Media processing on your own server
Many modern web applications need to process images and videos. Whether it’s generating thumbnails, converting video formats, or resizing images on upload, these tasks require specialized tools like FFmpeg and ImageMagick.
On a VPS or dedicated server, you have full root access, so you can install both FFmpeg and ImageMagick and give your applications the media processing capabilities they need.
FFmpeg support
FFmpeg is the industry-standard tool for video and audio processing. With FFmpeg installed on your server, your applications can:
- Convert videos between formats (MP4, WebM, AVI, etc.)
- Generate video thumbnails and previews
- Extract audio from video files
- Transcode media for different devices and bandwidths
- Process uploaded video content automatically
ImageMagick support
ImageMagick handles image manipulation tasks that go beyond what PHP’s built-in GD library can do. With ImageMagick, your applications can:
- Resize and crop images while preserving quality
- Convert between image formats (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, etc.)
- Generate thumbnails at multiple sizes
- Apply filters and effects
- Process RAW camera files
- Handle large images that would exhaust memory with GD
Run the PHP version you need
Because you control the server, you can run the latest stable PHP version, ensuring compatibility with modern applications and access to the newest features and security updates. Both FFmpeg and ImageMagick are accessible from PHP through their respective extensions.
Popular applications that use FFmpeg or ImageMagick
Many widely-used open source applications require FFmpeg or ImageMagick to function properly. On a ServerPoint VPS or dedicated server, you can run any of these:
Content management and blogging
- WordPress - Uses ImageMagick for image resizing and thumbnail generation
- Drupal - Image processing for media management
- Joomla - Media handling and image manipulation
- TYPO3 - Advanced image processing features
Photo and media galleries
- Piwigo - Photo gallery requiring ImageMagick for thumbnails and image processing
- Lychee - Photo management with extensive image manipulation
- PhotoPrism - AI-powered photo management using FFmpeg and ImageMagick
- Chevereto - Image hosting platform with ImageMagick support
- Zenphoto - Gallery CMS with image processing requirements
Cloud storage and file sharing
- Nextcloud - Uses FFmpeg for video thumbnails and ImageMagick for image previews
- ownCloud - Similar media processing requirements
- FileRun - File manager with media preview generation
- Pydio Cells - Document and media sharing with preview generation
Social and community platforms
- Mastodon - Federated social network using FFmpeg for media processing
- PeerTube - Video hosting platform heavily dependent on FFmpeg
- Pixelfed - Photo sharing platform requiring ImageMagick
- Discourse - Forum software with image processing for uploads
- Flarum - Modern forum with media handling
E-commerce
- PrestaShop - Product image processing and thumbnails
- OpenCart - Image manipulation for product catalogs
- Bagisto - Laravel e-commerce with media processing
Other applications
- Moodle - Learning platform with media processing for course content
- MediaWiki - Wiki software with image thumbnail generation
- Matomo - Analytics platform with report image generation
- Invoice Ninja - PDF and image generation for invoices
- Bookstack - Documentation platform with image handling
No execution-time limits
Unlike shared hosting, a VPS or dedicated server has no shared-resource caps or PHP execution-time limits imposed by a provider. You control the whole machine, so heavy media processing (like transcoding hours of 4K video) is possible on a sufficiently sized plan. Typical tasks are trivial:
- Generating thumbnails for uploaded images
- Creating preview images for galleries
- Processing short video clips
- Converting images between formats
For occasional, lighter workloads a VPS is plenty. For sustained, intensive transcoding, a dedicated server gives you maximum, unshared performance.
Why this matters
On shared hosting you often can’t install FFmpeg or ImageMagick at all, or you’re limited on how you can use them. On a ServerPoint VPS or dedicated server, you install exactly what you need and use it however you want. Deploy WordPress, Nextcloud, or any of the applications above, and media processing just works.
Deploy a VPS or dedicated server with full control over FFmpeg and ImageMagick.