Install the Latest FFmpeg 2.1.2 in Ubuntu 14.04, 13.10, 13.04, 12.10

Last updated: July 28, 2015

Install Latest FFmpeg Ubuntu

This tutorial is going to show you how to install the latest version of FFmpeg, so far it’s FFmpeg 2.1.2, in Ubuntu, Linux Mint and their derivatives via PPA.

FFmpeg is a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video. 2.1.2 was released on 2014-01-13. It is the latest stable FFmpeg release from the 2.1 release branch, which was cut from master on 2013-10-28. Amongst lots of other changes, it includes all changes from ffmpeg-mt, libav master of 2013-10-27, libav 9 as of 2013-10-27.

Sam Rog has been maintaining the most recent FFmpeg packages in his PPA for Ubuntu, Linux Mint and their derivatives. The PPA is trustable and so far it supports Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10.

To add the PPA, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it open, run below command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:djcj/vlc-stable

Then you can check for updates via Synaptic Package Manager. Or just run below commands instead:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

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17 responses to Install the Latest FFmpeg 2.1.2 in Ubuntu 14.04, 13.10, 13.04, 12.10

  1. How about libx265 ?

  2. @14.04 after adding the ppa:

    # apt-get install ffmpeg
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Package ffmpeg is not available, but is referred to by another package.
    This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
    is only available from another source

    E: Package ‘ffmpeg’ has no installation candidate

  3. same result in mint 17.

    Package ‘ffmpeg’ has no installation candidate

  4. The author has a common typo:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:samrog131/ppa

    should be

    sudo apt-add-repository ppa:samrog131/ppa

    Try that, then the update/upgrade, then install ffmpeg. Worked for me this morning.

    • @Aaron, add-apt-repository and apt-add-repository do the same.

      Run below command in terminal:

      ls -l `which apt-add-repository`

      It outputs:

      lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 Apr 18 17:31 /usr/bin/apt-add-repository -> add-apt-repository

      Which means apt-add-repository is simply a symlink to add-apt-repository

  5. Above failed for me too on Mint 17 x64. However using the ppa specified from:

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

    worked after a couple of tries.

    ppa:jon-severinsson/ffmpeg

    Cheers,

    Matt.

  6. This article is totally wrong and should be removed.

  7. It didn’t work for me too. I’m on ubuntu 13.10. I’d ffmpeg version : ffmpeg 0.8.12-6:0.8.12-0ubuntu0.13.10.1

    I ran:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:samrog131/ppa

    sudo apt-get update

    sudo apt-get upgrade

    Then I ran:
    sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

    Now, I see that the version is the same as earlier. I didn’t get the latest one!
    Please guide how to move ahead.
    (Though I will go through the link provided by @MattH7)

  8. As per ffmpeg website, the solution is simply here:
    “https://launchpad.net/~jon-severinsson/+archive/ubuntu/ffmpeg”

    Add the official ffmpeg repo:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jon-severinsson/ffmpeg

    sudo apt-get update

    sudo apt-get upgrade

    sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

    And that’s it!

  9. Thank you for WHAT??

    This article is about **latest ffmpeg 2.1.2**

    However, this egomaniac guy who posts his “helpful” launchpad site everywhere only provides version **1.2**

    On Sam Rog’s site, however, I can find a true 2.4.2 version to install. For me, this is quite a difference.
    These guys finally do have to clean up their “version jungle” so that also non-super-pro users will understand what to do. Currently this is unbearable.

  10. Libavcodec 53 is where I’m stuck… remember when you could sudo update this stuff? The good old days… Ubuntu even took away my login rights because I’ve been away for that long…

  11. No longer works for Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jon-severinsson/ffmpeg
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get upgrade

    root@Veyron:/etc/apt# apt-get install ffmpeg
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
    requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
    distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
    or been moved out of Incoming.
    The following information may help to resolve the situation:

    The following packages have unmet dependencies:
    ffmpeg : Depends: libavcodec54 (>= 7:1.2.5~) but it is not going to be installed or
    libavcodec-extra-54 (>= 7:1.2.5~) but it is not going to be installed
    Depends: libavdevice53 (>= 7:1.2.5~) but it is not going to be installed
    Depends: libavfilter3 (>= 7:1.2.5~) but it is not going to be installed
    Depends: libavformat54 (>= 7:1.2.5~) but it is not going to be installed
    Depends: libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.11) but it is not installable
    E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

  12. Ok nevermind. I managed to screw up my sources.list somehow