CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jsffmpeg
joe
joe

Reputation: 5542

child_process.exec ffmpeg hangs indefinitely

The following code hangs indefinitely:

const pathToFfmpeg = require('ffmpeg-static');
const { promisify } = require('util');
const exec = promisify(require('child_process').exec)

(async function() {
  console.log("Starting.");
  let outputLogs = await exec(`${pathToFfmpeg} -i input.mp4 output.gif`);
  console.log("Finished:", outputLogs);
})();

It worked the first time, but then silently hangs forever.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 406

Answers (1)

joe
joe

Reputation: 5542

It's because ffmpeg is waiting for user input on whether to overwrite output.gif, which already exists. Pass the -y flag (which answers "yes" to the overwrite question automatically/non-interactively) like so:

await exec(`${pathToFfmpeg} -y -i input.mp4 output.gif`);

(Creating this Q&A to hopefully prevent others like me from having to spend half an hour debugging this.)

Upvotes: 1

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