API

video-compress

Runs in your own browser through FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. The page picks codec and bitrate for the smallest file. A video that is already compressed and would not get smaller is refused (the run fails with the numbers, nothing is charged) rather than handed back larger. A long video takes real minutes on the caller's own CPU — budget the wait, not the price.

v2 beta browser · 5 tokens

Call it

POST https://timbrica.com/v1/tools/video-compress/runs
Authorization: Bearer $TIMBRICA_KEY
Idempotency-Key: <your retry-safe key>
Content-Type: application/json

Input

Field	Type	Required	Notes

Input file

Your browser sets the file at the recipe's `upload` step. Do not stage it with /v1/uploads.
accepts: .mp4, .mov, .webm, .mkv, .avi, .m4v

Browser recipe

This tool runs in your own browser. The work order you receive carries this recipe with the placeholders filled in; the selectors below are a versioned contract, not implementation detail — they do not change without a version bump.

{
    "engine": "dom",
    "steps": [
        {
            "action": "upload",
            "selector": "[data-tmb-api=\"input-file\"]",
            "accept": [
                ".mp4",
                ".mov",
                ".webm",
                ".mkv",
                ".avi",
                ".m4v"
            ]
        },
        {
            "action": "click",
            "selector": "[data-tmb-api=\"run\"]"
        },
        {
            "action": "wait",
            "selector": "[data-tmb-api=\"download\"]",
            "timeout_s": 1800
        },
        {
            "action": "click",
            "selector": "[data-tmb-api=\"download\"]"
        }
    ],
    "result": {
        "kind": "download",
        "settles": "automatically"
    }
}

What each action obliges you to do — recipes use nothing else:

`upload`	Put the input file into the file input matched by `selector` (it may be visually hidden: set it directly, e.g. Playwright setInputFiles). The file must match `accept`.
`click`	Click the element once it is visible AND enabled. A control that stays disabled means an earlier step did not take effect.
`fill`	Replace the value of a text input with `value`, firing input/change events as typing would.
`select`	Choose the option whose value is `value` in a <select>.
`wait`	Wait until the element is visible, up to `timeout_s` seconds (default 30).

Race every step against the work order's abort_when selector (html[data-tmb-run="failed"]). If it matches, the tool refused the job — for example a video that would not get any smaller. Stop, and GET the run: error.detail says why. Nothing is charged.

Errors it can return

validation_failed insufficient_tokens

History

v2 — 2026-09-11 — `codec` removed: it could only reach a mode that compresses worse, and its control was hidden, so v1 ignored it silently. The page now never waits for a human confirmation during a paid run; a video that would not get smaller fails with the sizes in `error.detail` and is not charged.
v1 — 2026-08-02 — Initial release (browser lane).

This contract cannot change without a new version and a line above: a test compares the published schema, pricing and limits against a committed lockfile and fails the build otherwise. Subscribe to /v1/changelog to be told when something moves.