# Build FFMPEG from Source on Debian [Full Tutorial]

> The following steps describe how to build FFMPEG on the Debian system from source. The Debian Jessie is my current server version.

- Canonical URL: https://www.funvisiontutorials.com/blog/build-ffmpeg-source-debian-full-tutorial/
- Author: Vladimir Kucera
- Published: 2019-12-15
- Updated: 2026-02-20
- Topics: FFmpeg, Docker & deployment, Installing & building OpenCV, Video streaming

The following steps describe how to build FFMPEG on the Debian system from source. The Debian Jessie is my current server version. The FFMPEG steps pipeline is: Get and install prerequisites, download FFmpeg, unpack FFmpeg source, configure installation and build the solution. Easy and straightforward as possible.

## Debian installation steps for FFMPEG

You need to install some prerequisites.

```bash
sudo apt-get -y install git make nasm pkg-config libx264-dev libxext-dev libxfixes-
dev zlib1g-dev
```

Download FFMPEG from the website

```bash
sudo wget -O ffmpeg-2.8.tar.bz2 "https://www.ffmpeg.org/releases/ffmpeg-2.8.tar.bz2"
```

Unzip and remove original package if you like

[](https://www.blogger.com/null)

```bash
sudo tar -xvf ffmpeg-2.8.tar.bz2
sudo rm -Rf ffmpeg-2.8.tar.bz2
```

[](https://www.blogger.com/null)Run configuretion in source Folder

[](https://www.blogger.com/null)

```bash
./configure --enable-nonfree --enable-gpl --enable-libx264 --enable-x11grab --enable
-zlib
```

Build solution

```bash
make -j2
```

Note here. -J 2 depends on your number of processor cores. If you have 20 cores intel machine. Lets Run make -j 20

Install and configure FFMPEG

```bash
sudo make install
```

`sudo ldconfig` `-``v`[](https://www.blogger.com/null)