How to install ffmpeg on n8n with docker

Questions
1

Guys, how should I set up my n8n Docker stack to run ffmpeg?

I tried the NODE_FUNCTION_ALLOW_EXTERNAL variable, but it didn’t work.

2 
$ docker exec -it --user root n8n /bin/sh
/home/node # apk update
/home/node # apk add ffmpeg
<...many lines...>
OK: 156 MiB in 159 packages
/home/node #

then

image
image1810×481 74.1 KB

3

Hey @jabbson

How do I use docker swarm, do I need to add no command?

image

image
image524×141 3.25 KB

4

Wait, what? :slight_smile:
Why do you need to use a docker swarm? How is it related to installing ffmpeg? If this is an unrelated question, please mark the answer as solution and create a new topic for the new question.

5

I use Docker Swarm in an infrastructure with 3 VPSs, where we distribute services among workers, webhooks + mcp, and editors.

I did it like this and it worked.

docker exec -it --user root <container_name> sh
apk update && apk add ffmpeg

But if you need to restart the container, you have to run it again. I’d like something to make it already in the Docker Swarm image.

6

If you need to integrate this binary into the image, you will have to build a custom image.

Dockerfile:

FROM n8nio/n8n:latest
USER root
RUN apk add --update ffmpeg
USER node

Build:

$ docker build -t n8n-ffmpeg .

then change n8nio/n8n:latest to n8n-ffmpeg:latest in your service configuration.