FFmpeg Hosting: Which Host Is Best For Your Multimedia Needs?

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Compare FFmpeg Hosting

For websites that host multimedia content, FFmpeg can help manage the web hosting resources your website needs. However, not all hosting providers are ideal for FFmpeg sites.

For good FFmpeg hosting, make sure that the bandwidth and disk space policies are adequate for your intended usage. Keep in mind that “unlimited” doesn’t always mean unlimited, and have a conversation with the host about expected site traffic and streaming statistics prior to making a purchase.

Read below for more details about each hosting company, but as a preview, here are the best five hosts for FFmpeg:

  1. SiteGround – Great support for setting up FFmpeg and 24/7 monitoring
  2. Bluehost
  3. A2 Hosting
  4. HostGator
  5. Liquid Web

How Did We Pick the Best Hosts for FFmpeg?

We’ve been doing expert reviews of hosting providers for over a decade. During that time we’ve reviewed over 380 hosts and 1,500 hosting plans. We shortlisted the hosts with great customer service and a reputation for not being stingy with “unlimited” resources.

Lastly, we integrated over 1 million words of reviews by genuine customers to bring you the top ten hosting providers for FFmpeg.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE: #1 HOST FOR ffmpeg Apr 2021
#1
Dedicated Standard plan

$79.99 / mo

#2
Entry VPS plan

$5 / mo

#3
Snappy VPS 1000 plan

$25.98 / mo

#4
2 GB VPS plan

$59 / mo

#5
Shared Web Hosting plan

$2.59 / mo

#6
Webfaction Plan plan

$8.50 / mo

#7
Beginner VPS plan

$29.95 / mo

#8
Face Standard plan

$3.45 / mo

#9
DO1GB plan

$10 / mo

#10
VPS – Developer plan

$25 / mo

What is FFmpeg?

Does your website have a lot of images, audio, video, or other multimedia content?

A hosting plan that includes FFmpeg can keep your bandwidth and disk space usage down.

FFmpeg is free, open source software designed to facilitate the creation, management, conversion, and streaming of multimedia content.

FFmpeg homepage screenshot

FFmpeg homepage screenshot courtesy of WhoIsHostingThis

If you think your multimedia-rich site will be fine with your unlimited bandwidth hosting, you might want to recheck your terms of service: “unlimited” isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.

Reducing Bandwidth Usage With FFmpeg

For a website full of multimedia, those video, audio, and image files could use up tons of bandwidth. If you go over your allotted bandwidth, you could find yourself in violation of your terms of service and in danger of getting your site shut down.

If you’re lucky, your host might allow you to download your files… but if they decide to deny you access, your website will just be gone.

What FFmpeg does

Luckily, there’s a hosting feature called FFmpeg that will help keep your multimedia-rich site’s bandwidth usage down.

Created in 2000, FFmpeg is a free and open source collection of tools and libraries that allows users to record, convert, and stream video and audio in a multitude of formats.

These tools are extremely useful in optimizing files for online sharing and streaming.

FFmpeg about page screenshot

FFmpeg about page screenshot courtesy of WhoIsHostingThis

The Value of Compressing Multimedia Files

Video and audio files in their original, uncompressed formats are often enormous in size.

For example, a high-quality MPEG2 file captured right from your DVD would be a huge file, into the hundreds of megabytes for just a few minutes.

By converting it to a much smaller, but still viewable, VOB format, you could save a lot of space and bandwidth — two critical considerations for any website owner in an age where “unlimited bandwidth” doesn’t always live up to its name.

Can My Website Benefit From FFmpeg Hosting?

Depending on the type of website you’re looking to create and the bandwidth you need for your multimedia, you may need more than the sometimes basic multimedia support included with many hosting packages.

If you plan to stream multimedia content for your users or provide tools for the conversion, sharing, and streaming of user-created content, then you may want to look into a comprehensive multimedia management tool such as FFmpeg.

Content Best Suited to FFmpeg

Your website could benefit from FFmpeg software if it includes:

  • Streaming video
  • Video uploading and sharing
  • Podcasts
  • User-submitted images
  • Multimedia sharing and downloads
  • Image galleries
  • Or other multimedia-rich features

With FFmpeg hosting, you can rest assured your site won’t violate your host’s terms of service by exceeding your bandwidth. Even if you let visitors to your site upload and convert their own content for sharing and streaming, or share content from around the web, this applies.

how does ffmpeg work

How Can I Get FFmpeg?

FFmpeg is a free open source project, available to download from the FFmpeg official website.

What Can I Do with FFmpeg?

You can actually use it on your own computer to play, stream, decode, encode, and manipulate all kinds of multimedia in other ways.

In addition to conversions to and from almost any media type, FFmpeg also supports basic editing, so you (or your users) can resize, resample, or change the aspect ratio of content to fit the requirements of your site.

Many multimedia-rich websites across the web use FFmpeg software.

If you’ve ever seen a YouTube video embedded on another website, you’ve seen FFmpeg in action, detecting which file type to use to optimize the file to play on your browser.

ffworks ffmpeg
You may want to explore ffWorks, from Fabrice Ballard, the creator of FFmpeg. ffWorks allows you to encode “ultra high quality” videos without having to use the command line or write any code.


web hosting coupon

Looking for a great deal on FFmpeg hosting?
SiteGround – rated #1 by our readers – provides excellent FFmpeg support. Right now you can save up to 67% on their plans. Use this discount link to get the deal.



What Formats Does FFmpeg Support?

FFmpeg supports many audio and video formats:

FormatType
MPEG-4Video
Windows Media Video (.wmv)Video
MP3Audio
Ogg VorbisAudio
H.264Video

FFmpeg also supports more obscure formats.

It can handle just about any kind of file you can throw at it, which is important in a world where many people use different devices with wildly varying support for formats.

How to Get FFmpeg With Your Web Host

There are two ways you’ll end up with FFmpeg on your host: either preinstalled or manually installed.

FFmpeg From Your Host

When FFmpeg comes with your hosting plan, you can download it as a one-click install via the hosting control panel of many popular providers.

Some web hosts already have FFmpeg scripts pre-installed with your hosting plan.

If you don’t see an option to install FFmpeg and you’re not sure how to enable it, contact your host’s support and they’ll be able to guide you.

FFmpeg At Work, Behind The Scenes

Once FFmpeg is installed and enabled, you’re good to go!

You and your visitors can upload video, audio, and images to your website, and FFmpeg will work behind the scenes to optimize your files while minimizing your bandwidth and disk space usage.

choosing ffmpeg hosting plan

How to Select the Right FFmpeg Hosting Plan

First, remember that FFmpeg should not cost you anything.

FFmpeg software is free and open source, so it shouldn’t add anything to your monthly hosting expenses.

Keep Hosting Limits In Mind

Keep in mind that streaming content and big file sizes can add up quickly — and some hosts charge overage fees or even shut down sites that exceed their usage limits.

FFmpeg Features to Look For

There are several things you should look at before selecting a hosting plan:

  1. Bandwidth allowance
  2. Storage allowance
  3. Hosting a few files or a multimedia site
  4. If your host offers one-click install or FFmpeg pre-installed
  5. Available plug-ins

More Advanced Features for FFmpeg

Depending on your needs for your website, you might consider other hosting features for your multimedia website, such as uptime guarantees or video streaming.

Some hosts won’t enable FFmpeg unless you get a dedicated hosting plan, so be sure to check the details before you select your hosting plan.

If you plan to host and stream a lot of multimedia content, select a plan with plenty of available storage space and bandwidth, and read the terms of service carefully so you don’t risk exceeding your limits.

Reseller Plans, Bandwidth, and One-Click Installs

If you’re using a reseller plan and sell hosting services to your clients, be sure to check if you can enable or install FFmpeg to avoid getting shut down because one or more of your clients are running video sharing sites or using their site for file sharing.

Your multimedia files will take up a lot of storage space and bandwidth, so you should check a potential plan’s allotments carefully before you sign up.

Convenient Installation

A hosting provider that offers FFmpeg and plug-ins preinstalled or available as a one-click install is convenient, especially if you’re planning a multimedia-heavy site.

A dedicated hosting plan or a VPS plan could be an excellent choice if you’re planning on creating a video sharing site similar to YouTube or if you want to host audio files for a podcast.

Pros and Cons of FFmpeg

To wrap things up, let’s take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of FFmpeg.

Pros

  • Supports a large number of codecs, filters, encoders, and decoders as well as a large number of audio and video formats, so you can convert almost any type of file
  • Provides video streaming capabilities through a built-in media player
  • Allows you to do basic editing of the files such as trimming down the video or audio duration, extracting images or audio from a video file, and more
  • Cross-platform, so it can be used on both Linux and Windows hosting plans

Cons

  • Not very beginner-friendly, as it uses a command line interface
  • The official documentation can be a little confusing

Other features in Technologies

FFmpeg Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is FFmpeg?

    FFmpeg is a software application that can play, encode, and stream audio and video files. It gets its name from the ‘fast forward’ button.

  • What does FFmpeg do?

    FFmpeg can record, convert, and stream audio and video. In a web hosting context, FFmpeg makes it easy to serve media on your website that your visitors can stream on demand.

  • What file types does FFmpeg support?

    FFmpeg supports hundreds of different audio, video, and image formats. It comes with hundreds of codecs, which you can read about on the official FFmpeg website.

  • Who created FFmpeg?

    FFmpeg was first created by French computer programmer Fabrice Bellard in 2000. It’s now maintained by a team as a collaborative project.

  • What operating systems does FFmpeg support?

    FFmpeg was developed for Linux, but it can run on Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Not all codecs work well on Windows, so it’s best to stick with Linux hosting if you’re unsure what to choose.

  • Can I use it to stream copyrighted content?

    No. Your host will not allow you to upload content to your server unless you hold the copyright. If you didn’t create the media file, check the license terms to find out if you can legally upload it to your website.

  • How does FFmpeg compare to Libav?

    Libav is a fork of FFmpeg that launched in 2011 after tensions among FFmpeg developers. Users that commit to one or the other will notice few differences, but some hosts may offer one or the other.

  • What’s the difference between FFmpeg and GStreamer?

    GStreamer is a multimedia framework written in C. It helps with audio and video playback, recording, editing, and streaming. In general terms, Gstreamer is best for complex, resource-intensive conversions. For simple encoding, FFmpeg works well.

  • How do I install FFmpeg to use on my website?

    Some shared hosting plans come with FFmpeg pre-installed. On a VPS or dedicated server, you should be able to install it yourself if you have root access. Not all hosts allow it, so check the fine print carefully.

  • Are there any downsides to FFmpeg?

    FFmpeg has been in development since 2000 and has continually grown and improved. That makes it quite large and complex. The application doesn’t come with a graphical interface, so it can take time to learn all of the commands.

  • Why would I use FFmpeg rather than YouTube?

    When you upload a video to YouTube, you get the benefit of free hosting and a wider audience for your content. That can save you money on bandwidth, as well as improve your visitor statistics.

    However, you lose some control over it. Additionally, there are some types of content that YouTube will not accept, so FFmpeg hosting is a useful alternative.

Brenda Barron

About Brenda Barron

Brenda is an active online publisher and experienced WordPress blogger. She has been building websites since 1997. In addition, she publishes science fiction and fantasy stories under the name Brenda Stokes Barron.

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