Installing FFmpeg on Ubuntu

Introduction

FFmpeg is a command-line tool that records, transcodes, mixes, formats, and streams multimedia content. This cross-platform framework is open-source and shares audio and video libraries (libavutil, libavcodec, libavformat, libavdevice, libavfilter, libswscale, and libswresample) with users for free.

In this tutorial, you will learn about installing FFmpeg on Ubuntu using two methods.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu installed (this guide uses Ubuntu 20.04).
• A user with root or sudo privileges.
• Access to the terminal.

Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu with apt

The FFmpeg package is included in Ubuntu repositories, but the version may not be the latest. Still, apt is frequently used as it is one of the easiest ways to install FFmpeg on Ubuntu.

Step 1: Update the Repository

Update and upgrade the system packages to get the FFmpeg version currently available in the repository. Execute the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Hit y to continue when prompted:

Step 2: Install FFmpeg

After upgrading the repository, install FFmpeg by running the following:

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Step 3: Verify the Installation

Confirm that FFmpeg has been installed with:

ffmpeg -version

The command verifies that the 4.2.7 version of FFmpeg is installed. The 4.2.7 is the latest stable FFmpeg version in the Ubuntu 20.04 repositories. However, apps in Ubuntu repositories are not always up-to-date.

To update FFmpeg to the latest version, use snappy.

Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu with snappy

Get the latest version of FFmpeg with the Snap package manager (snappy).

The snap tool packs an app and its dependencies in a snap package, a container that works on any Linux distribution. Moreover, unlike FFmpeg packages in official Ubuntu repositories, snaps are updated automatically and continually, ensuring users get the latest FFmpeg version.

Step 1: Install Snap

Start by checking whether Snap is already installed on the system, as is the case on Ubuntu. Execute the following:

snap version

The output verifies that Snap is running. In case Ubuntu does not have Snap, the command prints the following:

To add Snap to the machine, follow these steps:

1. Update and upgrade the repository with:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

2. Install Snap by running:

sudo apt install snapd

3. Verify the installation using:

snap version

Step 2: Install FFmpeg

To install FFmpeg, run:

sudo snap install ffmpeg

The terminal displays the progress bar. Once the installation completes, the output looks like this:

Step 3: Verify the Installation

To verify that FFmpeg is installed, run:

ffmpeg -version

The version of FFmpeg installed with Snap is 4.3.1, a more recent version than the one installed via apt (4.2.7).

Conclusion

After going through this tutorial, you now understand how to install FFmpeg on Ubuntu using apt or snappy. Next, learn about the differences between Snap, Flatpack, and AppImage package formats.

If you are a Windows user, read our tutorial and learn how to install FFmpeg on Windows, and if you are a Mac user, learn how to install FFmpeg on MacOS..