Docker Integration

You can use ffmpeg-over-ip in Docker environments by mounting the binary and passing configuration via environment variables. This allows containers to use ffmpeg remotely without needing GPU passthrough or other special setup.

Client in Docker

Mount the client binary as /usr/bin/ffmpeg and pass config via environment variables:

docker run \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_CLIENT_ADDRESS=192.168.1.100:5050 \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_CLIENT_AUTH_SECRET=your-secret \
  -v ./ffmpeg-over-ip-client:/usr/bin/ffmpeg \
  your-image

For ffprobe support, add a second mount:

docker run \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_CLIENT_ADDRESS=192.168.1.100:5050 \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_CLIENT_AUTH_SECRET=your-secret \
  -v ./ffmpeg-over-ip-client:/usr/bin/ffmpeg \
  -v ./ffmpeg-over-ip-client:/usr/bin/ffprobe \
  your-image

You can also use a config file volume instead of env vars — see Configuration for details.

Server in Docker

docker run \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_SERVER_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:5050 \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_SERVER_AUTH_SECRET=your-secret \
  -v ./ffmpeg-over-ip-server:/usr/bin/ffmpeg-over-ip-server \
  -v ./ffmpeg:/usr/bin/ffmpeg \
  -v ./ffprobe:/usr/bin/ffprobe \
  --runtime=nvidia \
  your-image

All three binaries (ffmpeg-over-ip-server, ffmpeg, ffprobe) must be in the same directory inside the container.

Unix Sockets (same-machine setups)

If the server and client run on the same machine (e.g., server on the host, client in a container), use a Unix socket instead of TCP to avoid network overhead and host.docker.internal configuration:

Start the server with a socket address (config file or env var):

export FFMPEG_OVER_IP_SERVER_ADDRESS=unix:/tmp/ffmpeg-over-ip.sock
export FFMPEG_OVER_IP_SERVER_AUTH_SECRET=your-secret
./ffmpeg-over-ip-server

Then mount the socket into the container:

docker run \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_CLIENT_ADDRESS=unix:/tmp/ffmpeg-over-ip.sock \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_CLIENT_AUTH_SECRET=your-secret \
  -v /tmp/ffmpeg-over-ip.sock:/tmp/ffmpeg-over-ip.sock \
  -v ./ffmpeg-over-ip-client:/usr/bin/ffmpeg \
  your-image

Debugging

Enable debug logging on the server via env vars:

docker run \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_SERVER_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:5050 \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_SERVER_AUTH_SECRET=your-secret \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_SERVER_LOG=stdout \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_SERVER_DEBUG=true \
  -v ./ffmpeg-over-ip-server:/usr/bin/ffmpeg-over-ip-server \
  -v ./ffmpeg:/usr/bin/ffmpeg \
  -v ./ffprobe:/usr/bin/ffprobe \
  --runtime=nvidia \
  your-image

For the client, log to a file you can tail from inside the container:

docker run \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_CLIENT_ADDRESS=192.168.1.100:5050 \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_CLIENT_AUTH_SECRET=your-secret \
  -e FFMPEG_OVER_IP_CLIENT_LOG=/tmp/ffmpeg-over-ip.client.log \
  -v ./ffmpeg-over-ip-client:/usr/bin/ffmpeg \
  your-image

Then tail it:

docker exec -it <container> tail -f /tmp/ffmpeg-over-ip.client.log

Note: rewrites require a config file — they can't be set via env vars. If you need rewrites alongside env var config, use FFMPEG_OVER_IP_SERVER_CONFIG to point to a config file instead.