Cypress "Warning: We failed processing this video" in CI

Cypress records a video of each run and uses ffmpeg to compress it. On a resource-starved runner this can fail or stall, and the warning appears; separately, an artifact step can find no video if recording was disabled or written elsewhere. Neither needs to fail the suite, but it loses your debugging footage.

What this error means

The run logs "Warning: We failed processing this video" (sometimes "ffmpeg exited with code 1"), or the artifact upload reports no video files were found.

cypress

Warning: We failed processing this video.

This error will not affect or change the exit code.

Error: ffmpeg exited with code 1: ...

Common causes

ffmpeg failed or stalled under resource pressure

Video compression is CPU-heavy; a small runner can make ffmpeg fail or hang, producing the processing warning.

Video disabled or written to a different path

If video is off, or the artifact step points at the wrong folder, no video exists to upload.

How to fix it

Compress less and upload the right folder

Lower compression to ease ffmpeg, and upload the videos folder with if: always() so failures keep footage.

.github/workflows/ci.yml

- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  if: always()
  with:
    name: cypress-videos
    path: cypress/videos

Disable video if you only need screenshots

When videos are not worth the cost, turn them off and rely on failure screenshots.

cypress.config.js

e2e: { video: false, screenshotOnRunFailure: true },

How to prevent it

Upload videos/screenshots with if: always() to capture failures.
Lower video compression on small runners to keep ffmpeg happy.
Disable video when screenshots alone are enough.