Years ago, I complained about FFmpeg's hostile community and inefficient code. Unfortunately, I estimate that it would take me a few years to build something even close to the same coverage that FFmpeg provides. If I had the time, I'd write my own video library that is easy to use and maintain. It isn't because FFmpeg is well-written or fast or easy to use. This completeness is why nearly every video player uses the FFmpeg library. It supports every audio and video codec combination that I've come across. For what it provides, it's probably the best option out there. There is no 'just support these half-dozen codecs to get 90% coverage.'įFmpeg is an open source library for video encoding and decoding. If you want to support video formats then you have to support it all. There are literally hundreds of different audio and video coder-decoder (codec) systems, and each codec has a wide range of options. (I mean, seriously, tears running down my face.) Back then, I wrote about how open source sucks and open source rocks. This combination of frustration and elation was the basis of one of my rants from many years ago. (Or the people who are available are so rude, offensive, and unhelpful that it's not worth asking.) In addition, there is often nobody available for answering questions. Even if I can figure it out, I can burn days trying to understand it. Sometimes the code is so obfuscated that I am unable to figure out how it works, can't track down the causes of bugs, and have no clue how to add in new functionality. On the other hand, most open source code is very poorly written and good documentation is exceptionally uncommon. And if I need additional functionality, then I can often add it in.

If it doesn't work, then I may be able to fix it.

If I don't understand the documentation, then I can look at what the code really does. As a programmer, if I'm curious about how it works, then I can take a peek. On one hand, I like having the source code available. I have this love-hate relationship with open source code.

What is ffmpeg used for