FFmpeg RPi Docker Images

Optimised Docker images with ffmpeg for Raspberry Pi

Building

FFmpeg is compiled with the --non-free and --enable-gpl flags so it may not be distributable in binary form, such as in a Docker image on DockerHub. Therefore, to use, you will need to build the images yourself (please ensure you adhere to the terms of all relevant licenses).

To build the the image:

docker build -t colinnolan/ffmpeg-rpi:latest .

Note: this may take several hours on a RPi!

The base image can be changed by setting the BASE_IMAGE build arg (ubuntu is default), e.g.

docker build --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=debian:buster -t colinnolan/ffmpeg-rpi:latest .

Note that the ARM side libraries (e.g. mmal) are built and then linked against. According to the userland README, 64-bit aarch64 builds of the ARM side libraries are not (officially) supported.

Usage

As a Docker Container

ffmpeg is set as the image's entrypoint so the optimised tool can be easily used in a container, e.g.:

docker run --rm colinnolan/ffmpeg-rpi:latest --help

Alternatively, the image can be used as a base image for another image.

Outside of Docker

The Dockerfile can be used to build FFmpeg for use outside of Docker. A dedicated export stage exists to easily enable this:

docker build --target export --output /tmp/output .

The output directory contains two files - the FFmpeg binary and a Debian package that can be used for installations:

ffmpeg
rpi-ffmpeg.deb

The binary can be used directly if the machine it is run on has the required dependencies installed (e.g. check ldd /tmp/output/ffmpeg for missing shared objects). It can be installed using:

mv /tmp/output/ffmpeg /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg

and will then be available on the PATH, i.e.

ffmpeg --help

Alternatively, the Debian package can be installed with:

apt install /tmp/output/rpi-ffmpeg.deb

This installs ffmpeg onto the path, along with the required dependencies.

Note: if the ffmpeg binary complains about missing shared objects, it may be because the machine it is ran on has incompatible versions of the dependencies that it was compiled against. This may be fixable by setting BASE_IMAGE on the build to the same OS as that on the target machine. If this does not work, it may be because FFmpeg is built against the latest userland libraries but those installed on the target machine are not new enough (and would need updating).

Legal

The copy of FFmpeg produced is not free software and must be used according to the relevant liceses of the software that goes in its production. I am not responsible for how the products of this software are used.

I am not affiliated to FFmpeg in any way.

This work is in no way related to the company that I work for.