openclip-convert

OpenClip: media conversion

convert_media changes a file's container or codec, including video to gif and video to audio-only. It is FREE, it needs an OpenClip account but no subscription and no credits.

Setup (once)

OpenClip is a remote MCP server at https://openclip.app/mcp. Sign in with your OpenClip account when the OAuth prompt appears, there is no API key to copy.

• Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http openclip https://openclip.app/mcp, then /mcp to authorize.
• Claude Desktop / web: Settings, Connectors, "Add custom connector", paste the URL, sign in.
• Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json): { "mcpServers": { "openclip": { "url": "https://openclip.app/mcp" } } }
• Header-only clients: mint an MCP token at openclip.app/settings/connect and connect to https://openclip.app/mcp/key with Authorization: Bearer <token>.

Sanity check: call get_account.

Getting the file in

1. create_upload(filename, content_type) returns an id and an upload_url.
2. PUT the raw bytes to upload_url.
3. Pass the returned id as the file argument.

Do NOT call complete_upload. That starts the paid clipping pipeline. Free tools read the uploaded file directly. A file already in list_videos works as an input too.

Targets

convert_media(file, to, ...params).

• Video containers - mp4, webm, mov, mkv. Default to mp4 when the user just wants something that plays everywhere.
• gif - optional fps (default 12) and width (default 480). Raise fps for smoother motion, raise width for a sharper gif, both make the file much bigger. Trim the source first if it is long, gifs balloon fast.
• Audio - mp3, aac, wav, flac. Use this to rip audio out of a video. mp3 for sharing, wav or flac when the audio feeds another tool that wants lossless.

To hit a file size rather than change format, that is edit_video with operation="compress" (target_mb or crf), see the openclip-video-editing skill.

Polling

convert_media returns a tool_job hashid with status: "queued". Poll get_tool_job_status(tool_job) every 5 to 10 seconds:

• queued / processing - still working, keep polling.
• completed - returns permanent CDN outputs URLs plus result_meta.
• failed - returns error.

Never assume a call finished synchronously.

Rules

• Always poll, conversion is async.
• Output URLs are permanent CDN links, not signed or expiring.
• Free usage is rate limited per day with a per-file size cap. The error text explains how to lift a limit.
• Converting a long video to gif produces an enormous file. Trim to the interesting few seconds first, then convert.

Example prompts to actions

• "Convert this to mp4" - create_upload, PUT bytes, convert_media(file, to="mp4"), poll.
• "Make a gif of this" - trim to the moment first with edit_video, then convert_media(file, to="gif", fps=15, width=640), poll.
• "Get me just the audio" - convert_media(file, to="mp3"), poll.
• "I need lossless audio for editing" - convert_media(file, to="wav"), poll.

Related

Trimming, cropping, and size-targeted compression live in openclip-video-editing. Transcribing the audio you just extracted is openclip-transcription.