diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0de3731..a6d17b3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ Thumbs.db
 
 # GoReleaser
 dist/
+dist-ffbinaries/
 
 # Docker
 tmp/
diff --git a/.goreleaser.yml b/.goreleaser.yml
index 44656cd..0a5c821 100644
--- a/.goreleaser.yml
+++ b/.goreleaser.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,14 @@ version: 2
 
 project_name: unarr
 
+# Pre-build hook: fetch static ffmpeg + ffprobe per platform so each
+# release tarball ships them adjacent to the unarr binary. ResolveFFmpeg /
+# ResolveFFprobe pick them up via the "adjacent to executable" branch — no
+# system install or runtime download needed.
+before:
+  hooks:
+    - bash scripts/download-ffmpeg-static.sh
+
 builds:
   - main: ./cmd/unarr/
     binary: unarr
@@ -20,11 +28,21 @@ builds:
       - -X github.com/torrentclaw/unarr/internal/sentry.dsn={{ .Env.SENTRY_DSN }}
 
 archives:
-  - format: tar.gz
+  - formats: [tar.gz]
     name_template: "{{ .ProjectName }}_{{ .Version }}_{{ .Os }}_{{ .Arch }}"
     format_overrides:
       - goos: windows
-        format: zip
+        formats: [zip]
+    files:
+      - LICENSE*
+      - README*
+      # Bundle the matching ffmpeg + ffprobe (filename includes .exe on Windows
+      # because download-ffmpeg-static.sh writes ffmpeg.exe / ffprobe.exe there).
+      - src: "dist-ffbinaries/{{ .Os }}-{{ .Arch }}/*"
+        dst: .
+        strip_parent: true
+        info:
+          mode: 0o755
 
 checksum:
   name_template: "checksums.txt"
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index f0e816f..1773622 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,25 +1,3 @@
-# ---- ffprobe static binary stage ----
-# Download a static ffprobe build from BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds (GitHub CDN, reliable).
-FROM alpine:3.22 AS ffprobe-dl
-
-RUN apk add --no-cache curl xz
-
-RUN ARCH=$(uname -m) && \
-    case "$ARCH" in \
-      x86_64)  SLUG="linux64" ;; \
-      aarch64) SLUG="linuxarm64" ;; \
-      *) echo "Unsupported arch: $ARCH" && exit 1 ;; \
-    esac && \
-    curl -fsSL --retry 3 --retry-delay 5 \
-      "https://github.com/BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds/releases/download/latest/ffmpeg-master-latest-${SLUG}-gpl.tar.xz" \
-      -o /tmp/ff.tar.xz && \
-    mkdir /tmp/ffbuild && \
-    tar xJ -f /tmp/ff.tar.xz --strip-components=1 -C /tmp/ffbuild/ && \
-    mv /tmp/ffbuild/bin/ffprobe /usr/local/bin/ffprobe && \
-    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ffprobe && \
-    rm -rf /tmp/ff.tar.xz /tmp/ffbuild && \
-    ffprobe -version | head -1
-
 # ---- Build stage ----
 FROM golang:1.25-alpine AS builder
 
@@ -40,8 +18,13 @@ RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -ldflags="-s -w -X github.com/torrentclaw/unarr/inter
 # ---- Runtime stage ----
 FROM alpine:3.22
 
+# Use Alpine's native musl ffmpeg + ffprobe instead of the johnvansickle /
+# BtbN static glibc builds — those need a glibc shim on Alpine and the
+# vector-math symbols the GPL builds reference are not satisfiable by
+# gcompat. Alpine ships ffmpeg ~7.x which is fine for the WebRTC
+# transcoding pipeline (libx264 + libfdk-aac alternatives included).
 RUN apk upgrade --no-cache && \
-    apk add --no-cache ca-certificates tzdata
+    apk add --no-cache ca-certificates tzdata ffmpeg
 
 # Non-root user (UID 1000 matches typical host user for volume permissions)
 RUN addgroup -g 1000 unarr && adduser -u 1000 -G unarr -D -h /home/unarr unarr
@@ -53,7 +36,6 @@ RUN mkdir -p /config /downloads /data && \
 USER unarr
 
 COPY --from=builder /unarr /usr/local/bin/unarr
-COPY --from=ffprobe-dl /usr/local/bin/ffprobe /usr/local/bin/ffprobe
 
 # Environment: point config/data to container paths
 ENV UNARR_CONFIG_DIR=/config
diff --git a/scripts/download-ffmpeg-static.sh b/scripts/download-ffmpeg-static.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..719fcde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/download-ffmpeg-static.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# scripts/download-ffmpeg-static.sh — fetch static ffmpeg + ffprobe binaries
+# for every platform we ship. Run by goreleaser's `before.hooks` so each
+# tarball can bundle the binaries adjacent to `unarr`.
+#
+# Source: https://ffbinaries.com (same index the runtime fallback uses).
+# Output:
+#   dist-ffbinaries/<goos>-<goarch>/{ffmpeg, ffprobe}[.exe]
+# Idempotent: skips downloads when the target file already exists.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Map ffbinaries platform key → goreleaser {Os}-{Arch}. ffbinaries.com only
+# ships an x86_64 macOS build; for darwin-arm64 we fall back to evermeet.cx
+# universal binaries (handled separately below).
+PLATFORMS=(
+  "linux-64:linux-amd64"
+  "linux-arm64:linux-arm64"
+  "osx-64:darwin-amd64"
+  "windows-64:windows-amd64"
+)
+DEST_ROOT="${FFBINARIES_DEST:-dist-ffbinaries}"
+INDEX_URL="https://ffbinaries.com/api/v1/version/latest"
+
+for cmd in curl jq unzip; do
+  command -v "$cmd" >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
+    echo "[ffbin] missing required tool: $cmd" >&2
+    exit 2
+  }
+done
+
+mkdir -p "$DEST_ROOT"
+
+echo "[ffbin] fetching index from $INDEX_URL"
+INDEX_JSON="$(curl -fsSL "$INDEX_URL")"
+VERSION="$(echo "$INDEX_JSON" | jq -r .version)"
+echo "[ffbin] ffbinaries version: $VERSION"
+
+for entry in "${PLATFORMS[@]}"; do
+  ffbkey="${entry%%:*}"
+  goplat="${entry##*:}"
+  outdir="$DEST_ROOT/$goplat"
+  mkdir -p "$outdir"
+
+  for tool in ffmpeg ffprobe; do
+    binname="$tool"
+    [[ "$goplat" == windows-* ]] && binname="${tool}.exe"
+
+    if [ -f "$outdir/$binname" ]; then
+      echo "[ffbin] skip $goplat/$binname (already present)"
+      continue
+    fi
+
+    url="$(echo "$INDEX_JSON" | jq -r ".bin[\"$ffbkey\"][\"$tool\"] // empty")"
+    if [ -z "$url" ]; then
+      echo "[ffbin] WARN $goplat/$tool: no download URL in index" >&2
+      continue
+    fi
+
+    tmpzip="$(mktemp --suffix=.zip)"
+    echo "[ffbin] fetch $goplat/$tool from $url"
+    curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-delay 3 --retry-all-errors "$url" -o "$tmpzip"
+    unzip -p "$tmpzip" "$binname" > "$outdir/$binname"
+    chmod +x "$outdir/$binname"
+    rm -f "$tmpzip"
+  done
+done
+
+# --- darwin-arm64 via evermeet.cx (universal binary; ffbinaries lacks it) ---
+darwin_arm_dir="$DEST_ROOT/darwin-arm64"
+mkdir -p "$darwin_arm_dir"
+for tool in ffmpeg ffprobe; do
+  out="$darwin_arm_dir/$tool"
+  if [ -f "$out" ]; then
+    echo "[ffbin] skip darwin-arm64/$tool (already present)"
+    continue
+  fi
+  url="https://evermeet.cx/ffmpeg/getrelease/$tool/zip"
+  tmpzip="$(mktemp --suffix=.zip)"
+  echo "[ffbin] fetch darwin-arm64/$tool from $url"
+  curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-delay 3 --retry-all-errors "$url" -o "$tmpzip"
+  unzip -p "$tmpzip" "$tool" > "$out"
+  chmod +x "$out"
+  rm -f "$tmpzip"
+done
+
+# --- windows-arm64 via BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds (ffbinaries lacks it) ---
+# BtbN ships a single zip per platform with ffmpeg.exe + ffprobe.exe under
+# ffmpeg-master-latest-winarm64-gpl/bin/. Extract both in one fetch.
+win_arm_dir="$DEST_ROOT/windows-arm64"
+mkdir -p "$win_arm_dir"
+needs_win_arm=0
+for tool in ffmpeg.exe ffprobe.exe; do
+  [ -f "$win_arm_dir/$tool" ] || needs_win_arm=1
+done
+if [ "$needs_win_arm" = "1" ]; then
+  url="https://github.com/BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds/releases/download/latest/ffmpeg-master-latest-winarm64-gpl.zip"
+  tmpzip="$(mktemp --suffix=.zip)"
+  echo "[ffbin] fetch windows-arm64/{ffmpeg,ffprobe}.exe from $url"
+  curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-delay 3 --retry-all-errors "$url" -o "$tmpzip"
+  for tool in ffmpeg.exe ffprobe.exe; do
+    out="$win_arm_dir/$tool"
+    member="$(unzip -Z1 "$tmpzip" "*/bin/$tool" 2>/dev/null | head -1)"
+    if [ -z "$member" ]; then
+      echo "[ffbin] WARN windows-arm64/$tool: not found in BtbN zip" >&2
+      continue
+    fi
+    unzip -p "$tmpzip" "$member" > "$out"
+    chmod +x "$out"
+  done
+  rm -f "$tmpzip"
+else
+  echo "[ffbin] skip windows-arm64 (already present)"
+fi
+
+echo "[ffbin] done. layout:"
+find "$DEST_ROOT" -type f -printf "  %p (%s bytes)\n"