---
title: FFmpeg
description: Instructions on how to integrate FFmpeg within Home Assistant.
ha_category:
  - Image Processing
ha_release: 0.29
ha_domain: ffmpeg
ha_platforms:
  - camera
ha_integration_type: integration
---

The FFmpeg integration allows other Home Assistant integrations to process
video and audio streams.

This integration supports all FFmpeg versions since 3.0.0. If you run
the Home Assistant Operating System or use the Home Assistant Container,
this is already pre-installed for you. In all other cases, make sure
you have FFmpeg installed on your system.

## Configuration

To set it up, add the following information to your `configuration.yaml` file:

```yaml
ffmpeg:
```

{% configuration %}
ffmpeg_bin:
  description: The name or path to the `ffmpeg` binary.
  required: false
  default: ffmpeg
  type: string
{% endconfiguration %}

### Troubleshooting

In most cases, `ffmpeg` automatically detects all needed options to read
a video or audio stream or file. But it is possible in rare cases that you
will need to set options to help `ffmpeg` out.

First, check that your stream is playable by `ffmpeg` outside of Home Assistant
with (use option `-an` or `-vn` to disable video or audio stream):

```bash
ffmpeg -i INPUT -an -f null -
```

Now you should be able to see what is going wrong. The following list contains some common problems and solutions:

- `[rtsp @ ...] UDP timeout, retrying with TCP`: You need to set an RTSP transport in the configuration with: `input: -rtsp_transport tcp -i INPUT`
- `[rtsp @ ...] Could not find codec parameters for stream 0 (Video: ..., none): unspecified size`: FFmpeg needs more data or time for autodetection (the default is 5 seconds). You can set the `analyzeduration` and/or `probesize` options to experiment with giving FFmpeg more leeway. If you find the needed value, you can set it with: `input: -analyzeduration xy -probesize xy -i INPUT`. More information about this can be found [here](https://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-formats.html#Description).

#### USB cameras

For `INPUT` a valid source is needed. A USB camera is an easy way to test your video setup. To get all available USB cameras connected to the system, e.g., use the v4l2 tools on a Linux machine.

```bash
$ v4l2-ctl --list-devices
UVC Camera (046d:0825) (usb-0000:00:14.0-1):
  /dev/video1

Integrated Camera (usb-0000:00:14.0-10):
  /dev/video0
```

Record a test video with your USB device `/dev/video1`:

```bash
$ ffmpeg -i /dev/video1 -codec:v libx264 -qp 0 lossless.mp4
[...]
Input #0, video4linux2,v4l2, from '/dev/video1':
  Duration: N/A, start: 43556.376974, bitrate: 147456 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (YUY2 / 0x32595559), yuyv422, 640x480, 147456 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 1000k tbn, 1000k tbc
[...]
Output #0, mp4, to 'lossless.mp4':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf57.41.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (libx264) ([33][0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuv422p, 640x480, q=-1--1, 30 fps, 15360 tbn, 30 tbc
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc57.48.101 libx264
    Side data:
      cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 0/0/0 buffer size: 0 vbv_delay: -1
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (rawvideo (native) -> h264 (libx264))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=  223 fps= 40 q=-1.0 Lsize=   16709kB time=00:00:07.40 bitrate=18497.5kbits/s dup=58 drop=0 speed=1.32x
```