blog documentation FAQ forum marketplace youtube

Use a Different FFmpeg or Media Tool

The Jamroom Network » Documentation » Running Your Site » Use a Different FFmpeg or Media Tool
Applies to: Jamroom 7.0+ Last verified: 2026-10-24

Table of Contents:


The media tools
How Jamroom picks a tool
Choosing a tool yourself

  • The media tools

    Jamroom uses command-line tools to convert media:

    Tool Used for
    ffmpeg Audio and video conversion
    convert Resizing animated GIFs
    sox Audio editing
    id3v2 Reading and writing audio ID3 tags
    jpegoptim Optimizing JPEG images
    tifig Converting HEIC images to JPEG
    wget Downloading from other web servers

    The System Tools module brings its own copy of each one, in modules/jrSystemTools/tools/.

  • How Jamroom picks a tool

    With the default setting, Auto Detect, Jamroom looks for each tool in this order and uses the first one it finds:

    1. /bin
    2. /usr/bin
    3. /usr/local/bin
    4. its own copy in modules/jrSystemTools/tools/

    So if your server has its own ffmpeg in one of those places, Jamroom already uses it.

  • Choosing a tool yourself

    Choosing a tool yourself

    Open ACP > Modules > Core > System Tools > Global Config. The Tool Locations section has a setting for each tool: Ffmpeg Binary, Convert Binary, and so on. Each list offers Auto Detect and every working copy of the tool Jamroom found on the server, including in /opt/homebrew/bin on a Mac. Choose one and save.

    Then check the System Tools part of the System Check: each tool should report binary is working correctly.

  • If the System Check says binary is not executable, the file needs execute permission (755). See Server Requirements.

Tags