How to compile FFMPEG for Windows 11

Compiling FFMPEG on Windows 11 may seem daunting, but it’s actually quite simple if you follow the proper steps. Here’s how:

Prerequisites

Download and install Microsoft Visual Studio 2022. You can download the latest version of Visual Studio from the Microsoft website.

Download and install MSYS2: https://www.msys2.org/

Once the installation is complete, an MSYS2 console will be opened. Install the following prerequisites in this console:

pacman -S make
pacman -S yasm
pacman -S diffutils
pacman -S pkg-config
pacman -S git

Compile

Open a Windows terminal, then run:
_{(the path might change according to visual studio version)}

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat"
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" amd64
C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd -full-path

An MSYS terminal will be opened. In this new console:

git clone https://git.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.git ffmpeg_x64
cd ffmpeg_x64
make clean
./configure --target-os=win64 --arch=x86_64 --toolchain=msvc --disable-everything --enable-shared --enable-decoders --enable-protocols --enable-demuxers --enable-hwaccels --enable-parsers --enable-bsfs --enable-indevs --enable-outdevs --enable-filters
make
make install

The FFmpeg output will be located in C:\msys64\home\<user>\ffmpeg_x64

This is the compilation of FFMPEG with basic functions. For advanced compilation with x264 support, follow this article: x264 and FFMPEG compilation for Windows