What FFmpeg does
FFmpeg is an open-source command-line toolkit for processing audio and video. It handles recording, converting, streaming, muxing, demuxing, filtering, and probing media files across a wide range of formats and codecs. Because it operates through a command-line interface, FFmpeg is well suited to scripted workflows, automated pipelines, and server-side media processing where a graphical interface is not needed. FFmpeg works with an extensive set of containers and codecs, including MP4, MKV, MOV, WebM, AVI, H.264, H.265/HEVC, AV1, VP9, AAC, MP3, FLAC, Opus, and many others. This broad format support makes it a common choice for tasks such as transcoding video to a different codec, extracting audio from a video file, changing container formats without re-encoding, generating thumbnails, applying filters, and packaging media for streaming protocols like HLS and RTSP. FFmpeg runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. On Windows and macOS, pre-built binary packages are available, so no compilation is required. On Linux, FFmpeg is widely available through system package managers, and source builds are also supported for environments that require custom codec configurations. FFmpeg is released under open-source licenses. The core library set is available under the LGPL, while builds that include certain optional components are licensed under the GPL. Users working in commercial environments should review the license terms for the specific build they deploy. This page provides the official standalone installer for FFmpeg. The Windows build hosted here comes from gyan.dev, a well-known distributor of verified FFmpeg Windows binaries. Always download FFmpeg only from the official project site at ffmpeg.org or from the publisher shown on this page to avoid unofficial or tampered builds.
