What is the easiest method to know the duration of a video stored in Firebase Storage in a Firebase Cloud Function?

Question

I have a trigger-based cloud function that should find the duration of a video uploaded to Firebase Storage.

I tried using the following npm module: get-video-duration which takes url, the file itself, or stream.

Using the public url of my file doesn't work, my catch logs:

{ Error: spawn ffprobe ENOENT
    at exports._errnoException (util.js:1020:11)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:197:32)
    at onErrorNT (internal/child_process.js:376:16)
    at _combinedTickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:80:11)
    at process._tickDomainCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:128:9)
  code: 'ENOENT',
  errno: 'ENOENT',
  syscall: 'spawn ffprobe',
  path: 'ffprobe',
  spawnargs: 
   [ '-v',
     'error',
     '-show_format',
     '-show_streams',
     'https://storage.googleapis.com/adboard-dev.appspot.com/5HRuyysoMxe9Tb5vPLDbhEaHtkH2%2F-LAve5VogdAr4ZohU-DE%2FSampleVideo_1280x720_1mb.mp4?GoogleAccessId=firebase-adminsdk-3lthu@adboard-dev.iam.gserviceaccount.com&Expires=16447017600&Signature=cbhn%2BtY2%2FtvcRkvsFp1ywhHKiz%2FLfabfMk6HbD4TEGd%2Brf4njcMz1mQVf6H8nyulTBoRHIgC2uENFEPoEjtON6Um0Jb9P9jgikj6PdhS98m1sPDpTjMiFCTWk6ICjTI%2B%2BWuSVGgDX0tRuq3fADZABKaEcl3CEAI17DCVH98a40XttIDZqeqxIDu1iLi%2F8apQy44pAPJsmVR2dkYHk8Am8e7jIT1OnXG3adO34U3TNhsziPryIIpzo68QANENeieulvleic2BEi7KUhN1K8IxzJXxAfkt9RAFbdrwh%2FOpQ7zTGPRzTC3Vz2FnmKSXVtdKtmftg7BlEXrRr3D7ELJ53g%3D%3D' ],
  stdout: '',
  stderr: '',
  failed: true,
  signal: null,
  cmd: 'ffprobe -v error -show_format -show_streams https://storage.googleapis.com/adboard-dev.appspot.com/5HRuyysoMxe9Tb5vPLDbhEaHtkH2%2F-LAve5VogdAr4ZohU-DE%2FSampleVideo_1280x720_1mb.mp4?GoogleAccessId=firebase-adminsdk-3lthu@adboard-dev.iam.gserviceaccount.com&Expires=16447017600&Signature=cbhn%2BtY2%2FtvcRkvsFp1ywhHKiz%2FLfabfMk6HbD4TEGd%2Brf4njcMz1mQVf6H8nyulTBoRHIgC2uENFEPoEjtON6Um0Jb9P9jgikj6PdhS98m1sPDpTjMiFCTWk6ICjTI%2B%2BWuSVGgDX0tRuq3fADZABKaEcl3CEAI17DCVH98a40XttIDZqeqxIDu1iLi%2F8apQy44pAPJsmVR2dkYHk8Am8e7jIT1OnXG3adO34U3TNhsziPryIIpzo68QANENeieulvleic2BEi7KUhN1K8IxzJXxAfkt9RAFbdrwh%2FOpQ7zTGPRzTC3Vz2FnmKSXVtdKtmftg7BlEXrRr3D7ELJ53g%3D%3D',
  timedOut: false,
  killed: false }

Downloading the file then passing it directly don't work too:

{ Error: spawn ffprobe ENOENT
    at exports._errnoException (util.js:1020:11)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:197:32)
    at onErrorNT (internal/child_process.js:376:16)
    at _combinedTickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:80:11)
    at process._tickDomainCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:128:9)
  code: 'ENOENT',
  errno: 'ENOENT',
  syscall: 'spawn ffprobe',
  path: 'ffprobe',
  spawnargs: 
   [ '-v',
     'error',
     '-show_format',
     '-show_streams',
     '/tmp/SampleVideo_1280x720_1mb.mp4' ],
  stdout: '',
  stderr: '',
  failed: true,
  signal: null,
  cmd: 'ffprobe -v error -show_format -show_streams /tmp/SampleVideo_1280x720_1mb.mp4',
  timedOut: false,
  killed: false }

Finally, I created a stream using fs then I passed it, and it it gave me a Duration Not Found! error:

{ AssertionError: No duration found!
    at ffprobe.then (/user_code/node_modules/get-video-duration/index.js:34:3)
    at process._tickDomainCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:135:7)
  name: 'AssertionError',
  actual: null,
  expected: true,
  operator: '==',
  message: 'No duration found!',
  generatedMessage: false }

My cloud function code:

exports.recordUploadedFile = functions.storage.object().onFinalize(object => {
  let fileType = object.contentType;
  if (fileType.startsWith("image/") || fileType.startsWith("video/")) {
    let dir = object.name.split("/");
    let name = dir.pop();
    let fileID = dir.pop();
    let uid = dir.pop();
    return admin
      .storage()
      .bucket()
      .file(object.name)
      .getSignedUrl({
        action: "read",
        expires: "03-09-2491"
      })
      .then(urls => {
        let file = {
          name: name,
          link: urls[0],
          type: fileType,
          duration: 0
        }
        if (fileType.startsWith("video/")) {
          const tempFilePath = path.join(os.tmpdir(), name);
          return admin.storage().bucket().file(object.name).download({
            destination: tempFilePath
          }).then(() => {
            const stream = fs.createReadStream(tempFilePath);
            return getDuration(stream).then(duration => {
              console.log(duration);
              file.duration = duration;
              return setFile(file, uid, fileID);
            }).catch(error => {
              console.log(error);
            });
          });
        } else {
          return setFile(file, uid, fileID);
        }
      });
  } else {
    return admin.storage().bucket().file(object.name).delete();
  }
});

I tried multiple video files of multiple sizes, and none of them work.

If there is a better solution to know the video duration, I would love to know it too.

Thank you.

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 25 '18 at 08:50

4

Try using library called fluent-ffmpeg: https://github.com/fluent-ffmpeg/node-fluent-ffmpeg

var ffmpeg = require('fluent-ffmpeg');

ffmpeg.ffprobe(tempFilePath, function(err, metadata) {
  //console.dir(metadata); // all metadata
  console.log(metadata.format.duration);
});

answered Apr 25 '18 at 08:50

Faruk

5,438
3
30
46

I tried it, but I got this: `TypeError: Cannot read property 'format' of undefined at /user_code/ready/recordUploadedFile.js:38:35` – Osama Alsalman Apr 25 '18 at 09:30
it seems the metadata is undefined, could you console the `err` ? – Faruk Apr 25 '18 at 09:32
`err` was null too, but the reason was that firebase handles async functions as promises only, so I used `bluebird` to promisify the ffprobe function. However, when I catch the error, I get: `Error: Cannot find ffprobe at /user_code/node_modules/fluent-ffmpeg/lib/ffprobe.js:145:31` I installed ffmpeg, ffprobe, and fluent-mpeg. Also, they are all in my `package.js` – Osama Alsalman Apr 25 '18 at 10:00

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 26 '18 at 14:54

I ended up using faruk suggested library: fluent-mmpeg but to get it work on Firebase you need to do the following:

You need to use bluebird to "promisify" fluent-mmpeg like this: const ffprobe = Promise.promisify(require("fluent-ffmpeg").ffprobe);
You need to install the static binaries of both ffmpeg and ffprobe, so include them in your pacakge npm i --save @ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg, @ffprobe-installer/ffprobe
Lastly, set the paths: const ffmpegPath = require("@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg").path; const ffprobePath = require("@ffprobe-installer/ffprobe").path; ffmpeg.setFfmpegPath(ffmpegPath); ffmpeg.setFfprobePath(ffprobePath);

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 27 '19 at 21:55

Here's some tested and working code:

os = require('os');
path = require('path');
gcs = require('@google-cloud/storage')();
const filePath = object.name;
const const fileBucket = object.bucket;
var Promise = require("bluebird");
var ffmpeg = Promise.promisify(require("fluent-ffmpeg"));
var ffmpegPath = require("@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg").path;
var ffprobePath = require("@ffprobe-installer/ffprobe").path;
ffmpeg.setFfmpegPath(ffmpegPath);
ffmpeg.setFfprobePath(ffprobePath);
const fileName = filePath.split('/').pop();
const tempFilePath = path.join(os.tmpdir(), fileName);
const bucket = gcs.bucket(fileBucket);

bucket.file(filePath).download({
  destination: tempFilePath,
  validation: false
}).then(function() {

ffmpeg.ffprobe(tempFilePath, function(err, metadata) {
if (err) {
    reject(err);
} else {
if (metadata) {
  console.log(metadata.format.duration);
  console.log(metadata.streams[0].width);
  console.log(metadata.streams[0].height);
  console.log(metadata);
  resolve();
} else {
    reject();
}
}
})

}).catch(function(error) {
    console.error(error); reject();
})

From package.json:

"@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg": "^1.0.17",
"@ffprobe-installer/ffprobe": "^1.0.9",
"@google-cloud/storage": "^1.1.1",
"bluebird": "^3.5.3",
"fluent-ffmpeg": "^2.1.2"

What is the easiest method to know the duration of a video stored in Firebase Storage in a Firebase Cloud Function?

3 Answers3

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