The official Very Good FFmpeg n8n community node is live. You can now run raw FFmpeg jobs from inside n8n workflows without hand-building HTTP Request nodes, presigned upload flows, or polling loops.
The node is published on npm as @verygoodffmpeg/n8n-nodes-verygoodffmpeg and is available today to self-hosted n8n users. We have submitted the node for n8n verification, and it will be available to n8n Cloud users once that process completes.
What does the n8n node do?
The package ships two nodes.
The Very Good FFmpeg node covers the full job lifecycle:
- Job > Run: submit an FFmpeg job with named input URLs, output filenames, and FFmpeg command lines. Use raw FFmpeg syntax with
{{input}}and{{output.mp4}}placeholders. Multiple commands run in order in the same workspace. - Job > Get: fetch a job by ID, including status and output file URLs.
- Job > List: list recent jobs with paging.
- Job > Cancel: cancel a queued or running job.
- File > Upload: upload binary data from your workflow and get back a URL usable as a job input. This means files from HTTP Request, Google Drive, or any other node can flow straight into an FFmpeg job.
The Very Good FFmpeg Trigger node is a webhook trigger that fires when a job finishes. Point a Job > Run at its webhook URL, leave Wait for Completion off, and long transcodes run without blocking your workflow or hitting n8n execution timeouts.
Both nodes are marked usableAsTool, so you can attach them to an n8n AI Agent node as tools or expose them to external MCP clients through n8n's MCP Server Trigger.
How do I install it?
On a self-hosted n8n instance:
- Create an API key in the Very Good FFmpeg dashboard.
- In n8n, go to Settings > Community Nodes > Install and enter
@verygoodffmpeg/n8n-nodes-verygoodffmpeg. - Add a Very Good FFmpeg API credential and paste your API key.
That is the whole setup. The n8n integration docs walk through a full example: trimming a video to 5 seconds in a single node, plus patterns for long jobs, binary data, and AI agent use.
When will it work on n8n Cloud?
n8n Cloud only allows verified community nodes. We have submitted the node for verification and it is under review by the n8n team. Once verification completes, n8n Cloud users will be able to install it directly from the Cloud nodes panel. Until then, the node requires a self-hosted n8n instance.
We will update this post when Cloud availability lands.
Why build a dedicated node instead of using HTTP Request?
You could always call the Very Good FFmpeg REST API from n8n's HTTP Request node, and plenty of users did. The dedicated node removes the boilerplate:
- No manual auth headers. The credential handles it.
- No hand-rolled polling loops. Wait for Completion handles short jobs, and the Trigger node handles long ones.
- No separate upload choreography. File > Upload takes workflow binary data directly.
- API failures surface as standard n8n node errors with the HTTP status and message, so n8n's On Error retry and continue settings work as expected.
Under the hood it is the same API: exact FFmpeg commands, 16-core 5 GHz CPU or Nvidia GPU machines, 6-hour job runtimes, and per-GB pricing with no subscription.
Get started
Install the node on your self-hosted instance, grab a free API key (2 GB free, no credit card), and run your first job. The integration docs have a copy-paste example.
If you hit issues or want an operation the node does not cover yet, tell us. The node is developed alongside the API and ships updates on npm.