Originally published at ffmpeg-micro.com
You need to process video in your TypeScript project. Maybe you're building a Next.js app that generates thumbnails, a Bun server that transcodes user uploads, or an Express API that automates video workflows. You search for "ffmpeg typescript" and find a mess of untyped wrappers, broken binaries, and workarounds.
TypeScript developers deserve type-safe video processing. But most approaches to FFmpeg in the Node.js ecosystem were built for JavaScript first, and the TypeScript experience is an afterthought. There are several paths, each with real tradeoffs.
Using child_process with TypeScript
The lowest-level approach. Install FFmpeg on your system and call it via Node's child_process:
