OpalVoipWiki | Main / FFMpegOnWindows

Building and installing FFmpeg on Windows

Most importantly, don't try to compile FFMpeg for Windows unless you enjoy pain.

Seriously. Many have tried and failed.

The best way to use FFMpeg on Windows is to use a precompiled shared library version from the Unoffical FFmpeg Win32 Build site

The recommended version is r16537, which is also available to download from here

If you simply must compile it yourself, then read on below...

Using a precompiled version of FFmpeg

Method 1

Download and unpack the pre-compiled tarball into ...\opal\plugins\video\H.263=1998\ffmpeg
Copy the contents of ...\opal\plugins\video\H.263=1998\ffmpeg\bin to C:\PTLib_PlugIns
Compile the H.263-1998 project in the Opal plugins solution

Method 2

Download and unpack the pre-compiled tarball. The recommended location is C:\FFMPEG. The remainder of these instructions will refer to this directory as %FFMPEG%
Add the directory %FFMPEG%\BIN to the PATH environment variable
Open MSVC and add the directory %FFMPEG%\LIB to the VC++ Lib directories in the Tools->Options menu
Compile the H.263-1998 project in the Opal plugins solution

For hard-core fanatics only.

FFmpeg can only be built on Windows using the Msys+MingW toolchain. The FFMpeg on Windows Wiki gives detailed instructions on how to do this.

IMPORTANT: You will need to add "c:\msys" to the VSNET2005_PWLIB_CONFIGURE_EXCLUDE_DIRS environment variable to avoid Opal configure from attempting to use the new header files.

Note 1: If you experience a "hang" while running the "./configure" for FFmpeg, try opening the Task Manager and killing the "lvprcsrv.exe" process. This is apparently a known issue when compiling with the MingW toolchain.

Note 2: If the compile fails with errors relating to "vfw", add the "--disable-devices" option when confguring FFmpeg