Install and Use FFmpeg with PHP‑FFMpeg on Ubuntu

Overview

FFmpeg is an open‑source suite for recording, converting, and streaming digital audio and video. It provides the libavcodec library with many codecs written from scratch for portability and quality. Although originally developed for Linux, FFmpeg can be built on Windows, macOS and other operating systems.

GitHub releases: https://github.com/BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds/releases

Installation on Ubuntu 18.04

Install the pre‑built binaries from the Ubuntu repositories: sudo apt-get install ffmpeg Verify the installation:

ffmpeg -version
ffprobe -version

Integration with the Webman framework

Install Webman

$ composer create-project workerman/webman webman2024

Install PHP‑FFMpeg

Requires PHP 8.0 or higher; the examples use PHP 8.2.14.

composer require php-ffmpeg/php-ffmpeg

If a specific PHP binary is needed, invoke Composer with that binary:

/usr/local/php-8.2.14/bin/php /home/www/build/composer.phar require php-ffmpeg/php-ffmpeg

Example 1 – Extract a frame from an MP4 video

/**
 * @desc Example 1: Extract a single image from an MP4 video
 */
public function ffmpeg(Request $request)
{
    // 1. Initialise FFmpeg configuration
    $ffmpeg = \FFMpeg\FFMpeg::create([
        'ffmpeg.binaries' => '/usr/bin/ffmpeg',
        'ffprobe.binaries'=> '/usr/bin/ffprobe'
    ]);

    // 2. Open the source video
    $video = $ffmpeg->open(runtime_path() . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'tinywan.mp4');

    // 3. Capture a frame at 20 seconds and save it as an image
    $video->frame(\FFMpeg\Coordinate\TimeCode::fromSeconds(20))
          ->save(runtime_path() . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'tinywan.jpg');
}

Test endpoint: curl http://127.0.0.1:8888/index/ffmpeg

The command returns the internal FFmpeg object structure (truncated for brevity).

Resulting screenshot captured by FFmpeg:

Example 2 – Add a watermark to an MP4 video

/**
 * @desc Example 2: Add a watermark to an MP4 video
 */
public function watermark(Request $request)
{
    // 1. Initialise FFmpeg configuration
    $ffmpeg = \FFMpeg\FFMpeg::create([
        'ffmpeg.binaries' => '/usr/bin/ffmpeg',
        'ffprobe.binaries'=> '/usr/bin/ffprobe'
    ]);

    // 2. Open the source video
    $video = $ffmpeg->open(runtime_path() . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'tinywan.mp4');

    // 3. Path to the watermark image
    $watermarkPath = runtime_path() . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'tinywan-watermark.png';

    // 4. Apply the watermark filter (relative positioning, 120 px from bottom and right)
    $video->filters()->watermark($watermarkPath, [
        'position' => 'relative',
        'bottom'   => 120,
        'right'    => 120,
    ]);

    // 5. Choose an output format (x264 for H.264/AVC)
    $format = new \FFMpeg\Format\Video\X264();

    // 6. Save the watermarked video
    $video->save($format, runtime_path() . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'tinywan-watermark.mp4');
}

Test endpoint: curl http://127.0.0.1:8888/index/watermark (processing time depends on video size).

The output file tinywan-watermark.mp4 now contains the "Open Source Technology Stack" logo as a watermark.

Example 3 – Basic video clipping (code omitted)

The article mentions a third example for video clipping, but the source code was not provided.