- Go to: https://ffmpeg.org/download.html
- Under “Get packages & executable files”, click Windows builds by BtbN.
- Scroll to the Assets section of the latest release. Download a file named something like:
Code:
ffmpeg-<version>-full_build.zip
Choose win64 for 64-bit Windows or win32 for 32-bit systems (most modern PCs are 64-bit).
- Once downloaded, right-click the ZIP and choose Extract All…
- Extract the contents to a folder of your choice (e.g.,
C:\ffmpeg).
Option A: Run FFmpeg from the extracted folder (no installation required)
- Open the folder where FFmpeg was extracted (bin folder).
- Click on the address bar at the top of the File Explorer window, type cmd, and press Enter. This will open a command prompt in that folder (files to be converted need to be on this folder).
- Paste and run the FFmpeg command above, replacing the file names as needed.
Option B (Recommended): Add FFmpeg to your System PATH
This allows you to use FFmpeg from any folder via the command line.
- Extract FFmpeg to a location like:
C:\ffmpeg
- Navigate to:
C:\ffmpeg\bin
- Copy the path
C:\ffmpeg\bin
- Press the Windows key, search for "Environment Variables", and open Edit the system environment variables.
- In the System Properties window, click Environment Variables…
- Under User variables (or System variables), find Path, select it, and click Edit…
- Click New, then paste:
- Click OK on all windows to confirm and close.
Now you can open any command prompt and run `ffmpeg` without needing to be in its folder. Just open the folder that contains your videos to be converted, click on the address bar at the top of the File Explorer window, type
cmd, press Enter. Paste and run the FFmpeg command above, replacing the file names as needed.
Final Notes:
- Make sure the file names you provide are correct and include the proper extension (e.g., `.mp4`).
- If you see an error saying "ffmpeg is not recognized," double-check that you've correctly added it to the system PATH.
- For higher video quality, try using
-crf 23 or
-crf 20 instead of 28.