Updated: 4 November 2026 · Applies to: FFmpeg 6.1 (Ubuntu 24.04), 7.1 (Debian 13) and 7.1 ffmpeg-free (AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux 9 with EPEL)
FFmpeg converts and streams audio and video. Older guides compiled it from source together with LAME; today every major distribution has a ready-made package. We tested these installs on Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13 and AlmaLinux 9 on 29 September 2026.
Ubuntu and Debian
sudo apt update sudo apt install ffmpeg ffmpeg -version | head -1
Ubuntu 24.04 installs FFmpeg 6.1 and Debian 13 FFmpeg 7.1, with all common codecs (H.264, H.265, AAC, MP3 and more).
AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux 9
sudo dnf install epel-release sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb sudo dnf install ffmpeg-free
EPEL’s ffmpeg-free (version 7.1.5 in our test) handles H.264 through OpenH264, plus AAC, MP3, Opus, VP9 and AV1. It does not include the x264 and x265 encoders. In our test, the full ffmpeg package from RPM Fusion could not be installed on AlmaLinux 9 (it needs an older SVT-AV1 library than EPEL now ships), so use ffmpeg-free unless you specifically need x264 or x265.
Check that it works
ffmpeg -hide_banner -encoders | grep -E "264|aac|mp3" ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libx264 -c:a aac output.mp4 # Ubuntu, Debian ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libopenh264 -c:a aac output.mp4 # ffmpeg-free
On a cPanel server
See how to install FFmpeg on a cPanel server. For Ubuntu specifics, see how to install FFmpeg on Ubuntu.
