FFmpeg is a free and open-source command-line utility that contains a collection of libraries and tools to process multimedia content such as audio, video, subtitles, and related metadata.
Requirements
The following are required to install FFmpeg successfully on your macOS system:
- Administritive permissions
- Homebrew Package Manager
- Internet Access
Method 1 - Install FFmpeg Using Homebrew.
The first method you can use to set up FFmpeg on your mac is the Homebrew package manager. Installing packages via Homebrew has many benefits, including easy updates, quick and clean installs, etc.
Ensure you have Homebrew installed on your machine by checking the link below:
https://www.geekbits.io/how-to-install-and-use-homebrew-on-macos/
Once installed, update brew:
brew update
Upgrade any outdated packages:
brew upgrade
Finally, install FFmpeg with the command:
brew install ffmpeg
Output:
Running `brew update --auto-update`...
==> Auto-updated Homebrew!
Updated 3 taps (homebrew/core, homebrew/cask and homebrew/cask-fonts).
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/highway/manifests/1.0.2
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/highway/blobs/sha256:cfb84f99cd
==> Downloading from https://pkg-containers.githubusercontent.com/ghcr1/blobs/sh
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/imath/manifests/3.1.6
######################################################################## 100.0%
Once the installation is complete, verify by checking the ffmpeg version as:
ffmpeg -version
Expected Output:
ffmpeg version 5.1.2 Copyright (c) 2000-2022 the FFmpeg developers
built with Apple clang version 14.0.0 (clang-1400.0.29.202)
configuration: --prefix=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/ffmpeg/5.1.2 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-version3 --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-ffplay --enable-gnutls --enable-gpl --enable-libaom --enable-libbluray --enable-libdav1d --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-librav1e --enable-librist --enable-librubberband --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsrt --enable-libtesseract --enable-libtheora --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-lzma --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-frei0r --enable-libass --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libspeex --enable-libsoxr --enable-libzmq --enable-libzimg --disable-libjack --disable-indev=jack --enable-videotoolbox --enable-neon
libavutil 57. 28.100 / 57. 28.100
libavcodec 59. 37.100 / 59. 37.100
libavformat 59. 27.100 / 59. 27.100
libavdevice 59. 7.100 / 59. 7.100
libavfilter 8. 44.100 / 8. 44.100
libswscale 6. 7.100 / 6. 7.100
libswresample 4. 7.100 / 4. 7.100
libpostproc 56. 6.100 / 56. 6.100
Method 2 - Install FFmpeg Using MacPorts
MacPorts is an alternative package manager for macOS systems. It provides a simple and intuitive method of installing packages on your system with simple commands.
To install FFmpeg with MacPorts, run:
sudo port install ffmpeg
The command will prompt you to accept the dependencies. Press Y to accept and proceed with the installation.
Method 3 - Manually Install FFmpeg
You can also download an executable from the official FFmpeg site and use it to setup FFmpeg on your machine.
Head over to the downloads page.
https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html
Select the macOS installer:
Open the static binaries for MacOS. and download the .7z archive.
Once the download is complete, unzip the file and note down the path to the extracted directory.
Open the terminal and execute the command:
export PATH=$PATH:<path_to_extracted_ffmpeg_directory>
Example:
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/ffmpeg
Finally, you can check if FFmpeg is available from the console:
ffmpeg -version
End
In this article, you discovered three main methods of installing and setting up FFmpeg on macOS. Check our other macOS tutorials to learn more.
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