Discover how to download FFmpeg on your Windows computer. Learn how to install and activate it for free through this detailed step-by-step guide with infographics, video, screenshots, FAQs and detailed instructions.
FFmpeg is a cross-platform video and audio editor framework particularly useful (or even necessary) for YouTubers, videomakers, and podcasters. FFmpeg is for both end-users and developers. But using it can be challenging. So, let’s see how to download this tool and install it on Windows in a few simple steps.
Size | 42.7MB (ZIP) / 122 MB (not compressed files) |
Type | Multimedia framework (decode, encode, transcode, mux, demux, stream, filter and play media file formats) |
Platform | Windows, Linux, MacOS |
Price | Free/Open-source |
License | LGPL-2.1-or-later, GPL-2.0-or-later (Unredistributable if compiled with any software with a license incompatible with the GPL) |
Developers | FFmpeg team |
Written in | C and Assembly |
What’s FFmpeg?
FFmpeg is a collection of libraries and tools to process multimedia content such as audio, video, subtitles, and related metadata. You can use FFmpeg in two ways.
- With a UI-based video or audio editor.
- From your Windows command prompt.
A user-friendly app can be easier to use but may have limited features. Conversely, using FFmpeg as a command-line tool requires more computer knowledge (and a geek’s mindset). But it will allow you many more commands. Keep reading until the end to know them all.
Some user-friendly audio and video editing software (with a UI) such as Audacity (audio editor), Blender, PBS Studio, or Captura (screen recording) use FFmpeg to operate. For instance, I need FFmpeg on my Windows laptop to make this video tutorial with my video maker software and DAW (Desktop Audio Workstation) application.
Some software integrates already FFmpeg or lets you get and configure it directly from the User Interface. Other apps, instead, require you to download, install, and activate the FFmpeg tool manually on your computer.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to do that in a few steps. You will also discover all the FFmpeg commands and how to run them from Command Prompt (or Terminal window).
Download FFmpeg for Windows: 6-Step Infographic Tutorial
Make it quick
How to Download FFmpeg, Install and Activate it on Your PC – Screenshots
Make it detailed
Search for FFmpeg on Google and visit the website
1 Search for FFmpeg on a search engine (I used Google) or visit the official website ffmpeg.org. Then, access the download page through the green button.
Download the Windows package and executable file
2 On the Download page, you will find the static builds for macOS 64-bit, the Linux static builds and packages (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise), and the Windows EXE files. Select the latter and click on Windows builds from gyan.dev.
Download the FFmpeg Windows package
3 On gyan.dev, you will find the ‘full’ release and the ‘essentials’ release. The latter is sufficient to support the features in software such as Krita or Blender. So, let’s click the first link and wait for the ZIP file to download.
Extract the build package file
4 Retrieve the downloaded ZIP file and extract it to your preferred folder. It will take just a few seconds. Once the extraction is complete, you will find ffmpeg.exe in the ‘bin’ subfolder.
The file is not executable when you click it. But this is not actually how you use it. The right ways are setting the folder through your video maker User Interface or running FFmpeg from Command Prompt. For the latter, you need to activate the tool first by adding the path to the Environment Variable. Move to Step 5 to discover how.
Rename and move the extracted folder
5 This is optional. Keep reading if you love to make things more comfortable. For your convenience, you can rename the folder into ‘FFmpeg’ and then move it to the C root folder.
Add FFmpeg path to Environment Variables
6 Open the Control Panel and go to System & Security > System > Advanced system settings. On the dialogue box, click ‘Environment Variables‘ at the bottom. Then, select the Path row in the ‘User variables‘ and click ‘Edit‘. Now, you can add your FFmpeg path on your computer. In this tutorial, the executable file is in c:\ffmpeg\bin. Type it and click OK. This way, your Windows can locate the executable file from the command line or Terminal window. But how do you know whether FFmpeg is working? Mote to Step 7.
Verify FFmpeg installation
7 Open Command Prompt and type ‘ffmpeg’ on the command line. If you can read the info and commands list, it means FFmpeg is active. From now on, you can use it as a command-line tool.
Set the FFmpeg folder in a software
8 Open your video/audio software. Go to Settings and select the FFmpeg folder where required. For this tutorial, we did a test with the Captura screen recording Windows app. Just a few clicks and you are ready to enjoy your video software.
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FFmpeg System Requirements (Windows)
FFmpeg can run almost on every computer: basically, on any CPU. However, in general, more powerful hardware can convert faster. But this will also depend on the video codecs you use.
Although FFmpeg doesn’t use a lot of RAM, you might get some speedup with a discrete graphic card/GPU (separate from the processor chip, with its dedicated memory not shared with the CPU). Anyway, your computer will consume more power and generates more heat.
FFmpeg Supported Codecs (Windows)
AUDIO CODECS | – adpcm_ima_wav – adpcm_ms – pcm_s16le (always) – libmp3lame (if some MP3 codec like LAME is installed) |
VIDEO CODECS | – msmpeg4v2 (.avi/.asf) – msmpeg4 (.asf only) – wmv1 (.asf only) – wmv2 (.asf only) – mpeg4 (only if you have some MPEG-4 codec like ffdshow or Xvid installed) – mpeg1video (.mpg only) |
Note: ASF files often have .wmv or .wma extensions on Windows. Microsoft claims a patent on the ASF format and may sue or threaten users who create ASF files with non-Microsoft software. So, avoid ASF where possible.
FFmpeg Main Features
In short, FFmpeg allows you to:
- Rotate and scale a video
- Record the audio/video of a specific session on a TV device
- Resampler an audio file
- Encode and decode a multimedia file
- Transcode an audio/video format
- Stream and filter any kind of multimedia format (from ancient to the cutting edge)
- Play multimedia files
- Covert audio/video formats
- Add Subtitles
- Remove the audio from video files
- Muxing (multiplexing) and demuxing (demultiplexing) a multimedia file (e.g. joining audio and video stream data; recovering audio and video stream data into separate files).
Read the FFmpeg documentation to discover all the features and learn, in detail, how to use it from Command Prompt.
How to Download FFmpeg on Windows – Video Tutorial
Learn how to download FFmpeg, install, and configure it: sit down and watch.
A step-by-step video tutorial on how to download the FFmpeg tool for free and install it on your PC for your video/audio editing projects.
Download FFmpeg for Windows – FAQs
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How do you edit your videos and audio? If your software requires FFmpeg, you won’t be able to use it and complete your project without this multimedia framework. This step-by-step tutorial will teach you how to download FFmpeg and install it on Windows in a few clicks.
