Let’s learn how to install FFmpeg on Ubuntu, MacOS, and Windows – the easy and painless way. Often times, people spend too much time installing FFmpeg and not using it. Let’s solve that problem today!
For those who do not know, FFmpeg is one of the most important and popular video processing and compression libraries there is! It powers some of the most efficient encoders that are commercially available along with commonly used software like Handbrake and VLC player.
In this article, let’s start with the basics and see how to install FFmpeg on Windows, MacOS, and Ubuntu. Let’s go!
How to Install FFmpeg on Windows?
Download FFmpeg Batch A/V Converter - Perform conversions for video or audio files, add subtitles or alter ffmpeg parameters with this comprehensive app that takes batch processing to the next level. Components of FFmpeg are found in many media products. However, one down side to FFmpeg is that it’s flexible nature can make it tricky to install. Thankfully it has gotten easier though the simpler installation methods aren’t well published. A friend emailed over the weekend asking how to install it on a Mac. In terms of video conversion, the FFmpeg substitute for Mac can convert video of 3D 360 VR, 720P, 1080P, 4K UHD any resolution, any formats, convert MKV to MP4 Mac/Windows, MOV to WMV, FLV to AVI, MP4 to MP3, H.265 to H.264 etc. With 350+ preset profiles for Apple and Android devices, including the latest iPhone X/8/7/Plus/SE/6s, Samsung Galaxy.
On a Windows machine, it is a complex process to compile and install FFmpeg if you are not a programmer and don’t have access to coding tools.
.exe
FFmpeg files and use that (or the shared libraries).Update: Zeranoe is shutting down on Sept. 18, 2020 and I’ll provide weekly Win64 builds (static and shared) over here.
How to Install FFmpeg on MacOS?
On a Mac, you can install FFmpeg using
brew
which is a superb package manager for the MacOS ecosystem. Here is the one-liner to install FFmpeg on a Mac machine (testing and working on Cataline v 10.15.5)If you want additional tools like Netflix’s
VMAF
on MacOS with FFmpeg, all you need to do is to include if when you install ffmpeg. For example,The brew page is an excellent resource for all the possible options. Check there first before hunting on Google or Stackoverflow.
How to Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu?
On Ubuntu, you can install FFmpeg in a couple of ways – using the
apt
package manager or compiling from source. Using apt
To simply install it using
apt
, use the following commandline,That’s it.
Compiling FFmpeg from Source
However, if you are installing FFmpeg on an Ubuntu machine, there is a high likelihood that you are going to tinker with FFmpeg and that means you might want to compile from the FFmpeg source.
To do so, you can use the procedure mentioned in the FFmpeg Official Installation Guide.
I’ve done it a few times, and there are a couple of dependencies missing in the official guide. Here is my procedure for compiling and installing FFmpeg from source on Ubuntu 18.04.
Step 1: Install the Dependencies (including
nasm
). And, remember to create the following foldersStep 2: Install the Video and Audio Codecs that you are going to need. I installed
libx264
, libx265-dev
, libnuma-dev
, libvpx-dev
, libfdk-aac-dev
, libmp3lame-dev
, and libopus-dev
.Step 3: Install
libunistring-dev
to prevent the following error : ERROR: gnutls not found using pkg-config
Step 4: Download and compile FFmpeg from sources. Notice that we are now using
--enable libvmaf
to enable VMAF with FFmpeg.That’s it – you should be up and running with FFmpeg now!
by Brian Fisher • Jun 14,2019 • Proven solutions
FFmpeg is a powerful command-line conversion tool for Windows and Linux. It can be used for totally free for any purpose. Since the command is not so user-friendly for regular users. There are graphic user interface (GUI) implements for FFmpeg, like WinFF and AVANTI for Windows. However, I have not found an exact GUI for FFmpeg on Mac. This article will show you 3 ways to convert any videos on Mac OS X.
FFmpeg for Mac Alternative
#1. UniConverter for Mac
This is the highly recommended FFmpeg for Mac alternative as I am concerned. UniConverter not only provides you with a user-friendly interface, but also comes with more features than FFmpeg, including optimized presets for all popular devices, DVD burning, DVD backup, and so on. You can even download video from YouTube. Like FFmpeg, it's the all-in-one tool you need to convert audio and video for macOS. Try FFmpeg for Mac alternative for free.
Get the Best Alternative to FFmpeg for Mac - UniConverter
- Access to wide range of Presets: Optimized presets for all mobile devices, gaming accessories, TV and online video sharing websites.
- High Performance with zero quality loss: 90X faster conversion speed without any quality loss issues of the video codecs.
- Merge Various Video Files: Drag & drop or load multiple videos and merge them in a single video file easily.
- Extract Audio: Easily extract audio files from a video and export them to WAV, WMA, M4A, AC3, MP3 & AAC with 3 simple clicks.
- Time-Saving Product: With its GPU Acceleration technology it completes conversion process of any video or audio size in a short time.
- Compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina, 10.14 Mojave, 10.13 High Sierra, 10.12 Sierra, 10.11 El Capitan, 10.10 Yosemite, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.8 Mountain Lion and 10.7 Lion.
3,981,454 people have downloaded it
How to Convert Videos with FFmpeg for Mac Alternative
First of all, you can watch the following video tutorial to get a rough idea of how UniConverter converts videos and then follow the steps to convert video by yourself.
Step 1. Load your video files
After you install and launch iSkysoft program on your Mac computer, please drag and drop the videos to it. Or go to the main menu and then choose 'Add Files' to add your video files.
Step 2. Set output format
This program allows you to convert videos to various standard and HD video formats, such as MOV, MP4, M4V, FLV, AVI, VOB, 3GP, MKV, WMV, etc. Just select the right one according to your needs. By the way, you can convert media files to audio as well. If necessary, you are able to custmize the encode settings by going to 'File' menu then press 'Encode Settings'.
Ffmpeg Download On Mac
Step 3. Ready to convert
After making all setting, please click the 'Convert' button to start the conversion. This process will be completed within several seconds.
Download Ffmpeg Mac Terminal
#2. FFmpegX for Mac
Although the name is FFmpegX, it's not only FFmpeg included, but mpeg2enc (mpeg-2 encoder and multiplexer), mencoder (mpeg-4 encoder) and up to 20 powerful video and audio processing tools. You can access them all in a single application for free.
#3. Use FFmpeg command line tool on Mac
Ffmpeg Binary Mac Download
If you are familiar with FFmpeg command line tools, a graphic user interface may be helpless for you. Command line is usually more efficient the GUI. So is there a method to run FFmpeg on Mac? Sure. You can compile FFmpeg with the open source files yourself, using your own compiling options. However, it's too difficult for regular people. Here, I'll show you how to use ffmpeg command line tool on Mac. Since FFmpegX works on Mac and it includes FFmpeg, we can just extract FFmpeg from FFmpegX package. Below is how.
1. Download FFmpegX DMG package online to your Mac.
2. Control-Click the FFmpegX package, and choose 'Show Package Contents.'
3. In the window that appears, open 'Resources.'
4. Copy the 'ffmpeg' executable to /usr/local/bin.
Install Ffmpeg On Mac
4. Copy the 'ffmpeg' executable to /usr/local/bin.
5. Open the terminal and run ffmpeg to see whether it works.
Tips: If exits any problem, execute these commands and try again:
sudo chown root:wheel /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg