Ask Justin Frankel

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Ask Justin Frankel
No reasonable question unanswered since 2009!

Suggested topics: programming, music, sleep, coffee, etc.

Note: please do not ask questions about REAPER features, bugs or scheduling, use the forums instead.

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[older questions]

Question: Which api did you used to add button to titlebar in reaper?
Asked by Ruchira (175.157.140.x) on January 17 2026, 6:03pm
Reply on January 17 2026, 9:14pm:

there's no API, it's a pain. There's classic code to use when DWM is disabled, which uses a subclass and WM_NCPAINT. Then there's the DWM mode which creates a separate layered window and parents it to the window etc. maybe I can put together a bunch of example code but also maybe a LLM already has the info. Comment...

Question: Will you add more ffmpeg features to Reaper in the future? Such as extracting audio tracks of videos, exporting more formats and more encoding, etc...
Asked by item (221.215.214.x) on January 17 2026, 12:33pm
Reply on January 17 2026, 9:14pm:

No real plans for that Comment...

Question: Have you ever used airwindows, it is less than 10MB in size, contains more than 400 plug-ins, and is growing at a very fast rate.
Asked by mini (103.62.49.x) on January 17 2026, 12:27pm
Reply on January 17 2026, 9:15pm:

a little but not much. do they have arm versions for macOS yet? Comment...

Question: Hi Justin! Asked earlier about how a small team like yours can write better code than a larger one and you answered you might have different goals. I think this is very interesting! What is your main goal and what do you think their’s is?
Asked by Hans Rohdin (94.234.94.x) on January 17 2026, 12:25am
Reply on January 17 2026, 9:16pm:

we put product goals before business goals, and I use reaper a _lot_. 3 Comments...

Question: Will this JSFX @gfx line format work in older REAPER versions like version 4: gfx_clear = 0xFF101010;
Asked by gfx_clear (102.176.65.x) on January 14 2026, 4:13pm
Reply on January 14 2026, 7:36pm (edited at January 14 2026, 7:37pm):

yeah @gfx and gfx_clear go back to like REAPER 2.x or earlier, but 0xFF101010 might be problematic, could be a negative value. no need to specify an alpha channel value anyway. 11 Comments...

Question: Me again. Do you know this one? My favorite video on the internet probablay: youtube.com/watch?v=U4FNBMZsqrY&pp...
Asked by Seven (141.91.18.x) on January 13 2026, 10:22am
Reply on January 14 2026, 7:34pm:

haven't gotten around to watching that yet Comment...

Question: Why haven't you switched to nginx?
Asked by Will (99.100.219.x) on January 12 2026, 12:43am
Reply on January 12 2026, 2:33pm:

if it ain't broke... Comment...

Question: Is H.264 actually supported in reaper or is it MJPEG in disguise? Are there plans to support ffmpeg higher than 4.4.1?
Asked by Rachel Yearst (159.118.61.x) on January 10 2026, 10:30pm
Reply on January 11 2026, 5:18pm:

If you install a version of ffmpeg that supports h264 then REAPER will render to it. as far as more recent ffmpeg versions, it's on our list but it's a huge pain in the ass to figure out. For macOS/Windows users, you can use the avfoundation/wmf encoders instead. For linux, deal with the old ffmpeg versions for now. 2 Comments...

Question: Hello, hope you are doing fine! I just read the blog post you wrote yesterday (about the death by a million papercuts). Then I got Anubis (anubis.techaro.lol/ in my head (which is basically a FOSS "AI Firewall"). Just wanted to point you to it in case you didn't know it.
Asked by anonymous (62.227.184.x) on January 8 2026, 7:37pm
Reply on January 8 2026, 7:47pm (edited at January 8 2026, 7:53pm):

yeah, that's too much for me though (dependencies, supply chain, integration requirements, etc). prefer to keep it simple. Comment...

Question: How is it that a small team like yours can make much better software, with more efficient code, than a large company, like AVID for example?
Asked by Hans Rohdin (81.226.28.x) on January 8 2026, 7:32pm
Reply on January 8 2026, 7:47pm:

different goals, I imagine. Comment...

Question: How did you learned/learn the math that you use for DSP / REAPER development
Asked by Yonk (76.191.24.x) on January 8 2026, 7:00am
Reply on January 8 2026, 7:48pm:

a day at a time I guess ;)

The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing

Comment...

Question: Spot on Justin. Jesus, assuming he existed, is likely to have been short and swarthy.
Asked by Tony (125.237.76.x) on January 5 2026, 6:21am
Reply on January 6 2026, 9:18pm:

who knows! Comment...

Question: Pls don't ask me if I've ever seen Jesus. But did you know that you looked like Jesus here? 1014.org/?article=6 Not surprised you are Jewish.
Asked by Question (154.161.45.x) on January 4 2026, 2:08pm
Reply on January 4 2026, 9:01pm:

hah or at least popular culture's interpretation of jesus Comment...

Question: What's your pc specs?
Asked by Long Name (2.147.103.x) on January 4 2026, 5:32am
Reply on January 4 2026, 9:01pm: