FFmpeg is a powerful open-source command-line tool for converting, compressing, and processing media. While you can run FFmpeg locally, larger files and workloads can be slow and resource-intensive. Running FFmpeg on GCP allows you to:

• Use scalable infrastructure and faster machines
• Store input/output files in Google Cloud Storage
• Automate video/audio conversions at scale
• Pay only for the compute time you use

This repo walks you through the process with documentation and scripts.

ffmpeg-gcp-demo/
├── README.md               # Main project guide
├── docs/                   # Step-by-step tutorials
│   ├── 01-setup-project.md
│   ├── 02-compute-engine-vm.md
│   ├── 03-install-ffmpeg.md
│   ├── 04-sample-commands.md
│   ├── 05-process-video.md
│   ├── 06-other-options.md
│   └── 07-conclusion.md
├── scripts/                # Automation scripts
│   ├── install_ffmpeg.sh
│   ├── test_ffmpeg.sh
│   ├── download_from_gcs.sh
│   ├── convert_video.sh
│   └── upload_to_gcs.sh
├── examples/               # Example FFmpeg workflows
│   ├── testsrc_demo.sh
│   ├── mp4_to_webm.sh
│   └── resize_video.sh
├── gcp-config/             # Notes on VM & Storage config
│   ├── vm-instance-config.md
│   ├── storage-setup.md
│   └── access-scopes.md
└── .gitignore

• A Google Cloud account (new users get free credits)
• Billing enabled for your project
• Basic command-line knowledge (Linux shell)

1. Clone this repo

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/ffmpeg-gcp-demo.git
   cd ffmpeg-gcp-demo

2. Create a Google Cloud project See docs/01-setup-project.md

3. Launch a Compute Engine VM Follow docs/02-compute-engine-vm.md

4. Install FFmpeg

   To make the files executable, run these commandas first:

   cd scripts
   chmod +x *.sh
   cd ..

   Run the provided script:

   ./scripts/install_ffmpeg.sh

   To see what the script does, see here.

5. Test FFmpeg

   ./scripts/test_ffmpeg.sh

   To see what the script does, see here.

6. Process a video (download → convert → upload)

   ./scripts/download_from_gcs.sh
   ./scripts/convert_video.sh
   ./scripts/upload_to_gcs.sh

   To see what the scripts do, see here.

• Generate test video: examples/testsrc_demo.sh
• Convert MP4 to WebM: examples/mp4_to_webm.sh
• Resize video to 720p: examples/resize_video.sh

• Cloud Run: Package FFmpeg in a container for serverless jobs
• Transcoder API: Use Google’s managed video processing service
• Kubernetes (GKE): Scale out FFmpeg across many parallel jobs

• Never commit service account keys or credentials to GitHub.
• Use IAM roles and Access Scopes to control bucket read/write access.
• Always add credentials.json and other sensitive files to .gitignore.

• FFmpeg Documentation
• Google Cloud Docs
• Cloud Storage: gsutil
• Compute Engine

This project is licensed under the MIT License – see the LICENSE file for details.