ffmpeg
Open-source command-line tool and libraries for recording, converting and streaming audio and video.
HN commenters treat it as the most capable free tool for converting, trimming and processing audio and video1234, and many now generate its commands with LLMs or run it in automated pipelines.56789 The most common complaint is that its command syntax is hard to learn and remember10111213, and some also raise security concerns about bugs in its codecs.1415
Why people recommend it
Broad capability · 3
Seen as covering almost every multimedia task, with no better free alternative.
“For multimedia there are very few use cases not covered by ffmpeg and mpv.”
“FFmpeg is certainly the king of media processing frameworks”
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“no one has come up with a better or more capable tool, certainly not one that is freely available.”
LLM-friendly · 3
LLMs and agents can write its commands, which replaces some GUI editing work.
“Just getting LLM's to do their thing for ffmpeg is great.”
“just use Codex to issue the ffmpeg CLI commands directly when I want to crop/format video on my PC”
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“Python scripts and workflows incorporating local ImageMagick and FFMPEG”
Automation · 3
Used daily in scripted pipelines for video assembly and transcoding fleets.
“i run ffmpeg a few thousand times daily for automated video assembly”
“i use ffmpeg daily for video assembly”
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“I’ve used Netcup to run an ffmpeg transcoding fleet”
Everyday conversions · 3
Used to extract subtitles, trim videos, rewrap DV footage and convert music formats.
“ffmpeg -i dvgrab-001.dv -c copy whateveritscalled.avi to rewrap it”
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“convert from the highest available format available, often FLAC, to opus using ffmpegs default settings. No regrets so far.”
Free and open · 3
Commenters use it in place of paid suites and call it top-notch open-source software.
“Meanwhile Blender, ffmpeg, Krita, ZIM, and Inkscape are all free but which I support with donations.”
“top-notch software (e.g., linux, ffmpeg, qemu, etc.)”
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Speed and reliability · 3
Running it directly is described as faster and more reliable than browser-based builds.
“I always end up using running FFmpeg directly since it's faster and more reliable”
“I have had much better luck with stuff like ffmpeg and virsh than ever before.”
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“ffmpeg conversion: 1,515 bytes, 0.05s”
Caveats and dissent
Steep syntax · 3
Commands are hard to remember, and even LLM-written ones often take several tries.
“Just getting LLM's to do their thing for ffmpeg is great.”
“When I use ffmpeg recently I usually ask an LLM first but it often takes a few tries to get the exact incantation right.”
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“I was just fighting ffmpeg earlier today”
Parameter tuning · 2
Finding the right encoding settings can take a lot of trial and error.
“I am still trying to find the exact parameters for FFMPEG”
Security · 3
Commenters cite bugs in uncommon codecs that ship enabled by default.
“there have been tons of bugs in ffmpeg and imagemagick and the core libs”
“I love ffmpeg but that whole episode left a bit of a bad taste.”
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“no one has come up with a better or more capable tool, certainly not one that is freely available.”
Encoding glitches · 1
One user reported pops and clicks in songs encoded for an iPod nano.
“Last time I used ffmpeg to encode songs for my iPod nano they were broken; playback was interrupted by pops and clicks every few seconds.”
GUI sometimes easier · 1
One commenter finds some complex tasks more comfortable in Avidemux.
“ffmpeg is still what I use”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- FFmpeg 9.0 4 mentions
- Opus 5.5 is good at explainer videos 2 mentions
- Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance 2 mentions
- FFmpeg 9.1's new AAC encoder 2 mentions
- Twenty One Zero-Days in FFmpeg 2 mentions
- Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026) 2 mentions
Also written as FFmpeg. Data: ffmpeg.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 47
“I use claude with remotion and ffmpeg to create final video.”
“for anyone interested in converting images to AVIF, here's what I've found to work the best”
“using ffmpeg for audio”
“a local copy of ffmpeg”
“using ffmpeg for audio”
“For multimedia there are very few use cases not covered by ffmpeg and mpv.”
“there have been tons of bugs in ffmpeg and imagemagick and the core libs”
“AAC streams are decoded and sent to ffmpeg.”
“Just getting LLM's to do their thing for ffmpeg is great.”
“just use Codex to issue the ffmpeg CLI commands directly when I want to crop/format video on my PC”
“Not at all: ffmpeg + mpv”
“I love ffmpeg but that whole episode left a bit of a bad taste.”
“Only slightly broken already.”
“ffmpeg is great, I think nobody disputes this.”
“amazing project”
“build out ffmpeg/imagemagick image/video resizing”
“my own ffmpeg based x11 media player”
“I started working on the codec, MAV (Mu Animation Video), in ffmpeg”
“I have had much better luck with stuff like ffmpeg and virsh than ever before.”
“and it deals with ffmpeg”
“FFmpeg drive by flash”
“So this is extremely promising.”
“Last time I used ffmpeg to encode songs for my iPod nano they were broken; playback was interrupted by pops and clicks every few seconds.”
“I used ffmpeg to pre-download the video”
“ffmpeg conversion: 1,515 bytes, 0.05s”
“Video encoding: Ffmpeg”
“FFmpeg is certainly the king of media processing frameworks”
“that is currently sandboxed ffmpeg”
“no one has come up with a better or more capable tool, certainly not one that is freely available.”
“A simple cat cam slash timelapse camera using old Nokia phone, termux API, golang and ffmpeg.”
“This video was sampled into individual image frames at about 5fps using ffmpeg.”
“I made it a local Electron app with Whisper, ffmpeg”
“Python scripts and workflows incorporating local ImageMagick and FFMPEG”
“I always end up using running FFmpeg directly since it's faster and more reliable”
“Meanwhile Blender, ffmpeg, Krita, ZIM, and Inkscape are all free but which I support with donations.”
“But I've solved that with an ffmpeg oneliner.”
“transcode the audio with ffmpeg”
“I've been using yt-dlp and ffmpeg extensively for a while now”
“I've been enthusiastic about a lot of things, C, libsdl, Linux, ffmpeg, vim”
“which in turn uses ffmpeg of course”
“One of the best open-source tools out there.”
“i use ffmpeg daily for video assembly”
“i run ffmpeg a few thousand times daily for automated video assembly”
“I used ffmpeg and yt-dlp to make an animated GIF of a kākāpō”
“I was just fighting ffmpeg earlier today”
“When I use ffmpeg recently I usually ask an LLM first but it often takes a few tries to get the exact incantation right.”
“all the tricky bits are internal to ffmpeg”