Before getting into the configuration let’s have a brief on FFMpeg.

FFMPEG :
  • It is a complete solution to record, convert and stream audio and video.
  • It is a command-line tool to convert one video file format to another.
  • It also supports grabbing and encoding in real-time from a TV card.
  • Several FrontEnds/GUIs are available like WinFF, Super, Avanti, AutoFF, Xpegt, GVC.
  • It includes libavcodec – the leading open-source audio/video codec library
  • It includes an experimental streaming server for live broadcasts.

After the configuration, it gives us following advantages

  1. While writing commands we don’t have to specify the path where FFmpeg exists. “<path>/ffmpeg <command>” will be reduced to “<path>/ffmpeg <command>”
  2. Commands like “set classpath” won’t be necessary
  3. We can save your commands as a batch file and reuse them. (have a look at another post for batch conversion)
  4. One configuration that allows you to access FFmpeg from command line tools like CMD, PowerShell (and other apps working on STDIN/STDOUT mechanism)

Well, lets step into the configuration


Download FFMPeg
  • Download the best build suits from official FFMpeg site here
  • Alternatively if we don’t wanna look for all builds, the best can be downloaded from here

Launch System properties
  • Right click on My Computer
  • Choose properties
(or)
  • Open run command using windows hotkey win+R
  • Type sysdm.cpl
  • Click ok

Launch Environment Variables
  • Switch to tab named Advanced
  • Click on button Environment Variables

Add ffmpeg to system’s environment
  • Look for the variable named Path in System Variables section
  • Click on Edit button
  • Go to the folder where you’ve placed ffmpeg
  • Search for ffmpeg.exe file and copy the location
  • Paste the location in the text box for Variable value and type ;
    leave the existing paths as is
  • Click ok

Check if configuration is successful
  • Open command prompt.
  • Type ffmpeg, press Enter
  • FFmpeg information should be displayed (if not something would have gone wrong, try the configuration again)