In this guide, let me show you how to install FFmpeg on various Linux distributions. For those who don't know, FFmpeg is one of the best multimedia framework that can be used to encode, decode, transcode, mux, demux, record, stream, filter, and play any type of media files. It is completely free multimedia framework that works on almost all operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, the BSDs, Solaris, etc. For more details, refer the official website link given at the end of this guide.
Recommended Download - Free Guide: "Spotify Music Streaming: The Unofficial Guide"
Install FFmpeg In Linux
FFmpeg is packaged for most Linux distributions and is available in the default repositories. Here I have included installation instructions for popular Linux distros.
Table of Contents
Install FFmpeg on Arch Linux and its derivatives
FFmpeg is available in the default repositories of Arch Linux. You can install it using command:
$ sudo pacman -S ffmpeg
The latest development version is available in the AUR, so you can install it using any AUR hepers, such as Paru or Yay.
$ paru -S ffmpeg-git
Or,
$ 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
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
Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu and its derivatives
FFmpeg is available in the official repositories of Ubuntu, so you can install it using command:
$ sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
FFmpeg in the official repositories might be bit outdated. To install most recent version, use the FFmpeg PPA.
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/trusty- media
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Install FFmpeg on Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux
FFmpeg can be installed via EPEL and RPM Fusion repositories on RPM-based distributions, such as Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux.
First, Add EPEL repository using 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
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 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
Now, head over to the next tutorial to learn to use FFmpeg. I have compiled the most commonly and frequently used 20+ FFmpeg commands in the following guide.
Resource:
