View source for FFmpeg

{{Short description|Multimedia framework}}
{{Infobox software
| logo = [[File:FFmpeg Logo new.svg|200px]]
| screenshot = FFmpeg 8.0 screenshot.webp
| screenshot size = 300px
| caption = FFmpeg being used to convert a file from the [[PNG|PNG file format]] to the [[WebP|WebP format]]
| author = [[Fabrice Bellard]] <br />
Bobby Bingham (libavfilter)<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2008-February/045338.html | date=2008-02-09 | title=Bobby announces work on libavfilter as GsOC project | archive-date=2021-10-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007032422/http://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2008-February/045338.html | access-date=2021-10-07 | url-status=live }}</ref>
| developer = FFmpeg team
| released = {{Start date and age|2000|12|20}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git;a=commit;h=9aeeeb63f7e1ab7b0b7bb839a5f258667a2d2d78 |title=Initial revision - git.videolan.org/ffmpeg.git/commit |publisher=git.videolan.org |date=2000-12-20 |access-date=2013-05-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225083213/http://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git%3Ba%3Dcommit%3Bh%3D9aeeeb63f7e1ab7b0b7bb839a5f258667a2d2d78 |archive-date=2013-12-25 }}</ref>
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q847465|P348|P548=Q2804309}}
| latest release date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q847465|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}
| latest preview version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q847465|P348|P548=Q51930650}}
| latest preview date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q847465|P348|P548=Q51930650|P577}}
| repo = {{URL|https://git.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.git}}
| programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]] and [[Assembly language|Assembly]]<ref name=SEC4>{{cite web |url=https://ffmpeg.org/developer.html |title=Developer Documentation |publisher=ffmpeg.org |date=2011-12-08 |access-date=2012-01-04 |archive-date=2012-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204192831/http://ffmpeg.org/developer.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| operating system = Various, including [[Windows]], [[macOS]], and [[Linux]] ([[executable]] programs are only available from third parties, as the project only distributes [[source code]])<ref name="ffmpeg-platform-info">{{cite web |title=Platform Specific Information |url=https://ffmpeg.org/platform.html |website=FFmpeg.org |access-date=25 February 2020 |archive-date=25 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225202151/https://ffmpeg.org/platform.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Homepage>{{cite web |url=https://ffmpeg.org/download.html |title=Download |work=ffmpeg.org |publisher=FFmpeg |access-date=2012-01-04 |archive-date=2011-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006131811/http://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| platform = [[x86]], [[ARM architecture family|ARM]], [[PowerPC]], [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]], [[RISC-V]], [[DEC Alpha]], [[Blackfin]], [[AVR32]], [[SuperH#SH-4|SH-4]], and [[SPARC]]; may be [[compiled]] for other [[desktop computer]]s
| genre = [[Multimedia framework]]
| license = [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL-2.1-or-later]], [[GNU General Public License|GPL-2.0-or-later]] <br />Unredistributable if compiled with any software with a license incompatible with the GPL<ref>FFmpeg can be compiled with various external libraries, some of which have licenses that are [[GNU General Public License#Linking and derived works|incompatible with]] the FFmpeg's primary license, the [[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL]].</ref>
| website = [https://ffmpeg.org/ ffmpeg.org]
}}
'''FFmpeg''' is a [[free and open-source software]] project consisting of a suite of [[Library (computing)|libraries]] and [[Computer program|programs]] for handling video, audio, and other [[multimedia]] files and streams. At its core is the [[Command-line interface|command-line]] <code>ffmpeg</code> tool itself, designed for processing video and audio files. It is widely used for format [[transcoding]], basic editing (trimming and [[concatenation]]), [[Video scaler|video scaling]], video [[post-production]] effects, and standards compliance ([[Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers|SMPTE]], [[International Telecommunication Union|ITU]]).

FFmpeg also includes other tools: <code>ffplay</code>, a simple media player, and <code>ffprobe</code>, a command-line tool to display media information. Among included libraries are [[libavcodec]], an audio/video [[codec]] library used by many commercial and free software products, '''libavformat''' (Lavf),<ref name="Lavf">{{cite web|url=https://www.ffmpeg.org/doxygen/2.2/group__libavf.html|title=FFmpeg: Lavf: I/O and Muxing/Demuxing Library|work=ffmpeg.org|access-date=21 October 2016|archive-date=3 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203035541/http://ffmpeg.org/doxygen/2.2/group__libavf.html|url-status=live}}</ref> an audio/video [[Container format (computing)|container]] [[multiplexing|mux and demux]] library, and libavfilter, a library for enhancing and editing filters through a [[GStreamer]]-like filtergraph.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Libavfilter Documentation|url=https://ffmpeg.org/libavfilter.html|access-date=2021-10-07|website=ffmpeg.org|archive-date=2021-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007032443/https://ffmpeg.org/libavfilter.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

FFmpeg is part of the workflow of many other software projects, and its libraries are a core part of software media players such as [[VLC media player|VLC]], and has been included in core processing for [[YouTube]] and [[Bilibili]].<ref>{{Citation|title=ijkplayer|date=2021-10-05|url=https://github.com/bilibili/ijkplayer|publisher=bilibili|access-date=2021-10-05|archive-date=2021-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005224814/https://github.com/bilibili/ijkplayer|url-status=live}}</ref> Encoders and decoders for many audio and video file formats are included, making it highly useful for the transcoding of common and uncommon media files.

FFmpeg is published under the [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL-2.1-or-later]] or [[GNU General Public License|GPL-2.0-or-later]], depending on which options are enabled.<ref name="legal">{{cite web|url=https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html|title=FFmpeg License and Legal Considerations|publisher=ffmpeg.org|access-date=2012-01-04|archive-date=2012-01-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103190924/http://ffmpeg.org/legal.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== History ==
The project was started by [[Fabrice Bellard]]<ref name="legal" /> (using the [[pseudonym]] "Gérard Lantau") in 2000, and was led by Michael Niedermayer from 2004 until 2015.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = https://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2015-July/176489.html|title = [FFmpeg-devel] FFmpegs future and resigning as leader|access-date = 2015-09-22|first = Michael|last = Niedermayer| date=31 July 2015 |archive-date = 2015-08-15|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150815230313/https://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2015-July/176489.html|url-status = live}}</ref> Some FFmpeg developers were also part of the [[MPlayer]] project.

The "FF" in FFmpeg stands for "fast forward"<ref>{{cite web|last=Bellard|first=Fabrice|author-link=Fabrice Bellard|date=18 February 2006|title=FFmpeg naming and logo|url=https://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2006-February/010315.html|access-date=24 December 2011|work=FFmpeg developer mailing list|publisher=FFmpeg website|archive-date=26 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426071311/http://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2006-February/010315.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The logo represents a [[zigzag]] scan pattern that shows how MPEG video codecs handle [[entropy encoding]].<ref>{{Cite FTP |last=Carlsen|first=Steve|date=1992-06-03|title=TIFF 6.0 specification|url=ftp://ftp.sgi.com/graphics/tiff/TIFF6.ps|access-date=2016-08-14|page=98|format=PS|server=[[Aldus Corporation]]|url-status=dead|quote=Zig-Zag Scan}} [http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/tiff/TIFF6.pdf Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120703095221/http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/tiff/TIFF6.pdf |date=2012-07-03 }}</ref>

On March 13, 2011, a group of FFmpeg developers decided to [[Fork (software)|fork]] the project under the name Libav.<ref>{{citation|title=Libav project site|url=http://www.libav.org/|access-date=2012-01-04|archive-date=2012-01-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103091848/http://libav.org/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation|author=Ronald S. Bultje|title=Project renamed to Libav|date=2011-03-14|url=http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.ffmpeg.devel/129579|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107163133/http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.ffmpeg.devel/129579|access-date=2012-01-04|archive-date=2016-11-07|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=A group of FFmpeg developers just forked as Libav|date=2011-03-14|url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/OTIwNw|publisher=Phoronix|access-date=2012-01-04|archive-date=2011-09-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110915210209/http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTIwNw|url-status=live}}</ref> The group decided to fork the project due to a disagreement with the leadership of FFmpeg.{{clarify|date=March 2025}}<ref>{{citation|title=What happened to FFmpeg|date=2011-03-30|url=https://codecs.multimedia.cx/2011/03/what-happened-to-ffmpeg/|access-date=2012-05-19|archive-date=2018-09-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902151632/https://codecs.multimedia.cx/2011/03/what-happened-to-ffmpeg/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=FFMpeg turmoil|date=2011-01-19|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/423702/|access-date=2012-01-04|archive-date=2012-01-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112085953/http://lwn.net/Articles/423702/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The FFmpeg/Libav situation|url=http://blog.pkh.me/p/13-the-ffmpeg-libav-situation.html|access-date=2015-09-22|website=blog.pkh.me|archive-date=2012-07-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701210503/http://blog.pkh.me/p/13-the-ffmpeg-libav-situation.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
Libav was declared abandoned in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kunhya |first=Kieran |date=2020-04-16 |title=[libav-devel] What is the status of this project? |url=https://lists.libav.org/pipermail/libav-devel/2020-April/086589.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812182017/https://lists.libav.org/pipermail/libav-devel/2020-April/086589.html |archive-date=2020-08-12 |access-date=2020-12-20}}</ref>

On January 10, 2014, two Google employees announced that over 1000 bugs had been fixed in FFmpeg during the previous two years by means of [[fuzz testing]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://security.googleblog.com/2014/01/ffmpeg-and-thousand-fixes.html|title=FFmpeg and a thousand fixes|date=January 10, 2014|work=googleblog.com|access-date=21 October 2016|archive-date=22 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022022444/https://security.googleblog.com/2014/01/ffmpeg-and-thousand-fixes.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In January 2018, the ''ffserver'' command-line program – a long-time component of FFmpeg – was removed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/ffserver|title=ffserver – FFmpeg|website=trac.ffmpeg.org|access-date=2018-02-03|archive-date=2018-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180204000416/https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/ffserver|url-status=live}}</ref> The developers had previously deprecated the program citing high maintenance efforts due to its use of internal [[application programming interface]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ffmpeg.org/index.html#ffserv|title=ffserver program being dropped|date=2016-07-10|website=ffmpeg.org|language=en|access-date=2018-02-03|archive-date=2016-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716124052/http://ffmpeg.org/index.html#ffserv|url-status=live}}</ref>

The project publishes a new release every three months on average. While release versions are available from the website for download, FFmpeg developers recommend that users compile the software from source using the latest build from their [[source code]], using the [[Git]] [[version control system]].<ref name="release_policy">{{cite web|url=https://ffmpeg.org/download.html#releases|title=ffmpeg.org/download.html#releases|publisher=ffmpeg.org|access-date=2015-04-27|archive-date=2011-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006131811/http://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html#releases|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Codec history ===
Two [[video coding format]]s with corresponding codecs and one [[digital container format|container format]] have been created within the FFmpeg project so far. The two video codecs are the lossless [[FFV1]], and the lossless and lossy Snow codec. Development of Snow has stalled, while its bit-stream format has not been finalized yet, making it experimental since 2011. The multimedia container format called NUT is no longer being actively developed, but still maintained.<ref name="nut">{{cite web
|url=http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=NUT
|title=NUT
|publisher=Multimedia Wiki
|year=2012
|access-date=2014-01-03
|archive-date=2014-01-03
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103022122/http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=NUT
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

In summer 2010, FFmpeg developers Fiona Glaser, Ronald Bultje, and David Conrad, announced the ffvp8 decoder. Through testing, they determined that ffvp8 was faster than Google's own [[libvpx]] decoder.<ref>{{citation |url=http://x264dev.multimedia.cx/?p=499 |title=Diary Of An x264 Developer: Announcing the world's fastest VP8 decoder |first=Fiona |last=Glaser |date=2010-07-23 |access-date=2012-01-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100930181634/http://x264dev.multimedia.cx/?p=499 |archive-date=2010-09-30 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/07/24/1227241/FFmpeg-Announces-High-Performance-VP8-Decoder |title=FFmpeg Announces High-Performance VP8 Decoder |publisher=Slashdot |date=2010-07-24 |access-date=2012-01-04 |archive-date=2011-12-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221092712/http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/07/24/1227241/ffmpeg-announces-high-performance-vp8-decoder |url-status=live }}</ref> Starting with version 0.6, FFmpeg also supported [[WebM]] and [[VP8]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newteevee.com/2010/06/17/ffmpeg-goes-webm-enabling-vp8-for-boxee-co/ |title=FFmpeg Goes WebM, Enabling VP8 for Boxee & Co |publisher=newteevee.com |date=2010-06-17 |access-date=2012-01-04 |quote=...with [[VLC media player|VLC]], [[Boxee]], [[MythTV]], [[HandBrake|Handbrake]] and [[MPlayer]] being some of the more popular projects utilizing FFmpeg... |archive-date=2010-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620003915/http://newteevee.com/2010/06/17/ffmpeg-goes-webm-enabling-vp8-for-boxee-co/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In October 2013, a native [[VP9]]<ref name="LaunchpadVP9Decoder">{{cite news |title=Native VP9 decoder is now in the Git master branch |work=[[Launchpad (website)|Launchpad]] |url=https://launchpad.net/ffmpeg/+announcement/12045 |date=2013-10-03 |access-date=2013-10-21 |archive-date=2013-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022011447/https://launchpad.net/ffmpeg/+announcement/12045 |url-status=live }}</ref> decoder and OpenHEVC, an open source [[High Efficiency Video Coding]] (HEVC) decoder, were added to FFmpeg.<ref name=FFmpegHEVCOctober2013Softpedia>{{cite news |title=FFmpeg Now Features Native HEVC/H.265 Decoder Support |publisher=[[Softpedia]] |url=https://linux.softpedia.com/blog/Ffmpeg-Now-Features-Native-HEVC-H-265-Decoder-Support-391582.shtml |date=2013-10-16 |access-date=2013-10-16 |archive-date=2014-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140615002423/http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ffmpeg-Now-Features-Native-HEVC-H-265-Decoder-Support-391582.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2016 the native [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]] encoder was considered stable, removing support for the two external AAC encoders from [[VisualOn]] and [[FAAC]]. FFmpeg 3.0 (nicknamed ''"Einstein"'') retained build support for the [[Fraunhofer FDK AAC]] encoder.<ref name="Einstein">{{cite web|url=https://ffmpeg.org/index.html#pr3.0|title=February 15th, 2016, FFmpeg 3.0 "Einstein"|date=2016-02-15|access-date=2016-04-02|author=FFmpeg|author-link=FFmpeg<!-- for copies -->|archive-date=2016-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716124052/http://ffmpeg.org/index.html#pr3.0|url-status=live}}</ref> Since version 3.4 ''"Cantor"'' FFmpeg supported the [[FITS]] image format.<ref name="Cantor">{{cite web|url=https://ffmpeg.org/index.html#pr3.4|title=October 15th, 2017, FFmpeg 3.4 "Cantor"|date=2017-10-15|access-date=2019-05-10|author=FFmpeg|author-link=FFmpeg|archive-date=2016-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716124052/http://ffmpeg.org/index.html#pr3.4|url-status=live}}</ref> Since November 2018 in version 4.1 ''"al-Khwarizmi"'' [[AV1]] can be muxed in [[MP4 file format|MP4]] and [[Matroska]], including [[WebM]].<ref name="al-Khwarizmi">{{cite web|url=https://ffmpeg.org/index.html#pr4.1|title=November 6th, 2018, FFmpeg 4.1 "al-Khwarizmi"|date=2018-11-06|access-date=2019-05-10|author=FFmpeg|author-link=FFmpeg|archive-date=2016-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716124052/http://ffmpeg.org/index.html#pr4.1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=130284 |title=Good News: AV1 Encoding Times Drop to Near-Reasonable Levels |author=Jan Ozer |date=2019-03-04 |website=StreamingMedia.com |access-date=2019-05-10 |archive-date=2021-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514020514/https://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=130284 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Components ==

=== Command-line tools ===
* ''ffmpeg'' is a command-line tool that converts audio or video formats. It can also capture and encode in real-time from various hardware and software sources<ref>[[:commons:File:Gentoo-portage-installing-and-using-of-equery.webm|This video of Linux desktop (X11) was captured by ffmpeg and encoded in realtime]]{{Circular reference|date=March 2024}}</ref> such as a TV capture card.
* ''ffplay'' is a simple media player utilizing [[Simple DirectMedia Layer|SDL]] and the FFmpeg libraries.
* ''ffprobe'' is a command-line tool to display media information (text, [[Comma-separated values|CSV]], [[XML]], [[JSON]]), see also [[MediaInfo]].

=== Libraries ===
* ''libswresample'' is a library containing audio [[Resampling (audio)|resampling]] routines.
* ''[[libavcodec]]'' is a library containing all of the native FFmpeg audio/video encoders and decoders. Most codecs were developed from scratch to ensure best performance and high code reusability.
* ''libavformat'' (Lavf)<ref name="Lavf" /> is a library containing demuxers and muxers for audio/video container formats.
* ''libavutil'' is a helper library containing routines common to different parts of FFmpeg. This library includes hash functions, ciphers, [[Lempel–Ziv–Oberhumer|LZO]] decompressor and [[Base64]] encoder/decoder.
* ''libswscale'' is a library containing video [[image scaling]] and [[Color space|colorspace]]/pixelformat conversion routines.
* ''libavfilter'' is the substitute for vhook which allows the video/audio to be modified or examined (for debugging) between the decoder and the encoder. Filters have been ported from many projects including [[MPlayer]] and [[avisynth]].
* ''libavdevice'' is a library containing audio/video io through internal and external devices.

== Supported hardware ==
=== CPUs ===
FFmpeg encompasses software implementations of video and audio compressing and decompressing algorithms. These can be compiled and run on many different instruction sets, including [[x86]] ([[IA-32]] and [[x86-64]]), PPC ([[PowerPC]]), [[ARM architecture family|ARM]], [[DEC Alpha]], [[SPARC]], and [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fate.multimedia.cx/ |title=FFmpeg Automated Testing Environment |publisher=Fate.multimedia.cx |access-date=2012-01-04 |archive-date=2016-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410165839/http://fate.multimedia.cx/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Special purpose hardware ===
There are a variety of [[Application-specific integrated circuit|application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)]] for audio/video compression and decompression. These ASICs can partially or completely offload the computation from the host CPU. Instead of a complete implementation of an algorithm, only the [[API]] is required to use such an ASIC.<ref name="HWAccelIntro">{{cite web |title=FFmpeg Hardware Acceleration |url=https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/HWAccelIntro |website=trac.ffmpeg.org |publisher=ffmpeg.org Wiki |access-date=2016-11-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204005157/http://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/HWAccelIntro |archive-date=2016-12-04 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Firm !! ASIC !! purpose !! supported by FFmpeg !! Details
|-
| rowspan=2 | AMD    || [[Unified Video Decoder|UVD]]      ||decoding|| {{ya}} ||via [[VDPAU]] API and [[Video Acceleration API|VAAPI]]
|-
|                       [[Video Coding Engine|VCE]]        ||encoding|| {{ya}} ||via [[Video Acceleration API|VAAPI]], considered experimental<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Hardware/VAAPI|title=Hardware/VAAPI – FFmpeg|website=trac.ffmpeg.org|access-date=2017-10-16|archive-date=2017-10-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016175234/https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Hardware/VAAPI|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| Amlogic            || [[Amlogic Video Engine]]           ||decoding|| {{dunno}} ||
|-
|BlackMagic
|DeckLink
|encoding/decoding || {{ya}} || real-time ingest and playout
|-
| Broadcom           || [[Broadcom Crystal HD|Crystal HD]] ||decoding|| {{ya}} ||
|-
|[[Qualcomm]]
|[[Qualcomm Hexagon|Hexagon]]
|encoding/decoding|| {{ya}} 
|hwaccel<ref>{{Cite web|title=HEVC Video Encoder User Manual|url=https://developer.qualcomm.com/download/hevc/hevc-video-encoder-user-manual.pdf|access-date=2021-02-23|website=Qualcomm Developer Network|language=en|archive-date=2021-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416113519/https://developer.qualcomm.com/download/hevc/hevc-video-encoder-user-manual.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan=2 | Intel  || [[Intel Clear Video]]              ||decoding|| {{ya}} || (libmfx, VAAPI)
|-
|                       [[Intel Quick Sync Video]]         ||encoding/decoding|| {{ya}} || (libmfx, VAAPI)
|-
| rowspan=2 | Nvidia || [[Nvidia PureVideo|PureVideo / NVDEC]] ||decoding|| {{ya}} || via the [[VDPAU]] API as of FFmpeg v1.2 (deprecated)<br />via [[CUDA|CUVID]] API as of FFmpeg v3.1<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/blob/master/Changelog |title=FFmpeg Changelog |website=[[GitHub]] |access-date=2016-11-12 |archive-date=2017-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321031856/https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/blob/master/Changelog |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|                       [[Nvidia NVENC|NVENC]]            ||encoding|| {{ya}} || as of FFmpeg v2.6
|}

The following APIs are also supported: [[DirectX Video Acceleration]] (DXVA2, Windows), [[Direct3D 11]] (D3D11VA, Windows), [[Media Foundation]] (Windows), [[Vulkan]] (VKVA), VideoToolbox (iOS, iPadOS, macOS), RockChip MPP, [[OpenCL]], [[OpenMAX]], MMAL (Raspberry Pi), MediaCodec ([[Android (operating system)|Android OS]]), V4L2 (Linux). Depending on the environment, these APIs may lead to specific ASICs, to [[GPGPU]] routines, or to [[SIMD]] CPU code.<ref name="HWAccelIntro"/>

== Supported codecs and formats ==
=== Image formats ===
{{Technical|date=April 2023|section}}
FFmpeg supports many common and some uncommon image formats.

The {{anchor|PGMYUV}} '''PGMYUV''' image format is a homebrew variant of the binary (P5) PGM [[Netpbm format]]. FFmpeg also supports 16-bit depths of the PGM and PPM formats, and the binary (P7) [[Netpbm#PAM graphics format|PAM]] format with or without alpha channel, depth 8 bit or 16 bit for <code>pix_fmts</code> ''monob, gray, gray16be, rgb24, rgb48be, ya8, rgba, rgb64be''.

=== Supported formats ===
{{Further|libavcodec}}{{More citations needed section|date=July 2022}}
In addition to [[FFV1]] and Snow formats, which were created and developed from within FFmpeg, the project also supports the following formats:
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
! Group !! Format type !! Format name
|-
| rowspan = 4 | [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]]/[[ITU-T]]
| Video || [[MPEG-1 Part 2]], [[H.261]] (Px64),<ref name="svn8747" /> [[H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2]], [[H.263]],<ref name="svn8747" /> [[MPEG-4 Part 2]], [[H.264/MPEG-4 AVC]], [[High Efficiency Video Coding|HEVC/H.265]]<ref name=FFmpegHEVCOctober2013Softpedia /> (MPEG-H Part 2), [[Internet Video Coding#History|MPEG-4 VCB]] (a.k.a. VP8), [[Motion JPEG]], IEC [[DV (video format)|DV]] video<!--IEC 61834-2--> and [[CD+G]]<!--IEC 908-->
|-
| Audio || [[MPEG-1 Audio Layer I|MP1]], [[MPEG-1 Audio Layer II|MP2]], [[MP3]], [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], [[High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding|HE-AAC]], [[MPEG-4 ALS]], [[G.711]] μ-law, [[G.711]] A-law, [[G.721]] (a.k.a. [[G.726]] 32k), [[G.722]], [[G.722.2]] (a.k.a. AMR-WB), [[G.723]] (a.k.a. [[G.726]] 24k and 40k), [[G.723.1]], [[G.726]], [[G.729]], [[G.729D]], IEC [[DV (video format)|DV]] audio and [[Super Audio CD#DST|Direct Stream Transfer]]
|-
| Subtitle || [[MPEG-4 Part 17|MPEG-4 Timed Text]] (a.k.a. 3GPP Timed Text)
|-
| Image || [[JPEG]], [[Lossless JPEG]], [[JPEG-LS]], [[JPEG 2000]], [[JPEG XL]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=FFmpeg Lands JPEG-XL Support |url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-JPEG-XL-Lands |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=www.phoronix.com |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724085837/https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-JPEG-XL-Lands |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[Fax|CCITT G3]] and [[Group 4 compression|CCITT G4]]
|-
|rowspan=2 | [[Alliance for Open Media]]
|Video
|[[AV1]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://git.ffmpeg.org/gitweb/ffmpeg.git/commit/43778a501f1bfbceeddc8eaeea2ea2b3506beeda|title=git.ffmpeg.org Git - ffmpeg.git/commit|website=git.ffmpeg.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-23|archive-date=2018-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423232534/https://git.ffmpeg.org/gitweb/ffmpeg.git/commit/43778a501f1bfbceeddc8eaeea2ea2b3506beeda|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|Image
|[[AVIF]]<ref name="phoronix_5_1"/>
|-
| [[Electronic Industries Alliance|EIA]]
| Subtitle || [[EIA-608]]
|-
| [[Consumer Electronics Association|CEA]]
| Subtitle || [[CEA-708]]
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers|SMPTE]]
| Video || SMPTE 314M (a.k.a. [[DV (video format)#DVCAM|DVCAM]] and [[DV (video format)#DVCPRO|DVCPRO]]), SMPTE 370M (a.k.a. [[DV (video format)#DVCPRO HD|DVCPRO HD]]), [[VC-1]] (a.k.a. WMV3), [[VC-2]] (a.k.a. Dirac Pro), [[VC-3]] (a.k.a. AVID [[DNxHD]])
|-
| Audio || [[SMPTE 302M]]
|-
| Image || [[Digital Picture Exchange|DPX]]
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Advanced Television Systems Committee standards|ATSC]]/[[ETSI]]/[[Digital Video Broadcasting|DVB]]
| Audio ||[[Full Rate]] (GSM 06.10), AC-3 ([[Dolby Digital]]), Enhanced AC-3 ([[Dolby Digital Plus]]) and [[DTS (sound system)#DTS audio codec|DTS Coherent Acoustics]] (a.k.a. DTS or DCA)<!--ETSI TS 102 114-->
|-
| Subtitle || DVB Subtitling (ETSI 300 743)
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[DVD Forum]]/[[Dolby]]
| Audio || [[Meridian Lossless Packing|MLP]] / [[Dolby TrueHD]]
|-
| Subtitle || [[DVD-Video#Subtitles|DVD-Video subtitles]]
|-
| [[Xperi]]/[[DTS (sound system)|DTS, Inc]]/[[QDesign]]
| Audio || [[DTS (sound system)#DTS audio codec|DTS Coherent Acoustics]] (a.k.a. DTS or DCA), [[DTS (sound system)#DTS-ES|DTS Extended Surround]] (a.k.a. DTS-ES), [[DTS (sound system)#DTS 96.2F24|DTS 96/24]], [[DTS (sound system)#DTS-HD High Resolution Audio|DTS-HD High Resolution Audio]], DTS Express (a.k.a. DTS-HD LBR), [[DTS-HD Master Audio]], [[QDesign]] Music Codec 1 and 2
|-
| [[Blu-ray Disc Association]]
| Subtitle || PGS (Presentation Graphics Stream)
|-
| [[3GPP]] || Audio || [[AMR-NB]], [[AMR-WB]] (a.k.a. G.722.2)
|-
| [[3rd Generation Partnership Project 2|3GPP2]] || Audio || [[Qualcomm code-excited linear prediction|QCELP]]-8 (a.k.a. SmartRate or IS-96C)<!--C.S0009-->, QCELP-13 (a.k.a. PureVoice or IS-733)<!--C.S0020--> and [[Enhanced Variable Rate Codec]] (EVRC. a.k.a. IS-127)<!--C.S0014-->
|-
| rowspan = 3 | [[World Wide Web Consortium]]
| Video || [[GIF#Animated GIF|Animated GIF]]<ref name="phoronix_1_1"/>
|-
| Subtitle || [[WebVTT]]
|-
| Image || [[GIF]], and [[Scalable Vector Graphics|SVG]] (via [[librsvg]])
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Internet Engineering Task Force|IETF]]
| Video || [[FFV1]]<!--RFC 9043-->
|-
| Audio || [[Internet Low Bitrate Codec|iLBC]]<!--RFC 3951--> (via libilbc), [[Opus (audio format)|Opus]]<!--RFC 6716--> and [[Comfort noise]]<!--RFC 3389-->
|-
| International Voice Association || Audio || [[Digital Speech Standard|DSS-SP]]
|-
| [[Standardization Administration of China|SAC]] || Video || [[Audio Video Standard|AVS video]], AVS2 video<ref name="phoronix_4_1"/> (via libdavs2), and AVS3 video (via libuavs3d)
|-
| rowspan = 4 | [[Microsoft]]
| Video || Microsoft [[Run-length encoding|RLE]], [[Microsoft Video 1]], [[Cinepak]], Microsoft [[MPEG-4 Part 2|MPEG-4]] v1, v2 and v3, [[Windows Media Video]] (WMV1, WMV2, WMV3/[[VC-1]]), [[Windows Media Video#Windows Media Video Screen|WMV Screen]] and Mimic codec
|-
| Audio || [[Windows Media Audio]] (WMA1, WMA2, WMA Pro and WMA Lossless), [[XMA (audio format)|XMA]] (XMA1 and XMA2),<ref>[https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-3.0-Released FFmpeg 3.0 Released, Supports VP9 VA-API Acceleration] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808081632/https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-3.0-Released |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. February 15, 2016</ref> MSN [[Siren (codec)|Siren]], MS-GSM and MS-ADPCM
|-
| Subtitle || [[SAMI]]
|-
| Image || [[BMP file format|Windows Bitmap]], [[Windows Media Video#Windows Media Video Image|WMV Image]] (WMV9 Image and WMV9 Image v2), [[DirectDraw Surface]], and [[Microsoft Paint|MSP]]<ref>[https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-4.4-Released FFmpeg 4.4 Released With AV1 VA-API Decoder, SVT-AV1 Encoding] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808081633/https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-4.4-Released |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. April 9, 2021</ref>
|-
| [[Interactive Multimedia Association]] || Audio || IMA ADPCM
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Intel]] / [[Digital Video Interactive]]
| Video || RTV 2.1 ([[Indeo]] 2), Indeo 3, 4 and 5,<ref name="svn8747" /> and Intel H.263
|-
| Audio || DVI4 (a.k.a. IMA DVI ADPCM), Intel Music Coder, and Indeo Audio Coder
|-
| rowspan = 3 | [[RealNetworks]]
| Video || [[RealVideo]] Fractal Codec (a.k.a. Iterated Systems ClearVideo), 1, 2, 3 and 4
|-
| Audio || [[RealAudio]] v1 – v10, and RealAudio Lossless<ref name="phoronix_0_11"/>
|-
| Subtitle || [[RealText]]
|-
| rowspan = 4 | [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] / Spruce Technologies
| Video || [[Cinepak]] (Apple Compact Video), [[ProRes 422|ProRes]], [[Sorenson 3 Codec]], [[QuickTime Animation]] (Apple Animation), [[QuickTime Graphics]] (Apple Graphics), [[Apple Video]], [[Apple Intermediate Codec]] and [[Pixlet]]<ref name="phoronix_3_3"/>
|-
| Audio || [[Apple Lossless|ALAC]]
|-
| Image || [[QuickDraw]] [[PICT]]
|-
| Subtitle || Spruce subtitle (STL)
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Adobe Flash Player]] (SWF)
| Video || Screen video, Screen video 2, [[Sorenson Media#Sorenson Spark|Sorenson Spark]] and [[VP6]]
|-
| Audio || Adobe SWF [[ADPCM]] and [[Nellymoser Asao Codec|Nellymoser Asao]]
|-
| [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe]] / [[Aldus Corporation|Aldus]]
| Image || [[Tag Image File Format|TIFF]], [[Adobe Photoshop#File format|PSD]],<ref name="phoronix_3_3">[https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-3.3-Released FFmpeg 3.3 Brings Native Opus Encoder, Support For Spherical Videos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808072028/https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-3.3-Released |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. April 17, 2017</ref> and [[Digital Negative|DNG]]
|-
| rowspan = 3 | [[Xiph.Org]]
| Video || [[Theora]]
|-
| Audio || [[Speex]],<ref>[https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-5.0-Released FFmpeg 5.0 Released For This Popular, Open-Source Multimedia Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808082930/https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-5.0-Released |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. January 14, 2022</ref> [[Vorbis]], [[Opus (audio codec)|Opus]] and [[FLAC]]
|-
| Subtitle || [[Ogg Writ]]
|-
| [[Sony]]
| Audio || [[Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding]] (ATRAC1, ATRAC3, ATRAC3Plus,<ref name="phoronix_2_2">[https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTY0MTA FFmpeg 2.2 Release Adds The Libx265 Encoder] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808082929/https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTY0MTA |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. March 23, 2014</ref> and ATRAC9<ref name="phoronix_4_1">[https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-4.1-Released FFmpeg 4.1 Brings AV1 Parser & Support For AV1 In MP4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808081633/https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-4.1-Released |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. November 6, 2018</ref>)<ref name="svn8747">{{cite web|url=http://svn.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg/trunk/Changelog?revision=8747&view=marku |title=Changelog |publisher=FFmpeg |work=FFmpeg trunk SVN |date=17 April 2007 |access-date=26 April 2007 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and PSX ADPCM
|-
| [[Nippon Telegraph and Telephone|NTT]] || Audio || [[TwinVQ]]
|-
| rowspan = 3 | [[Google]] / [[On2]] / [[Global IP Solutions|GIPS]] || Video || Duck TrueMotion 1, Duck TrueMotion 2, Duck TrueMotion 2.0 Real Time, [[VP3]], [[VP4]],<ref>[https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-4.2-Released FFmpeg 4.2 Released With AV1 Decoding Support, GIF Parser] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808082929/https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-4.2-Released |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. August 6, 2019</ref> [[VP5]],<ref name="svn8747" /> [[VP6]],<ref name="svn8747" /> [[VP7]], [[VP8]],<ref>[https://www.phoronix.com/news/ODM0MA FFmpeg 0.6 Released With H.264, VP8 Love] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808074540/https://www.phoronix.com/news/ODM0MA |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. June 16, 2010</ref> [[VP9]]<ref name="LaunchpadVP9Decoder" /> and animated WebP
|-
| Audio || [[On2 Technologies#DK ADPCM Audio 3/4|DK ADPCM Audio 3/4]], [[On2 AVC]] and [[Internet Low Bitrate Codec|iLBC]] (via libilbc)
|-
| Image || [[WebP]]<ref name="phoronix_2_5"/>
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Epic Games]] / RAD Game Tools || Video || [[Smacker video]] and [[Bink video]]
|-
| Audio || Bink audio
|-
| [[CRI Middleware]] || Audio || [[ADX (file format)|ADX ADPCM]], and HCA
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Nintendo]] / [[Nintendo European Research & Development|NERD]] || Video || [[Nintendo European Research & Development#Mobiclip video codecs|Mobiclip video]]
|-
| Audio || GCADPCM (a.k.a. ADPCM THP), FastAudio, and ADPCM IMA MOFLEX
|-
| [[Synaptics]] / [[DSP Group]] || Audio || [[Truespeech]]
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Electronic Arts]] / [[Criterion Games]] / [[EA Black Box|Black Box Games]] / [[Westwood Studios]] || Video || [[RenderWare]] TXD,<ref name="ffdev20070507">{{cite web|url=http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2007-May/028760.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070811203618/http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2007-May/028760.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 August 2007 |title=FFmpeg development mailing list |publisher=FFmpeg |work=FFmpeg development |date=7 May 2007 |access-date=24 December 2010 }}</ref> Madcow, CMV, TGV, TGQ, TQI, Midivid VQ (MVDV), MidiVid 3.0 (MV30), Midivid Archival (MVHA), and Vector Quantized Animation (VQA)
|-
| Audio || Electronic Arts ADPCM variants
|-
| [[Netpbm]] || Image || [[Netpbm format|PBM, PGM, PPM, PNM, PAM, PFM and PHM]]
|-
| MIT/X Consortium/[[The Open Group]] || Image || [[X BitMap|XBM]],<ref name="phoronix_0_11">[https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTEwNzM FFmpeg 0.11 Has Blu-Ray Protocol, New Encoders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808081633/https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTEwNzM |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. May 26, 2012</ref> [[X PixMap|XPM]] and [[xwd]]
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Hewlett Packard Enterprise|HPE]] / [[Silicon Graphics International|SGI]] / [[Silicon Graphics]] || Video || Silicon Graphics RLE 8-bit video,<ref name="phoronix_1_1"/> Silicon Graphics MVC1/2<ref name="phoronix_1_1"/>
|-
| Image || [[Silicon Graphics Image]]
|-
| [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]]/[[Sun Microsystems]] || Image || [[Sun Raster]]
|-
| [[IBM]] || Video || [[IBM UltiMotion]]
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Avid Technology]] / [[Truevision]] || Video || Avid 1:1x, Avid Meridien,<ref name="phoronix_0_11"/> Avid [[DNxHD]], Avid DNx444,<ref name="phoronix_2_2"/> and [[DNxHR codec|DNxHR]]
|-
| Image || [[Truevision TGA|Targa]]<ref name="phoronix_1_1"/>
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Autodesk]] / [[Alias Systems Corporation|Alias]] || Video || [[Autodesk Animator|Autodesk Animator Studio Codec]] and [[FLIC (file format)|FLIC]]
|-
| Image || Alias PIX
|-
| [[Activision Blizzard]] / [[Activision]] / [[Infocom]] || Audio || ADPCM [[Zork]]
|-
| rowspan = 2 | [[Konami]] / [[Hudson Soft]] || Video || HVQM4 Video
|-
| Audio || Konami MTAF, and ADPCM IMA HVQM4
|-
| [[Grass Valley (company)|Grass Valley]] / [[Canopus Corporation|Canopus]] || Video || HQ, HQA, HQX and Lossless
|-
| rowspan=2 | [[Vizrt]] / [[NewTek]] || Video || SpeedHQ
|-
| Image || Vizrt Binary Image<ref name="phoronix_5_1">[https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-5.1-Released FFmpeg 5.1 Released With Many Improvements To This Important Multimedia Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807151020/https://www.phoronix.com/news/FFmpeg-5.1-Released |date=2022-08-07 }}. Phoronix. July 22, 2022</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Software Foundation]] / [[Industrial Light & Magic|ILM]] || Image || [[OpenEXR]]<ref name="phoronix_0_11"/>
|-
| [[Mozilla Corporation]] || Video || [[APNG]]<ref name="phoronix_2_5">[https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTg1NDQ FFmpeg 2.5 Brings Animated PNG, WebP Decoding Support] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808071333/https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTg1NDQ |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. December 4, 2014</ref>
|-
| [[Matrox]] || Video || Matrox Uncompressed SD (M101) / HD (M102)
|-
| [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD]]/[[ATI Technologies|ATI]] || Video || ATI VCR1/VCR2
|-
| [[Asus]] || Video || ASUS V1/V2 codec
|-
| [[Commodore International|Commodore]] || Video || [[CDXL]] codec
|-
| [[Kodak]] || Image || [[Photo CD]]
|-
| [[Blackmagic Design]] / [[Cintel]] || Image || Cintel RAW
|-
| [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] / [[The Learning Company]] / ZSoft Corporation || Image || [[PCX]]
|-
| [[Australian National University]] || Image || [[X-Face]]<ref name="phoronix_1_1">[https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTI2OTA FFmpeg 1.1 Brings New Support, Encoders/Decoders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808081634/https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTI2OTA |date=2022-08-08 }}. Phoronix. January 7, 2013</ref>
|-
| [[Bluetooth Special Interest Group]] || Audio || [[SBC (codec)|SBC]], and mSBC
|-
| [[Qualcomm]] / [[CSR (company)|CSR]] || Audio || [[Qualcomm code-excited linear prediction|QCELP]], [[aptX]], and [[AptX#aptX HD|aptX HD]]
|-
| [[Open Mobile Alliance]] / WAP Forum || Image || [[Wireless Application Protocol Bitmap Format|Wireless Bitmap]]
|}

=== Muxers ===
Output formats (container formats and other ways of creating output streams) in FFmpeg are called "muxers". FFmpeg supports, among others, the following:
{{div col}}
* [[Audio Interchange File Format|AIFF]]
* [[Advanced Systems Format|ASF]]
* [[Audio Video Interleave|AVI]] and also input from [[AviSynth]]
* BFI<ref name="ffdev20080413">{{cite web|author=vitor |url=https://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-cvslog/2008-April/013231.html |title=FFmpeg development mailing list |publisher=FFmpeg website |work=FFmpeg development |date=13 April 2008 |access-date=14 April 2008 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* [[Core Audio Format|CAF]]
* [[FLV]]
* [[GIF]]
* [[General Exchange Format|GXF]], General eXchange Format, SMPTE 360M
* [[HTTP Live Streaming|HLS]], HTTP Live Streaming
* [[Interchange File Format|IFF]]<ref name="ffdev20080330">{{cite web|author=vitor |url=https://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-cvslog/2008-March/012963.html |title=FFmpeg development mailing list |publisher=FFmpeg website |work=FFmpeg development |date=30 March 2008 |access-date=30 March 2008 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* [[ISO base media file format]] (including [[QuickTime File Format|QuickTime]], [[3GP and 3G2|3GP]] and [[MP4 file format|MP4]])
* [[Matroska]] (including [[WebM]])
* [[Maxis|Maxis XA]]<ref name="MaxisXADemuxContext">{{cite web |url=https://ffmpeg.org/doxygen/5.1/structMaxisXADemuxContext.html |title=FFmpeg: MaxisXADemuxContext Struct Reference |publisher=FFmpeg website |work=FFmpeg development |access-date=17 March 2024 |archive-date=17 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317184808/https://ffmpeg.org/doxygen/5.1/structMaxisXADemuxContext.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP|MPEG-DASH]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git;a=blob;f=RELEASE_NOTES;hb=release/2.5|title=RELEASE NOTES for FFmpeg 2.5 "Bohr"|date=2014-12-05|publisher=[[VideoLAN]]|author=Michael Niedermayer, Timothy Gu|access-date=2014-12-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141208011850/http://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git%3Ba%3Dblob%3Bf%3DRELEASE_NOTES%3Bhb%3Drelease%2F2.5|archive-date=2014-12-08}}</ref>
* [[MPEG program stream]]
* [[MPEG transport stream]] (including [[AVCHD]])
* [[Material Exchange Format|MXF]], Material eXchange Format, SMPTE 377M
* MSN Webcam stream<ref name="ffdev20080318">{{cite web |author=ramiro |url=http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-cvslog/2008-March/012708.html |title=FFmpeg development mailing list |publisher=FFmpeg website |work=FFmpeg development |date=18 March 2008 |access-date=18 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080817072304/http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-cvslog/2008-March/012708.html |archive-date=17 August 2008 }}</ref>
* {{anchor|NUT}}NUT<ref name="nut" />
* [[Ogg]]
* [[OpenMG Audio|OMA]]<ref name="ffdev20080608">{{cite web |author=banan |url=http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-cvslog/2008-June/014417.html |title=FFmpeg development mailing list |publisher=FFmpeg website |work=FFmpeg development |date=8 June 2008 |access-date=8 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114195646/http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-cvslog/2008-June/014417.html |archive-date=14 January 2009 }}</ref>
* [[Voyeur (video game)|RL2]]<ref name="ffdev20080321">{{cite web |author=((faust3)) |url=http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-cvslog/2008-March/012799.html |title=FFmpeg development mailing list |publisher=FFmpeg website |work=FFmpeg development |date=21 March 2008 |access-date=21 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080425024126/http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-cvslog/2008-March/012799.html |archive-date=25 April 2008 }}</ref>
* Segment, for creating segmented video streams
* [[Smooth Streaming]]
* TXD<ref name="ffdev20070507" />
* [[Windows Media Center|WTV]]
{{div col end}}

=== Pixel formats ===
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2022}}

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
! rowspan=2| Type
! rowspan=2| Color
! colspan=2| [[Packed pixel|Packed]]
! colspan=3| [[Planar (computer graphics)|Planar]]
! [[Indexed color|Palette]]
|-
! Without alpha !! With [[Alpha compositing|alpha]] !! Without alpha !! With alpha !! Chroma-interleaved !! With alpha
|-
! rowspan=2 | [[Monochrome]]
| [[Binary image|Binary]] (1-bit monochrome) || {{yes|monoblack, monowhite}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| [[Grayscale]] || {{yes|8/9/10/12/14/16bpp}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|16/32bpp}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
! rowspan=6 | [[RGB]]
| RGB 1:2:1 (4-bit color) || {{yes|4bpp}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| RGB 3:3:2 ([[8-bit color]]) || {{yes|8bpp}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| RGB 5:5:5 ([[High color]]) || {{yes|16bpp}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| RGB 5:6:5 (High color) || {{yes|16bpp}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| RGB/BGR || {{yes|24/30<ref group="p">10-bit color components with 2-bit padding (X2RGB10)</ref>/48bpp}} || {{yes|32<ref group="p">RGBx (rgb0) and xBGR (0bgr) are also supported</ref>/64bpp}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|8bit->32bpp}}
|-
| GBR<ref group="p">used in YUV-centric codecs such like H.264</ref> || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|8/9/10/12/14/16bpc}} || {{yes|8/10/12/16bpc}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
! rowspan=2 | RGB [[Floating-point arithmetic|Float]]
| RGB || {{yes|32bpc}} || {{yes|16/32bpc}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| GBR || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|32bpc}} || {{yes|32bpc}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
! rowspan=10 | [[YUV]]
| YVU 4:1:0 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{no|(9bpp (YVU9))<ref group="p" name="pixfmt-rawvideo">YVU9, YV12, YV16, and YV24 are supported as ''rawvideo'' codec in FFmpeg.</ref>}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| YUV 4:1:0 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|9bpp}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| YUV 4:1:1 || {{yes|8bpc (UYYVYY)}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|8bpc}} || {{sdash}} || {{no|(8bpc (NV11))}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| YVU 4:2:0 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{no|(8bpc (YV12))<ref group="p" name="pixfmt-rawvideo" />}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|8 (NV21)}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| YUV 4:2:0 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|8<ref group="p">I420<!--Windows, libvpx, libx264, libx265--> a.k.a. YUV420P<!--FFmepg, Video4Linux2--></ref>/9/10/12/14/16bpc}} || {{yes|8/9/10/16bpc}} || {{yes|8 (NV12)/10 (P010)/12 (P012)/16bpc (P016)}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| YVU 4:2:2 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{no|(8bpc (YV16))<ref group="p" name="pixfmt-rawvideo" />}} || {{sdash}} || {{no|(8bpc (NV61))}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| YUV 4:2:2 || {{partial|8 (YUYV<ref group="p">aka YUY2 in Windows</ref> and UYVY)/10 (Y210)/12bpc (Y212)<ref group="p">UYVY 10bpc without a padding is supported as ''bitpacked'' codec in FFmpeg. UYVY 10bpc with 2-bits padding is supported as ''v210'' codec in FFmpeg. 16bpc (Y216) is supported as ''targa_y216'' codec in FFmpeg.</ref>}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|8<ref group="p">I422 a.k.a. YUV422P</ref>/9/10/12/14/16bpc}} || {{yes|8/9/10/12/16bpc}} || {{yes|8 (NV16)/10 (NV20 and P210)/16bpc (P216)}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| YUV 4:4:0 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|8/10/12bpc}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| YVU 4:4:4 || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{no|(8bpc (YV24))<ref group="p" name="pixfmt-rawvideo" />}} || {{sdash}} || {{yes|8bpc (NV42)}} || {{sdash}}
|-
| YUV 4:4:4 || {{partial|8 (VUYX)/10<ref group="p">XV30 a.k.a. XVYU2101010</ref>/12bpc<ref group="p">XV36</ref>}}|| {{yes|8<ref group="p">VUYA a.k.a. AYUV</ref> / 16bpc (AYUV64)<ref group="p">10bpc (Y410), 12bpc (Y412), and Y416 (16bpc) are not supported.</ref> }} || {{yes|8<ref group="p">I444 a.k.a. YUV444P</ref>/9/10/12/14/16bpc}} || {{yes|8/9/10/12/16bpc}} || {{yes|8 (NV24)/10 (P410)/ 16bpc (P416)}} || {{sdash}}
|-
! [[CIE 1931 color space|XYZ]]
| XYZ 4:4:4<ref group="p">used in JPEG2000</ref> || {{yes|12bpc}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|-
! [[Bayer filter|Bayer]]
| BGGR/RGGB/GBRG/GRBG || {{yes|8/16bpp}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}} || {{sdash}}
|}
<references group="p" />

FFmpeg does not support IMC1-IMC4, AI44, CYMK, [[RGBE image format|RGBE]], Log RGB and other formats. It also does not yet support [[ARGB]] <abbr title="ARGB1555">1:5:5:5</abbr>, <abbr title="A2R10G10B10">2:10:10:10</abbr>, or other [[BMP file format#RGB video subtypes|BMP bitfield]] formats that are not commonly used.

== Supported protocols ==

=== Open standards ===
{{div col}}
*IETF [[Request for Comments|RFCs]]:
**[[File Transfer Protocol|FTP]]
**[[Gopher (protocol)|Gopher]]
**[[HTTP Live Streaming|HLS]]
**[[HTTP]]
**[[HTTPS]]
**[[Real-time Transport Protocol|RTP]]
**[[Real-Time Streaming Protocol|RTSP]]
**[[Stream Control Transmission Protocol|SCTP]]
**[[Session Description Protocol|SDP]]
**[[Secure Real-time Transport Protocol|SRTP]]
**[[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]]
**[[Transport Layer Security|TLS]]
**[[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]]
**[[UDP-Lite]]
* IETF [[Internet Draft|I-Ds]]:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://annevankesteren.nl/2010/09/draft-vs-standard|title=Internet Drafts are not Open Standards|last=van Kesteren|first=Anne|date=2010-09-01|publisher=[[WP:SPS|Self-published]]|work=annevankesteren.nl|access-date=2015-03-22|archive-date=2010-09-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902054734/http://annevankesteren.nl/2010/09/draft-vs-standard|url-status=live}}</ref>
**[[SSH File Transfer Protocol|SFTP]] (via libssh)
* Microsoft [[Microsoft Open Specification Promise|OSP]]:
**[[Server Message Block|CIFS/SMB]] (via libsmbclient) <!--Microsoft Open Specification [MS-CIFS], [MS-SMB] and [MS-SMB2]-->
**[[Microsoft Media Server|MMS]] over TCP (MS-MMSP) <!--Microsoft Open Specification [MS-MMSP]--> 
**MMS over HTTP (MS-WMSP)
* [[European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization|CENELEC]]
** [[Sat-IP|SAT&gt;IP]]
* [[OASIS (organization)|OASIS]] standards:
** [[Advanced Message Queuing Protocol|AMQP]] 0-9-1 (via librabbitmq)
* [[Secure Reliable Transport#SRT Alliance|SRT Alliance]] standard:
** [[Secure Reliable Transport|SRT]] (via libsrt)
{{div col end}}

=== [[De facto standard]]s ===
{{div col}}
* RTSP over TLS<ref>[https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7826 Real Time Streaming Protocol 2.0 (RTSP)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025214422/https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7826 |date=2023-10-25 }} P.231</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://git.videolan.org/gitweb.cgi/ffmpeg.git/?a=commit;h=8b2e9636c57b22582143467a8a06b509b47b92f9|title=rtsp: Support tls-encapsulated RTSP - git.videolan.org Git - ffmpeg.git/commit|work=videolan.org|access-date=21 October 2016|archive-date=18 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018153936/http://git.videolan.org/gitweb.cgi/ffmpeg.git/?a=commit;h=8b2e9636c57b22582143467a8a06b509b47b92f9|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Icecast]] protocol
* Adobe [[Real-Time Messaging Protocol|RTMP]], RTMPT, RTMPE, RTMPTE and RTMPS 
* RealMedia RTSP/[[Real Data Transport|RDT]]
* [[ZeroMQ]] (via libzmq)
* [[Reliable Internet Stream Transport|RIST]] (librist)
{{div col end}}

== Supported filters ==

FFmpeg supports, among others, the following filters.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html |title=FFmpeg Filters |publisher=ffmpeg.org |access-date=2017-03-27 |archive-date=2017-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328021020/http://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Audio ===
{{div col|small=yes}}
* [[Sample rate conversion|Resampling]] (aresample)
* Pass/Stop filters
** [[Low-pass filter]] (lowpass)
** [[High-pass filter]] (highpass)
** [[All-pass filter]] (allpass)
** [[Butterworth filter|Butterworth]] [[Band-pass filter]] (bandpass)
** Butterworth [[Band-stop filter]] (bandreject)
* [[Finite impulse response|Arbitrary Finite Impulse Response Filter]] (afir)
* [[Infinite impulse response|Arbitrary Infinite Impulse Response Filter]] (aiir)
* [[Equalization (audio)|Equalizer]]
** Peak Equalizer (equalizer)
** Butterworth/[[Chebyshev filter|Chebyshev Type I/Type II]] Multiband Equalizer (anequalizer)
** [[Equalization (audio)#Shelving filter|Low Shelving filter]] (bass)
** High Shelving filter (treble)
** Xbox 360 equalizer
** FIR equalizer (firequalizer)
** [[Digital biquad filter|Biquad filter]] (biquad)
* Remove/Add [[DC bias|DC offset]] (dcshift)
* [[eval|Expression evaluation]]
** [[Time domain]] expression evaluation (aeval)
** [[Frequency domain]] expression evaluation (afftfilt)
* Dynamics
** [[Limiter]] (alimiter)
** [[Dynamic range compression|Compressor]] (acompressor)
** Dynamic range expander ({{Not a typo |crystalizer}})
** [[Dynamic range compression#Side-chaining|Side-chain Compressor]] (sidechaincompress)
** [[Companding|Compander]] (compand)
** [[Noise gate]] (agate)
** Side-chain Noise gate(sidechaingate)
* Distortion
** [[Bitcrusher]] (acrusher)
* [[Emphasis (telecommunications)|Emphasis]] (aemphasis)
* Amplify/Normalizer
** Volume (volume)
** Dynamic Audio Normalizer (dynaudnorm)
** [[EBU R 128]] loudness normalizer (loudnorm)
* Modulation
** [[Amplitude modulation|Sinusoidal Amplitude Modulation]] (tremolo)
** [[Phase modulation|Sinusoidal Phase Modulation]] (vibrato)
** [[Phaser (effect)|Phaser]] (aphaser)
** [[Chorus effect|Chorus]] (chorus)
** [[Flanging|Flanger]] (flanger)
** Pulsator (apulsator)
* Echo/Reverb
** [[Echo#In music|Echo]] (aecho)
* Routing/[[Panning (audio)|Panning]]
** Stereo widening (stereowiden)
** Increase channel differences (extrastereo)
** [[Joint encoding|M/S]] to L/R (stereotools)
** Channel mapping (channelmap)
** Channel splitting (channelsplit)
** [[Panning (audio)|Channel panning]] (pan)
** Channel merging (amerge)
** Channel joining (join)<!--???-->
** for [[Headphones]]
*** Stereo to Binaural (earwax, ported from SoX)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080928130012/http://www.geocities.com/beinges/works.htm How it works] earwax.ca</ref>
*** [[Crossfeed|Bauer Stereo to Binaural]] (bs2b, via libbs2b)
*** [[Crossfeed]] (crossfeed)
*** Multi-channel to Binaural (sofalizer, requires libnetcdf)
** [[Delay (audio effect)|Delay]]
*** Delay (adelay)
*** Delay by distance (compensationdelay)
* Fade
** [[Fade (audio engineering)|Fader]] (afade)
** [[Fade (audio engineering)#Crossfading|Crossfader]] (acrossfade)
* [[Audio time stretching and pitch scaling]]
** Time stretching (atempo)
** Time-stretching and Pitch-shifting (rubberband, via librubberband)
* Editing
** [[Editing|Trim]] (atrim)
** Silence-padding (apad)
** Silence remover (silenceremove)
* Show frame/channel information
** Show frame information (ashowinfo)
** Show channel information (astats)
** Show silence ranges (silencedetect)
** Show audio volumes (volumedetect)
** [[ReplayGain]] scanner (replaygain)
* Modify frame/channel information
** Set output format (aformat)
** Set number of sample (asetnsamples)
** Set sampling rate (asetrate)
* [[Electronic mixer|Mixer]] (amix)
* [[Presentation timestamp|Synchronization]] (asyncts)
* [[High Definition Compatible Digital|HDCD]] data decoder (hdcd)
* Plugins
** [[LADSPA]] (ladspa)
** [[LV2]] (lv2)
* Do nothing ({{Not a typo |anull}})
{{div col end}}

=== Video ===
{{div col|small=yes}}
* Transformations
** [[Cropping (image)|Cropping]] (crop, cropdetect)
** [[Dissolve (filmmaking)|Fading]] (fade)
** [[Image scaling|Scaling]] (scale)
** Padding (pad)
** Rotation (rotate)
** Transposition (transpose)
** Others:
*** Lens correction (lenscorrection)
*** [[OpenCV]] filtering (ocv)
*** Perspective correction (perspective)
* Temporal editing
** [[Framerate interpolation|Framerate]] (fps, framerate)
** Looping (loop)
** Trimming (trim)
* [[Deinterlacing]] (bwdif, idet, kerndeint, nnedi, yadif, w3fdif)
* [[Inverse Telecine]]
* Filtering
** [[Gaussian blur|Blurring]] (boxblur, gblur, avgblur, sab, smartblur)
** [[Convolution]] filters
*** Convolution (convolution)
*** [[Edge detection]] (edgedetect)
*** [[Sobel operator|Sobel Filter]] (sobel)
*** [[Prewitt operator|Prewitt Filter]] (prewitt)
*** [[Unsharp masking]] (unsharp)
* [[Noise reduction|Denoising]] (atadenoise, bitplanenoise, dctdnoiz, owdenoise, removegrain)
* Logo removal (delogo, removelogo)
* [[Subtitle (captioning)|Subtitles]] ([[Advanced SubStation Alpha|ASS]], subtitles)
* [[Alpha compositing|Alpha]] channel editing (alphaextract, alphamerge)
* [[Chroma key|Keying]] (chromakey, colorkey, lumakey)
* Frame detection
** Black frame detection (blackdetect, blackframe)
** Thumbnail selection (thumbnail)
* Frame Blending (blend, tblend, overlay)
* [[Image stabilization|Video stabilization]] (vidstabdetect, vidstabtransform)
* Color and Level adjustments
** [[Color balance|Balance]] and levels (colorbalance, colorlevels)
** Channel mixing (colorchannelmixer)
** [[Color space]] (colorspace)
** Parametric adjustments (curves, eq)
* Histograms and visualization
** CIE Scope (ciescope)
** [[Vectorscope]] (vectorscope)
** [[Waveform monitor]] (waveform)
** [[Color histogram]] (histogram)
* Drawing
* [[Optical character recognition|OCR]]
* Quality measures
** [[Structural similarity|SSIM]] (ssim)
** [[Peak signal-to-noise ratio|PSNR]] (psnr)
* Lookup Tables
** lut, lutrgb, lutyuv, lut2, lut3d, haldclut
{{div col end}}

==== Supported test patterns ====
* [[SMPTE color bars]] (smptebars and smptehdbars)
* [[EBU color bars]] (pal75bars and pal100bars)

==== Supported LUT formats ====
* [[Rising Sun Research|cineSpace]] LUT format
* [[List of acquisitions by Adobe|Iridas]] Cube
* [[Adobe After Effects]] 3dl
* [[DaVinci Resolve]] dat
* [[Pandora International|Pandora]] m3d

== Supported media and interfaces ==
FFmpeg supports the following devices via external libraries.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-devices.html |title=FFmpeg Devices Documentation |publisher=ffmpeg.org |access-date=2021-10-25 |archive-date=2021-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025071944/https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-devices.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Media ===
* [[Compact disc]] (via libcdio; input only)

=== Physical interfaces ===
* [[IEEE 1394]] (a.k.a. FireWire; via libdc1394 and libraw1394; input only)
* [[IEC 61883]] (via libiec61883; input only)
* [[Blackmagic Design|DeckLink]]
* [[Brooktree]] video capture chip (via bktr driver; input only)

=== Audio IO ===
* [[Advanced Linux Sound Architecture]] (ALSA)
* [[Open Sound System]] (OSS)
* [[PulseAudio]]
* [[JACK Audio Connection Kit]] (JACK; input only)
* [[OpenAL]] (input only)
* [[sndio]]
* [[Core Audio]] (for [[macOS]])
** [[AVFoundation]] (input only)
** AudioToolbox (output only)

=== Video IO ===
* [[Video4Linux]]2
* [[Video for Windows]] (input only)
* Windows [[DirectShow]]
* Android Camera (input only)

=== Screen capture and output ===
* [[Simple DirectMedia Layer]] 2 (output only)
* [[OpenGL]] (output only)
* [[Linux framebuffer]] (fbdev)
* [[Graphics Device Interface]] (GDI; input only)
* [[X Window System]] (X11; via [[XCB]]; input only)
* [[X video extension]] (XV; via [[Xlib]]; output only)
* [[Direct Rendering Manager#Kernel Mode Setting|Kernel Mode Setting]] (via libdrm; input only)

=== Others ===
* [[ASCII art]] (via libcaca; output only)

== Applications ==

=== Legal aspects ===
FFmpeg contains more than 100 codecs,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ffmpeg.org/general.html#Supported-File-Formats_002c-Codecs-or-Features |title=Codecs list |publisher=ffmpeg.org |access-date=2012-01-01 |archive-date=2012-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106131336/http://ffmpeg.org/general.html#Supported-File-Formats_002c-Codecs-or-Features |url-status=live }}</ref> most of which use compression techniques of one kind or another. Many such compression techniques may be subject to legal claims relating to [[software patent]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ffmpeg.org/legal.html |title=Legal information on FFmpeg's website |publisher=ffmpeg.org |access-date=2012-01-04 |archive-date=2012-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103190924/http://ffmpeg.org/legal.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Such claims may be enforceable in countries like the United States which have implemented software patents, but are considered unenforceable or void in member countries of the [[European Union]], for example.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-11-29|title=The European Patent Convention|url=https://www.epo.org/en/legal/epc/2020/a52.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119121958/https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/epc/2020/e/ar52.html|archive-date=2021-11-19|access-date=2021-11-24|website=www.epo.org|publisher=[[European Patent Office]]|language=en}}</ref>{{Original research inline|date=November 2021|certain=y}} Patents for many older codecs, including AC3 and all MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 codecs, have expired.{{Citation needed|date=October 2017}}

FFmpeg is licensed under the LGPL license, but if a particular build of FFmpeg is linked against any GPL libraries (notably [[x264]]), then the entire binary is licensed under the GPL.

=== Projects using FFmpeg ===
{{main category|Software that uses FFmpeg}}
FFmpeg is used by software such as [[Blender (software)|Blender]], [[Cinelerra-GG Infinity]], [[HandBrake]], [[Kodi (software)|Kodi]], [[MPC-HC]], [[Plex (software)|Plex]], [[Shotcut]], [[VirtualDub|VirtualDub2]] (a [[VirtualDub]] fork),<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://sourceforge.net/p/vdfiltermod/wiki/Home/ | title=VirtualDub2 | access-date=2020-08-15 | archive-date=2020-08-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807134046/https://sourceforge.net/p/vdfiltermod/wiki/Home/ | url-status=live }}</ref> [[VLC media player]], [[xine]] and [[YouTube]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://multimedia.cx/eggs/googles-youtube-uses-ffmpeg/ | title=Google's YouTube Uses FFmpeg {{pipe}} Breaking Eggs And Making Omelettes | date=2011-02-08 | publisher=Multimedia.cx | access-date=2012-08-06 | archive-date=2012-08-14 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814124110/http://multimedia.cx/eggs/googles-youtube-uses-ffmpeg/ | url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="projects">{{cite web | url=https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Projects | title=FFmpeg-based Projects | publisher=ffmpeg.org | access-date=2012-01-04 | archive-date=2016-02-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220104135/https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Projects | url-status=live}}.</ref> It handles video and audio playback in [[Google Chrome]]<ref name=projects /> and the Linux version of Firefox.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/Firefox-FFmpeg-Default | title=Firefox Enables FFmpeg Support By Default | publisher=Phoronix | date=2015-11-15 | access-date=2015-11-18 | archive-date=2017-09-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925225920/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Firefox-FFmpeg-Default | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Graphical user interface|GUI]] [[front-end (computing)|front-ends]] for FFmpeg have been developed, including Multimedia Xpert<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.atlas-informatik.ch/multimediaXpert/ | title=Multimedia Xpert | publisher=Atlas Informatik | access-date=2022-05-26 | archive-date=2023-04-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404142511/https://www.atlas-informatik.ch/multimediaXpert/ | url-status=live }}</ref> and XMedia Recode.

FFmpeg is used by [[ffdshow]], FFmpegInterop, the [[GStreamer FFmpeg plug-in]], LAV Filters and [[OpenMAX#Layers|OpenMAX IL]] to expand the encoding and decoding capabilities of their respective multimedia platforms.

As part of [[NASA]]'s [[Mars 2020]] mission, FFmpeg is used by the [[Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance rover]] on Mars for image and video compression before footage is sent to Earth.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Mars 2020 Engineering Cameras and Microphone on the Perseverance Rover: A Next-Generation Imaging System for Mars Exploration |year=2020 |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland AG. |doi=10.1007/s11214-020-00765-9 |last1=Maki |first1=J. N. |last2=Gruel |first2=D. |last3=McKinney |first3=C. |last4=Ravine |first4=M. A. |last5=Morales |first5=M. |last6=Lee |first6=D. |last7=Willson |first7=R. |last8=Copley-Woods |first8=D. |last9=Valvo |first9=M. |last10=Goodsall |first10=T. |last11=McGuire |first11=J. |last12=Sellar |first12=R. G. |last13=Schaffner |first13=J. A. |last14=Caplinger |first14=M. A. |last15=Shamah |first15=J. M. |last16=Johnson |first16=A. E. |last17=Ansari |first17=H. |last18=Singh |first18=K. |last19=Litwin |first19=T. |last20=Deen |first20=R. |last21=Culver |first21=A. |last22=Ruoff |first22=N. |last23=Petrizzo |first23=D. |last24=Kessler |first24=D. |last25=Basset |first25=C. |last26=Estlin |first26=T. |last27=Alibay |first27=F. |last28=Nelessen |first28=A. |last29=Algermissen |first29=S. |journal=Space Science Reviews |volume=216 |issue=8 |page=137 |pmid=33268910 |pmc=7686239 |bibcode=2020SSRv..216..137M }}</ref>

=== Embedded applications ===
FFmpeg is also being used in [[Embedded operating system|embedded applications]], where it can be used with custom hardware to simplify version and dependency management and also to provide operating system abstraction across multiple different OS and processor manufacturers. For example<ref>{{Cite web |last=Enciris Technologies |date=2025-03-19 |title=Whitepaper 1: Integration of FFmpeg into Enciris Technologoies Software |url=https://www.enciris.com/4k-capture/whitepaper-1-integration-of-ffmpeg-into-enciris-technologies-software/ }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|Free and open-source software}}
* [[MPlayer]], a similar project
* [[List of open-source codecs]]
* [[List of video editing software]]

== References ==
{{reflist|22em}}

== External links ==
* {{official website}}

{{Media player (application software)|free}}{{Compression software}}

[[Category:FFmpeg| ]]
[[Category:Assembly language software]]
[[Category:Command-line software]]
[[Category:C (programming language) libraries]]
[[Category:Cross-platform free software]]
[[Category:Free software for Linux]]
[[Category:Free software for Windows]]
[[Category:Free software for macOS]]
[[Category:Free codecs]]
[[Category:Free computer libraries]]
[[Category:Free music software]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in C]]
[[Category:Free video conversion software]]
[[Category:Multimedia frameworks]]
[[Category:Software that uses FFmpeg]]
[[Category:Software using the GNU Lesser General Public License]]