FFmpeg

FFmpeg Examples

This page provides a set of common FFmpeg commands and shows how to execute them using the FetchMedia API.

Each example includes the ffmpeg_command and the full curl request to send to the /v1/commands endpoint. Remember to replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual API key.

The input_files in the examples use publicly available video files. You can replace these with your own URLs. The output files will be stored in your account's storage.

Convert to MP4 (H.264)

This example converts a video file to the MP4 format with the H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec. This is a common format for web video.

curl -X POST https://api.fetchmedia.io/v1/commands \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "ffmpeg_command": "ffmpeg -i {{in_1}} -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k {{out_1}}",
    "input_files": {
      "in_1": "https://www.w3schools.com/html/mov_bbb.mp4"
    },
    "output_files": {
      "out_1": "output.mp4"
    }
  }'

Change Video Resolution

This example resizes a video to 1280x720 pixels.

curl -X POST https://api.fetchmedia.io/v1/commands \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "ffmpeg_commands": [
      "ffmpeg -i {{in_1}} -vf scale=1280:720 {{out_1}}"
    ],
    "input_files": {
      "in_1": "https://www.w3schools.com/html/mov_bbb.mp4"
    },
    "output_files": {
      "out_1": "output_720p.mp4"
    }
  }'

Extract Audio from Video

This example extracts the audio track from a video file and saves it as an AAC file without re-encoding.

curl -X POST https://api.fetchmedia.io/v1/commands \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "ffmpeg_commands": [
      "ffmpeg -i {{in_1}} -vn -acodec copy {{out_1}}"
    ],
    "input_files": {
      "in_1": "https://www.w3schools.com/html/mov_bbb.mp4"
    },
    "output_files": {
      "out_1": "audio.aac"
    }
  }'

Create a GIF from a Video

This example creates a 3-second animated GIF from a video, starting at the 10-second mark.

curl -X POST https://api.fetchmedia.io/v1/commands \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "ffmpeg_command": "ffmpeg -i {{in_1}} -ss 00:00:10 -to 00:00:13 -vf "fps=10,scale=320:-1:flags=lanczos" {{out_1}}",
    "input_files": {
      "in_1": "https://www.w3schools.com/html/mov_bbb.mp4"
    },
    "output_files": {
      "out_1": "animated.gif"
    }
  }'

Add a Watermark to a Video

This example adds a PNG image as a watermark onto a video. This command uses two input files: the video (in_1) and the watermark image (in_2).

curl -X POST https://api.fetchmedia.io/v1/commands \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "ffmpeg_command": "ffmpeg -i {{in_1}} -i {{in_2}} -filter_complex "overlay=10:10" {{out_1}}",
    "input_files": {
      "in_1": "https://www.w3schools.com/html/mov_bbb.mp4",
      "in_2": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Fetch.ai_Logo.svg/320px-Fetch.ai_Logo.svg.png"
    },
    "output_files": {
      "out_1": "watermarked.mp4"
    }
  }'

Multi-Pass Encoding for Higher Quality

Multi-pass encoding is a technique to get better compression efficiency and quality. In the first pass, ffmpeg analyzes the video and writes the statistics to a log file. In the second pass, it uses these statistics to make better decisions about how to compress the video, resulting in a higher quality output for a given file size.

Our API supports multi-pass encoding via the ffmpeg_commands array, which allows you to run multiple ffmpeg commands in sequence.

While "3-pass" encoding is sometimes mentioned, it is not a standard feature in most ffmpeg codecs, and 2-pass encoding provides most of the benefits.

2-Pass H.264 Encoding

This example performs a 2-pass encode to create a high-quality H.264 video. The first command performs the analysis, and the second command creates the final video.

curl -X POST https://api.fetchmedia.io/v1/commands \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "ffmpeg_commands": [
      "ffmpeg -y -i {{in_1}} -c:v libx264 -b:v 2M -preset medium -pass 1 -passlogfile pass1 -an -f mp4 /dev/null",
      "ffmpeg -i {{in_1}} -c:v libx264 -b:v 2M -preset medium -pass 2 -passlogfile pass1 -c:a aac -b:a 128k {{out_1}}"
    ],
    "input_files": {
      "in_1": "https://www.w3schools.com/html/mov_bbb.mp4"
    },
    "output_files": {
      "out_1": "output_2pass.mp4"
    }
  }'

2-Pass VP9 Encoding for WebM

This example performs a 2-pass encode to create a WebM video with the VP9 codec, which is highly optimized for web streaming.

curl -X POST https://api.fetchmedia.io/v1/commands \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "ffmpeg_commands": [
      "ffmpeg -y -i {{in_1}} -c:v libvpx-vp9 -b:v 2M -pass 1 -an -f webm /dev/null",
      "ffmpeg -i {{in_1}} -c:v libvpx-vp9 -b:v 2M -pass 2 -c:a libopus -b:a 128k {{out_1}}"
    ],
    "input_files": {
      "in_1": "https://www.w3schools.com/html/mov_bbb.mp4"
    },
    "output_files": {
      "out_1": "output.webm"
    }
  }'

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Last updated Jan 23, 2026

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