Install FFMPEG

FFmpeg is one of the best multimedia frameworks that can be used to encode, decode, transcode, mux, demux, record, stream, filter, and play any type of media file. It is a completely free multimedia framework that works on almost all operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, the BSDs, Solaris, etc.

Install FFmpeg In Linux

FFmpeg is packaged for most Linux distributions and is available in the default repositories. Here are installation instructions for popular Linux distros.

1. Install FFmpeg on Arch Linux and its derivatives

FFmpeg is available in the default repositories of Arch Linux. You can install it using the command:

$ sudo pacman -S ffmpeg

The latest development version is available in the AUR. , so you can install it using any AUR helpers, for example, Yay.

$ yay -S ffmpeg-git

There is also ffmpeg-full package in AUR, which is built with as many optional features enabled as possible. You can install that too if you want.

$ yay -S ffmpeg-full-git

2. Install FFmpeg on Debian

FFmpeg is available in the default repositories. Open your Terminal and run the following command to install it.

$ sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

3. Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu and its derivatives

In Ubuntu, FFmpeg is available in the official repositories, so you can install it using command:

$ sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

FFmpeg in the official repositories might be bit outdated. To install the most recent version, use the FFmpeg PPA.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/trusty-media

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

4. Install FFmpeg on Fedora, RHEL, CentOS

FFmpeg can be installed via EPEL and RPM Fusion repositories on RPM-based distributions, such as RHEL, Fedora, CentOS.

First, Add EPEL repository using the command:

$ sudo dnf install epel-release

Add RPM Fusion repository as shown below depending upon the distribution you use:

To enable access to both the free and the nonfree repository use the following command:

Fedora 22 and later:

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

RHEL 8.x and compatible systems:

$ sudo dnf install --nogpgcheck https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm

$ sudo dnf install --nogpgcheck https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-8.noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/el/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-8.noarch.rpm

RHEL 7.x, CentOS 7.x:

$ sudo yum localinstall --nogpgcheck https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-7.noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/el/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-7.noarch.rpm

The above commands will install both free and non-free repositories.

After enabling EPEL and RPM Fusion repositories, run the following command to install FFmpeg:

$ sudo dnf install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel

Or,

$ sudo yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel

5. Install FFmpeg in openSUSE

Enable Packman repository on your openSUSE system.

If you’re using openSUSE Tumbleweed edition, run the following command to enable Packman repository:

$ sudo zypper addrepo -cfp 90 'https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/packman/suse/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/' packman

On openSUSE Leap:

$ sudo zypper addrepo -cfp 90 'https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/packman/suse/openSUSE_Leap_$releasever/' packman

Refresh the repository database:

$ sudo zypper refresh

Finally, install FFmpeg on openSUSE using the command:

$ sudo zypper install --from packman ffmpeg

! Congratulations! You have successfully installed FFmpeg on your Linux box.

To verify the FFmpeg version, run

$ ffmpeg -version

Sample output:

ffmpeg version 4.4 Copyright (c) 2000-2021 the FFmpeg developers
              built with gcc 11 (GCC)
              configuration: --prefix=/usr --bindir=/usr/bin --datadir=/usr/share/ffmpeg --docdir=/usr/share/doc/ffmpeg --incdir=/usr/include/ffmpeg --libdir=/usr/lib64 --mandir=/usr/share/man --arch=x86_64 --optflags='-O2 -flto=auto -ffat-lto-objects -fexceptions -g -grecord-gcc-switches -pipe -Wall -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -Wp,-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-cc1 -fstack-protector-strong -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-annobin-cc1 -m64 -mtune=generic -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection' --extra-ldflags='-Wl,-z,relro -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-z,now -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-ld ' --extra-cflags=' -I/usr/include/rav1e' --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-version3 --enable-bzlib --disable-crystalhd --enable-fontconfig --enable-frei0r --enable-gcrypt --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libaom --enable-libdav1d --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libcdio --enable-libdrm --enable-libjack --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-nvenc --enable-openal --enable-opencl --enable-opengl --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librsvg --enable-librav1e --enable-libsmbclient --enable-version3 --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libv4l2 --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-version3 --enable-vapoursynth --enable-libvpx --enable-vulkan --enable-libglslang --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-libzvbi --enable-lv2 --enable-avfilter --enable-avresample --enable-libmodplug --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --disable-static --enable-shared --enable-gpl --disable-debug --disable-stripping --shlibdir=/usr/lib64 --enable-lto --enable-libmfx --enable-runtime-cpudetect
              libavutil 56. 70.100 / 56. 70.100
              libavcodec 58.134.100 / 58.134.100
              libavformat 58. 76.100 / 58. 76.100
              libavdevice 58. 13.100 / 58. 13.100
              libavfilter 7.110.100 / 7.110.100
              libavresample 4. 0. 0 / 4. 0. 0
              libswscale 5. 9.100 / 5. 9.100
              libswresample 3. 9.100 / 3. 9.100
              libpostproc 55. 9.100 / 55. 9.100
            

To print FFmpeg help section:

$ ffmpeg -h

Display FFmpeg man page:

$ man ffmpeg