Q&A for How to Install FFmpeg on Windows

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I clicked the following buttons, ffmpeg.exe, ffplay.exe and ffprobe.exe, they turned up for a glance then disappeared. What's happened? Thank you.

Nicole Levine, MFA
wikiHow Technology Writer
Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions.

Nicole Levine, MFA

wikiHow Technology Writer

Expert Answer

These applications can only be run from the command line. If you try to double-click them in File Explorer, you'll experience the behavior you've witnessed. Instead, open Command Prompt, then run the "ffmpeg" command to view all possible command line options.

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Question

How can I get WSL (Ubuntu) to recognize this if I've installed it? Works with Powershell. (Using Windows Terminal)

Nicole Levine, MFA
wikiHow Technology Writer
Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions.

Nicole Levine, MFA

wikiHow Technology Writer

Expert Answer

If you're using Ubuntu via WSL, you have a couple of options. If you want to run the FFmpeg binary, you can cd into /mnt/c/FFmpeg/bin (replace "c" if you put the FFmpeg folder on a different drive letter) and run the command ./ffmpeg.exe (add whichever flags you need), or skip the Windows stuff and just install the FFmpeg package in an Ubuntu terminal with "sudo apt install ffmpeg."

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Question

Isn't the folder path case-sensitive? If you rename it to "FFmpeg" but the path has "C:\...\ffmpeg\bin", won't that cause an error?

Nicole Levine, MFA
wikiHow Technology Writer
Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions.

Nicole Levine, MFA

wikiHow Technology Writer

Expert Answer

Windows directory names are not case-sensitive. Don't worry, it'll definitely work!

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Question

How can I watch HEVC videos?

Community Answer

The newest version of VLC can play HEVC. FFplay, which comes with FFmpeg, can also play them.

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Question

What versions of Windows does FFmpeg work with?

Community Answer

Windows 7 or above, MacOS 10.x.x.x or above.

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Question

Why is 'ffmpeg-version' not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file?

Community Answer

Insert a space between "ffmpeg" and "-version"; -version is a switch on the ffmpeg command/program.

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Question

What do I do if I get a message saying FFmpeg is not recognized as an internal or external command or operable program or batch file?

BryanFailing

Community Answer

You probably did not set the environment variable properly. The previous version of the wiki had an incorrect environment variable (including the filename). Try including just the path - e.g., C:\FFmpeg\bin\ or wherever you chose to copy the files.

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Question

Where is the program located after installing FFmpeg on Windows?

Community Answer

You should find it in: c:\ffmpeg\bin\.

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Question

I keep getting a message in Command Prompt that says "'ffmpeg' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." None of these solutions are working. Any help?

Community Answer

Confirm that the folder "ffmpeg" is the actual folder on the C drive and does not contain a subfolder with the extracted folder. If that is the case, copy the extracted folder to the C drive, rename it and delete the initial "ffmpeg" folder.

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Question

Do I need to rename the extracted folder to FFmpeg?

Community Answer

If you want the instructions as given here to work, then yes. If you want to call the folder another name, make sure you use that folder name in the path declaration.

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Question

Step 12 doesn't work for me. It keeps saying "ERROR: Access to the registry path is denied."

Sance Shaji

Community Answer

Log in using the admin account in your PC, and run a command prompt as administrator.

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Question

My ffmpeg folder isn't named ffmpeg.exe and can't execute therefore after.

Curtis M

Community Answer

Re-follow the instructions. If you are on Windows, download from the .gyan.dev link and extract it, then move it into the C: drive and update your environment variables path to point to the bin folder inside, restart your computer and it should work.

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Question

I followed every single step to a T, and all the solutions down here. It still isn't recognized. What do I do?

gede darma

Community Answer

Did you still have your command line window open after finished all the steps? If so, you just need to close it first then open a new command line window. You should now see that ffmpeg command is working.

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Question

How do I open the file? When I attempt to open ffmpeg.exe in the 'bin' folder, command prompt opens for a moment, then closes.

Arrogance

Top Answerer

FFmpeg is a command-line application. You are expected to either use it from the Command Prompt, with parameters, or use a graphical front end.

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Question

I set the path correctly but when I do FFmpeg (the folder name) it does not show up. I even made sure FFmpeg is in my root folder of my C drive.

Vis Nu

Community Answer

The Command Prompt should be opened from upmost folder. Type cmd from the upmost folder (MyPC or This PC).

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Question

There is no bin folder in the FFmpeg file. What should I do?

Community Answer

Sounds like you didn't download the right package. (step 5: Click the link to download). A different package you might download is made so that the user compiles it themselves and create the bin folder by this process.

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Question

What do I do if I tried to install FFmpeg on Windows, but it's not being recognized as a command?

Community Answer

When you made the FFmpeg folder in your C drive, you might've accidentally created a folder with the actual ffmpeg (the really long name one) inside of it. For this to work, you need to move that folder outside of the larger one (the one you named FFmpeg), delete FFmpeg, and rename the folder with the long name to FFmpeg (long story short, you're remaking the folder to not be a sandwiched folder with the actual stuff being inside a useless second folder you accidentally made).

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