Quickstart

MediaTofu is FFmpeg as an API. Send a video file and get the result back as a download link. The base URL for every request is https://api.mediatofu.com.

1. Get an API keyCopy Anchor Link

Sign in at app.mediatofu.com with your email address. We send you a one-time sign-in link, and the first link for a new address creates a Free account. No card is needed.

In the dashboard, open API keys and create a key. The key starts with mt_ and is shown once, so copy it now.

export MEDIATOFU_API_KEY="mt_your_key_here"

2. Compress a videoCopy Anchor Link

Send a video URL to the compress tool. Swap the example URL for a public video of your own.

curl "https://api.mediatofu.com/v1/tools/compress?wait=25" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MEDIATOFU_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "input": "https://example.com/clip.mov" }'

?wait=25 holds the request open for up to 25 seconds so a short job can finish in the same response. See Jobs for longer ones.

3. Read the responseCopy Anchor Link

This is an example response. Your ids, sizes and times will differ.

{
  "id": "job_0123456789abcdef01234567",
  "tool": "compress",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "compute_seconds": 6,
  "compute_ms": 5238,
  "outputs": [
    {
      "name": "out.mp4",
      "size": 15204877,
      "url": "https://api.mediatofu.com/o/0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef/job_0123456789abcdef01234567/out.mp4"
    }
  ],
  "exit_code": 0,
  "created_at": "2026-01-15T10:44:51Z",
  "finished_at": "2026-01-15T10:45:00Z"
}

If status is still queued or running, check again with GET /v1/jobs/:id.

4. Download the outputCopy Anchor Link

The URL in outputs is a plain download link. It needs no API key. Set OUTPUT_URL to it, then:

curl -o out.mp4 "$OUTPUT_URL"

Next stepsCopy Anchor Link

• Tools: the eight jobs you can run without FFmpeg flags.
• Run FFmpeg: send your own FFmpeg command.
• Files and uploads: use a file that isn't at a public URL.
• Plans and limits: compute, job length and file size limits.