Getting started with ffmpeg

Remarks#

FFMpeg This section provides an overview of what ffmpeg is, and why a developer might want to use it.

It should also mention any large subjects within ffmpeg, and link out to the related topics. Since the Documentation for ffmpeg is new, you may need to create initial versions of those related topics.

Installation or Setup

FFmpeg can be installed on a mixture of Operating Systems, including Unix and OS X. Using a command line extension, this utility can also be installed on Windows using a dll.

OS X

To install this utility on OS X, just head over to [ffmpeg.org](https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html#build-mac), download the release relative to your Macs architecture (instructions on finding this can be found [here](https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01230/determining-if-your-computer-is-32-bit-or-64-bit.html)). Then put the application into an accessible directory and run it from command line.

Another way is using HomeBrew: https://www.howtogeek.com/211541/homebrew-for-os-x-easily-installs-desktop-apps-and-terminal-utilities/

For example

brew install ffmpeg --with-fdk-aac --with-ffplay --with-libass --with-libvorbis --with-libvpx --with-rtmpdump --with-openh264 --with-tools

Windows

To install this utility on Windows, head over to [ffmpeg.org](https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html#build-windows) and follow the download link, using your architecture. Instructions on finding this can be seen [here](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/i-need-to-know-how-to-determine-my-processors/3ede9c69-25f5-427b-8e8d-e9dd2d032d22). Then place the downloaded software into an accessible directory and run from command line.

Unix

To install this utility on Unix, just follow the instructions found at [ffmpeg.org](https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html#build-linux)

To check if ffmpeg is installed correctly and see a list of available commands try running the following command in the command line:

ffmpeg -help

What is FFmpeg?

FFmpeg (or “Fast Forward MPEG”) is a simple yet feature rich command line utility to allow the manipulation (including decoding, encoding, transcoding, muxing, demuxing, streaming, filtering, and playing) of media and video files. This utility differs from other GUI orientated software as it employs the WYSIWYG methodology (What You See Is What You Get). Instead of hidden away menus and features, everything can be found by just typing ffmpeg -h when set up, or following the comprehensive documentation. In addition to the command line tool there are a number of C libraries (which it uses), that can be used to bring the functionality of FFmpeg into other projects. The documentation for the libraries includes many examples to help get you started.