FFmpeg
FreeThe foundation under nearly all media software — you already use it
The universal command-line tool and library set for audio and video. Transcode, cut, concatenate, extract audio, burn subtitles, change resolution or bitrate, capture screens, stream and batch-process — nearly any media operation you can name. VLC, HandBrake, OBS, yt-dlp and a great deal of other software depend on it underneath.
Why we picked it
FFmpeg is software you have never heard of and use every day. The video VLC plays, the file HandBrake compresses, the stream OBS pushes, the audio and video tracks yt-dlp merges after a download, and the backends of many online converters and mobile apps are all FFmpeg underneath. 63,297 stars, LGPL-2.1+ with some optional components under GPL.
It is a command-line tool, which is both the barrier and the reason nothing replaces it: a GUI can do a fixed set of things, while a command line composes infinitely. Some real examples:
Convert to mp4 for maximum compatibility while keeping quality:
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -c:a aac output.mp4
Cut a segment losslessly without re-encoding, finishing in seconds:
ffmpeg -ss 00:01:30 -to 00:02:45 -i input.mp4 -c copy clip.mp4
Extract the audio track:
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -c:a copy audio.m4a
Burn subtitles into the picture so any player shows them:
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vf subtitles=sub.srt output.mp4
Batch processing is where it truly wins: one loop transcodes an entire folder, resizes everything uniformly or watermarks a whole library — hundreds of clicks in a graphical tool.
To be clear about:
- There is no GUI. Installing produces no icon; you open a terminal. If you would rather not: HandBrake for transcoding, Shotcut or Kdenlive for editing, LosslessCut for lossless trimming — all of them are FFmpeg inside, with someone else having written the commands.
- The options are overwhelming. The documentation is vast and the flags number in the hundreds. The good news is that daily work uses very few; the four templates above cover most needs.
- Windows needs manual setup. There is no official installer — download the archive and add its
bindirectory to PATH, or simply runwinget install ffmpegorscoop install ffmpeg. - Two licence situations. Default builds are LGPL; builds including certain components such as x264 are GPL. Irrelevant for personal use, but read the licence carefully before shipping it inside a commercial product.
If you handle video regularly, learning its basic commands is a one-time investment that pays back indefinitely.