[Config Support]: ffmpeg needs moov atom flags

[weswitt]

Describe the problem you are having

The recent versions of iOS will not play clips created by frigate. They play fine on Windows and Android but fail on iOS and MacOS. Seems that the Apple OS required the moov flags set correctly.

If the ffmpeg usage included "-movflags faststart" then it should create compatible mp4 clips.

I looked at the docs and don't see how I can do this. Is there a solution available?

Version

0.16.0-c2f8de9

Frigate config file

mqtt:
  host: 192.168.10.172
  client_id: frigate

database:
  path: /config/frigate.db

logger:
  default: info
  logs:
    frigate.object_detection: debug

detectors:
  coral:
    type: edgetpu
    device: usb

cameras:
  #
  # front door camera
  #
  FrontDoor:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://192.168.10.166:8556/front_door_substream2
          roles:
            - detect
    detect:
      width: 1280
      height: 720
    mqtt:
      timestamp: false
      bounding_box: false
      crop: false
      quality: 100
      height: 720
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
      bounding_box: false
      quality: 100
      crop: false
      height: 720
    record:
      enabled: true
      retain:
        days: 0
        mode: all
      alerts:
        retain:
          days: 3
      detections:
        retain:
          days: 3
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
    motion:
      mask:
        - 577,334,639,720,0,720,0,0,558,0
        - 595,346,897,340,939,0,557,0
        - 918,303,987,458,1280,482,1280,0,995,0

    zones:
      zone_front_door_walkway:
        coordinates: 590,357,902,350,1022,720,637,720
  #
  # front gate camera
  #
  FrontGate:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://192.168.10.166:8556/front_gate_substream2
          roles:
            - detect
    detect:
      width: 1280
      height: 720
    mqtt:
      timestamp: false
      bounding_box: false
      crop: false
      quality: 100
      height: 720
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
      bounding_box: false
      quality: 100
      crop: false
      height: 720
    record:
      enabled: true
      retain:
        days: 0
        mode: all
      alerts:
        retain:
          days: 3
      detections:
        retain:
          days: 3
    objects:
      track:
        - car
    motion:
      mask:
        - 0,406,1280,414,1280,0,0,0
        - 0,619,161,552,345,481,380,449,343,419,299,405,0,399
        - 1280,720,1280,420,1087,418,1040,424,969,439,900,482,887,603,860,720
    zones:
      zone_front_gate_house:
        coordinates: 239,523,888,538,865,720,0,720,0,621
      zone_front_gate_road:
        coordinates: 890,534,953,435,1060,415,324,403,373,415,383,452,245,527
  #
  # barn gate camera
  #
  BarnGate:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://192.168.10.166:8556/barn_gate_substream2
          roles:
            - detect
    detect:
      width: 1280
      height: 720
    mqtt:
      timestamp: false
      bounding_box: false
      crop: false
      quality: 100
      height: 720
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
      bounding_box: false
      quality: 100
      crop: false
      height: 720
    record:
      enabled: true
      retain:
        days: 0
        mode: all
      alerts:
        retain:
          days: 3
      detections:
        retain:
          days: 3
    objects:
      track:
        - car
    motion: {}
    zones:
      zone_barn_gate_fence:
        coordinates: 0.445,0.581,0.704,0.38,0.865,0.477,1,0.606,1,1,0,1,0,0.873
        inertia: 3
        loitering_time: 0
      zone_barn_gate_road:
        coordinates: 
          0,0.866,0,0.405,0.262,0.329,0.495,0.285,0.702,0.374,0.434,0.584
  #
  # barn gate back camera
  #
        inertia: 3
        loitering_time: 0
    review:
      detections:
        required_zones:
          - zone_barn_gate_fence
          - zone_barn_gate_road
  BarnGateBack:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://192.168.10.166:8556/barn_gate_back_main
          roles:
            - detect
    detect:
      width: 1920
      height: 1080
    mqtt:
      timestamp: false
      bounding_box: false
      crop: false
      quality: 100
      height: 1080
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
      bounding_box: false
      quality: 100
      crop: false
      height: 1080
    record:
      enabled: true
      retain:
        days: 0
        mode: all
      alerts:
        retain:
          days: 3
      detections:
        retain:
          days: 3
    review:
      detections:
        required_zones:
          - zone_barn_gate_back_fence
          - zone_barn_gate_back_road
    objects:
      track:
        - car
    zones:
      zone_barn_gate_back_fence:
        coordinates: 0.336,0.777,0.465,1,0.738,1,0.87,1,0.976,0.547,0.666,0.45
        inertia: 3
        loitering_time: 0
      zone_barn_gate_back_road:
        coordinates: 0.561,0.41,0.232,0.623,0.331,0.772,0.661,0.444
  #
  # east house side camera
  #
        inertia: 3
        loitering_time: 0
  EastHouseSide:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://192.168.10.166:8556/east_house_side_substream2
          roles:
            - detect
    detect:
      width: 1280
      height: 720
    mqtt:
      timestamp: false
      bounding_box: false
      crop: false
      quality: 100
      height: 720
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
      bounding_box: false
      quality: 100
      crop: false
      height: 720
    record:
      enabled: true
      retain:
        days: 0
        mode: all
      alerts:
        retain:
          days: 3
      detections:
        retain:
          days: 3
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
    zones:
      zone_east_house_side_main_path:
        coordinates: 
          422,666,454,536,492,480,629,496,593,539,615,606,705,720,371,720
  #
  # west garage camera
  #
  WestGarage:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://192.168.10.166:8556/west_garage
          roles:
            - detect
    detect:
      width: 704
      height: 480
    record:
      enabled: true
      retain:
        days: 0
        mode: all
      alerts:
        retain:
          days: 3
      detections:
        retain:
          days: 3
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
        - car
    motion:
      mask:
        - 0,175,704,167,704,0,0,0
        - 704,480,535,480,529,0,704,0
        - 277,253,337,203,228,195,97,202,0,236,0,355
    zones:
      zone_garage_driveway:
        coordinates: 
          0,356,0,400,0,480,147,480,302,480,531,480,522,273,360,262,391,191,348,186,277,254
  #
  # west patio camera
  #
  PatioWest:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://192.168.10.166:8556/patio_west
          roles:
            - detect
    detect:
      width: 704
      height: 480
    record:
      enabled: true
      retain:
        days: 0
        mode: all
      alerts:
        retain:
          days: 3
      detections:
        retain:
          days: 3
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
    motion:
      mask:
        - 0,480,144,480,182,452,262,416,345,367,422,314,482,270,521,266,569,249,607,218,704,214,704,0,0,0
    zones:
      zone_patio:
        coordinates: 
          704,480,704,382,648,353,600,317,559,292,478,264,424,325,326,398,174,480
  #
  # east patio camera
  #
  PatioEast:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://192.168.10.166:8556/patio_east
          roles:
            - detect
    detect:
      width: 704
      height: 480
    record:
      enabled: true
      retain:
        days: 0
        mode: all
      alerts:
        retain:
          days: 3
      detections:
        retain:
          days: 3
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
    motion:
      mask:
        - 704,0,704,341,146,180,150,0
        - 0,0,0,262,190,274,198,0
        - 704,480,704,226,472,204,407,480
        - 466,480,528,184,169,136,139,284
    zones:
      zone_patio:
        coordinates: 0,480,150,480,326,480,398,459,142,281,0,282

detect:
  enabled: true
version: 0.16-0

Relevant Frigate log output

n/a

Relevant go2rtc log output

n/a

Frigate stats

n/a

Operating system

Debian

Install method

Docker Compose

docker-compose file or Docker CLI command

services:
  frigate:
    container_name: frigate
    privileged: true
    restart: unless-stopped
    image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable
    shm_size: "128mb"
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - /opt/frigate/config:/config
      - /opt/frigate/media:/media/frigate
      - type: tmpfs
        target: /tmp/cache
        tmpfs:
          size: 1000000000
    ports:
      - "5000:5000"
      - "8554:8554"
      - "8555:8555/tcp"
      - "8555:8555/udp"
    environment:
      FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD: "***"
      PLUS_API_KEY: "***"

Object Detector

Coral

Screenshots of the Frigate UI's System metrics pages

Any other information that may be helpful

No response

[inkeep-ai-assistant[bot]]

I found exactly what you need. Frigate has a built-in configuration option specifically for Apple compatibility that handles the moov atom positioning.(1)

Add this to your global ffmpeg configuration:(1)

ffmpeg:
  apple_compatibility: true

(1)

This setting adds the necessary tag to ensure H.265 recordings are compatible with Safari, iOS, and macOS devices.(1)

Note: There was a bug in version 0.16.0 Beta 3 where setting apple_compatibility: true globally could add duplicate flags, but this has been fixed.(2) Since you're running version 0.16.0-c2f8de9, you should have the corrected version.

Your updated config would look like:

mqtt:
  host: 192.168.10.172
  client_id: frigate

ffmpeg:
  apple_compatibility: true

database:
  path: /config/frigate.db

(1)

This handles the moov atom positioning automatically without needing to manually specify -movflags faststart.

📚 Sources:

1. Camera Specific Configurations
2. [Bug]: Setting apple_compatibility: true in global ffmpeg config adds duplicate hvc1 flags

---

Have another question? Just tag @inkeep.

[weswitt]

If if post-process the clips like this:

ffmpeg -i clip.mp4 -movflags faststart -c copy fixed.mp4

Then the processed clip will play on iOS.

[NickM-27]

That's already how frigate saves the recording clips to begin with

[weswitt]

That's what I thought but the clips are in fact bad.

Here is a clip that does not play: https://ha.wittfamily.com/api/frigate/notifications/1762104691.207278-wo5o61/clip.mp4

And here is the same file that was fixed with the frigate command I posted: https://www.wittfamily.com/out.mp4

[NickM-27]

Your understanding is wrong here, it has nothing to do with the moov atom. You can't use the clip.mp4 to play on Safari as it does not support progressive MP4s. You need to use the master.m3u8 endpoint for notification videos on iOS. This is in the documentation and the SgtBatten Frigate Blueprint

[weswitt]

OK, that fixes it for me. Thanks a lot for the help. I've been using the other method for years but just didn't know things changed.