How to Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu 26.04, 24.04 and 22.04

When a media file needs a container change, a quick audio extract, or a codec check from the terminal, FFmpeg is usually the tool underneath the workflow. Ubuntu carries the ffmpeg package in the Universe component, so most users can install FFmpeg on Ubuntu Linux with APT and keep it updated through normal system upgrades.

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute Raccoon), 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat), and 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) all use the same APT package name, including Ubuntu Server and minimal installs once Universe is enabled. The package also installs ffprobe for media inspection and ffplay for quick playback tests. The FFmpeg download page publishes source tarballs and links static Linux builds, but those are not Ubuntu APT packages; use the optional source-build path only when you need a newer upstream branch or custom codec flags.

Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu Linux with APT

Use the Ubuntu repository package unless you have a specific reason to build FFmpeg yourself. The package name is ffmpeg, and it may not be present on every default desktop, server, or minimal install. A PPA is not required for normal installs on Ubuntu 26.04, 24.04, or 22.04.

Ubuntu Release	Default APT Candidate	Repository Component	Best For
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute)	7:8.0.1-3ubuntu2 (FFmpeg 8.0.x)	Universe	New deployments that want the newest Ubuntu-packaged FFmpeg branch
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble)	7:6.1.1-3ubuntu5 (FFmpeg 6.1.x)	Universe	Production systems that want the current LTS package branch
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy)	7:4.4.2-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 (FFmpeg 4.4.x)	Universe	Older Jammy systems pinned to the 22.04 multimedia stack

A PPA is not needed just to install FFmpeg. Older PPA instructions, including FFmpeg 4.x PPA examples for Ubuntu 24.04, can complicate package sources without improving the normal APT install path.

Refresh the package index and apply any pending upgrades before installing new software:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

These commands use sudo for administrative tasks. If your account does not have sudo privileges yet, follow this guide to add a new user to sudoers on Ubuntu Linux.

Install FFmpeg from Ubuntu’s repositories:

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Check the installed version to confirm the command is working:

ffmpeg -version

ffmpeg version 8.0.1-3ubuntu2 Copyright (c) 2000-2025 the FFmpeg developers
configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=3ubuntu2 --enable-gpl --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libaom ...
libavutil      60.  8.100 / 60.  8.100
libavcodec     62. 11.100 / 62. 11.100
libavformat    62.  3.100 / 62.  3.100

Ubuntu 24.04 and 22.04 show older branch numbers in this output. If the version looks newer than your Ubuntu package branch, a source build in /usr/local/bin may be taking priority over /usr/bin/ffmpeg.

Check the package source and candidate version with APT:

apt-cache policy ffmpeg

ffmpeg:
  Installed: 7:8.0.1-3ubuntu2
  Candidate: 7:8.0.1-3ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 7:8.0.1-3ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Update FFmpeg with APT

For normal package updates, use the same system upgrade workflow as the rest of Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

To upgrade only FFmpeg when a newer package is available, use --only-upgrade:

sudo apt install --only-upgrade ffmpeg

If you plan to compile software against FFmpeg libraries, install the development headers too:

sudo apt install libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev

Enable Universe If APT Cannot Find FFmpeg

Standard Ubuntu installs normally have Universe enabled. Minimal, cloud, or heavily customized systems may not, which can cause APT to report that it cannot locate the ffmpeg package.

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository -y universe
sudo apt update

After enabling Universe, rerun the sudo apt install ffmpeg command. For more background on Ubuntu archive components, see the guide to enable Universe and Multiverse on Ubuntu.

Compile FFmpeg from Source on Ubuntu Linux (Optional)

Use a source build only when Ubuntu’s packaged branch is too old for a specific codec, filter, or custom compile flag. This method installs FFmpeg under a versioned /usr/local/ffmpeg-<version> prefix and uses /usr/local/ffmpeg-current plus command symlinks, so the cleanup path stays explicit.

A source install under /usr/local/bin usually takes priority over Ubuntu’s packaged binary in /usr/bin. Keep APT as the default method unless you want that newer source-built binary to be the command your shell finds first.

This source method still uses sudo because it installs into /usr/local. Third-party no-sudo static binaries are outside this Ubuntu package guide; use them only if you have checked the provider, update path, and codec support yourself.

Install the source-build prerequisites first. The gpg package is included so you can verify FFmpeg’s signed release tarball before extracting it, while libsdl2-dev lets the source build include ffplay.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config nasm yasm ca-certificates curl gpg tar xz-utils libx264-dev libx265-dev libvpx-dev libmp3lame-dev libopus-dev libaom-dev libass-dev libfreetype-dev libvorbis-dev libtheora-dev libsdl2-dev libtool libva-dev libvdpau-dev libxcb1-dev libxcb-shm0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev zlib1g-dev

Detect the current stable FFmpeg tarball from the official download page:

mkdir -p "$HOME/ffmpeg-build/src"
cd "$HOME/ffmpeg-build/src"

FFMPEG_TARBALL=$(curl -fsSL https://ffmpeg.org/download.html | grep -oE 'ffmpeg-[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)+\.tar\.xz' | sed -n '1p')

if [[ -z "$FFMPEG_TARBALL" ]]; then
  echo "No stable FFmpeg tarball was found."
  exit 1
fi

FFMPEG_VERSION="${FFMPEG_TARBALL#ffmpeg-}"
FFMPEG_VERSION="${FFMPEG_VERSION%.tar.xz}"

echo "Latest stable FFmpeg release: $FFMPEG_VERSION"

Download the tarball, its signature, and FFmpeg’s release signing key. The curl command uses -f to fail on HTTP errors and -S to show error messages when a quiet transfer fails.

curl -fsSLO "https://ffmpeg.org/releases/$FFMPEG_TARBALL"
curl -fsSLO "https://ffmpeg.org/releases/$FFMPEG_TARBALL.asc"
curl -fsSL https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-devel.asc -o ffmpeg-devel.asc

Verify the release signature before extracting the source archive:

gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring ./ffmpeg-release.gpg --import ffmpeg-devel.asc
gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring ./ffmpeg-release.gpg --verify "$FFMPEG_TARBALL.asc" "$FFMPEG_TARBALL"

gpg: Good signature from "FFmpeg release signing key <ffmpeg-devel@ffmpeg.org>" [unknown]
Primary key fingerprint: FCF9 86EA 15E6 E293 A564  4F10 B432 2F04 D676 58D8

The [unknown] trust label is normal when you import the key into a temporary keyring. The important checks are the good signature line and the FFmpeg release-key fingerprint.

Extract the verified archive and point ffmpeg-current at that source tree:

tar -xf "$FFMPEG_TARBALL"
ln -sfn "ffmpeg-$FFMPEG_VERSION" ffmpeg-current

Configure, compile, and install the source build into a versioned prefix under /usr/local:

cd "$HOME/ffmpeg-build/src/ffmpeg-current"

./configure \
  --prefix="/usr/local/ffmpeg-$FFMPEG_VERSION" \
  --disable-static \
  --enable-shared \
  --enable-gpl \
  --enable-libx264 \
  --enable-libx265 \
  --enable-libvpx \
  --enable-libmp3lame \
  --enable-libopus \
  --enable-libaom \
  --enable-sdl2 \
  --enable-libass \
  --enable-libfreetype \
  --enable-libvorbis \
  --enable-libtheora

make -j"$(nproc)"
sudo make install
sudo ln -sfn "/usr/local/ffmpeg-$FFMPEG_VERSION" /usr/local/ffmpeg-current

for tool in ffmpeg ffprobe ffplay; do
  sudo ln -sfn "/usr/local/ffmpeg-current/bin/$tool" "/usr/local/bin/$tool"
done

printf '%s\n' /usr/local/ffmpeg-current/lib | sudo tee /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ffmpeg-local.conf > /dev/null
sudo ldconfig
hash -r

The ldconfig command refreshes the shared-library cache so the source-built FFmpeg binary can find its matching libraries. Confirm that your shell now resolves FFmpeg from /usr/local/bin:

which ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version | head -n 1
ffprobe -version | head -n 1

/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg
ffmpeg version 8.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2026 the FFmpeg developers
ffprobe version 8.1 Copyright (c) 2007-2026 the FFmpeg developers

Create an Update Script for Source-Compiled FFmpeg

Source builds do not update through APT. Create this script at $HOME/ffmpeg-build/update-ffmpeg.sh so future checks reuse the same signed-tarball workflow and versioned /usr/local layout:

cat <<'EOF' > "$HOME/ffmpeg-build/update-ffmpeg.sh"
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

SRC_ROOT="$HOME/ffmpeg-build/src"
DOWNLOAD_PAGE="https://ffmpeg.org/download.html"
RELEASE_BASE="https://ffmpeg.org/releases"
KEY_URL="https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-devel.asc"
KEYRING="$SRC_ROOT/ffmpeg-release.gpg"

if [[ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ]]; then
  echo "Run this script as your normal user. It will use sudo only for installation."
  exit 1
fi

for cmd in curl gpg grep ldconfig make nproc pkg-config readlink sed sudo tar xz; do
  if ! command -v "$cmd" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "Missing required command: $cmd"
    exit 1
  fi
done

mkdir -p "$SRC_ROOT"
cd "$SRC_ROOT"

echo "Checking current FFmpeg version..."
CURRENT_VERSION=$(ffmpeg -version 2>/dev/null | sed -n '1s/.*version \([0-9][0-9.]*\).*/\1/p' || true)
CURRENT_VERSION=${CURRENT_VERSION:-not-installed}
echo "Current version: $CURRENT_VERSION"

echo "Checking latest stable FFmpeg release..."
FFMPEG_TARBALL=$(curl -fsSL "$DOWNLOAD_PAGE" | grep -oE 'ffmpeg-[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)+\.tar\.xz' | sed -n '1p')

if [[ -z "$FFMPEG_TARBALL" ]]; then
  echo "No stable FFmpeg tarball was found."
  exit 1
fi

LATEST_VERSION="${FFMPEG_TARBALL#ffmpeg-}"
LATEST_VERSION="${LATEST_VERSION%.tar.xz}"
echo "Latest stable release: $LATEST_VERSION"

if [[ "$CURRENT_VERSION" == "$LATEST_VERSION" ]]; then
  echo "FFmpeg is already up to date."
  exit 0
fi

PREVIOUS_PREFIX=$(readlink -f /usr/local/ffmpeg-current 2>/dev/null || true)

echo "Downloading FFmpeg $LATEST_VERSION..."
curl -fsSLO "$RELEASE_BASE/$FFMPEG_TARBALL"
curl -fsSLO "$RELEASE_BASE/$FFMPEG_TARBALL.asc"
curl -fsSL "$KEY_URL" -o ffmpeg-devel.asc

echo "Verifying release signature..."
gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring "$KEYRING" --import ffmpeg-devel.asc
gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring "$KEYRING" --verify "$FFMPEG_TARBALL.asc" "$FFMPEG_TARBALL"

echo "Extracting source archive..."
rm -rf "ffmpeg-$LATEST_VERSION"
tar -xf "$FFMPEG_TARBALL"
ln -sfn "ffmpeg-$LATEST_VERSION" ffmpeg-current
cd ffmpeg-current

echo "Configuring FFmpeg $LATEST_VERSION..."
./configure \
  --prefix="/usr/local/ffmpeg-$LATEST_VERSION" \
  --disable-static \
  --enable-shared \
  --enable-gpl \
  --enable-libx264 \
  --enable-libx265 \
  --enable-libvpx \
  --enable-libmp3lame \
  --enable-libopus \
  --enable-libaom \
  --enable-sdl2 \
  --enable-libass \
  --enable-libfreetype \
  --enable-libvorbis \
  --enable-libtheora

echo "Compiling FFmpeg $LATEST_VERSION..."
make -j"$(nproc)"

echo "Installing FFmpeg $LATEST_VERSION..."
sudo make install
sudo ln -sfn "/usr/local/ffmpeg-$LATEST_VERSION" /usr/local/ffmpeg-current

for tool in ffmpeg ffprobe ffplay; do
  sudo ln -sfn "/usr/local/ffmpeg-current/bin/$tool" "/usr/local/bin/$tool"
done

printf '%s\n' /usr/local/ffmpeg-current/lib | sudo tee /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ffmpeg-local.conf > /dev/null
sudo ldconfig
hash -r

FFMPEG_OUTPUT=$(ffmpeg -version | sed -n '1p' || true)

if [[ -z "$FFMPEG_OUTPUT" ]]; then
  echo "New FFmpeg did not run; restoring the previous source prefix."
  if [[ -n "$PREVIOUS_PREFIX" && -d "$PREVIOUS_PREFIX" ]]; then
    sudo ln -sfn "$PREVIOUS_PREFIX" /usr/local/ffmpeg-current
  else
    sudo rm -f /usr/local/ffmpeg-current /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg /usr/local/bin/ffprobe /usr/local/bin/ffplay
  fi
  sudo ldconfig
  exit 1
fi

echo "Update complete."
echo "$FFMPEG_OUTPUT"
EOF

Mark the script as executable with chmod, copy it into your PATH as update-ffmpeg-source, then run that command whenever you want to check for a newer stable FFmpeg release:

chmod +x "$HOME/ffmpeg-build/update-ffmpeg.sh"
sudo install -m 755 "$HOME/ffmpeg-build/update-ffmpeg.sh" /usr/local/bin/update-ffmpeg-source
update-ffmpeg-source

Checking current FFmpeg version...
Current version: 8.1
Checking latest stable FFmpeg release...
Latest stable release: 8.1
FFmpeg is already up to date.

The update script leaves older /usr/local/ffmpeg-<version> prefixes in place so you can roll back manually if a new build behaves differently. Remove old prefixes only after confirming the newer build works for your workloads.

Common FFmpeg Commands on Ubuntu Linux

After installation, ffmpeg, ffprobe, and ffplay are available from the same package or source build. These examples cover the first tasks most users test.

Task	Tool or Flag	Why It Helps
Inspect a media file	ffprobe	Shows codecs, duration, bit rate, and stream layout before conversion
Quick playback test	ffplay	Plays a file without opening a larger media application
Container conversion	-c copy	Changes the container without re-encoding compatible streams
H.264 re-encode	libx264	Creates a widely compatible MP4 output
MP3 audio extraction	libmp3lame	Exports the audio stream to a common MP3 file

Inspect Media Details with ffprobe

Use ffprobe when you need to check a file before converting it:

ffprobe -hide_banner input.mp4

The output lists the container, duration, codec names, resolution, frame rate, and audio layout without modifying the file.

Play a File with ffplay

Use ffplay for a quick local playback check after installing FFmpeg:

ffplay input.mp4

If this command opens a playback window, the companion tool installed correctly. On a headless server or SSH-only session, use ffprobe instead because ffplay needs a graphical display.

Convert MKV to MP4 Without Re-encoding

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v copy -c:a copy output.mp4

The -c:v copy -c:a copy flags tell FFmpeg to stream-copy both video and audio without re-encoding, so the conversion is nearly instant and lossless. Stream-copy only works when the source codecs are already MP4-compatible, such as H.264 or H.265 video with AAC audio. If the source uses incompatible codecs, use the re-encode command below instead.

Re-encode Video with H.264 and AAC

ffmpeg -i input.avi -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4

The -crf 23 flag controls visual quality on a scale from 0 (lossless) to 51 (lowest quality), and 23 is a common balance between file size and sharpness. The -preset medium flag trades encoding speed for compression efficiency. Use this command when you need a smaller or more compatible output file.

Extract Audio Track to MP3

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -acodec libmp3lame -q:a 2 audio.mp3

The -vn flag drops the video stream, while -q:a 2 keeps high-quality variable-bitrate audio. Lower -q:a values keep more quality, and higher values produce smaller files.

Resize Video to 720p

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1280:720" -c:a copy output-720p.mp4

For aspect-ratio-safe scaling, replace 1280:720 with 1280:-1 or -1:720.

Install v4l-utils for Webcam Capture Checks

If your FFmpeg workflow captures from a webcam, capture card, or another Video4Linux device, v4l-utils is a separate Ubuntu package. Install it only when you need tools such as v4l2-ctl to inspect device names and supported formats before writing an FFmpeg capture command.

sudo apt install v4l-utils

Troubleshoot FFmpeg on Ubuntu Linux

Most FFmpeg install problems on Ubuntu come from a missing Universe component, a stale shell cache, or a source build taking priority over the packaged binary.

Symptom	Likely Cause	Quick Fix
E: Unable to locate package ffmpeg	Universe is disabled or package metadata is stale	Enable Universe and refresh APT
command not found	Package missing or stale shell cache	Reinstall FFmpeg and run hash -r
Unknown encoder 'libx264'	Active build missing the encoder library	Check the active binary and reinstall or rebuild
Wrong version reported	Source build shadowing APT binary	Check the command path with which ffmpeg

APT Cannot Locate the FFmpeg Package

If APT cannot find ffmpeg, confirm Universe is enabled and refresh package metadata:

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository -y universe
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg

If the command still fails, check whether your APT source file is missing the universe component or whether your mirror is temporarily out of sync.

ffmpeg Command Not Found

If FFmpeg is not detected after installation, your package may not have installed correctly or your shell command cache may be stale.

bash: ffmpeg: command not found

Check whether the binary is on your path:

which ffmpeg

/usr/bin/ffmpeg

If no path is returned, reinstall the package and refresh your shell cache:

sudo apt install --reinstall ffmpeg
hash -r

Verify the fix:

ffmpeg -version | head -n 1

ffmpeg version 8.0.1-3ubuntu2 Copyright (c) 2000-2025 the FFmpeg developers

Unknown Encoder Errors (libx264, libx265, libaom)

This error appears when your active FFmpeg build does not include the encoder you requested.

Unknown encoder 'libx264'

Check which encoders are available in your current FFmpeg binary:

ffmpeg -hide_banner -encoders | grep -E 'libaom-av1|libx264|libx265'

If the encoders are compiled in, you will see lines similar to these:

 V....D libaom-av1           libaom AV1 (codec av1)
 V....D libx264              libx264 H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10 (codec h264)
 V....D libx264rgb           libx264 H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10 RGB (codec h264)
 V....D libx265              libx265 H.265 / HEVC (codec hevc)

For more grep filtering tricks, such as case-insensitive search or pattern exclusion, the full command guide covers those options.

If those encoders are missing from Ubuntu’s packaged build, reinstall the package. If they are missing from a source build, rebuild with the matching --enable-lib* flags after installing the needed development packages.

Hardware encoders such as h264_nvenc are a separate case. Confirm the system has a working NVIDIA driver and supported GPU before treating FFmpeg as broken; the source build above is validated for common software encoders, not vendor GPU driver stacks. If the driver is missing, start with the guide to install NVIDIA drivers on Ubuntu.

sudo apt install --reinstall ffmpeg

Permission Denied When Writing Output Files

FFmpeg needs write access to the destination directory. This often happens when saving to system paths without root permissions.

output.mp4: Permission denied

Check who owns the target directory and whether your user has write access:

ls -ld /path/to/output-directory

drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Mar  1 12:10 /home/user/videos

Write to a directory you own, such as your home folder, then rerun your conversion command.

APT and Source-Build FFmpeg Version Mismatch

If you installed FFmpeg from source and APT on the same system, check which binary your shell is executing before troubleshooting codec behavior.

which ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version | head -n 1

If this reports /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg, you are using the source build. If you want Ubuntu’s packaged version instead, remove the source build in the cleanup section below and refresh your shell cache with hash -r.

Remove FFmpeg from Ubuntu Linux

If you no longer need FFmpeg, remove the APT package first. Preview autoremove before running it, especially on systems where other multimedia tools are installed, and skip the cleanup if it lists packages you still want to keep.

sudo apt remove ffmpeg
sudo apt autoremove --dry-run

If the preview only lists packages you are ready to remove, run the real cleanup command:

sudo apt autoremove

If you also installed FFmpeg development headers, remove those packages separately:

sudo apt remove libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev

Confirm the package is no longer installed with an installed-state check:

dpkg -l ffmpeg | grep '^ii' || echo "ffmpeg package is not installed"

ffmpeg package is not installed

If you want to confirm that the repository package still exists after removal, use APT policy as a separate source and candidate check:

apt-cache policy ffmpeg

ffmpeg:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 7:8.0.1-3ubuntu2
  Version table:
     7:8.0.1-3ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu resolute/universe amd64 Packages

Remove Source-Compiled FFmpeg Files (If Installed)

The following commands permanently remove the article-created source prefixes, command symlinks, linker configuration, and build workspace. Do not run the /usr/local/ffmpeg-* cleanup if you intentionally keep custom directories with that same naming pattern.

sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg /usr/local/bin/ffprobe /usr/local/bin/ffplay /usr/local/bin/update-ffmpeg-source
sudo rm -f /usr/local/ffmpeg-current
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/ffmpeg-*
sudo rm -f /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ffmpeg-local.conf
sudo ldconfig
rm -rf "$HOME/ffmpeg-build"
hash -r

If the APT package is still installed, the system binary should take over automatically:

which ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version | head -n 1

/usr/bin/ffmpeg
ffmpeg version 8.0.1-3ubuntu2 Copyright (c) 2000-2025 the FFmpeg developers

If you are troubleshooting path behavior after uninstalling, this primer on the which command in Linux can help you confirm which binary your shell is selecting.

Conclusion

FFmpeg is available on Ubuntu through the lower-maintenance APT package or a custom source build when you need newer upstream codec work. The APT package covers ffmpeg, ffprobe, ffplay, and common software encoders. For GUI transcoding, add HandBrake on Ubuntu; for playback testing, pair it with VLC on Ubuntu or MPV on Ubuntu.