Fixed October 25, 2026

Use URLs in ffmpeg subtitles and movie filters

A URL inside a subtitles, movie or fontfile filter option is now downloaded with your other inputs, so asset URLs work there and a file is fetched once.

API

An ffmpeg command that burned subtitles from a URL, like -vf "subtitles=filename='https\://api.rendobar.com/assets/<id>/content'", failed when the URL was one of your uploaded assets. ffmpeg tried to fetch the file itself, without your credentials, and the job stopped with Server returned 401 Unauthorized.

A URL in a filter option that opens a file is now treated like a URL after -i. It is checked at submit, downloaded into the job folder with your other inputs, and the filter reads the local copy. The colon can be escaped or not.

Burning a video’s own subtitle track works with the same URL in -i and in subtitles=, and the file is downloaded once.
A separate subtitle file, a movie= overlay or a fontfile= can be any URL a job input accepts, including asset:// and storage://.
Text a filter draws, like drawtext=text=, is never touched.
Subtitle burns with compute: "gpu" failed with Failed to load fontconfig fonts!. GPU jobs now have the same fonts as CPU jobs, so a burn renders the same on either.