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FFmpeg Setup Guide

Transcripta Lite requires FFmpeg for audio conversion, playback, and metadata extraction (ffprobe). This guide explains step-by-step installation for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and how to add FFmpeg to your system PATH.

Windows (step‑by‑step)

1) Download a build

2) Extract files

  • Extract the ZIP to a permanent location, for example: 
    C:\ffmpeg\
  • After extraction you should have: 
    C:\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe
C:\ffmpeg\bin\ffprobe.exe

3) Add FFmpeg to PATH (Windows 10 / 11)

  1. Press Win and type "Environment Variables" → open Edit the system environment variables.
  2. Click Environment Variables....
  3. Under System variables, select Path → Edit....
  4. Click New and add the full path to FFmpeg bin, e.g.: 
    C:\ffmpeg\bin
  5. Click OK to close all dialogs.
  6. Important: Close and reopen any Command Prompt / PowerShell / IDE (VS Code, Spyder) to pick up the PATH change.

4) Verify

Open Command Prompt and run:

ffmpeg -version
ffprobe -version

If the commands show version info, installation succeeded.

macOS (Homebrew recommended)

1) Install Homebrew (if not installed)

Open Terminal and run: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

2) Install FFmpeg via Homebrew

brew update
brew install ffmpeg

Homebrew handles PATH configuration automatically.

3) Verify

ffmpeg -version
ffprobe -version

Linux (Ubuntu / Debian / Fedora / Arch)

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg

Fedora

sudo dnf install ffmpeg

Arch / Manjaro

sudo pacman -S ffmpeg

If your distribution does not provide FFmpeg in the default repositories, follow instructions at the official download page: https://ffmpeg.org/download.html

Verify

ffmpeg -version
ffprobe -version

Manual PATH update (if needed)

Windows

Follow the Windows section above (Environment Variables → Path → add ...\\bin), then restart terminal/IDE.

macOS / Linux (bash/zsh)

If ffmpeg is installed in a custom location (e.g., /opt/ffmpeg/bin), add it to your shell profile.

For bash (~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile):

export PATH="/opt/ffmpeg/bin:$PATH"

For zsh (~/.zshrc):

export PATH="/opt/ffmpeg/bin:$PATH"

After editing the file, reload the shell:

source ~/.bashrc
# or
source ~/.zshrc

Troubleshooting

  • 'ffmpeg' is not recognized / command not found
    → Ensure the bin path is added to PATH and restart the terminal/IDE.

  • ffprobe missing
    → Use a full build (static) that includes ffprobe. Avoid minimal or partial builds.

  • Permission denied (Linux/macOS)
    → Ensure ffmpeg binary has execute permission:

    chmod +x /path/to/ffmpeg

  • Windows: long path or spaces
    → Use the full path without quotes when adding to PATH; subprocess calls should pass command and arguments as a list to avoid quoting issues.

Quick check from Python (inside your app)

You can programmatically verify FFmpeg availability:

import subprocess

def ffmpeg_available():
    try:
        subprocess.run(["ffmpeg", "-version"], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL, check=True)
        subprocess.run(["ffprobe", "-version"], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL, check=True)
        return True
    except Exception:
        return False
ffmpeg_available()

If this returns False, show a friendly message in the app pointing users to docs/FFmpeg_Setup.md.

References