How to Use FFmpeg with TypeScript (No Installation Required)

Short summary

Compare four TypeScript approaches to video processing: spawn FFmpeg directly (fast, untyped), fluent-ffmpeg with community types (Docker overhead), ffmpeg.wasm for browser use (10-20x slower), or a cloud API (fully typed, no infrastructure). Each trades performance, type safety, and operational burden. Developers building Next.js apps, Bun servers, or Express APIs can pick the approach matching their throughput and deployment constraints.

• •Four approaches with different trade-offs: native spawn, fluent-ffmpeg, WebAssembly, cloud API
• •Key tensions: speed vs type safety vs Docker image size vs installation requirements
• •Cloud APIs offer the best developer experience (full typing, no setup) but add latency and cost

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