remotion-dev/remotion · error · TypeError

repetitionPenalty must be a finite number greater than 0.

Error message

repetitionPenalty must be a finite number greater than 0.

What it means

transcribe() validates the decoding option repetitionPenalty: it must be a finite number greater than 0 (values <= 0 or non-finite are meaningless penalties). A TypeError is thrown during option validation before the model runs.

Source

Thrown at packages/whisper-webgpu/src/transcribe.ts:99

	if (typeof forceFullSequences !== 'boolean') {
		throw new TypeError('forceFullSequences must be a boolean.');
	}

	if (typeof doSample !== 'boolean') {
		throw new TypeError('doSample must be a boolean.');
	}

	if (!Number.isFinite(temperature) || temperature <= 0) {
		throw new TypeError('temperature must be a finite number greater than 0.');
	}

	if (!Number.isInteger(topK) || topK < 0) {
		throw new TypeError('topK must be a non-negative integer.');
	}

	if (!Number.isFinite(repetitionPenalty) || repetitionPenalty <= 0) {
		throw new TypeError(
			'repetitionPenalty must be a finite number greater than 0.',
		);
	}

	if (!Number.isInteger(noRepeatNgramSize) || noRepeatNgramSize < 0) {
		throw new TypeError('noRepeatNgramSize must be a non-negative integer.');
	}

	if (task !== 'transcribe' && task !== 'translate') {
		throw new TypeError('task must be either "transcribe" or "translate".');
	}

	const {multilingual, supportsTranslation} = getModelInfo(model);
	if (task === 'translate' && !supportsTranslation) {
		throw new Error(`The model "${model}" does not support translation.`);
	}

	if (multilingual && (language === undefined || language === 'auto')) {

View on GitHub (pinned to b2f4e34732)

Solutions

1. Use repetitionPenalty >= 1.0 (1.0 disables the penalty)
2. Parse with Number() and verify Number.isFinite before calling
3. If no penalty is desired, pass 1 rather than 0

Example fix

// before
await transcribe({repetitionPenalty: 0});
// after
await transcribe({repetitionPenalty: 1.2});

if (!Number.isFinite(repetitionPenalty) || repetitionPenalty <= 0) throw new Error('repetitionPenalty must be a finite number > 0');

const isValidPenalty = (v: unknown): v is number => typeof v === 'number' && Number.isFinite(v) && v > 0;

try {
  await transcribe(options);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof TypeError && e.message.includes('repetitionPenalty')) {
    options.repetitionPenalty = 1.0; // neutral
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing repetitionPenalty: 0 (expecting 'no penalty'), a negative value, NaN/Infinity, or an unparsed string.

Common situations: Confusing penalty semantics where 1.0 means neutral; config values stored as strings; uninitialized variables yielding NaN.

Related errors

• temperature must be a finite number greater than 0.
• topK must be a non-negative integer.
• noRepeatNgramSize must be a non-negative integer.
• Invalid whisper model ${model}. Available: ${models.join(',
• Non-semantic version provided. Only releases of Whisper.cpp

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@b2f4e34732 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/11d77710d263380e. Report an issue: GitHub.