How To Install ffmpeg on Ubuntu 20.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install ffmpeg on Ubuntu 20.04. ffmpeg is Tools for transcoding, streaming and playing of multimedia files Tools for transcoding, streaming and playing of multimedia files

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install ffmpeg on Ubuntu 20.04.

What is ffmpeg

ffmpeg is:

FFmpeg is the leading multimedia framework, able to decode, encode, transcode, mux, demux, stream, filter and play pretty much anything that humans and machines have created. It supports the most obscure ancient formats up to the cutting edge.

This package contains:

  • ffmpeg: a command line tool to convert multimedia files between formats
  • ffplay: a simple media player based on SDL and the FFmpeg libraries
  • ffprobe: a simple multimedia stream analyzer
  • qt-faststart: a utility to rearrange Quicktime files Task: ubuntustudio-video, ubuntustudio-audio, ubuntukylin-desktop, ubuntu-mate-desktop, ubuntu-budgie-desktop

Package: ffmpeg Architecture: amd64 Version: 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1 Multi-Arch: foreign Priority: optional Section: universe/video Origin: Ubuntu Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers [email protected] Original-Maintainer: Debian Multimedia Maintainers [email protected] Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug Installed-Size: 2006 Depends: libavcodec58 (= 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1), libavdevice58 (= 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1), libavfilter7 (= 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1), libavformat58 (= 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1), libavresample4 (= 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1), libavutil56 (= 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1), libc6 (>= 2.29), libpostproc55 (= 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1), libsdl2-2.0-0 (>= 2.0.10), libswresample3 (= 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1), libswscale5 (= 7:4.2.2-1ubuntu1) Suggests: ffmpeg-doc Breaks: libav-tools (« 6:12~~), qt-faststart (« 7:2.7.1-3~), winff (« 1.5.5-5~) Replaces: libav-tools (« 6:12~~), qt-faststart (« 7:2.7.1-3~) Filename: pool/universe/f/ffmpeg/ffmpeg_4.2.2-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb Size: 1452156 MD5sum: 51c97f2d9b20af0dc067c5a5431d403e SHA1: 7105a3c51543b6259121c09cde164fdc90ff3e9a SHA256: c8bd3b09579ba98a964ab490513a4ac6224841dec163536f4d055faecf030d6f Homepage: https://ffmpeg.org/ Description-en: Tools for transcoding, streaming and playing of multimedia files FFmpeg is the leading multimedia framework, able to decode, encode, transcode, mux, demux, stream, filter and play pretty much anything that humans and machines have created. It supports the most obscure ancient formats up to the cutting edge.

This package contains:

  • ffmpeg: a command line tool to convert multimedia files between formats
  • ffplay: a simple media player based on SDL and the FFmpeg libraries
  • ffprobe: a simple multimedia stream analyzer
  • qt-faststart: a utility to rearrange Quicktime files Task: ubuntustudio-video, ubuntustudio-audio, ubuntukylin-desktop, ubuntu-mate-desktop, ubuntu-budgie-desktop

There are three methods to install ffmpeg on Ubuntu 20.04. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install ffmpeg Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install ffmpeg using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install ffmpeg

Install ffmpeg Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install ffmpeg using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install ffmpeg

Install ffmpeg Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install ffmpeg using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install ffmpeg

How To Uninstall ffmpeg on Ubuntu 20.04

To uninstall only the ffmpeg package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg

Uninstall ffmpeg And Its Dependencies

To uninstall ffmpeg and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 20.04, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove ffmpeg

Remove ffmpeg Configurations and Data

To remove ffmpeg configuration and data from Ubuntu 20.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge ffmpeg

Remove ffmpeg configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove ffmpeg configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge ffmpeg

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install ffmpeg package on Ubuntu 20.04 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.