README

ffmpeg for homebridge

This project provides static ffmpeg binaries for multiple platforms and architectures for use with Homebridge.

Audio support using libfdk-aac
Hardware decoding on the Raspberry Pi using h264_omx

Supported Platforms

OS	Supported Architectures
Raspbian Linux (9+)	armv6l (armv7l)
Debian/Ubuntu Linux	x86_64, armv7l, aarch64
Alpine Linux	x86_64, armv6l, aarch64
macOS (10.14 "Mojave" or newer)	x86_64
Windows 10^*	x86_64

^* Not all codecs are supported on Windows 10.

Install

Raspbian Linux:

sudo curl -Lf# https://github.com/homebridge/ffmpeg-for-homebridge/releases/latest/download/ffmpeg-raspbian-armv6l.tar.gz | sudo tar xzf - -C / --no-same-owner

Debian / Ubuntu Linux:

sudo curl -Lf# https://github.com/homebridge/ffmpeg-for-homebridge/releases/latest/download/ffmpeg-debian-$(uname -m).tar.gz | sudo tar xzf - -C / --no-same-owner

macOS:

sudo curl -Lf# https://github.com/homebridge/ffmpeg-for-homebridge/releases/latest/download/ffmpeg-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz | sudo tar xzfm - -C / --no-same-owner

Windows:

Download the ffmpeg.exe file from the releases page.

Build Flags

The ffmpeg binary is built with the following options enabled:

  --enable-static
  --disable-debug
  --disable-shared
  --disable-ffplay
  --disable-doc
  --enable-openssl
  --enable-gpl
  --enable-version3
  --enable-nonfree
  --enable-pthreads
  --enable-libvpx
  --enable-libmp3lame
  --enable-libspeex
  --enable-libopus
  --enable-libtheora
  --enable-libvorbis
  --enable-libx264
  --enable-runtime-cpudetect
  --enable-libfdk-aac
  --enable-avfilter
  --enable-libopencore_amrwb
  --enable-libopencore_amrnb
  --enable-filters
  --enable-decoder=h264
  --enable-network
  --enable-protocol=tcp
  --enable-demuxer=rtsp
  --enable-indev=alsa           # Linux Only
  --enable-outdev=alsa          # Linux Only
  --enable-omx-rpi              # Raspbian Linux builds only
  --enable-mmal                 # Raspbian Linux builds only

Issues

Issues related to Homebridge, any camera plugins, or your config.json, should be raised on the corresponding project page or community support forums.

Issues strictly related to the compatibility or installation of the resulting binary may be raised here.

Plugin Dependency

This section is for Homebridge Plugin developers only, if you need to install ffmpeg see the instructions above.

You can optionally include this package as a dependency in your Homebridge camera plugins, by doing this the correct ffmpeg binary will automatically be downloaded to your user's server when they install your plugin.

npm install --save ffmpeg-for-homebridge

var pathToFfmpeg = require('ffmpeg-for-homebridge');

// fallback to system ffmpeg
child_process.spawn(pathToFfmpeg || 'ffmpeg', []);

If ffmpeg is not supported on the user's platform, or this package failed to download the ffmpeg binary, the package will return undefined, you should check for this and and try and use ffmpeg from the user's PATH instead.

You will need to update your plugin's README installation command to include the --unsafe-perm flag. For example:

# example 
sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm homebridge-fake-camera-plugin

Credits

Linux and macOS build script: markus-perl/ffmpeg-build-script
Windows build script: rdp/ffmpeg-windows-build-helpers

Usage no npm install needed!