Typed media services

FFmpeg jobs with a safer contract.

RenderMac exposes the media operations teams use most — stitch, transcode, caption burn, and audio mix — without handing an untrusted worker an arbitrary shell. Execution stays on Apple Silicon capacity behind estimate, idempotency, webhooks, and artifact checks.

Create free beta account API docs What is an FFmpeg API?

Important: service IDs and input schemas in OpenAPI are the source of truth. Public capacity and rate-card claims wait for production fleet gates. Buyer beta fee ceiling is $0.

Category map of FFmpeg API alternatives from shell risk to Apple Silicon bounded services — Where RenderMac sits: Apple Silicon bounded services — not arbitrary shell, not a generic Linux-only encode box.

Choose a bounded service

ffmpeg.stitch_export.v1

Join ordered media URLs with explicit codec and audio-copy choices.

ffmpeg.transcode.v1

Normalize a source to a declared output profile, including VideoToolbox intent.

ffmpeg.caption_burn.v1

Burn an ASS or SRT track from a trusted URL with bounded subtitle options.

ffmpeg.audio_mix.v1

Mix dialogue, music, and effects with bounded gain, offset, loop, and ducking.

Production-friendly behavior

Estimate before create, with quote expiry and an ETA band.
Use an idempotency key for safe network retries.
Verify signed terminal webhooks (and bounded fallback refresh).
Retrieve and verify the artifact before user publish.

POST /v1/jobs/estimate
{"service_id":"ffmpeg.transcode.v1","pool":"private_first_party","region":"us-east"}

When FFmpeg beats Remotion (and when it does not)

Use FFmpeg services when you already have files to transform. Use Remotion when frames are generated from a composition. Full chooser: Remotion vs FFmpeg · service how-to.

Encode evidence

VideoToolbox H.264 on M2 Max finished a 20-minute 1080p30 encode in 95.1 s versus 2371.1 s on a Cloudflare Containers-shaped x264 path (~$0.0474 rate-card). See VT bakeoff and cost compare.