ffmpeg-docker-containers

CRITICAL GUIDELINES

Windows File Path Requirements

MANDATORY: Always Use Backslashes on Windows for File Paths

When using Edit or Write tools on Windows, you MUST use backslashes (\) in file paths, NOT forward slashes (/).

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Quick Reference

Image	Size	GPU	Command
jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-alpine320	~100MB	No	docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/data jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-alpine320 -i /data/input.mp4 /data/output.mp4
jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-nvidia2404	~1.5GB	NVIDIA	docker run --gpus all --rm -v $(pwd):/data jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-nvidia2404 ...
jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-vaapi2404	~300MB	Intel/AMD	Add --device /dev/dri:/dev/dri
linuxserver/ffmpeg:latest	~150MB	No	LinuxServer.io maintained

When to Use This Skill

Use for containerized FFmpeg deployments:

• CI/CD pipelines needing consistent FFmpeg versions
• Multi-user systems with different FFmpeg requirements
• Production transcoding services
• Kubernetes video processing jobs
• GPU passthrough configurations

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FFmpeg in Docker Containers (2025)

Complete guide to running FFmpeg in Docker containers with GPU support, optimization, and production patterns.

Why Docker for FFmpeg?

Benefits

• Isolation: No dependency conflicts on host system
• Reproducibility: Same FFmpeg version everywhere
• Portability: Works identically across platforms
• Easy updates: Switch FFmpeg versions by changing image tag
• CI/CD integration: Consistent builds in pipelines
• GPU access: NVIDIA, Intel, AMD hardware acceleration

When to Use Docker

• Multi-user environments with different FFmpeg requirements
• CI/CD pipelines requiring specific FFmpeg builds
• Production transcoding services
• Containerized microservices architectures
• When you need specific codecs/features not in system FFmpeg

Popular FFmpeg Docker Images

jrottenberg/ffmpeg (Recommended)

Most popular and well-maintained FFmpeg Docker image.

Available variants:

Tag	Base	Size	Use Case
7.1-ubuntu2404	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	~250MB	Production, full features
7.1-alpine320	Alpine 3.20	~100MB	Minimal, fast startup
7.1-nvidia2404	Ubuntu + CUDA	~1.5GB	NVIDIA GPU
7.1-vaapi2404	Ubuntu + VAAPI	~300MB	Intel/AMD GPU (Linux)
7.1-scratch	Scratch	~80MB	Minimal, static binary
8.0-ubuntu2404	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	~250MB	Latest FFmpeg 8.0

# Pull specific version
docker pull jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404

# Latest (not recommended for production)
docker pull jrottenberg/ffmpeg:latest

linuxserver/ffmpeg

Designed for ephemeral command-line usage.

docker pull linuxserver/ffmpeg:latest

mwader/static-ffmpeg

Statically compiled FFmpeg binary.

docker pull mwader/static-ffmpeg:7.1

Basic Usage

Simple Transcode

# Mount current directory and run FFmpeg
docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
  -i /data/input.mp4 \
  -c:v libx264 \
  -c:a aac \
  /data/output.mp4

Windows (PowerShell)

# Windows PowerShell
docker run --rm `
  -v ${PWD}:/data `
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 `
  -i /data/input.mp4 `
  -c:v libx264 `
  /data/output.mp4

Windows (Git Bash/MINGW)

# Git Bash requires MSYS_NO_PATHCONV to prevent path conversion
MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1 docker run --rm \
  -v "$(pwd)":/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
  -i /data/input.mp4 \
  -c:v libx264 \
  /data/output.mp4

Using Absolute Paths

# Linux/macOS
docker run --rm \
  -v /home/user/videos:/input:ro \
  -v /home/user/output:/output \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
  -i /input/video.mp4 \
  /output/converted.mp4

# Windows
docker run --rm \
  -v C:\Videos:/input:ro \
  -v C:\Output:/output \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
  -i /input/video.mp4 \
  /output/converted.mp4

GPU Acceleration in Docker

NVIDIA GPU (Docker + NVIDIA Container Toolkit)

Requirements:

1. NVIDIA GPU with NVENC support
2. NVIDIA drivers 450+
3. NVIDIA Container Toolkit installed

Install NVIDIA Container Toolkit:

# Ubuntu/Debian
curl -fsSL https://nvidia.github.io/libnvidia-container/gpgkey | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/nvidia-container-toolkit-keyring.gpg
curl -s -L https://nvidia.github.io/libnvidia-container/stable/deb/nvidia-container-toolkit.list | \
  sed 's#deb https://#deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nvidia-container-toolkit-keyring.gpg] https://#g' | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-container-toolkit.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y nvidia-container-toolkit
sudo nvidia-ctk runtime configure --runtime=docker
sudo systemctl restart docker

Run with NVIDIA GPU:

docker run --rm --gpus all \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-nvidia2404 \
  -hwaccel cuda \
  -hwaccel_output_format cuda \
  -i /data/input.mp4 \
  -c:v h264_nvenc \
  -preset p4 \
  /data/output.mp4

Select specific GPU:

# Use GPU 0 only
docker run --rm --gpus '"device=0"' \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-nvidia2404 \
  -hwaccel cuda -i /data/input.mp4 -c:v h264_nvenc /data/output.mp4

# Use multiple GPUs
docker run --rm --gpus '"device=0,1"' \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-nvidia2404 \
  ...

Intel QSV/VAAPI (Linux)

# Intel GPU with VAAPI
docker run --rm \
  --device=/dev/dri:/dev/dri \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-vaapi2404 \
  -hwaccel vaapi \
  -hwaccel_device /dev/dri/renderD128 \
  -hwaccel_output_format vaapi \
  -i /data/input.mp4 \
  -vf 'format=nv12|vaapi,hwupload' \
  -c:v h264_vaapi \
  /data/output.mp4

AMD GPU (Linux VAAPI)

docker run --rm \
  --device=/dev/dri:/dev/dri \
  --device=/dev/kfd:/dev/kfd \
  --group-add video \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-vaapi2404 \
  -hwaccel vaapi \
  -hwaccel_device /dev/dri/renderD128 \
  -i /data/input.mp4 \
  -c:v h264_vaapi \
  /data/output.mp4

Building Custom FFmpeg Images

Minimal Custom Dockerfile

FROM ubuntu:24.04 AS builder

ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    build-essential \
    pkg-config \
    yasm \
    nasm \
    git \
    wget \
    libx264-dev \
    libx265-dev \
    libvpx-dev \
    libfdk-aac-dev \
    libmp3lame-dev \
    libopus-dev \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

WORKDIR /tmp/ffmpeg
RUN wget -O ffmpeg.tar.bz2 https://ffmpeg.org/releases/ffmpeg-7.1.tar.bz2 && \
    tar xjf ffmpeg.tar.bz2 --strip-components=1

RUN ./configure \
    --enable-gpl \
    --enable-nonfree \
    --enable-libx264 \
    --enable-libx265 \
    --enable-libvpx \
    --enable-libfdk-aac \
    --enable-libmp3lame \
    --enable-libopus \
    --disable-doc \
    --disable-debug && \
    make -j$(nproc) && \
    make install

# Production stage
FROM ubuntu:24.04

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    libx264-164 \
    libx265-209 \
    libvpx9 \
    libfdk-aac2 \
    libmp3lame0 \
    libopus0 \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

COPY --from=builder /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg /usr/local/bin/
COPY --from=builder /usr/local/bin/ffprobe /usr/local/bin/

ENTRYPOINT ["ffmpeg"]

Build with NVIDIA Support

FROM nvidia/cuda:12.4-devel-ubuntu24.04 AS builder

ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

# Install build dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    build-essential \
    pkg-config \
    yasm \
    nasm \
    git \
    wget \
    libx264-dev \
    libx265-dev \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Install nv-codec-headers
RUN git clone https://git.videolan.org/git/ffmpeg/nv-codec-headers.git && \
    cd nv-codec-headers && \
    make install

# Build FFmpeg
WORKDIR /tmp/ffmpeg
RUN wget -O ffmpeg.tar.bz2 https://ffmpeg.org/releases/ffmpeg-7.1.tar.bz2 && \
    tar xjf ffmpeg.tar.bz2 --strip-components=1

RUN ./configure \
    --enable-gpl \
    --enable-nonfree \
    --enable-cuda-nvcc \
    --enable-libnpp \
    --enable-nvenc \
    --enable-nvdec \
    --enable-cuvid \
    --enable-libx264 \
    --enable-libx265 \
    --extra-cflags=-I/usr/local/cuda/include \
    --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/local/cuda/lib64 && \
    make -j$(nproc) && \
    make install

# Production stage
FROM nvidia/cuda:12.4-runtime-ubuntu24.04

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    libx264-164 \
    libx265-209 \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

COPY --from=builder /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg /usr/local/bin/
COPY --from=builder /usr/local/bin/ffprobe /usr/local/bin/

ENTRYPOINT ["ffmpeg"]

Docker Compose Patterns

Simple Transcoding Service

version: '3.8'

services:
  ffmpeg:
    image: jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404
    volumes:
      - ./input:/input:ro
      - ./output:/output
    command: >
      -i /input/video.mp4
      -c:v libx264 -crf 23
      -c:a aac -b:a 128k
      /output/converted.mp4

GPU-Accelerated Service

version: '3.8'

services:
  ffmpeg-gpu:
    image: jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-nvidia2404
    deploy:
      resources:
        reservations:
          devices:
            - driver: nvidia
              count: 1
              capabilities: [gpu]
    volumes:
      - ./input:/input:ro
      - ./output:/output
    command: >
      -hwaccel cuda
      -hwaccel_output_format cuda
      -i /input/video.mp4
      -c:v h264_nvenc
      /output/output.mp4

Watch Folder Processing

version: '3.8'

services:
  ffmpeg-watcher:
    image: jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404
    volumes:
      - ./watch:/watch
      - ./done:/done
    entrypoint: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
    command:
      - |
        while true; do
          for f in /watch/*.mp4; do
            [ -e "$$f" ] || continue
            filename=$$(basename "$$f")
            ffmpeg -i "$$f" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 "/done/$$filename"
            rm "$$f"
          done
          sleep 5
        done
    restart: unless-stopped

Kubernetes Deployment

FFmpeg Job

apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: Job
metadata:
  name: ffmpeg-transcode
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: ffmpeg
          image: jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404
          command:
            - ffmpeg
            - -i
            - /input/video.mp4
            - -c:v
            - libx264
            - /output/output.mp4
          volumeMounts:
            - name: input
              mountPath: /input
              readOnly: true
            - name: output
              mountPath: /output
      volumes:
        - name: input
          persistentVolumeClaim:
            claimName: input-pvc
        - name: output
          persistentVolumeClaim:
            claimName: output-pvc
      restartPolicy: Never

GPU-Enabled Pod (NVIDIA)

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: ffmpeg-gpu
spec:
  containers:
    - name: ffmpeg
      image: jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-nvidia2404
      resources:
        limits:
          nvidia.com/gpu: 1
      command:
        - ffmpeg
        - -hwaccel
        - cuda
        - -i
        - /input/video.mp4
        - -c:v
        - h264_nvenc
        - /output/output.mp4
      volumeMounts:
        - name: input
          mountPath: /input
        - name: output
          mountPath: /output
  volumes:
    - name: input
      hostPath:
        path: /data/input
    - name: output
      hostPath:
        path: /data/output

Performance Optimization

Volume Mount Best Practices

# Read-only input for security
docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd)/input:/input:ro \
  -v $(pwd)/output:/output \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
  -i /input/video.mp4 /output/output.mp4

# Use tmpfs for temp files
docker run --rm \
  --tmpfs /tmp:size=1G \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
  -i /data/input.mp4 /data/output.mp4

Resource Limits

# Limit CPU and memory
docker run --rm \
  --cpus="4" \
  --memory="4g" \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
  -threads 4 \
  -i /data/input.mp4 /data/output.mp4

Parallel Processing

# Process multiple files in parallel
for f in *.mp4; do
  docker run --rm -d \
    --cpus="2" \
    -v $(pwd):/data \
    jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
    -i "/data/$f" "/data/converted_$f"
done

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Permission denied on output:

# Check file ownership
ls -la output/

# Run with current user
docker run --rm \
  --user $(id -u):$(id -g) \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
  -i /data/input.mp4 /data/output.mp4

GPU not detected:

# Verify NVIDIA runtime
docker run --rm --gpus all nvidia/cuda:12.4-base-ubuntu24.04 nvidia-smi

# Check Docker GPU support
docker info | grep -i gpu

Path conversion issues (Git Bash):

# Set MSYS_NO_PATHCONV
MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1 docker run ...

# Or add to ~/.bashrc
export MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1

Out of memory:

# Increase memory limit
docker run --rm --memory="8g" --memory-swap="8g" ...

# Use streaming mode
docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/data \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 \
  -i /data/input.mp4 \
  -f segment -segment_time 60 \
  /data/output_%03d.mp4

Debug Commands

# Enter container shell
docker run --rm -it \
  --entrypoint /bin/bash \
  jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404

# Check FFmpeg version and capabilities
docker run --rm jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 -version
docker run --rm jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 -encoders
docker run --rm jrottenberg/ffmpeg:7.1-ubuntu2404 -hwaccels

Best Practices

1. Pin image versions - Use specific tags, not latest
2. Use read-only mounts for input files
3. Limit resources to prevent host exhaustion
4. Use multi-stage builds for custom images
5. Log to stdout/stderr for container logging
6. Health checks for long-running services
7. Clean up containers with --rm flag
8. Security - Run as non-root when possible

This guide covers Docker FFmpeg patterns. For hardware acceleration specifics, see the hardware acceleration skill.