How to Install FFmpeg on Windows

This is an article on how to install FFmpeg on a Windows 10 computer. FFmpeg is a command line program that allows you to convert video and audio into another format, along with recording and recording live.

Table of Contents

Download FFmpeg

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Open the FFmpeg download page. You need to access https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ using your computer’s web browser.

Although there is a website dedicated to FFmpeg, the file downloaded from there will not work on Windows 10.

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Click Download Build . It’s the blue button on the right side of the page. With this, the FFmpeg program will be downloaded to your computer.

Depending on your browser’s settings, you may have to first select a save folder or confirm the download.

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Open the FFmpeg download folder. Double-click the downloaded FFmpeg folder in ZIP format to do this.

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Extract the FFmpeg folder. You can use the built-in decompression feature on your computer at this step:

Click the Extract tab at the top of the window.
Click Extract all .
Click Extract at the bottom of the window.
Wait for the screen to display a window.

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Rename the extracted folder. In the window that is showing you will see the folder “ffmpeg-20180424-d9706f7-win64-static”. Let’s rename this folder to “FFmpeg” in the following way:

Click the folder to select.
Click the Home tab at the top of the window.
Click Rename in the “Organize” section.
Type FFmpeg and press ↵ Enter .

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Copy the folder “FFmpeg”. Select the “FFmpeg” folder if you haven’t already, then press Ctrl + C to copy it.

If you don’t want to save a copy of the “FFmpeg” folder, you can press Ctrl + X .

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Click This PC . This is a folder on the left side of the window, but you may have to scroll up to see it. The This PC window will appear on the screen.

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Open the hard drive’s folder. Double-click the hard drive folder (usually the “OS (C:)” folder) under the “Devices and drives” heading in the center of the window.

If you don’t see any folders under the “Devices and drives” heading, click Devices and drives to bring up the folders.

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Paste the “FFmpeg” folder. Click any empty space in the folder, and then press Ctrl + V . This will paste the copied “FFmpeg” folder into your computer’s hard drive folder. Next, you can perform the operation to enable FFmpeg in the Command Prompt.

Enable FFmpeg in Command Line

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Click This PC . This is a folder on the left side of the window, but you may have to drag the scroll bar up to see this option. You will be returned to the This PC folder.

If you closed File Explorer, click Start

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, then type this pc and click This PC at the top of the Start menu.

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Click Computer . You’ll see this tab in the upper-left corner of the This PC window.

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Click Properties . This is the red check mark in the white box displayed in the upper left corner of the window. With this action, the Properties window immediately appears on the screen.

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Click Advanced system settings . This path is in the upper left corner of the Properties window. The screen will display a new window.

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Click Environment Variables… . This is the button near the bottom of the window. Another window will appear on the screen.

If you don’t see this option, you’ll need to first click the Advanced tab at the top of the window.

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Double-click the Path value. This value shows up in the “User variables for [name]” section at the top of the window. This will open the Path variable’s window.

If you don’t see the Path value, try dragging the scroll bar up or down in the “User variables” section.
If you want to enable FFmpeg for all users on this computer, you’ll double-click Path in the “System variables” section near the bottom of the window.

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Click New . This is the option on the right side of the window. This will create a new input field in the window.

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Enter the path to the “FFmpeg” library. Enter C:FFmpegbin in the input field, and then select OK . ^{[1] X Research Source}

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Click OK on both visible windows. FFmpeg is now enabled for the Command Prompt, but you can check FFmpeg to make sure the program is installed properly.

Check out FFmpeg

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Open Start

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. Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen. This is the operation that opens the Start menu.

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Search for Command Prompt. Type command prompt into Start. You will see the Command Prompt icon at the top of the Start menu.

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Open administrator mode in Command Prompt. Right click

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Command Prompt at the top of the menu, then click Run as administrator and select Yes when asked.

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Check the FFmpeg version. Type ffmpeg -version and press ↵ Enter . This shows you information related to FFmpeg.

If you see the message “‘ffmpeg’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file” (ffmpeg is not an internal command or an external command, or an operable program or file), yes Maybe you entered the wrong path.

Advice

For those familiar with the Command Prompt, using FFmpeg is a quick and simple way to convert proprietary video formats (such as WMA) to popular video files (such as MP4).
Windows 10 operating system has Command Prompt and PowerShell programs. Although these two programs have similar functions, you should only use Command Prompt for FFmpeg.

Warning

FFmpeg is a command line program; that means you can only use it in Command Prompt. This can make it difficult for users who are not familiar with the Command Prompt.
You must have an administrator account to be able to install FFmpeg.

Steps

Download FFmpeg

Enable FFmpeg in Command Line

Check out FFmpeg

Advice

Warning

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