gompeg

Fluent, cross-platform FFmpeg CLI wrapper for Go

Features

• Fluent API – chain methods to build complex FFmpeg commands without string concatenation.
• Common workflows – RTMP streaming, MP4/HLS transcoding, screenshots, audio-only, custom flags.
• Pipe support – use io.Reader / io.Writer for stdin/stdout streams.
• Cross-platform – works on Linux, macOS, and Windows. FFmpeg auto-detected or custom path.
• Production-ready – 90 %+ test coverage, MIT license, GitHub Actions CI, semver releases.

Installation

go get github.com/bitcodr/gompeg@v1

FFmpeg required – install it first:

• Ubuntu: sudo apt install ffmpeg
• macOS: brew install ffmpeg
• Windows: choco install ffmpeg

Usage

Basic example

package main
import (
    "log"
    "github.com/bitcodr/gompeg"
)

func main() {
    err := gompeg.New().
        Input("input.mp4").
        VideoCodec("libx264").
        Output("output.mp4").
        Run()
    if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }
}

Preview the command without running

cmd := gompeg.New().Input("in.mp4").Output("out.mkv")
fmt.Println(cmd.String()) // prints full ffmpeg CLI

With context / timeouts

ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 30*time.Second)
defer cancel()
if err := gompeg.New().
        Input("in.mp4").
        Output("out.mp4").
        RunWithContext(ctx); err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
}

Pipe data through stdin / stdout

r, w := io.Pipe()         // example reader/writer pair
// write data to w in another goroutine …
err := gompeg.New().
    PipeInput(r).                    // ffmpeg reads from stdin ("-i -")
    OutputFormat("mp3").
    AudioCodec("libmp3lame").
    PipeOutput(os.Stdout).           // ffmpeg writes MP3 to stdout ("-")
    Run()

Add custom ffmpeg flags

err := gompeg.New().
    Input("input.mp4").
    Extra("-vf", "transpose=1").     // raw flags
    Output("rotated.mp4").
    Run()

Example Programs

The examples/ directory contains real-world usage programs:

• HLS segmenting: examples/hls/main.go
• RTMP streaming: examples/rtmp.go
• Screenshot from video: examples/screenshot.go
• Audio extraction: examples/audio_extract.go

Each file contains a function you can call or copy into your own project. To run an example, copy the function into a main() or adapt as needed.

Common recipes

1 • Transcode to MP4 (H.264 + AAC)

err := gompeg.New().
    Input("input.mkv").
    VideoCodec("libx264").
    AudioCodec("aac").
    Output("output.mp4").
    Run()

2 • Live-stream file to RTMP

err := gompeg.Stream().
    Input("video.mp4").
    Preset("veryfast").
    Output("rtmp://localhost/live/stream").
    RealTime().                      // adds -re
    Run()

3 • Generate HLS

err := gompeg.HLS().
    Input("movie.mp4").
    SegmentTime(5).                  // set HLS segment duration (seconds)
    Output("stream.m3u8").
    Run()

4 • Extract audio (MP3)

err := gompeg.New().
    Input("podcast.wav").
    NoVideo().
    AudioCodec("libmp3lame").
    AudioBitrate(192).
    Output("podcast.mp3").
    Run()

5 • Single-frame screenshot

err := gompeg.New().
    Input("video.mp4").
    Seek("00:00:10").
    VFrames(1).
    OutputFormat("image2").
    Output("shot.jpg").
    Run()

API Reference

Every builder method returns the same *gompeg.Command, so you can chain arbitrarily:

Presets

• gompeg.New() – start a new command

• gompeg.HLS() – set format to HLS (-f hls)
• gompeg.Stream() – set format to FLV (for RTMP streaming)

Chainable Methods

• .Input(path string) – add input file

• .Output(path string) – add output file
• .Format(fmt string) – set output format (e.g. "mp4", "hls", "flv")
• .OutputFormat(fmt string) – alias for .Format
• .VideoCodec(codec string) – set video codec (e.g. "libx264")
• .AudioCodec(codec string) – set audio codec (e.g. "aac")
• .VideoBitrate(kbps int) – set video bitrate (kbps)
• .AudioBitrate(kbps int) – set audio bitrate (kbps)
• .Preset(preset string) – set encoder preset (e.g. "fast")
• .Seek(timestamp string) – seek to timestamp (e.g. "00:00:10")
• .VFrames(n int) – set number of video frames to output
• .RealTime() – add -re for real-time input
• .NoVideo() – disable video stream
• .NoAudio() – disable audio stream
• .PipeInput(r io.Reader) – set stdin
• .PipeOutput(w io.Writer) – set stdout
• .Logs(w io.Writer) – set stderr
• .Extra(args ...string) – add custom ffmpeg flags
• .SegmentTime(seconds int) – set HLS segment duration (only for HLS)

Execution

• .Run() – run the command

• .RunWithContext(ctx) – run with context (for cancellation/timeouts)
• .String() – print the full ffmpeg command

Development & Contributing

go test ./...        # run unit + integration tests
go test -cover       # view coverage

• FFmpeg must be on $PATH for integration tests.

• CI runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
• Ensure go fmt ./... is clean and new code has tests.

License

MIT – see LICENSE.