I used to compile ffmpeg on a linux machine with MinGW, but now I'm able to compile on a windows machine, in my case Windows 10.

NOTE: For me it only worked for ffmpeg versions >= 3.0 and I tested using VS 2013 and 2015

Few steps but very important:

Download and install (except YASM):

• Visual Studio 2013 or 2015
• YASM
• MSYS2

Steps:

1. Install MSYS2 to a fixed folder (eg.: C:\Dev\msys64)
2. Run msys2.exe
3. Execute command "pacman -S make gcc diffutils" and press "Y" to install
4. Close msys2
5. Rename C:\Dev\msys64\usr\bin\link.exe to some other name (eg.: msys2_link.exe)
6. Copy and rename "yasm--win64.exe" to "C:\Dev\yasm.exe"
7. Add "C:\Dev" to environment variables PATH
8. Run VS2013/2015 x86 (for x86) or x64 for (x64) Command Prompt
9. Execute "C:\Dev\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd -msys -use-full-path"
10. On the msys2 window execute "which cl" and you should see the path of your VS
11. Execute "which link" and you should also see the path of your VS
12. Go to the ffmpeg source path (eg.: "cd /c/ffmpeg3.3")
13. Run ./configure and make

I use this configuration:

./configure \
    --toolchain=msvc \
    --arch=x86_64 \
    --enable-yasm \
    --enable-asm\
    --enable-shared \
    --enable-w32threads \
    --disable-programs \
    --disable-ffserver \
    --disable-doc \
    --disable-static \
    --prefix=/c/ffmpeg3.3/DLLS

NOTE2: If you used the last line --prefix=/c/ffmpeg3.3/DLLS, as a final step, run make install and the binaries will be copied to that path

Hope it helped.

Best of luck

This is easier said than done, and has taken me over a month to figure out how to do without any issues, but I've spent enough time on it that I decided I'd document the process well enough to be completed virtually seamlessly by anyone following me.

Unfortunately, Cygwin's default toolchain (i.e. the gcc-core package included with the Cygwin installer) is inherently broken for cross-compiling purposes, and there doesn't seem to be any intent from the Cygwin maintainers to fix this, so currently, the only way to compile software for Windows with Cygwin is to set up a MinGW-w64 toolchain under it. Thankfully, this is as easy as installing a few packages. After this, we'll be compiling the remaining packages, before using a combination of both to compile FFmpeg itself.

Using this Guide

Following this guide in its entirety will build a static FFmpeg installation with external libraries such as fdk-aac, libopus, x265 and the SOX resampler. I may consider adding instructions for compiling specific external libraries to the guide if I get enough requests to do so for a particular library.

The dependencies used by this guide - made up of the MinGW-w64 cross-compile toolchain itself, all packages installed by apt-cyg and all packages compiled from source - will consume up to 2.8GB of disk space, although the guide also includes commands to clean up everything but the FFmpeg installation once done. The installation itself, made up of the binaries and documentation, occupies just over 200MB of disk space.

This guide will create a folder in your Home directory called ffmpeg_sources, where it will download and compile all of the packages being built from source. FFmpeg will be installed to /usr/local, where the FHS standard recommends that software compiled by the user is installed to. This location also has the secondary advantage of being on the system PATH by default in Cygwin, and so doesn't require the $PATH environment variable to be updated.

Install package manager dependencies

To begin with, download the latest version of the Cygwin installer to install the wget, tar, gawk and git packages. The good news is that these packages are dependencies for a tool that can prevent you from ever needing to use the Cygwin installer again.

Install the apt-cyg package manager

Next, install kou1okada's fork of the apt-cyg package manager. If you don't currently use a package manager for Cygwin, this step will not only make the rest of the guide a breeze, but will also make your Cygwin experience rival that of any Linux distribution.

Even if you already use a package manager for Cygwin, such as a different fork of the original apt-cyg, I highly recommend you replace it with this one, which is a much more fully-fledged piece of software compared to the original, as well as the only package manager for Cygwin that is currently in active development.

To install kou1okada's apt-cyg:

mkdir -p /usr/local/src &&
cd /usr/local/src &&
git clone https://github.com/kou1okada/apt-cyg.git &&
ln -s "$(realpath apt-cyg/apt-cyg)" /usr/local/bin/

Install build tools and set up the MinGW-w64 cross-compiler

apt-cyg install \
autoconf \
automake \
binutils \
cmake \
doxygen \
git \
libtool \
make \
mercurial \
mingw64-x86_64-SDL2 \
mingw64-x86_64-binutils \
mingw64-x86_64-fribidi \
mingw64-x86_64-gcc-core \
mingw64-x86_64-gcc-g++ \
mingw64-x86_64-headers \
mingw64-x86_64-libtheora \
mingw64-x86_64-libvpx \
mingw64-x86_64-runtime \
mingw64-x86_64-win-iconv \
mingw64-x86_64-windows-default-manifest \
mingw64-x86_64-zlib \
nasm \
pkg-config \
subversion \
texinfo \
yasm

Compile the dependencies

Each section below compiles an external library that will allow you to compile FFmpeg with support for that library enabled. Copy and paste the whole of each command into your shell.

If you decide you don't require your build of FFmpeg to support a given library, skip its section and remove the corresponding --enable-package line when compiling FFmpeg in the final stage of this guide.

Create a directory at the root of your Cygwin installation with the following:

rm -rf /ffmpeg_sources &&
mkdir -p /ffmpeg_sources

This is the directory we'll be downloading our source code to, and compiling it from.

libmp3lame

To compile the LAME audio codec for MP3:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf lame-svn &&
svn checkout https://svn.code.sf.net/p/lame/svn/trunk/lame lame-svn &&
cd lame-svn &&
./configure --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --prefix="/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw" \
--enable-static --disable-shared &&
make -j$(nproc) &&
make install 

libx264

To compile the x264 video codec:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf x264 && 
git clone --depth 1 https://code.videolan.org/videolan/x264.git && 
cd x264 &&
./configure --cross-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 \
--prefix="/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw" --enable-static &&
make -j$(nproc) &&
make install 

libx265

To compile the x265 video codec:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf x265 && 
hg clone https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265 &&
cd x265/build/linux &&
cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw" \
-DENABLE_SHARED=OFF -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS="-static" ../../source \
-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="/ffmpeg_sources/x265/build/msys/toolchain-x86_64-w64-mingw32.cmake" &&
make -j$(nproc) &&
make install

libogg/libvorbis

The Ogg format is a dependency for the Vorbis audio codec, so will need to be compiled before it:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf ogg &&
git clone --depth 1 https://gitlab.xiph.org/xiph/ogg.git &&
cd ogg && ./autogen.sh &&
./configure --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --prefix="/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw" \
--enable-static --disable-shared &&
make -j$(nproc) &&
make install

Then compile Vorbis as normal:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf vorbis && 
git clone --depth 1 https://gitlab.xiph.org/xiph/vorbis.git &&
cd vorbis && ./autogen.sh &&
./configure --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --prefix="/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw" \
--enable-static --disable-shared &&
make -j$(nproc) &&
make install

libaom

To compile the AV1 video encoder:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf aom && 
git clone --depth 1 https://aomedia.googlesource.com/aom && 
mkdir -p /ffmpeg_sources/aom/build && cd /ffmpeg_sources/aom/build && 
cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw" \
-DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS="-static" .. \
-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="/ffmpeg_sources/aom/build/cmake/toolchains/x86_64-mingw-gcc.cmake" && 
make -j$(nproc) && 
make install

libopus

To compile the Opus audio encoder:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf opus && 
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/xiph/opus.git &&
cd opus && ./autogen.sh &&
./configure CFLAGS="-I/usr/local/llsp" --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --prefix="/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw" \
--enable-static --disable-shared &&
make -j$(nproc) &&
make install

libfdk-aac

To compile the Fraunhofer FDK encoder for AAC:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf fdk-aac && 
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mstorsjo/fdk-aac &&
cd fdk-aac && autoreconf -fiv &&
./configure --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --prefix="/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw" \
--enable-static --disable-shared &&
make -j$(nproc) &&
make install 

libsoxr

To compile the SOX resampler library, you'll first need to create a CMAKE toolchain file for the MinGW-w64 toolchain as the project doesn't include one by default.

Create a new file in the Cygwin root directory, and call it toolchain-x86_64-mingw32.cmake (make sure Windows is showing extensions, and that the extension is .cmake).

Copy and paste the following into the file:

SET(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME Windows)
SET(CMAKE_C_COMPILER /usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc)
SET(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER /usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++)
SET(CMAKE_RC_COMPILER /usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-windres)
SET(CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER /usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gfortran)
SET(CMAKE_AR:FILEPATH /usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-ar)
SET(CMAKE_RANLIB:FILEPATH /usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-ranlib)
SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32)
SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_PROGRAM NEVER)
SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_LIBRARY ONLY)
SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE ONLY)
SET(QT_BINARY_DIR /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin /usr/bin)
SET(Boost_COMPILER -gcc47)

Now you can compile the SOX resampler as normal:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf soxr &&  
git clone --depth 1 https://git.code.sf.net/p/soxr/code soxr &&
mkdir -p soxr/build && cd soxr/build &&
cmake -Wno-dev -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw" \
-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="/toolchain-x86_64-mingw32.cmake" &&
make -j$(nproc) &&
make install

Compile the FFmpeg binary

The only thing that's left to is compile FFmpeg itself, using the libraries downloaded or compiled above:

cd /ffmpeg_sources && rm -rf ffmpeg &&
wget -O ffmpeg-snapshot.tar.bz2 https://ffmpeg.org/releases/ffmpeg-snapshot.tar.bz2 &&
tar xvf ffmpeg-snapshot.tar.bz2 && rm -f ffmpeg-snapshot.tar.bz2 && cd ffmpeg &&
CFLAGS=-I/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/include &&
LDFLAGS=-L/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/lib &&
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH= &&
export PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR=/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/lib/pkgconfig &&
./configure \
--arch=x86_64 \
--target-os=mingw32 \
--cross-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- \
--prefix=/usr/local \
--pkg-config=pkg-config \
--pkg-config-flags=--static \
--extra-cflags=-static \
--extra-ldflags=-static \
--extra-libs="-lm -lz -fopenmp" \
--enable-static \
--disable-shared \
--enable-nonfree \
--enable-gpl \
--enable-avisynth \
--enable-libaom \
--enable-libfdk-aac \
--enable-libfribidi \
--enable-libmp3lame \
--enable-libopus \
--enable-libsoxr \
--enable-libvorbis \
--enable-libvpx \
--enable-libx264 \
--enable-libx265 &&
make -j$(nproc) &&
make install

Remember to remove --enable-\*package\* lines for each package in the list above that you didn't download or compile a library for.

Compiling FFmpeg will take much longer than compilation of the external libraries, but once it's done, you should have a fully working binary enabled with all of the libraries you compiled it with. To run it, simply run ffmpeg in the Cygwin terminal.

Clean up/uninstall

By this point in the guide, you will have taken up around 2.8 GB of disk space with downloading, installing and compiling. The majority of this is now redundant, and should be cleaned up. More than 2.6 GB of it can be safely purged, which brings the total footprint of our FFmpeg installation down to as little as 200MB.

Post-install clean up

Running the following will free up more than 2.3GB of disk space:

apt-cyg remove \
cmake \
doxygen \
git \
mercurial \
subversion \
texinfo \
yasm &&
rm -rf /ffmpeg_sources &&
rm -rf /usr/local/lib/{libav*,libpost*,libsw*} &&
rm -rf /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/{libav*,libpost*,libsw*} &&
rm -rf /usr/local/include/{libav*,libpost*,libsw*} &&
rm -rf /toolchain-x86_64-mingw32.cmake

As well as removing the ffmpeg_sources directory and unneeded static libraries, this will also remove any packages installed earlier that are no longer needed, except for those that are commonly needed for building tools on Cygwin/Linux.

Remove the cross-compiler

If you no longer intend to compile any other programs using the MinGW-w64 cross-compiling toolchain built earlier in this guide, you can safely uninstall it, as well as all the remaining packages installed earlier:

apt-cyg remove \
autotools \
autoconf \
automake \
gcc-core \
gcc-g++ \
pkg-config \
libtool \
make \
nasm \
mingw64-x86_64-SDL2 \
mingw64-x86_64-binutils \
mingw64-x86_64-fribidi \
mingw64-x86_64-gcc-core \
mingw64-x86_64-gcc-g++ \
mingw64-x86_64-headers \
mingw64-x86_64-libtheora \
mingw64-x86_64-libvpx \
mingw64-x86_64-runtime \
mingw64-x86_64-win-iconv \
mingw64-x86_64-windows-default-manifest \
mingw64-x86_64-zlib &&
rm -rf /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32

This will free up an additional ~450 MB of space.

Uninstalling FFmpeg

If you ever need to reverse all of the steps in this guide and purge the FFmpeg binaries from your system, simply run the following:

apt-cyg remove \
autotools \ 
autoconf \
automake \
binutils \
cmake \
doxygen \
gcc-core \
gcc-g++ \
git \
libtool \
make \
mercurial \
mingw64-x86_64-SDL2 \
mingw64-x86_64-binutils \
mingw64-x86_64-fribidi \
mingw64-x86_64-gcc-core \
mingw64-x86_64-gcc-g++ \
mingw64-x86_64-headers \
mingw64-x86_64-libtheora \
mingw64-x86_64-libvpx \
mingw64-x86_64-runtime \
mingw64-x86_64-win-iconv \
mingw64-x86_64-windows-default-manifest \
mingw64-x86_64-zlib \
nasm \
pkg-config \
subversion \
texinfo \
yasm &&
rm -rf /ffmpeg_sources &&
rm -rf /usr/local/bin{ffmpeg,ffprobe,ffplay} &&
rm -rf /usr/local/lib/{libav*,libpost*,libsw*} &&
rm -rf /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/{libav*,libpost*,libsw*} &&
rm -rf /usr/local/include/{libav*,libpost*,libsw*} &&
rm -rf /usr/local/share/doc/ffmpeg &&
rm -rf /usr/local/share/ffmpeg &&
rm -rf /usr/local/share/man/man1/ff* &&
rm -rf /usr/local/share/man/man3/{libav*,libpost*,libsw*} &&
rm -rf /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/ &&
rm -rf /toolchain-x86_64-mingw32.cmake 

This will remove everything installed during the process of this guide, and revert your system to exactly how it was before starting it.

Hi. I recently faced the same issue.

You can patch the ffmpeg/config file as follows to enable WSL support (note, the patch applies to the most recent master commit, you may need to input your changes manually in the future):

diff --git a/configure b/configure

index 169f23e17f..19d8d192f1 100755

--- a/configure

+++ b/configure

@@ -4698,7 +4698,11 @@ probe_cc(){

         else

             _ident=$($_cc --version 2>/dev/null | head -n1 | tr -d '\r')

         fi

-        _DEPCMD='$(DEP$(1)) $(DEP$(1)FLAGS) $($(1)DEP_FLAGS) $< 2>&1 | awk '''/including/ { sub(/^.*file: */, ""); gsub(/\/, "/"); if (!match($$0, / /)) print "$@:", $$0 }''' > $(@:.o=.d)'

+        if [ -f /bin/wslpath ]; then

+            _DEPCMD='$(DEP$(1)) $(DEP$(1)FLAGS) $($(1)DEP_FLAGS) $< 2>&1 | awk '''/including/ { sub(/^.*file: */, ""); gsub(/\/, "/"); if (!match($$0, / /)) b=substr($0,3); $$0=gensub(/(\w):(.*)/,"/mnt/\1" b,1,tolower($0)); print "$@:", $$0 }''' > $(@:.o=.d)'

+        else

+            _DEPCMD='$(DEP$(1)) $(DEP$(1)FLAGS) $($(1)DEP_FLAGS) $< 2>&1 | awk '''/including/ { sub(/^.*file: */, ""); gsub(/\/, "/"); if (!match($$0, / /)) print "$@:", $$0 }''' > $(@:.o=.d)'

+        fi

         _DEPFLAGS='$(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -showIncludes -Zs'

         _cflags_speed="-O2"

         _cflags_size="-O1"

@@ -5570,11 +5574,15 @@ link_name=$(mktemp -u $TMPDIR/name_XXXXXXXX)

 mkdir "$link_dest"

 $ln_s "$link_dest" "$link_name"

 touch "$link_dest/test_file"

-if [ "$source_path" != "." ] && [ "$source_path" != "src" ] && ([ ! -d src ] || [ -L src ]) && [ -e "$link_name/test_file" ]; then

+if [ "$source_path" != "." ] && [ "$source_path" != "src" ] && ([ ! -d src ] || [ -L src ]) && [ -e "$link_name/test_file" ] && [ ! -e /bin/wslpath ]; then

     # create link to source path

     [ -e src ] && rm src

     $ln_s "$source_path" src

     source_link=src

+elif [ -e /bin/wslpath ]; then

+    # cl.exe does not support slash-lead paths (i.e. /mnt/c/source/code.c). Use relative path instead.

+    source_path=$(realpath --relative-to=$(pwd) "$source_path")

+    source_link=$source_path

 else

     # creating directory links doesn't work

     # fall back to using the full source path

FFmpeg is indeed a powerful video encoder/decoder tool¹. It operates in the command line, as opposed to using a GUI. Command line is that black window you find by typing [windows+r], then cmd in the popup field and hitting enter. This is also called "command prompt". Once setup, you enter FFmpeg commands in one of these windows to use it.

Here are the basic steps to "install" and use it:

Installation

1. Download the latest FFmpeg build, courtesy of gyan.dev.
2. Create a folder on your computer to unpack the zip file. This folder will be your "installation" folder. I chose C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\. This is a good idea because you will treat this like a regular program. Unpack the zip file into this folder.
3. The folder should now contain a number of other folders, including one titled bin where ffmpeg.exe is saved. We're not done yet. Double clicking that file does nothing. Remember, this is a command line program. It runs in cmd.
4. Before you can use ffmpeg.exe in cmd you have to tell your computer where it can find it. You need to add a new system path. First, right click This PC (Windows 10) or Computer (Windows 7) then click Properties > Advanced System Settings > Advanced tab > Environment Variables.
5. In the Environment Variables window, click the "Path" row under the "Variable" column, then click Edit
6. The "Edit environment variable" window looks different for Windows 10 and 7. In Windows 10 click New then paste the path to the folder that you created earlier where ffmpeg.exe is saved. For this example, that is C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ In Windows 7 all the variables are listed in a single string, separated by a semicolon. Simply go the the end of the string, type a semicolon (;), then paste in the path.
7. Click Ok on all the windows we just opened up. Just to be sure, reboot your computer before trying any commands.

FFmpeg is now "installed". The Command Prompt will now recognize FFmpeg commands and will attempt to run them. (If you are still having issues with Command Prompt not recognizing FFmpeg try running CMD as an admin. Alternatively, you can use windows powershell instead of cmd. If it still does not work double check to make sure each step was followed to completion.)

Alternative installation methods

I've not tried these myself, but they probably work, and they're easy to do. However, you can accidentally mess up important things if you're not careful.

First, if you open cmd with administrator privileges, you can run setx /m PATH "C:\ffmpeg\bin;%PATH%", and change C:\ffmpeg\bin to your path to FFmpeg. This uses cmd to do all the gui steps listed above. Easy peasy.

Second, user K7AAY reports that you can simply drop the FFmpeg executables in C:\Windows\System32 and run them from there without having to define the path variable because that path is already defined.

Updating FFmpeg

To update FFmpeg, just revisit the download page in step 1 above and download the zip file. Unpack the files and copy them over the old files in the folder you created in step 2.

Using FFmpeg

Using FFmpeg requires that you open a command prompt window, then type FFmpeg specific commands. Here is a typical FFmpeg command:

 ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -ar 44100 -ac 1 -b:a 32k -f mp3 audio.mp3

This command has four parts:

1. ffmpeg - This command tells cmd that we want to run FFmpeg commands. cmd will first look for ffmpeg.exe in one of the folders from step 6 in the Installation section. If it is found, it will attempt to run the command.
2. -i video.mp4 - This is an input file. We are going to be doing work on this file.
3. -vn -ar 44100 -ac 1 -b:a 32k -f mp3 - These are the "arguments". These characters are like mini commands that specify exactly what we want to do. In this case, it is saying create an mp3 file from the input source.

• -vn - Leave out the video stream
• -ar 44100 - Specifies audio resolution in hertz.
• -ac 1 - Audio channels, only 1. This is effectively "make mono".
• -b:a 32k - Audio bitrate, set to 32 kbps.
• -f mp3 - Force to MP3 conversion. Without this command, FFmpeg attempts to interpret what you want based on the extension you use in the output file name.

4. audio.mp3- This is the output file.

As you can probably guess, this short command makes an MP3 audio file from an MP4 file.

To run this command, assuming you have an MP4 file to try this on, follow these steps:

1. Hit the Windows key + r.
2. Type cmd then enter.
3. Change the path to where the file is that you want to work on. Type cd [path]. It should look something like cd C:\Users\name\Desktop\.
4. Now type the FFmpeg command with the name of your input file. The command will run with some feedback. When it's done, cmd will be available for more commands.

This is the basic way to use FFmpeg. The commands can get far more complicated, but that's only because the program has so much power. Using the FFmpeg documentation, you can learn all the commands and create some very powerful scripts. After that, you can save these scripts into a .bat file so that you just have to double click a file instead of type out the whole command each time. For example, this answer contains a script that will create MP3's from all the MP4's in a folder. Then we would be combining the power of FFmpeg with the power of cmd, and that's a nice place to be when you have to do professional quality video/audio encoding on mountains of files.

1. As a point if technical accuracy, FFmpeg is itself not an encoder or decoder. FFmpeg is a multimedia framework which can process almost all common and many uncommon media formats. It has thousands of to capture, decode, encode, modify, combine, and stream media, and it can make use of dozens of external libraries to do even more. Gyan.dev provides a succinct description.