How to Install FFmpeg on Mac OS

FFmpeg is a free and open-source command-line utility that contains a collection of libraries and tools to process multimedia content such as audio, video, subtitles, and related metadata.

In this tutorial, you will come across various methods of installing FFmpeg on mac OS.

Requirements

The following are required to install FFmpeg successfully on your macOS system:

1. Administritive permissions
2. Homebrew Package Manager
3. Internet Access

Method 1 - Install FFmpeg Using Homebrew.

The first method you can use to set up FFmpeg on your mac is the Homebrew package manager. Installing packages via Homebrew has many benefits, including easy updates, quick and clean installs, etc.

Ensure you have Homebrew installed on your machine by checking the link below:

https://www.geekbits.io/how-to-install-and-use-homebrew-on-macos/

Once installed, update brew:

brew update

Upgrade any outdated packages:

brew upgrade

Finally, install FFmpeg with the command:

brew install ffmpeg

Output:

Running `brew update --auto-update`...
==> Auto-updated Homebrew!
Updated 3 taps (homebrew/core, homebrew/cask and homebrew/cask-fonts).

==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/highway/manifests/1.0.2
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/highway/blobs/sha256:cfb84f99cd
==> Downloading from https://pkg-containers.githubusercontent.com/ghcr1/blobs/sh
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/imath/manifests/3.1.6
######################################################################## 100.0%

Once the installation is complete, verify by checking the ffmpeg version as:

ffmpeg -version

Expected Output:

ffmpeg version 5.1.2 Copyright (c) 2000-2022 the FFmpeg developers
built with Apple clang version 14.0.0 (clang-1400.0.29.202)
configuration: --prefix=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/ffmpeg/5.1.2 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-version3 --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-ffplay --enable-gnutls --enable-gpl --enable-libaom --enable-libbluray --enable-libdav1d --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-librav1e --enable-librist --enable-librubberband --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsrt --enable-libtesseract --enable-libtheora --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-lzma --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-frei0r --enable-libass --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libspeex --enable-libsoxr --enable-libzmq --enable-libzimg --disable-libjack --disable-indev=jack --enable-videotoolbox --enable-neon
libavutil      57. 28.100 / 57. 28.100
libavcodec     59. 37.100 / 59. 37.100
libavformat    59. 27.100 / 59. 27.100
libavdevice    59.  7.100 / 59.  7.100
libavfilter     8. 44.100 /  8. 44.100
libswscale      6.  7.100 /  6.  7.100
libswresample   4.  7.100 /  4.  7.100
libpostproc    56.  6.100 / 56.  6.100

Method 2 - Install FFmpeg Using MacPorts

MacPorts is an alternative package manager for macOS systems. It provides a simple and intuitive method of installing packages on your system with simple commands.

To install FFmpeg with MacPorts, run:

sudo port install ffmpeg

The command will prompt you to accept the dependencies. Press Y to accept and proceed with the installation.

Method 3 - Manually Install FFmpeg

You can also download an executable from the official FFmpeg site and use it to setup FFmpeg on your machine.

Head over to the downloads page.

https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html

Select the macOS installer:

Open the static binaries for MacOS. and download the .7z archive.

Once the download is complete, unzip the file and note down the path to the extracted directory.

Open the terminal and execute the command:

export PATH=$PATH:<path_to_extracted_ffmpeg_directory>

Example:

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/ffmpeg

Finally, you can check if FFmpeg is available from the console:

ffmpeg -version

End

In this article, you discovered three main methods of installing and setting up FFmpeg on macOS. Check our other macOS tutorials to learn more.