FFmpeg video processing

Prerequisites

A project with Trigger.dev initialized
FFmpeg installed on your machine for local development

Build configuration

Add the FFmpeg build extension to your trigger.config.ts. This ensures FFmpeg is available in the deployed container:

trigger.config.ts

import { ffmpeg } from "@trigger.dev/build/extensions/core";
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  build: {
    extensions: [ffmpeg()],
  },
});

Build extensions customize the build process and the container image used when deploying tasks. You’ll also need @trigger.dev/build in your devDependencies.

If you use fluent-ffmpeg, add it to external in your config to prevent it from being bundled:

trigger.config.ts

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  build: {
    extensions: [ffmpeg()],
    external: ["fluent-ffmpeg"],
  },
});

Example 1: Compress a video

This task fetches a video from a URL, compresses it using H.264 with reduced resolution and bitrate, then uploads the result to Cloudflare R2.

trigger/ffmpeg-compress-video.ts

import { PutObjectCommand, S3Client } from "@aws-sdk/client-s3";
import { logger, task } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import ffmpeg from "fluent-ffmpeg";
import fs from "fs/promises";
import fetch from "node-fetch";
import { Readable } from "node:stream";
import os from "os";
import path from "path";

const s3Client = new S3Client({
  region: "auto",
  endpoint: process.env.R2_ENDPOINT,
  credentials: {
    accessKeyId: process.env.R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID ?? "",
    secretAccessKey: process.env.R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY ?? "",
  },
});

export const ffmpegCompressVideo = task({
  id: "ffmpeg-compress-video",
  run: async (payload: { videoUrl: string }) => {
    const { videoUrl } = payload;

    const tempDirectory = os.tmpdir();
    const outputPath = path.join(tempDirectory, `output_${Date.now()}.mp4`);

    const response = await fetch(videoUrl);

    await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      if (!response.body) return reject(new Error("Failed to fetch video"));

      ffmpeg(Readable.from(response.body))
        .outputOptions([
          "-c:v libx264",    // H.264 codec
          "-crf 28",          // Higher CRF = more compression
          "-preset veryslow", // Slowest preset = best compression ratio
          "-vf scale=iw/2:ih/2", // Halve the resolution
          "-c:a aac",         // AAC audio codec
          "-b:a 64k",         // 64 kbps audio bitrate
          "-ac 1",            // Mono audio
        ])
        .output(outputPath)
        .on("end", resolve)
        .on("error", reject)
        .run();
    });

    const compressedVideo = await fs.readFile(outputPath);
    logger.log(`Compressed video size: ${compressedVideo.length} bytes`);

    const r2Key = `processed-videos/${path.basename(outputPath)}`;

    await s3Client.send(
      new PutObjectCommand({
        Bucket: process.env.R2_BUCKET,
        Key: r2Key,
        Body: compressedVideo,
      })
    );

    logger.log(`Uploaded to R2`, { r2Key });
    await fs.unlink(outputPath);

    return { Bucket: process.env.R2_BUCKET, r2Key };
  },
});

Test payload:

{ "videoUrl": "https://example.com/your-video.mp4" }

Example 2: Extract audio from a video

This task extracts the audio track from a video, converts it to PCM WAV format, and uploads it to R2.

The video must contain an audio track. If it doesn’t, the task will fail at the FFmpeg step.

trigger/ffmpeg-extract-audio.ts

import { PutObjectCommand, S3Client } from "@aws-sdk/client-s3";
import { logger, task } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import ffmpeg from "fluent-ffmpeg";
import fs from "fs/promises";
import fetch from "node-fetch";
import { Readable } from "node:stream";
import os from "os";
import path from "path";

const s3Client = new S3Client({
  region: "auto",
  endpoint: process.env.R2_ENDPOINT,
  credentials: {
    accessKeyId: process.env.R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID ?? "",
    secretAccessKey: process.env.R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY ?? "",
  },
});

export const ffmpegExtractAudio = task({
  id: "ffmpeg-extract-audio",
  run: async (payload: { videoUrl: string }) => {
    const { videoUrl } = payload;

    const tempDirectory = os.tmpdir();
    const outputPath = path.join(tempDirectory, `audio_${Date.now()}.wav`);

    const response = await fetch(videoUrl);

    await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      if (!response.body) return reject(new Error("Failed to fetch video"));

      ffmpeg(Readable.from(response.body))
        .outputOptions([
          "-vn",              // No video output
          "-acodec pcm_s16le", // PCM 16-bit little-endian
          "-ar 44100",        // 44.1 kHz sample rate
          "-ac 2",            // Stereo
        ])
        .output(outputPath)
        .on("end", resolve)
        .on("error", reject)
        .run();
    });

    const audioBuffer = await fs.readFile(outputPath);
    logger.log(`Extracted audio size: ${audioBuffer.length} bytes`);

    const r2Key = `extracted-audio/${path.basename(outputPath)}`;

    await s3Client.send(
      new PutObjectCommand({
        Bucket: process.env.R2_BUCKET,
        Key: r2Key,
        Body: audioBuffer,
      })
    );

    logger.log(`Uploaded to R2`, { r2Key });
    await fs.unlink(outputPath);

    return { Bucket: process.env.R2_BUCKET, r2Key };
  },
});

Test payload:

{ "videoUrl": "https://example.com/your-video-with-audio.mp4" }

Example 3: Generate a thumbnail

This task captures a single frame from the 5-second mark of a video and uploads the JPEG thumbnail to R2.

trigger/ffmpeg-generate-thumbnail.ts

import { PutObjectCommand, S3Client } from "@aws-sdk/client-s3";
import { logger, task } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import ffmpeg from "fluent-ffmpeg";
import fs from "fs/promises";
import fetch from "node-fetch";
import { Readable } from "node:stream";
import os from "os";
import path from "path";

const s3Client = new S3Client({
  region: "auto",
  endpoint: process.env.R2_ENDPOINT,
  credentials: {
    accessKeyId: process.env.R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID ?? "",
    secretAccessKey: process.env.R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY ?? "",
  },
});

export const ffmpegGenerateThumbnail = task({
  id: "ffmpeg-generate-thumbnail",
  run: async (payload: { videoUrl: string }) => {
    const { videoUrl } = payload;

    const tempDirectory = os.tmpdir();
    const outputPath = path.join(tempDirectory, `thumbnail_${Date.now()}.jpg`);

    const response = await fetch(videoUrl);

    await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      if (!response.body) return reject(new Error("Failed to fetch video"));

      ffmpeg(Readable.from(response.body))
        .screenshots({
          count: 1,
          folder: "/tmp",
          filename: path.basename(outputPath),
          size: "320x240",
          timemarks: ["5"], // capture at 5 seconds
        })
        .on("end", resolve)
        .on("error", reject);
    });

    const thumbnail = await fs.readFile(outputPath);

    const r2Key = `thumbnails/${path.basename(outputPath)}`;

    await s3Client.send(
      new PutObjectCommand({
        Bucket: process.env.R2_BUCKET,
        Key: r2Key,
        Body: thumbnail,
      })
    );

    const r2Url = `https://${process.env.R2_ACCOUNT_ID}.r2.cloudflarestorage.com/${process.env.R2_BUCKET}/${r2Key}`;
    logger.log("Thumbnail uploaded to R2", { url: r2Url });
    await fs.unlink(outputPath);

    return { thumbnail, thumbnailPath: outputPath, r2Url };
  },
});

Test payload:

{ "videoUrl": "https://example.com/your-video.mp4" }

Local development

When running locally with trigger.dev dev, build extensions are not applied. You need FFmpeg installed directly on your machine:

macOS
Ubuntu/Debian
Windows

brew install ffmpeg

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Download the FFmpeg build from ffmpeg.org and add it to your PATH.

Guides

Example Projects

Example Tasks

FFmpeg video processing

Prerequisites

Build configuration

Example 1: Compress a video

Example 2: Extract audio from a video

Example 3: Generate a thumbnail

Local development

​Prerequisites

​Build configuration

​Example 1: Compress a video

​Example 2: Extract audio from a video

​Example 3: Generate a thumbnail

​Local development

Prerequisites

Build configuration

Example 1: Compress a video

Example 2: Extract audio from a video

Example 3: Generate a thumbnail

Local development