How do I read a video's duration, resolution and codecs over an API?

Q: How do I read a video's duration, resolution and codecs over an API?

Use /api/ffprobe/job/ instead of the ffmpeg endpoint. It inspects the file and returns ffprobe's JSON without writing an output, and it usually answers 200 on the spot rather than queueing a job.

Get video metadata with an API

Use /api/ffprobe/job/ instead of the ffmpeg endpoint. It inspects the file and returns ffprobe's JSON without writing an output, and it usually answers 200 on the spot rather than queueing a job.

The ffmpeg command

What you would run locally, for reference.

ffprobe -v error -select_streams v:0 \
  -show_entries stream=width,height,r_frame_rate \
  -of json input.mp4

The API request

The same flags, sent as JSON. Authenticate with Authorization: Token <your-api-token>.

POST /api/ffprobe/job/

{
  "input_source": "https://example.com/input.mp4",
  "options": [
    "-select_streams",
    "v:0",
    "-show_entries",
    "stream=width,height,r_frame_rate"
  ]
}

Worth knowing

This endpoint answers two ways and a client has to handle both: 200 with the metadata in the body, or 202 with a job_id to poll when the probe has real work to do (a slow external URL, or -count_frames).
Send no -show_* flag and you get everything ffprobe knows (-show_format -show_streams). Ask for specific entries and the sections you didn't ask for come back empty.
-of/-print_format and -v/-loglevel are rejected with a 400 — the server controls them to keep the output parseable.

What it costs

Jobs bill in processing seconds — the CPU time this one actually uses — with a floor of 25 seconds per GB pulled out of storage to run it, so a stream-copy still counts. Uploading the output and downloading it afterwards are free. See the plans.

Related guides

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