FFmpeg is an open-source command-line tool for easily modifying the format or quality of an AV file, extracting audio, making GIFs, and other tasks.
It's made up of several programs and libraries that deal with audio, video, and multimedia files and streams. It's also used behind the scenes in a variety of other media campaigns.
FFmpeg is primarily designed for Linux, but it is also compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and other operating systems such as iOS, Android, MorphOS, and AmigaOS.
Transcoding MP4 to WebM with FFmpeg
When it comes to converting audio and video, the most common stumbling block is choosing the appropriate formats and containers. Fortunately, FFmpeg selects the proper codecs and containers without requiring any complicated configuration.
Let's assume you want to convert MP4 to WebM on FFmpeg:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.webm
This command transforms an MP4 file called input.mp3 into a WebM file named output.webm. You don't have to define the type of stream or container because FFmpeg does it for you. Since WebM is a well-defined format, FFmpeg automatically recognizes what types of video and audio it can handle and converts the streams to a WebM file.