Use FFmpeg

FFmpeg is a free software project that produces libraries and programs for handling multimedia data. It can record, convert and stream digital audio and video in numerous formats. FFmpeg can be used to convert many multimedia formats to one another. It is a command line tool that is composed of a collection of free software / open source libraries. The name of the project comes from the MPEG video standards group, together with "FF" for "fast forward".

Steps

  1. In order to use FFmpeg you must have it installed on your system. For this article we will cover the installation methods of FFmpeg on Microsoft Windows and Debian based Linux systems. Some examples of Debian based Linux systems are Ubuntu Linux, Linux Mint, etc.
  2. How to install FFmpeg on Microsoft Windows, see the following article:
  3. How to install FFmpeg on Linux, consult your appropriate Linux distributions method of installation for FFmpeg.
    • The installation below contain instructions for the installation of FFmpeg on Debian based Linux distributions such as Ubuntu Linux, Linux Mint, etc.
    • Open up a terminal and Type/Copy/Paste the following commands:
    • Type/Copy/Paste: sudo apt-get install synaptic
    • Type/Copy/Paste: sudo apt-get update
      • This command updates the package repositories on your system
    • Type/Copy/Paste: ffmpeg -version
      • This command checks to see if FFmpeg is installed on your system
    • If FFmpeg is not installed on your system you can install it with the command provided below:
    • Type/Copy/Paste: sudo -s apt-get install ffmpeg
      • This command installs FFmpeg on your system
  4. Once FFmpeg is successfully installed on your Windows or Linux operating system. You can perform a simple conversion of a *.wav file to *.mp3 format, by following the instructions below. Make sure you have a *.wav file and place that file in your newly created directory FFmpeg_Example. Then you will follow the instructions below:
  5. Instructions to convert a *.wav file to *.mp3 file using FFmpeg
  6. Instructions for Windows operating systems
    • Open up a command line prompt and enter the commands below
    • Type/Copy/Paste: cd Desktop
    • Type/Copy/Paste: mkdir FFmpeg_Example
    • Copy a sample.wav file to your FFmpeg_Example directory
    • Type/Copy/Paste: cd FFmpeg_Example
    • Type/Copy/Paste: ffmpeg -i sample.wav sample.mp3
  7. Instructions for Linux operating systems
    • Open up a terminal line and enter the commands below
    • Type/Copy/Paste: cd Desktop
    • Type/Copy/Paste: mkdir FFmpeg_Example
    • Copy a sample.wav file to your FFmpeg_Example directory
    • Type/Copy/Paste: cd FFmpeg_Example
    • Type/Copy/Paste: ffmpeg -i sample.wav sample.mp3
  8. FFmpeg should convert your sample.wav file to a sample.mp3 file
  9. This is just one example of converting between different file formats using FFmpeg, however there are many more examples of what you can do with FFmpeg. If you are using a Debian based Linux system such as Ubuntu Linux please see the following article for further examples of FFmpeg usage.



Related Articles

  • Record Your Desktop Using FFmpeg on Ubuntu Linux

Sources and Citations

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