What is FFmpeg used for?

FFmpeg is a collection of open-source libraries and command-line tools for processing audio, video, subtitles and related metadata, including converting and streaming media. It is a good fit for converting between video and audio formats, embedding media processing in applications, and streaming and transcoding pipelines.

Is FFmpeg open source?

Yes. FFmpeg is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at FFmpeg/FFmpeg and is written mainly in C.

Yes. FFmpeg is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

What are some alternatives to FFmpeg?

Similar open-source tools in the Video Editing category include OBS Studio, HandBrake and Nexrender. SaaS products in the same category include CaptionCreator, Compresso and Lightstream.

Is FFmpeg actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to FFmpeg was on 2 October 2026. The project has 65k stars on GitHub.

FFmpeg: open-source video editing

About FFmpeg

FFmpeg is a set of libraries and command-line tools that process multimedia content, including audio, video, subtitles and associated metadata. It is written in C and widely used as the engine behind media conversion, streaming and playback software. Most of the code is under the LGPL, and some optional components fall under the GPL, so check the LICENSE file for details.

The libraries cover distinct jobs: libavcodec implements a wide range of codecs, libavformat handles streaming protocols and container formats, libavfilter alters decoded audio and video through a graph of connected filters, libavdevice accesses capture and playback devices, libswresample handles audio mixing and resampling, libswscale handles color conversion and scaling, and libavutil provides utility functions.

On the command line, ffmpeg manipulates, converts and streams media, ffplay is a minimalist player and ffprobe inspects content, plus small helpers including qt-faststart, ismindex and aviocat. The GitHub repository is a mirror: patches go to the ffmpeg-devel mailing list rather than through pull requests. It suits developers building media applications and anyone who converts or processes audio and video.

Key features

Libraries for encoding, decoding and muxing media
ffmpeg command-line converter and streaming tool
ffprobe for inspecting media files
ffplay minimalist media player
Filter graphs for audio and video processing
Streaming protocols and container format support

Good fit for

→Converting between video and audio formats
→Embedding media processing in applications
→Streaming and transcoding pipelines

Built with: C
Tags: multimedia; video; audio; transcoding; codecs; streaming; command-line; libraries

FFmpeg: questions and answers

What is FFmpeg used for?: FFmpeg is a collection of open-source libraries and command-line tools for processing audio, video, subtitles and related metadata, including converting and streaming media. It is a good fit for converting between video and audio formats, embedding media processing in applications, and streaming and transcoding pipelines.
Is FFmpeg open source?: Yes. FFmpeg is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at FFmpeg/FFmpeg and is written mainly in C.
Is FFmpeg free?: Yes. FFmpeg is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
What are some alternatives to FFmpeg?: Similar open-source tools in the Video Editing category include OBS Studio, HandBrake and Nexrender. SaaS products in the same category include CaptionCreator, Compresso and Lightstream.
Is FFmpeg actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to FFmpeg was on 2 October 2026. The project has 65k stars on GitHub.