ffmpeg-wasm-bridge 1.1.0
Convert media files using FFmpeg WebAssembly and a local server
Requires Python: >=3.9
Keywords: ffmpeg, webassembly, ffmpeg server, server

# ffmpeg-wasm-bridge

A simple Python server that allows to convert files totally on device using
FFmpeg WebAssembly.

Install it from PyPI and use it [both from the command line](#from-the-command-line) and [in your Python projects](#in-another-python-script): `pip install ffmpeg-wasm-bridge`

## How it works

This script creates a local server (usually, on `http://localhost:10000`, but
can be customized). The user will have to open the webpage, and then the script
will handle everything else: the files will be loaded in FFmpeg WebAssembly, the
command will be executed and the file will be saved on the user's local drive.

## Usage

### From the command line

From the command line, pass all the FFmpeg arguments (excluding `ffmpeg` at the
start) in the Python `server.py` file. Connect to the webpage the script will
print in the console, and the script will handle everything else.

Example: `python3 server.py -i file_0.mp3 -acodec libopus file_0.ogg`

#### Custom arguments

While the command above will be enough for most use cases, you can specify some arguments to alter the behavior of the script:

| Argument | Description |
| - | - |
| `--ffmpeg-version` | Specify the version of FFmpeg WebAssembly to use, between: <ul><li>`0.11.x-mt`</li><li>`0.11.x-st` (not recommended due to its instability)</li><li>`0.12.x-st`</li><li>`0.12.x-mt`</li></ul>The default value is `0.11.x-mt`. |
| `--load-files` | Force loading a file in FFmpeg WebAssembly's virtual memory. In this case, you need to provide in the following two arguments the path of the file and the name that appears in the command.<br>This can be useful if the FFmpeg command needs to load indirectly some files (like, for example, while merging videos using the concat filter)<br>**Note:** By default, the Python script scans for the files to load in the virtual memory by looking at the command. If you use this command, the script will load only the files you pass. |
| `--port` | Change the port used for the local server |
| `--hostname` | Change the hostname used for the local server |
| `--ffmpeg-command` | If you've used at least one of the arguments above, put this argument before your FFmpeg command. |

Example: `python3 server.py --ffmpeg-version 0.12.x-st --load-file "/Users/Username/Downloads/Image0.jpg" "Image0.jpg" --load-file "/Users/Username/Downloads/Image1.jpg" "Image1.jpg" --load-file "/Users/Username/Downloads/ConcatFilter.txt" "Filter.txt" --ffmpeg-command -f concat -safe 0 -r 1 -i Filter.txt Output.mp4`

### In another Python script

You can use this server in your Python scripts/applications using the two
exposed classes (`FFmpegServer` and `FFmpegOperation`). You can find a small
script example here below:

```
server = FFmpegServer()
await asyncio.create_task(server.start())
operation = FFmpegOperation(server)
await operation.run(commands=["-i", "file_0.mp3" "-acodec", "libopus", "file_0.ogg"])
```

To learn more about what each class does, and what are the function you should
run, see the `Classes` section below.

## Classes

There are three classes that can help you with implementing ffmpeg-wasm-bridge
in your application:

### FFmpegServer

The server that'll be used for this FFmpeg operation. _While you can do whatever
you want_, I would suggest you to create only a FFmpegServer per application,
since multiple servers are unnecessary (but they should still work!)

#### Parameters

You can specify two **optional** parameters to the FFmpegServer class:

| Parameter name | Description | Extra notes |
| - | - | - |
| `host`| The hostname for the new sever. | Defaults to `127.0.0.1` |
| `suggested_port` | the port that **should** be used for this server. | Defaults to `10000`.<br>**Note:** the script will always use the first available port from this value. So, for example, if port `10000` is being used elsewhere, the script will try using port `10001`, and so on. |

#### Functions

| Function name | Description | Parameters |
| - | - | - |
| `start` | Starts the FFmpeg server | None |

### FFmpegOperation

This class creates a new FFmpeg WebAssembly instance on the webpage. Each
instance has its own file system. While an instance can run only a FFmpeg
command at a time, you are free to create multiple FFmpegOperations to run
multiple commands.

#### Parameters

| Parameter name | Description | Extra notes |
| - | - | - |
| `source` | The FFmpegServer to which this operation is tied | Required |
| `ffmpeg_wasm_version` | The version of FFmpeg WebAssembly to use, between: <ul><li>`0.11.x-mt`</li><li>`0.11.x-st` (not recommended due to its instability)</li><li>`0.12.x-st`</li><li>`0.12.x-mt`</li></ul>| Optional. Defaults to: `0.11.x-mt` |

#### Functions

| Function name | Description | Parameters |
| - | - | - |
`create_ffmpeg` | Creates a new FFmpeg WebAssembly object in the webpage. |  This should be called only one time, and will automatically be called when you use any other function of the FFmpegOperation class, so you can ignore it. |
| `run` | Runs the provided command. | <ul><li>`commands`: a list of strings with the FFmpeg command to execute (without `ffmpeg` at the start);</li><li>`files`: an **optional** FileBridge list. See below to understand what the FileBridge class does. If nothing is passed, the script will automatically try to understand which files should be loaded in FFmpeg WebAssembly.</li></ul>|
| `delete_files` | Deletes files that have been **manually loaded** in FFmpeg WebAssembly, so the ones where you have specified the `force_loading_name` property in the FileBridge object. All the other files will automatically be deleted after the conversion has been done. | This function has only an argument, that is the list of FileBridge objects to delete. |
| `reload_ffmpeg` | Reloads the FFmpeg object. | This could help reducing RAM usage from FFmpeg WebAssembly. |

### FileBridge

This class is used to specify that a file should be read by the webpage.

#### Parameters

| Parameter name | Description | Extra notes |
| - | - | - |
| `path` | A string with the file path on the user's device | - |
| `appears_in_command_str` | **Optional value.** If the path appears in a different way in the command (for exampe, it's a relative path from somewhere else), use this field to write how in the command this file appears | - |
| `force_loading_name` | **Optional value.** If this value is passed, the FFmpegOperation instance will fetch the file and add it in memory with this name, even if it's not mentioned in the command. | A possible usage of this command is if you need to merge files (and so you need to provide a file list as a txt value, and then load all the videos/audios in the memory). <br>**Note:** the webpage won't automatically delete from FFmpeg WebAssembly these files, so you should manually do it by calling the `delete_files` function.

## Licenses

This project is published under the MIT license.

The project uses the following open source libraries:

- `aiohttp`: library used to create the server [[MIT license]](https://github.com/aio-libs/aiohttp)
- `ffmpeg.wasm`: build of FFmpeg in WebAssembly [[MIT license]](https://github.com/ffmpegwasm/ffmpeg.wasm)

Note that the server will download the first time it's run the FFmpeg WebAssembly files from JSDelivr. After that time, you can use the server completely offline.