Ubuntu 16.04 - Install FFMPEG From PPA

If you were to install ffmpeg using the normal ubuntu repositories, you would get version 2.8.11 which you can check for yourself by running:

ffmpeg --version
ffmpeg version 2.8.11-0ubuntu0.16.04.1

I was having issues with converting videos to VP9 format with this version, so I decided to use a PPA to install a later version which resolved these issues.

Steps

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/ffmpeg-4 -y \
  && sudo apt update \
  && sudo apt install ffmpeg -y

Now you will see a that we are running a much later version:

ffmpeg version 4.1.3-0york1~16.04

References

• Tips on Ubuntu - How to Install FFmpeg 3.2 via PPA in Ubuntu 16.04
• Launchpad.net - Jonathon F - FFMPEG 3