FFmpeg for your AI assistant

Give Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and any other MCP client real media skills. Ask it to convert, compress, trim, thumbnail or inspect a video — it runs the work on FFmpeg API and hands back the result. No FFmpeg commands, no code.

https://mcp.ffmpeg-api.com/mcp

✅

Free to start. Connecting with sign-in creates a free account automatically — you can be up and running in about 30 seconds, no API key to copy by hand.

Try it

Once connected, just ask your assistant in plain English:

“Compress this video to under 25 MB: https://example.com/clip.mp4”
“Make a 3-second GIF from the first scene of this video”
“What codec, resolution and duration is this file?”
“Extract the audio from this video as an MP3”

Point it at a public URL and there is nothing to upload — the assistant reads the link directly.

How it works

Connect the server URL in your MCP client (setup per client below).
Ask for what you want in plain language.
Get a download link back, produced by FFmpeg in the cloud.

Usage counts toward your plan just like a normal API call — same limits, same pricing.

Set it up

In Claude, open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, paste the URL, and sign in when prompted.

https://mcp.ffmpeg-api.com/mcp

claude mcp add --transport http ffmpeg-api https://mcp.ffmpeg-api.com/mcp

Then run /mcp to sign in. Prefer an API key? Add it as a header instead:

claude mcp add --transport http ffmpeg-api https://mcp.ffmpeg-api.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Turn on Developer mode (Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced), then create a connector with the server URL.

https://mcp.ffmpeg-api.com/mcp

Add to Cursor with one click, or add it to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ffmpeg-api": { "url": "https://mcp.ffmpeg-api.com/mcp" }
  }
}

code --add-mcp '{"name":"ffmpeg-api","type":"http","url":"https://mcp.ffmpeg-api.com/mcp"}'

What it can do

Convert & compress — change format, shrink file size, re-encode
Edit — trim, crop, scale, overlay, extract audio, make GIFs
Thumbnails & frames — grab a still at any timestamp
Inspect — codec, resolution, duration, bitrate and full FFprobe metadata
Plain-English mode — describe the result and let the AI build the command
Manage files — upload, list and clean up your working files

Everything the FFmpeg API does is available as a tool your assistant can call.

Two ways to connect

Sign in (OAuth) — best for Claude and ChatGPT. Signing in creates or links a free account; nothing to copy.
API key — best for Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code. Pass your dashboard key as Authorization: Bearer <key>.

Full setup notes, the tool list and network requirements are in the MCP docs.

Get started

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Connect the URL above in your assistant, or create an account first. See pricing — start free.