FFmpeg Download for Windows, Mac and Linux: Where to Start

Many of the video converters, editors and media players you already use rely on FFmpeg behind the scenes. Installing FFmpeg itself gives you the same engine directly: one command can turn an old AVI into an MP4, pull the audio out of a film or change a file’s frame rate.

What FFmpeg is good at

• Format conversion: Reads and writes a huge range of video, audio and image formats.
• Stream copying: Moves streams into a new container without re-encoding, which is fast and lossless.
• Filters: Scales, crops, rotates and adjusts video, or changes audio volume and sample rate.
• Automation: Because it runs in a terminal, it fits neatly into scripts and batch jobs.

Getting FFmpeg onto your computer

The FFmpeg project publishes source code; ready-to-run programs come from builders that the official download page links to.

1. The Download button opens the download page on ffmpeg.org.
2. Windows: Choose one of the linked builds, from gyan.dev or from BtbN on GitHub. There is no classic installer; you extract the archive and run ffmpeg from a terminal.
3. macOS: The page links to static builds on evermeet.cx; many people also use a package manager.
4. Linux: Most distributions package FFmpeg, so your package manager is usually the easiest route.

Two commands from the documentation

The official manual opens with a simple conversion that lets FFmpeg pick suitable settings for the output format:

ffmpeg -i input.avi output.mp4

This one turns a FLAC file into an MP3 with ID3v2.3 tags, which older players read more reliably:

ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3

Before you begin

FFmpeg has no windows or buttons. If you would rather click than type, a graphical program built on FFmpeg, such as Shutter Encoder, may suit you better.