How To Install FFmpeg on Ubuntu 18.04 / Ubuntu 16.04 & Linux Mint 19?

Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9 (FFmpeg 6.x)

Ubuntu 16.04/18.04 and Linux Mint 19 are end of life. FFmpeg converts and streams audio and video. Ubuntu 24.04 includes FFmpeg 6.1.

Ubuntu / Debian / Linux Mint

sudo apt install ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version

AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux 9

FFmpeg is not in the standard repositories; install it from RPM Fusion (needs EPEL and CRB):

dnf install epel-release && dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
dnf install --nogpgcheck https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-9.noarch.rpm
dnf install ffmpeg

Examples

ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac output.mp4     # convert to MP4 (H.264/AAC)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k audio.mp3       # extract audio
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=1280:-2 small.mp4                    # resize to 1280 px wide
ffprobe input.mp4                                                  # show stream information

Tip: For live streaming to Icecast, SHOUTcast or an RTMP server, FFmpeg can read a file or device and push it to the server; see our streaming guides.

Useful checks

ffmpeg -encoders | grep -E "264|265|aac"     # available encoders
ffmpeg -hwaccels                              # hardware acceleration methods

Encoding video is CPU-heavy; on a VPS, convert files in the background with nice -n 19 ffmpeg ... so websites stay responsive.