The latest articles on Forem by Farshid Rezaei (@farshid_rezaei_9ab0a01897). https://forem.com/farshid_rezaei_9ab0a01897 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F1806229%2Ff05f8bf6-04b6-42fd-9a9e-6e0c56d8d061.jpg https://forem.com/farshid_rezaei_9ab0a01897 en Farshid Rezaei Wed, 24 Dec 2025 19:30:01 +0000 https://forem.com/farshid_rezaei_9ab0a01897/i-got-tired-of-writing-ffmpeg-commands-so-i-built-a-small-go-helper-ccm https://forem.com/farshid_rezaei_9ab0a01897/i-got-tired-of-writing-ffmpeg-commands-so-i-built-a-small-go-helper-ccm <p>If you’ve worked with FFmpeg beyond one-liners, you know how quickly things get messy.</p> <p>What starts as a reasonable command slowly turns into a fragile, unreadable blob — especially once adaptive bitrate outputs, multiple renditions, and different profiles enter the picture.</p> <p>While building a video pipeline in Go, I hit this wall hard. So instead of copy-pasting yet another FFmpeg command, I wrote a small helper library to bring some structure back.</p> <h2> The Idea </h2> <p>The goal wasn’t to hide FFmpeg or replace it.</p> <p>I wanted:</p> <ul> <li>explicit, readable command generation</li> <li>a way to define encoding ladders without magic</li> <li>something testable and maintainable in a Go codebase</li> </ul> <p>The result is a small, opinionated helper that still outputs plain FFmpeg commands — just assembled in a more predictable way.</p> <h2> What It Helps With </h2> <p>Right now, the focus is on ABR workflows:</p> <ul> <li>HLS and DASH outputs using CMAF</li> <li>basic ladder generation based on input resolution</li> <li>bitrate caps and trimming redundant renditions</li> <li>different presets for VOD vs live use cases</li> </ul> <p>It’s intentionally narrow, but already useful in real projects.</p> <h2> What It’s Not </h2> <ul> <li>Not a wrapper that hides FFmpeg</li> <li>Not a “perfect ladder” generator</li> <li>Not a one-size-fits-all solution</li> </ul> <p>If shell scripts work for you, that’s totally fine. This just fits better with how I like to structure Go services.</p> <h2> Source </h2> <p>The project is open source and here if you want to take a look:<br> <a href="https://github.com/farshidrezaei/mosaic" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/farshidrezaei/mosaic</a></p> <p>I’d love feedback — especially from people who’ve wrestled with FFmpeg pipelines or ABR setups before.</p> go ffmpeg videostreaming opensource