# FFHub

> Cloud FFmpeg as a REST API. Send a normal ffmpeg command, get back a URL to the output file. No servers, no codecs, no ops.

FFHub is a managed FFmpeg service. The same commands you'd run locally work in the cloud — `-i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 output.mp4` becomes one HTTP request and a URL response. Powered by Modal for elastic GPU/CPU scaling, so it handles bursty workloads (batch transcodes, on-demand video features) without the operator pain of running FFmpeg yourself.

Pay-per-second billing (1 credit = 5 seconds of processing time, $1 ≈ 1,000 credits). 100 free credits on signup. No subscription, credits never expire.

## API

- [API quickstart](https://www.ffhub.io/docs/quickstart): Submit your first task in 3 minutes with `curl`.
- [Upload files guide](https://www.ffhub.io/docs/upload-files): Two-step flow — POST `/v1/uploads/sign` for a presigned URL, then PUT the file directly to R2.
- [OpenAPI spec](https://api.ffhub.io/openapi.json): Machine-readable spec for `POST /v1/tasks`, `GET /v1/tasks`, `GET /v1/tasks/{id}`, `DELETE /v1/tasks/{id}`, `GET /v1/me`, and `POST /v1/uploads/sign`. Paste into Postman / Bruno / Insomnia or feed into `openapi-generator`.
- [Postman workspace](https://www.postman.com/ffhub-io/workspace/ffhub): Public Postman workspace — fork the collection, plug in your access token, run requests in seconds.
- [Pricing & credits](https://www.ffhub.io/pricing): Credit packs in USD / CNY / EUR / GBP / JPY.

## Quick start

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.ffhub.io/v1/tasks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"command": "-i https://example.com/input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 23 output.mp4"}'
```

The `command` field is the part you'd normally type after `ffmpeg` — no `ffmpeg` prefix, no input path that points to your local disk. Inputs must be HTTP(S) URLs; use the Files API if you don't have one.

## Integrations

- [CLI (npm: `ffhub`)](https://www.ffhub.io/docs/cli): `ffhub run -- -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 output.mp4`. Runs from your terminal, uploads local files automatically.
- [n8n community node](https://www.ffhub.io/docs/n8n-integration): Drop FFHub into n8n workflows for video processing automation.
- [Claude Code skill](https://www.ffhub.io/docs/claude-code-skill): Use FFHub directly from Claude Code as a managed FFmpeg toolbox.

## Browser tools (no signup to try)

Free in-browser tools that wrap the API. Useful when you just want to convert one file without writing code, or when reading the request payload would be faster than the docs.

- [Extract audio from video](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/extract-audio): MP3 / AAC / Opus / FLAC with presets (high quality, compatible, speech, lossless).
- [Video to MP3](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/video-to-mp3): MP3-locked variant — pick a quality preset and download.
- [Compress video](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/compress): H.264 / H.265 / VP9 with 5 size-vs-quality presets.
- [Convert format](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/convert): MP4 / WebM / MKV / MOV / FLV inter-conversion.
- [Trim](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/trim), [crop](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/crop), [rotate](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/rotate), [resize](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/resize), [merge](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/merge), [watermark](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/watermark): single-purpose video editors.
- [Video to GIF](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/video-to-gif), [thumbnail](https://www.ffhub.io/tools/thumbnail): exports.
- [All tools](https://www.ffhub.io/tools): Full index.

## Reliability

Built on [Modal](https://modal.com), which gives us autoscaling, isolated container execution per task, and 99.9% uptime in practice. FFHub adds: task state in Postgres (no in-memory queues), idempotent credit transactions, and outputs land in R2 with a 7-day retention window.

## What FFHub doesn't do

- **Not a YouTube downloader.** YouTube URLs aren't accepted (terms of service). Download with `yt-dlp` first, then submit the file URL.
- **Not a real-time / live streaming service.** Tasks are async; latency depends on input size and FFmpeg work. Typical 10-minute video transcode: 5–60 seconds.
- **No per-language SDKs (yet).** Use the OpenAPI spec with your favorite generator, or use the CLI directly.

## Useful links

- [Website](https://www.ffhub.io)
- [Documentation](https://www.ffhub.io/docs)
- [Playground](https://www.ffhub.io/playground): Try the API in the browser without writing code.
- [Blog](https://www.ffhub.io/blog)
- [GitHub: ffmpeg-cookbook](https://github.com/ffhub-io/ffmpeg-cookbook): Open recipes for common FFmpeg tasks.
- Contact: support@ffhub.io