I'm pretty new to Java, and need to write a program that listens to video conversion instructions and convert the video once a new instruction arrives (instructions are stored in Amazon SQS, but it's irrelevant to my question).
I'm facing a choice, either use Java runtime to exec FFmpeg conversion (like from command line), or I can use an FFmpeg wrapper written in Java.
http://fmj-sf.net/ffmpeg-java/getting_started.php
I'd much prefer using Java runtime to exec FFmpeg directly, and avoid using java-ffmpeg wrapper as I have to learn the library.
So my question is this: Are there any benefits using java-ffmpeg wrapper over exec FFmpeg directly using Runtime?
I don't need FFmpeg to play videos, just convert videos.
If I'm not mistaken, the "ffmpeg-wrapper" project you linked to is out of date and not maintained. FFmpeg is a very active project, lot's of changes and releases all the time.
You should look at the Xuggler project, this provides a Java API for what you want to do, and they have tight integration with FFmpeg.
http://www.xuggle.com/xuggler/
Should you choose to go down the Runtime.exec() path, this Red5 thread should be useful: