MobileFFmpeg

FFmpeg for Android, iOS and tvOS.

Not maintained anymore as explained in What’s next for MobileFFmpeg?. Superseded by FFmpegKit.

1. Features

• Includes both FFmpeg and FFprobe

• Use binaries available at Github/Maven Central/CocoaPods or build your own version with external libraries you need

• Supports

  • Android, iOS and tvOS

  • FFmpeg v3.4.x, v4.0.x, v4.1, v4.2 , v4.3 and v4.4-dev releases

  • 29 external libraries

    chromaprint, fontconfig, freetype, fribidi, gmp, gnutls, kvazaar, lame, libaom, libass, libiconv, libilbc, libtheora, libvorbis, libvpx, libwebp, libxml2, opencore-amr, openh264, opus, sdl, shine, snappy, soxr, speex, tesseract, twolame, vo-amrwbenc, wavpack

  • 5 external libraries with GPL license

    rubberband, vid.stab, x264, x265, xvidcore

  • Concurrent execution

• Exposes both FFmpeg library and MobileFFmpeg wrapper library capabilities

• Includes cross-compile instructions for 47 open-source libraries

  chromaprint, expat, ffmpeg, fontconfig, freetype, fribidi, giflib, gmp, gnutls, kvazaar, lame, leptonica, libaom, libass, libiconv, libilbc, libjpeg, libjpeg-turbo, libogg, libpng, libsamplerate, libsndfile, libtheora, libuuid, libvorbis, libvpx, libwebp, libxml2, nettle, opencore-amr, openh264, opus, rubberband, sdl, shine, snappy, soxr, speex, tesseract, tiff, twolame, vid.stab, vo-amrwbenc, wavpack, x264, x265, xvidcore

• Licensed under LGPL 3.0, can be customized to support GPL v3.0

1.1 Android

• Builds arm-v7a, arm-v7a-neon, arm64-v8a, x86 and x86_64 architectures
• Supports zlib and MediaCodec system libraries
• Camera access on supported devices
• Builds shared native libraries (.so)
• Creates Android archive with .aar extension
• Supports API Level 16+

1.2 iOS

• Builds armv7, armv7s, arm64, arm64e, i386, x86_64 and x86_64 (Mac Catalyst) architectures
• Supports bzip2, iconv, libuuid, zlib system libraries and AudioToolbox, VideoToolbox, AVFoundation system frameworks
• Objective-C API
• Camera access
• ARC enabled library
• Built with -fembed-bitcode flag
• Creates static frameworks, static xcframeworks and static universal (fat) libraries (.a)
• Supports iOS SDK 9.3 or later

1.3 tvOS

• Builds arm64 and x86_64 architectures
• Supports bzip2, iconv, libuuid, zlib system libraries and AudioToolbox, VideoToolbox system frameworks
• Objective-C API
• ARC enabled library
• Built with -fembed-bitcode flag
• Creates static frameworks and static universal (fat) libraries (.a)
• Supports tvOS SDK 9.2 or later

2. Using

Prebuilt binaries are available at Github, Maven Central and CocoaPods.

2.1 Packages

There are eight different mobile-ffmpeg packages. Below you can see which system libraries and external libraries are enabled in each of them.

Please remember that some parts of FFmpeg are licensed under the GPL and only GPL licensed mobile-ffmpeg packages include them.

	min	min-gpl	https	https-gpl	audio	video	full	full-gpl
external libraries	-	vid.stab x264 x265 xvidcore	gmp gnutls	gmp gnutls vid.stab x264 x265 xvidcore	lame libilbc libvorbis opencore-amr opus shine soxr speex twolame vo-amrwbenc wavpack	fontconfig freetype fribidi kvazaar libaom libass libiconv libtheora libvpx libwebp snappy	fontconfig freetype fribidi gmp gnutls kvazaar lame libaom libass libiconv libilbc libtheora libvorbis libvpx libwebp libxml2 opencore-amr opus shine snappy soxr speex twolame vo-amrwbenc wavpack	fontconfig freetype fribidi gmp gnutls kvazaar lame libaom libass libiconv libilbc libtheora libvorbis libvpx libwebp libxml2 opencore-amr opus shine snappy soxr speex twolame vid.stab vo-amrwbenc wavpack x264 x265 xvidcore
android system libraries	zlib MediaCodec
ios system libraries	zlib AudioToolbox AVFoundation iconv VideoToolbox bzip2
tvos system libraries	zlib AudioToolbox iconv VideoToolbox bzip2

• libilbc, opus, snappy, x264 and xvidcore are supported since v1.1

• libaom and soxr are supported since v2.0

• chromaprint, vid.stab and x265 are supported since v2.1

• sdl, tesseract, twolame external libraries; zlib, MediaCodec Android system libraries; bzip2, zlib iOS system libraries and AudioToolbox, VideoToolbox, AVFoundation iOS system frameworks are supported since v3.0

• Since v4.2, chromaprint, sdl and tesseract libraries are not included in binary releases. You can still build them and include in your releases

• AVFoundation is not available on tvOS, VideoToolbox is not available on tvOS LTS releases

• Since v4.3.1, iOS and tvOS releases started to use iconv system library instead of iconv external library

• vo-amrwbenc is supported since v4.4

2.2 Android

• For versions 4.4 and 4.4.LTS, add mavenCentral() to your build.gradle and make sure that it is listed before jcenter()
• For 4.3.2 and older releases, add jcenter()

  repositories {
      mavenCentral()
  }
  

1. Add MobileFFmpeg dependency to your build.gradle in mobile-ffmpeg-<package name> pattern.

   dependencies {
       implementation 'com.arthenica:mobile-ffmpeg-full:4.4'
   }
   

2. Execute synchronous FFmpeg commands.

   import com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.Config;
   import com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.FFmpeg;
   
   int rc = FFmpeg.execute("-i file1.mp4 -c:v mpeg4 file2.mp4");
   
   if (rc == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, "Command execution completed successfully.");
   } else if (rc == RETURN_CODE_CANCEL) {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, "Command execution cancelled by user.");
   } else {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, String.format("Command execution failed with rc=%d and the output below.", rc));
       Config.printLastCommandOutput(Log.INFO);
   }
   

3. Execute asynchronous FFmpeg commands.

   import com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.Config;
   import com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.FFmpeg;
   
   long executionId = FFmpeg.executeAsync("-i file1.mp4 -c:v mpeg4 file2.mp4", new ExecuteCallback() {
   
       @Override
       public void apply(final long executionId, final int returnCode) {
           if (returnCode == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
               Log.i(Config.TAG, "Async command execution completed successfully.");
           } else if (returnCode == RETURN_CODE_CANCEL) {
               Log.i(Config.TAG, "Async command execution cancelled by user.");
           } else {
               Log.i(Config.TAG, String.format("Async command execution failed with returnCode=%d.", returnCode));
           }
       }
   });
   

4. Execute FFprobe commands.

   import com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.Config;
   import com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.FFprobe;
   
   int rc = FFprobe.execute("-i file1.mp4");
   
   if (rc == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, "Command execution completed successfully.");
   } else {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, String.format("Command execution failed with rc=%d and the output below.", rc));
       Config.printLastCommandOutput(Log.INFO);
   }
   

5. Check execution output later.

   int rc = Config.getLastReturnCode();
   
   if (rc == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, "Command execution completed successfully.");
   } else if (rc == RETURN_CODE_CANCEL) {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, "Command execution cancelled by user.");
   } else {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, String.format("Command execution failed with rc=%d and the output below.", rc));
       Config.printLastCommandOutput(Log.INFO);
   }
   

6. Stop ongoing FFmpeg operations.

   • Stop all executions

     FFmpeg.cancel();
     

   • Stop a specific execution

     FFmpeg.cancel(executionId);
     

7. Get media information for a file.

   MediaInformation info = FFprobe.getMediaInformation("<file path or uri>");
   

8. Record video using Android camera.

   FFmpeg.execute("-f android_camera -i 0:0 -r 30 -pixel_format bgr0 -t 00:00:05 <record file path>");
   

9. Enable log callback.

   Config.enableLogCallback(new LogCallback() {
       public void apply(LogMessage message) {
           Log.d(Config.TAG, message.getText());
       }
   });
   

10. Enable statistics callback.

    Config.enableStatisticsCallback(new StatisticsCallback() {
        public void apply(Statistics newStatistics) {
            Log.d(Config.TAG, String.format("frame: %d, time: %d", newStatistics.getVideoFrameNumber(), newStatistics.getTime()));
        }
    });
    

11. Ignore the handling of a signal.

    Config.ignoreSignal(Signal.SIGXCPU);
    

12. List ongoing executions.

    final List<FFmpegExecution> ffmpegExecutions = FFmpeg.listExecutions();
    for (int i = 0; i < ffmpegExecutions.size(); i++) {
        FFmpegExecution execution = ffmpegExecutions.get(i);
        Log.d(TAG, String.format("Execution %d = id:%d, startTime:%s, command:%s.", i, execution.getExecutionId(), execution.getStartTime(), execution.getCommand()));
    }
    

13. Set default log level.

    Config.setLogLevel(Level.AV_LOG_FATAL);
    

14. Register custom fonts directory.

    Config.setFontDirectory(this, "<folder with fonts>", Collections.EMPTY_MAP);
    

2.3 iOS / tvOS

1. Add MobileFFmpeg dependency to your Podfile in mobile-ffmpeg-<package name> pattern.

   • iOS

   pod 'mobile-ffmpeg-full', '~> 4.4'
   

   • tvOS

   pod 'mobile-ffmpeg-tvos-full', '~> 4.4'
   

2. Execute synchronous FFmpeg commands.

   #import <mobileffmpeg/MobileFFmpegConfig.h>
   #import <mobileffmpeg/MobileFFmpeg.h>
   
   int rc = [MobileFFmpeg execute: @"-i file1.mp4 -c:v mpeg4 file2.mp4"];
   
   if (rc == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
       NSLog(@"Command execution completed successfully.\n");
   } else if (rc == RETURN_CODE_CANCEL) {
       NSLog(@"Command execution cancelled by user.\n");
   } else {
       NSLog(@"Command execution failed with rc=%d and output=%@.\n", rc, [MobileFFmpegConfig getLastCommandOutput]);
   }
   

3. Execute asynchronous FFmpeg commands.

   #import <mobileffmpeg/MobileFFmpegConfig.h>
   #import <mobileffmpeg/MobileFFmpeg.h>
   
   long executionId = [MobileFFmpeg executeAsync:@"-i file1.mp4 -c:v mpeg4 file2.mp4" withCallback:self];
   
   - (void)executeCallback:(long)executionId :(int)returnCode {
       if (rc == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
           NSLog(@"Async command execution completed successfully.\n");
       } else if (rc == RETURN_CODE_CANCEL) {
           NSLog(@"Async command execution cancelled by user.\n");
       } else {
           NSLog(@"Async command execution failed with rc=%d.\n", rc);
       }
   }
   

4. Execute FFprobe commands.

   #import <mobileffmpeg/MobileFFmpegConfig.h>
   #import <mobileffmpeg/MobileFFprobe.h>
   
   int rc = [MobileFFprobe execute: @"-i file1.mp4"];
   
   if (rc == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
       NSLog(@"Command execution completed successfully.\n");
   } else if (rc == RETURN_CODE_CANCEL) {
       NSLog(@"Command execution cancelled by user.\n");
   } else {
       NSLog(@"Command execution failed with rc=%d and output=%@.\n", rc, [MobileFFmpegConfig getLastCommandOutput]);
   }
   

5. Check execution output later.

   int rc = [MobileFFmpegConfig getLastReturnCode];
   NSString *output = [MobileFFmpegConfig getLastCommandOutput];
   
   if (rc == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
       NSLog(@"Command execution completed successfully.\n");
   } else if (rc == RETURN_CODE_CANCEL) {
       NSLog(@"Command execution cancelled by user.\n");
   } else {
       NSLog(@"Command execution failed with rc=%d and output=%@.\n", rc, output);
   }
   

6. Stop ongoing FFmpeg operations.

   • Stop all executions

     [MobileFFmpeg cancel];
     
     

   • Stop a specific execution

     [MobileFFmpeg cancel:executionId];
     

7. Get media information for a file.

   MediaInformation *mediaInformation = [MobileFFprobe getMediaInformation:@"<file path or uri>"];
   

8. Record video and audio using iOS camera. This operation is not supported on tvOS since AVFoundation is not available on tvOS.

   [MobileFFmpeg execute: @"-f avfoundation -r 30 -video_size 1280x720 -pixel_format bgr0 -i 0:0 -vcodec h264_videotoolbox -vsync 2 -f h264 -t 00:00:05 %@", recordFilePath];
   

9. Enable log callback.

   [MobileFFmpegConfig setLogDelegate:self];
   
   - (void)logCallback:(long)executionId :(int)level :(NSString*)message {
       dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
           NSLog(@"%@", message);
       });
   }
   

10. Enable statistics callback.

    [MobileFFmpegConfig setStatisticsDelegate:self];
    
    - (void)statisticsCallback:(Statistics *)newStatistics {
        dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
            NSLog(@"frame: %d, time: %d\n", newStatistics.getVideoFrameNumber, newStatistics.getTime);
        });
    }
    

11. Ignore the handling of a signal.

    [MobileFFmpegConfig ignoreSignal:SIGXCPU];
    

12. List ongoing executions.

    NSArray* ffmpegExecutions = [MobileFFmpeg listExecutions];
    for (int i = 0; i < [ffmpegExecutions count]; i++) {
        FFmpegExecution* execution = [ffmpegExecutions objectAtIndex:i];
        NSLog(@"Execution %d = id: %ld, startTime: %@, command: %@.\n", i, [execution getExecutionId], [execution getStartTime], [execution getCommand]);
    }
    

13. Set default log level.

    [MobileFFmpegConfig setLogLevel:AV_LOG_FATAL];
    

14. Register custom fonts directory.

    [MobileFFmpegConfig setFontDirectory:@"<folder with fonts>" with:nil];
    

2.4 Manual Installation

2.4.1 Android

You can import MobileFFmpeg aar packages in Android Studio using the File -> New -> New Module -> Import .JAR/.AAR Package menu.

2.4.2 iOS / tvOS

iOS and tvOS frameworks can be installed manually using the Importing Frameworks guide. If you want to use universal binaries please refer to Using Universal Binaries guide.

2.5 Test Application

You can see how MobileFFmpeg is used inside an application by running test applications provided. There is an Android test application under the android/test-app folder, an iOS test application under the ios/test-app folder and a tvOS test application under the tvos/test-app folder.

All applications are identical and supports command execution, video encoding, accessing https, encoding audio, burning subtitles, video stabilisation, pipe operations and concurrent command execution.

3. Versions

MobileFFmpeg version number is aligned with FFmpeg since version 4.2.

In previous versions, MobileFFmpeg version of a release and FFmpeg version included in that release was different. The following table lists FFmpeg versions used in MobileFFmpeg releases.

• dev part in FFmpeg version number indicates that FFmpeg source is pulled from the FFmpeg master branch. Exact version number is obtained using git describe --tags.

MobileFFmpeg Version	FFmpeg Version	Release Date
4.4	4.4-dev-416	Jul 25, 2020
4.4.LTS	4.4-dev-416	Jul 24, 2020
4.3.2	4.3-dev-2955	Apr 15, 2020
4.3.1	4.3-dev-1944	Jan 25, 2020
4.3.1.LTS	4.3-dev-1944	Jan 25, 2020
4.3	4.3-dev-1181	Oct 27, 2019
4.2.2	4.2-dev-1824	July 3, 2019
4.2.2.LTS	4.2-dev-1824	July 3, 2019
4.2.1	4.2-dev-1156	Apr 2, 2019
4.2	4.2-dev-480	Jan 3, 2019
4.2.LTS	4.2-dev-480	Jan 3, 2019
3.1	4.1-10	Dec 11, 2018
3.0	4.1-dev-1517	Oct 25, 2018
2.2	4.0.3	Nov 10, 2018
2.1.1	4.0.2	Sep 19, 2018
2.1	4.0.2	Sep 5, 2018
2.0	4.0.1	Jun 30, 2018
1.2	3.4.4	Aug 30, 2018
1.1	3.4.2	Jun 18, 2018
1.0	3.4.2	Jun 6, 2018

4. LTS Releases

Starting from v4.2, MobileFFmpeg binaries are published in two different variants: Main Release and LTS Release.

• Main releases include complete functionality of the library and support the latest SDK/API features.

• LTS releases are customized to support a wider range of devices. They are built using older API/SDK versions, so some features are not available on them.

This table shows the differences between two variants.

	Main Release	LTS Release
Android API Level	24	16
Android Camera Access	Yes	-
Android Architectures	arm-v7a-neon arm64-v8a x86 x86-64	arm-v7a arm-v7a-neon arm64-v8a x86 x86-64
Xcode Support	10.1	7.3.1
iOS SDK	12.1	9.3
iOS AVFoundation	Yes	-
iOS Architectures	arm64 arm64e1 x86-64 x86-64-mac-catalyst2	armv7 arm64 i386 x86-64
tvOS SDK	10.2	9.2
tvOS Architectures	arm64 x86-64	arm64 x86-64

¹ - Included until v4.3.2

² - Included since v4.3.2

5. Building

Build scripts from master and development branches are tested periodically. See the latest status from the table below.

branch	status
master
development

5.1 Prerequisites

1. Use your package manager (apt, yum, dnf, brew, etc.) to install the following packages.

   autoconf automake libtool pkg-config curl cmake gcc gperf texinfo yasm nasm bison autogen patch git
   

Some of these packages are not mandatory for the default build. Please visit Android Prerequisites, iOS Prerequisites and tvOS Prerequisites for the details.

2. Android builds require these additional packages.

   • Android SDK 4.1 Jelly Bean (API Level 16) or later
   • Android NDK r21 or later with LLDB and CMake

3. iOS builds need these extra packages and tools.

   • Xcode 7.3.1 or later
   • iOS SDK 9.3 or later
   • Command Line Tools

4. tvOS builds need these extra packages and tools.

   • Xcode 7.3.1 or later
   • tvOS SDK 9.2 or later
   • Command Line Tools

5.2 Build Scripts

Use android.sh, ios.sh and tvos.sh to build MobileFFmpeg for each platform.

All three scripts support additional options and can be customized to enable/disable specific external libraries and/or architectures. Please refer to wiki pages of android.sh, ios.sh and tvos.sh to see all available build options.

5.2.1 Android

export ANDROID_HOME=<Android SDK Path>
export ANDROID_NDK_ROOT=<Android NDK Path>
./android.sh

5.2.2 iOS

./ios.sh

5.2.3 tvOS

./tvos.sh

5.2.4 Building LTS Binaries

Use --lts option to build lts binaries for each platform.

5.3 Build Output

All libraries created by the top level build scripts (android.sh, ios.sh and tvos.sh) can be found under the prebuilt directory.

• Android archive (.aar file) is located under the android-aar folder
• iOS frameworks are located under the ios-framework folder
• iOS xcframeworks are located under the ios-xcframework folder
• iOS universal binaries are located under the ios-universal folder
• tvOS frameworks are located under the tvos-framework folder
• tvOS universal binaries are located under the tvos-universal folder

5.4 GPL Support

It is possible to enable GPL licensed libraries x264, xvidcore since v1.1; vid.stab, x265 since v2.1 and rubberband since v4.3.2 from the top level build scripts. Their source code is not included in the repository and downloaded when enabled.

5.5 External Libraries

build directory includes build scripts of all external libraries. Two scripts exist for each external library, one for Android and one for iOS / tvOS. Each of these two scripts contains options/flags used to cross-compile the library on the specified mobile platform.

CPU optimizations (ASM) are enabled for most of the external libraries. Details and exceptions can be found under the ASM Support wiki page.

6. Documentation

A more detailed documentation is available at Wiki.

7. Contributors

7.1 Code Contributors

This project exists thanks to all the people who contribute. [Contribute].

7.2 Financial Contributors

Become a financial contributor and help us sustain our community. [Contribute]

7.2.1 Individuals

7.2.2 Organizations

Support this project with your organization. Your logo will show up here with a link to your website. [Contribute]

8. License

MobileFFmpeg is licensed under the LGPL v3.0. However, if source code is built using the optional --enable-gpl flag or prebuilt binaries with -gpl postfix are used, then MobileFFmpeg is subject to the GPL v3.0 license.

The source code of all external libraries included is in compliance with their individual licenses.

openh264 source code included in this repository is licensed under the 2-clause BSD License but this license does not cover the MPEG LA licensing fees. If you build mobile-ffmpeg with openh264 and distribute that library, then you are subject to pay MPEG LA licensing fees. Refer to OpenH264 FAQ page for the details. Please note that mobile-ffmpeg does not publish a binary with openh264 inside.

strip-frameworks.sh script included and distributed (until v4.x) is published under the Apache License version 2.0.

In test applications; embedded fonts are licensed under the SIL Open Font License, other digital assets are published in the public domain.

Please visit License page for the details.

9. Patents

It is not clearly explained in their documentation but it is believed that FFmpeg, kvazaar, x264 and x265 include algorithms which are subject to software patents. If you live in a country where software algorithms are patentable then you'll probably need to pay royalty fees to patent holders. We are not lawyers though, so we recommend that you seek legal advice first. See FFmpeg Patent Mini-FAQ.

openh264 clearly states that it uses patented algorithms. Therefore, if you build mobile-ffmpeg with openh264 and distribute that library, then you are subject to pay MPEG LA licensing fees. Refer to OpenH264 FAQ page for the details.

10. Contributing

Feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

Please note that master branch includes only the latest released source code. Changes planned for the next release are implemented under the development branch. Therefore, if you want to create a pull request, please open it against the development.

11. See Also

• libav gas-preprocessor
• FFmpeg API Documentation
• FFmpeg Wiki
• FFmpeg External Library Licenses