Effortlessly Compress Videos with FFMPEGAPI.net's REST API

What is FFMPEGAPI.net?

FFMPEGAPI.net is a hosted REST API designed for developers who need to process audio and video files without dealing with complex server setups. The API-key authentication ensures secure access to the tools you need for automation, SaaS applications, content pipelines, and AI agents.

Using the Compress Video Endpoint

The Compress Video endpoint allows you to compress a video file into a smaller H.264/AAC MP4 format. This is essential for reducing bandwidth usage and improving load times for your applications. By using quality-first CRF settings, you can ensure that your videos retain their visual fidelity even after compression.

The endpoint is a POST request at the path '/api/compress_video' and accepts various parameters, making it highly customizable.

curl -X POST https://ffmpegapi.net/api/compress_video \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"video_url": "https://example.com/video.mp4", "crf": 28, "preset": "medium", "max_width": 1280, "audio_bitrate": "128k"}'

import requests

url = 'https://ffmpegapi.net/api/compress_video'
headers = {'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
data = {
    'video_url': 'https://example.com/video.mp4',
    'crf': 28,
    'preset': 'medium',
    'max_width': 1280,
    'audio_bitrate': '128k'
}
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)
print(response.json())

Parameters for Compression

The Compress Video endpoint includes several parameters to customize your compression process. Here’s a breakdown of the key parameters you can use:

1. **video_url** (required): The URL of the video you want to compress.

2. **crf** (optional, default: 28): The Constant Rate Factor for quality control. Lower values mean higher quality.

3. **preset** (optional, default: medium): The encoding preset that affects encoding speed and file size.

4. **max_width** (optional): Specify the maximum width for the output video to prevent upscaling.