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How to Install FFmpeg

Introduction​

FFmpeg is a free and open-source software project consisting of a suite of libraries and programs capable of handling video, audio, and other multimedia files and streams to decode, encode, transcode, mux, demux, stream, filter, and play.

To get a better understanding of FFmpeg and it's benefits read my Blog post about FFmpeg.

We now know what is FFmpeg and it's benefits. Now let's see how to install it on your OS.

Windows​

  1. To download FFmpeg for Windows

    Visit the FFmpeg download page.

    Under More downloading options section hover over the Windows logo and click the Windows builds from gyan.dev link. A new page opens. FFmpeg Download

    In the new page under the git master builds section, look for the latest git master branch build. Click the ffmpeg-git-full.7z link to download the full build since that version has the most up-to-date libraries. ffmpeg-git-page

  2. Extract the Downloaded Files to C: Drive

    Extract this file by using any file archiver such as Winrar or 7z. choose-extract-here Rename the extracted folder to ffmpeg and move the folder to the root of the C: drive

  3. Add FFmpeg to PATH

    Run cmd as an administrator and set the environment path variable for ffmpeg by running the following command:

    setx /m PATH "C:\Users/user_name/ffmpeg\bin;%PATH%"

    cmd

  4. Restart your computer and verify the installation

    To verify the installation run following command:

    ffmpeg -version

    Now you will get a respond from FFmpeg.

Linux​

  • Debian and Ubuntu distos​

    This is the default method for installing FFmpeg. All you have to do is tell APT to grab and install the program from the default Debian/Ubuntu software repo. Open the terminal and run following commands,

    First update the repositories,

    sudo apt update

    Then you can install FFmpeg by,

    sudo apt install ffmpeg

    That's it. You can check your FFmpeg by,

    ffmpeg -version

  • Fedora​

    In Fedora you need to configure RPMfusion Repository because FFmpeg packages are available in RPMfusion repository. Add it to your Fedora using the commands below.

    sudo dnf -y install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
    sudo dnf -y install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

    After the repository has been added, proceed to install FFmpeg on Fedora. By following commands,

    sudo dnf -y install ffmpeg

    To install development libraries,

    sudo dnf -y install ffmpeg-devel

    Check the version of FFmpeg installed on your Fedora system using the command.

    ffmpeg -version

  • Arch Linux​

    In Arch Linux you can install FFmpeg by,

    sudo pacman -Sy ffmpeg

    • For the development version, install the ffmpeg-git aur package.

    • There is also ffmpeg-full, which is built with as many optional features enabled as possible.

      Check the version of FFmpeg installed on your Arch system using the command.

      ffmpeg -version

      ffmpeg.webp

For more information refer ArchWiki FFmpeg Page

Other Materials​