How to Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu 18.04

This post shows users and new students that how to Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu 18.04. If you’re going to Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu 18.04 then this post is ideal for you.

FFmpeg is a open source, cross-platform multimedia framework. using it anyone can record, convert and stream audio and video online or via any kind of application. With the help of it’s libraries we can convert, edit, repair, format any kind of video format. It is a command line tool which is uses commands to work on audio and video formats. This post shows to users that how to easily install FFmpeg tool on Ubuntu 18.04.

For more detail about FFmpeg Ubuntu, please visit it’s official site.

Follow the steps below for installing FFmpeg on Ubuntu :

There are three ways to install it on Ubuntu.

First Option: Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu

Run the commands below to install the stable version of FFmpeg that comes in Ubuntu default repositories

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg

Use the ffmpeg -version command for confirming that the package is installed and working properly.

ffmpeg -version

When you run above command, it is gives output something like to the lines below :

Output:
ffmpeg version 3.4.6-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2019 the FFmpeg developers
built with gcc 7 (Ubuntu 7.3.0-16ubuntu3)

That’s it.

Second Option : Installing via Repository

Run the commands below :

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository --yes ppa:jonathonf/ffmpeg-4
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg

Same as first option use the ffmpeg -version command for confirming that the package is installed and working properly.

ffmpeg -version

When you run above command, it is gives output something like to the lines below :

Output:
ffmpeg version 4.2.2-0york0~18.04 Copyright (c) 2000-2019 the FFmpeg developers
built with gcc 7 (Ubuntu 7.4.0-1ubuntu1~18.04.1)
configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version='0york0~18.04' --toolchain=hardened

That’s it.

Third Option : Installing via Repository

This is a most easiest way is to install it’s latest version on Ubuntu using the snappy packaging system.

To Install snap package manager and then install FFmpeg, run the commands below :

sudo apt update
sudo apt install snapd
sudo snap install ffmpeg

After installing it , run the command same as first and second option to verify it’s version.

That’s it.

How to Use it on Ubuntu System :

To convert from mp4 format to webm, simply run the commands below:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.webm

For convert audio file from mp3 to ogg, run the commands below:

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 output.ogg

For more examples go to on the developer’s site and learn how to use it.

That’s All !