🎬🎵 Video to MP3 Converter - Node.js Example Application

This repository contains the source code for a simple Node.js web application that converts uploaded video files (MP4) into downloadable MP3 audio files. It also leverages the Catbox.moe API to generate temporary shareable links for the converted audio.

Purpose: This application serves as a standalone example and is the base application code used in deployment tutorials, such as the Pulumi Deploy and Document Challenge submission which deploys this app to AWS using Pulumi.

(Screenshot of the deployed application)

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✨ Features

• Video Upload: Accepts MP4 video file uploads via a web interface.
• MP3 Extraction: Uses ffmpeg on the server to extract the audio track and convert it to MP3 format.
• Audio Playback: Allows playback of the extracted audio directly in the browser.
• MP3 Download: Provides a direct download link for the converted MP3 file.
• Shareable Links: Integrates with Catbox.moe to upload the MP3 and generate a temporary shareable link.
• Simple UI: Basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript frontend.
• Automatic Cleanup: Deletes processed video and audio files from the server after a set interval (currently 10 minutes).

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🛠️ Technology Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• File Uploads: Multer
• Video Processing: ffmpeg (via ffmpeg-static npm package and system install if needed)
• File Sharing: Catbox.moe API (via Axios)
• Frontend: HTML, CSS, Vanilla JavaScript

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🚀 Getting Started (Running Locally)

Follow these steps to run the application on your local machine for testing or development.

Prerequisites

• Node.js & npm: Version 18.x or higher recommended. (Download Node.js)
• ffmpeg: You must have ffmpeg installed on your system and accessible in your PATH. This application relies on executing the ffmpeg command. (Download FFmpeg)
• Git: To clone the repository. (Download Git)

Installation & Running

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/sojinsamuel/video-to-mp3-app-example.git video-to-mp3-app

2. Navigate into the directory:

   cd video-to-mp3-app

3. Install dependencies:

   npm install

4. Run the server:

   node server.js

   You should see output like: Server running at http://localhost:3001

5. Access the application: Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:3001.

6. Test: Try uploading a small MP4 video file.

7. Stop the server: Press Ctrl+C in the terminal where the server is running.

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⚙️ How it Works

1. Frontend (public/index.html, script.js): Provides the file upload interface. When a user selects a file and clicks "Upload and Process", it sends the video file via a POST request to the /upload endpoint.
2. Backend (server.js):
   • Uses Express to handle routing.
   • Uses Multer to handle the multipart/form-data upload, saving the video temporarily to the ./uploads/ directory.
   • Executes an ffmpeg command (child_process.exec) to extract the audio (-vn), convert it to MP3 (-acodec mp3), and save it to the ./uploads/ directory with an .mp3 extension.
   • The original video file is deleted.
   • Uses Axios and FormData to upload the resulting MP3 file to the Catbox.moe API.
   • Sends a JSON response back to the frontend containing the path to the locally accessible MP3 (/uploads/filename.mp3) and the public Catbox.moe link.
   • Includes a basic file cleanup mechanism (setInterval) to delete files in the ./uploads/ directory older than 10 minutes.

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🔧 Configuration

For this example application:

• The server port is hardcoded to 3001 in server.js.
• The Catbox.moe API endpoint (https://catbox.moe/user/api.php) is hardcoded.
• File retention time (10 minutes) is set as a constant in server.js.

For production deployments, consider using environment variables for configuration.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or PR here.