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bbb-mp4

Easily integrate this app into your BigBlueButton server to automatically convert class recordings into MP4 videos.

How it works?

After a BigBlueButton class ends, recording process kicks in, which will process recording in three stages - archieve, process and publish. Once recording is published, /usr/local/bigbluebutton/core/scripts/post_publish/bbb_mp4.rb is executed.

In bbb_mp4.rb, we invoke bbb-mp4.sh with corresponding meeting_id to convert recording into mp4 video.

bbb-mp4.sh starts a docker process to launch Chrome browser with the BigBlueButton playback URL in a Virtual Screen Buffer, that plays the recording and FFmpeg will capture the screen in mp4 format. MP4 will be moved to /var/www/bigbluebutton-default/recording.

When you visit the default BBB playback url https://<your-bbb-fqdn>/playback/presentation/2.3/<meeting_id>, either of the following two cases happen:

  • MP4 video exists: A download button will appear at the bottom right.
  • MP4 video doesn't exist: A download button will not appear.

Hence, you can safely deploy this project on your existing BigBlueButton server.

  • Going forward, all your recordings would get converted into MP4 videos.
  • Older recordings will still be accessible as default BBB playback recording.

Requirement

  1. Install the Docker as per the instruction mentioned here https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/

Install

Edit .env to update the following parameters:

  1. BBB_DOMAIN_NAME: (Example - bbb.higheredlab.com)
  2. COPY_TO_LOCATION: location where converted MP4 videos should be kept. Leave it at the default value so that you can view MP4 video at https://<your-bbb-fqdn>/recording/<meeting_id>.mp4.
# Execute the following to install all required packages. 
./bbb-mp4-install.sh

bbb-mp4-install.sh will install the following packages In Docker :

  1. XVFB
  2. Google Chrome
  3. FFmpeg
  4. NodeJS
  5. Dependencies

During this installation, bbb-mp4-install.sh will also do the following:

  • create bbb_mp4.rb to invoke bbb-mp4.sh that will start automatic MP4 conversion after a class recording is published.
  • create a directory recording at /var/www/bigbluebutton-default to store converted MP4 videos that can be accessed via browser.
  • update the default index.html at /var/bigbluebutton/playback/presentation/2.3/index.html to provide download button.
# give bigbluebutton user sudo access
usermod -aG docker bigbluebutton

You need to give user bigbluebutton docker access, as detailed above, for bbb-mp4 to run correctly.

How to use it

No changes are required from your side to view MP4 videos created by bbb-mp4.

As we updated the default index.html, when you would visit the default playback url - https://<your-bbb-fqdn>/playback/presentation/2.3/<meeting_id> - you would see a download button

If you are using Greenlight or Moodle, you will continue to use the same way to view MP4 videos.

Uninstall

In case you want to restore the default playback.html, please follow the steps below:

mv /var/bigbluebutton/playback/presentation/2.3/index_default.html /var/bigbluebutton/playback/presentation/2.3/index.html
mv /usr/local/bigbluebutton/core/scripts/post_publish/bbb_mp4.rb /usr/local/bigbluebutton/core/scripts/post_publish/bbb_mp4.rb.old

With this, you would be able to restore default playback behavior and default post_poublish action.

BigBlueButton Tech Support

Are you facing difficulties with your BigBlueButton server? Get 24×7 connected with our Tech team. On facing any difficulties, just message us and we’ll promptly fix it. Start today with a monthly subscription for $40 per BBB server. Learn More about the scope of Tech support.

bbb-mp4 app builds on the ideas from several other projects, including: