How to Install FFMPEG 3.1.3 in Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA

Last updated: September 16, 2016

FFMPEG

The popular FFmpeg multimedia library has reached the 3.1.3 release. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04 / 14.04 via PPA.

FFmpeg 3.1 features:

  • DXVA2-accelerated HEVC Main10 decoding for Windows
  • a variety of new filters
  • MediaCodec H.264 decoding
  • new muxers/demuxers
  • VA-API accelerated H.264/HEVC/MJPEG encoding
  • an OpenMAX IL encoder with support for the Raspberry Pi
  • OpenEXR other improvements.

Install FFmpeg 3.1.3 via PPA:

Some applications, e.g., DVDStyler and LiVEs, in your system may still use the old FFmpeg libraries. You need to rebuild them yourself to make the new FFmpeg libraries take place

J Fernyhough is maintaining a PPA with FFmpeg 3.1.3 packages for Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 16.04.

1. Open terminal and run command to add PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/ffmpeg-3

ffmpeg-3-ppa

2. To upgrade from a previous release, just launch Software Updater and upgrade the software libraries after checking for updates.

upgrade ffmpeg

Or run the commands below in terminal:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ffmpeg libav-tools x264 x265

After installation, run ffmpeg in terminal to get the version info and build details.

How to restore:

To restore and downgrade FFmpeg to the stock version in Ubuntu 16.04, purge the ppa via ppa-purge:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:jonathonf/ffmpeg-3

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2 responses to How to Install FFMPEG 3.1.3 in Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA

  1. I’ve tried these instructions, but get the following error with Linux Mint 18 (Ubuntu 16.04):

    ffmpeg: relocation error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libavutil.so.55: symbol vaCreateSurfaces, version VA_API_0.33.0 not defined in file libva.so.1 with link time reference

    Any ideas?

  2. How can i install filters? I’m getting:
    [AVFilterGraph @ 0x55efa40fe400] No such filter: ‘vidstabdetect’