How to Install FFmpeg on CentOS

FFmpeg is a popular open-source solution to record, convert, and stream audio and video, which is widely used in all kinds of online streaming services. This guide has been tested on CentOS 6, 7, and 8.

Prerequisites

• Deploy a new Vultr CentOS cloud server instance.
• Create a sudo user.
• Update the system.

CentOS 8

Install the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux repository.

$ sudo yum install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
$ sudo yum install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-8.noarch.rpm https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/el/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-8.noarch.rpm
$ sudo yum install http://rpmfind.net/linux/centos/8-stream/PowerTools/x86_64/os/Packages/SDL2-2.0.10-2.el8.x86_64.rpm

Install the FFmpeg and FFmpeg development packages.

# sudo yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel

CentOS 7

Install the Nux Dextop repository.

$ sudo rpm --import http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/RPM-GPG-KEY-nux.ro
$ sudo rpm -Uvh http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/dextop/el7/x86_64/nux-dextop-release-0-5.el7.nux.noarch.rpm

Install the FFmpeg and FFmpeg development packages.

$ sudo yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel -y

CentOS 6

Install the Nux Dextop repository.

$ sudo rpm --import http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/RPM-GPG-KEY-nux.ro
$ sudo rpm -Uvh http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/dextop/el6/x86_64/nux-dextop-release-0-2.el6.nux.noarch.rpm

Install the FFmpeg and FFmpeg development packages.

$ sudo yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel -y

Test the Installation

Confirm the installation of FFmpeg:

$ ffmpeg -version

Example: Convert an MP3 audio file to an OGG audio file.

$ cd
$ wget https://archive.org/download/MLKDream/MLKDream_64kb.mp3
$ ffmpeg -i MLKDream_64kb.mp3 -c:a libvorbis -q:a 4 MLKDream_64kb.ogg

Example: Convert an MP4 video file to an OGG video file.

$ cd
$ wget https://archive.org/30/items/I_Have_A_Dream_Speech_excerpt/I_Have_A_Dream_Speech_excerpt.mpeg4 -O MLKDream.mpeg4
$ ffmpeg -i MLKDream.mpeg4 -codec:v libtheora -qscale:v 3 -codec:a libvorbis -qscale:a 3 -f ogv MLKDream.ogv

More Information

• ffmpeg Documentation