’t exist.

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Verify installation

To verify that everything is installed correctly, start the application: 
npm start
You should see an Electron window open with the Video Compressor interface.

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Project structure

After installation, your project directory will look like this: 
videocompressor/
├── index.html          # Main HTML interface
├── main.js             # Electron main process
├── renderer.js         # Video compression logic
├── styles.css          # Application styling
├── package.json        # Project dependencies
├── videooutputs/       # Output directory (you created this)
└── node_modules/       # Installed dependencies

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Troubleshooting

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Node.js version issues

If you encounter errors during installation, ensure you’re using Node.js version 14 or higher: 
node --version

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Permission errors

On Linux or macOS, you may need to use sudo when running npm commands, or configure npm to install packages globally without sudo.

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Missing videooutputs directory

If you see errors when compressing videos, make sure you created the videooutputs directory in the project root: 
ls -la | grep videooutputs
If it doesn’t exist, create it as shown in Step 4 above.

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Next steps

Quickstart guide

Learn how to compress your first video

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