Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu 22.04

Method 1: Install with APT

Step 1: Update the package list

sudo apt update

Step 2: Install FFmpeg

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Step 3: Check the install

ffmpeg -version

Method 2: Install from source

Use this if you need a newer version than the one in Ubuntu, or special build options.

Step 1: Install the build tools and libraries

sudo apt install build-essential libtool autoconf automake pkg-config yasm nasm libx264-dev libx265-dev libvpx-dev libfdk-aac-dev libmp3lame-dev libopus-dev libass-dev zlib1g-dev

Step 2: Download the source code

Get the current version number from the FFmpeg website:

wget https://ffmpeg.org/releases/ffmpeg-7.0.1.tar.xz

Step 3: Extract it

tar -xvf ffmpeg-7.0.1.tar.xz

Step 4: Configure the build

cd ffmpeg-7.0.1

./configure --enable-gpl --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libvpx --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus

Step 5: Compile

make -j$(nproc)

This can take a while.

Step 6: Install

sudo make install

Step 7: Check the install

ffmpeg -version

First commands

Convert a video to MP4:

ffmpeg -i input.avi output.mp4

Extract the audio:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -acodec copy audio.aac

Change the size:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=1280:720 output.mp4

Quick recap

• sudo apt install ffmpeg is the easy way.
• Compile from source only if you need a newer version.
• Check with ffmpeg -version.