# How to install FFmpeg on a Mac (Apple Silicon)

> Install FFmpeg on Apple Silicon macOS in minutes using Homebrew or static builds. Fix command not found errors and configure your zsh PATH properly.

Published 2026-10-31 · Libraries & tools · https://www.hazenstudio.com/maclc/blog/how-to-install-ffmpeg-on-mac/

## In short

- The fastest and most reliable way to install FFmpeg on an Apple Silicon Mac is via Homebrew using the brew install ffmpeg command.
- On Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4), Homebrew installs binaries to /opt/homebrew/bin rather than the legacy Intel /usr/local/bin path.
- If Terminal reports zsh: command not found: ffmpeg, your shell environment is missing Homebrew's shellenv configuration in ~/.zprofile.
- You do not need to install FFmpeg or use Terminal if you only want to play videos; players like MacLC bundle all decoding libraries internally.

The fastest and most reliable way to install FFmpeg on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1, M2, M3, or M4) is through Homebrew by running `brew install ffmpeg` in the Terminal app. This command automatically downloads the latest native ARM64 binary, compiles all required audio and video dependencies, and places the executable directly into your system path.

If you prefer not to use a package manager, you can also download a pre-compiled standalone static binary from trusted open-source builders and place it in your local binary folder. Below is the complete, step-by-step walkthrough for both methods, along with fixes for common terminal errors like `zsh: command not found`.

## How do you install Homebrew on Apple Silicon?

Before you can install FFmpeg with a single command, you need Homebrew installed on your Mac. Homebrew is the standard open-source package manager for macOS, allowing you to install developer tools and command-line utilities safely without modifying protected system files.

To install Homebrew on an Apple Silicon Mac, follow these three steps:

1. Open the **Terminal** app on your Mac. You can find it by pressing `⌘ Space` to open Spotlight, typing `Terminal`, and hitting `Return`.
2. Paste the official Homebrew installation command into Terminal and press `Return`:

```bash
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
```

3. Enter your Mac user password when prompted. The installer will download and configure the Apple Command Line Tools automatically.

Once the installation finishes, the installer will display a section titled **Next steps**. On Apple Silicon Macs, Homebrew installs its packages into `/opt/homebrew` rather than the old Intel directory `/usr/local`. Because of this separation, your terminal shell needs to know where to find Homebrew's executable files.

Run these two commands in Terminal to add Homebrew permanently to your zsh profile:

```bash
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
```

The first command writes the configuration into your `~/.zprofile` file so it loads every time you open a new Terminal window. The second command activates Homebrew immediately in your current terminal session.

## How do you install FFmpeg using Homebrew?

With Homebrew configured, installing FFmpeg requires running a single terminal command:

```bash
brew install ffmpeg
```

Homebrew will inspect your system, download pre-compiled native Apple Silicon binary bottles, and install FFmpeg along with its supporting media libraries (including `libass` for subtitles, `dav1d` for AV1 decoding, and `x264`/`x265` for software video compression).

Depending on your internet connection speed, the process usually takes between one and three minutes. Once Homebrew returns you to the standard terminal prompt, verify that the installation succeeded by checking FFmpeg's version:

```bash
ffmpeg -version
```

If the installation was successful, Terminal will output several lines of information starting with `ffmpeg version` (for example, `ffmpeg version 9.0.2` or newer), followed by the compiler configuration and a list of enabled configuration flags. You will also see confirmation of hardware acceleration flags such as `--enable-videotoolbox`, confirming that FFmpeg can tap into Apple Silicon's Media Engine.

Along with the `ffmpeg` tool, Homebrew also installs `ffprobe`, a companion utility used to inspect media streams and container metadata. You can test it by running:

```bash
ffprobe -version
```

To learn how to use `ffprobe` to inspect color spaces, codecs, and bitrates, check our guide on [how to use ffprobe](/maclc/blog/how-to-use-ffprobe/).

## How do you install FFmpeg without Homebrew (static builds)?

If you do not want to install Homebrew on your Mac, you can install FFmpeg manually using a pre-compiled standalone static binary. A static binary packages all necessary libraries into one self-contained executable file, meaning you do not have to install dozens of external dependencies.

Follow these steps to install a static build:

1. Download a verified native Apple Silicon (`arm64`) static build of FFmpeg from a trusted community builder such as `evermeet.cx` or `osxexperts.net`.
2. Decompress the downloaded `.zip` or `.7z` archive in your `Downloads` folder to reveal the executable `ffmpeg` binary.
3. Open Terminal and move the binary to a standard command directory that belongs to your user account, such as `/usr/local/bin`:

```bash
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
sudo mv ~/Downloads/ffmpeg /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg
```

4. Because macOS includes Gatekeeper security protections, downloading binaries directly from web browsers flags them with a quarantine attribute. If macOS blocks the binary from running, remove the quarantine flag by running:

```bash
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg
```

Once quarantined flags are removed, type `ffmpeg -version` to confirm that macOS can execute the binary properly. If you plan to use helper scripts like `yt-dlp` to download web streams, remember that you will also need to download and install a static build of `ffprobe` using the exact same process. For a complete guide to web tools, see [how to install yt-dlp on Mac](/maclc/blog/how-to-install-yt-dlp-on-mac/).

## Why does Terminal say "zsh: command not found: ffmpeg"?

The most frequent error Mac users encounter after attempting to install FFmpeg is the message:

```text
zsh: command not found: ffmpeg
```

This error does not mean your Mac is broken; it means the zsh shell does not know which folders to search when you type `ffmpeg`. On modern macOS versions (macOS 10.15 Catalina through macOS 26 Tahoe), the default shell is `zsh`. When you run a command, zsh checks the directories listed in an environment variable called `$PATH`.

Here is how to diagnose and resolve the issue in three steps:

### 1. Check where FFmpeg is installed

Run the following command to check if FFmpeg exists in the default Homebrew location:

```bash
ls -l /opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg
```

If Terminal displays a file path pointing to `/opt/homebrew/Cellar/ffmpeg/...`, FFmpeg is installed correctly, but your shell does not know where to look.

### 2. Check your current PATH variable

Print your system's current search path by running:

```bash
echo $PATH
```

Look closely at the output. If you do not see `/opt/homebrew/bin` near the beginning of the list, your terminal cannot locate any Homebrew commands.

### 3. Add Homebrew to your shell environment

To permanently fix the issue for all future terminal windows, add Homebrew's initialization script to your zsh configuration file:

```bash
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
```

Close Terminal completely (`⌘Q`), relaunch it, and run `ffmpeg -version`. The command will now execute immediately.

If you installed FFmpeg manually to `/usr/local/bin`, ensure that `/usr/local/bin` is in your `$PATH` by adding `export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"` to your `~/.zshrc` file instead.

## How do you update or uninstall FFmpeg on macOS?

Because video codecs and web formats evolve rapidly, keeping your FFmpeg installation updated ensures you have the latest security patches, bug fixes, and codec decoders.

### Updating FFmpeg with Homebrew

To update FFmpeg to the latest stable release, run:

```bash
brew update
brew upgrade ffmpeg
```

`brew update` fetches the latest package formulae from Homebrew's servers, and `brew upgrade ffmpeg` downloads and installs the updated binary. If you want to free up storage space occupied by older downloaded versions, run `brew cleanup ffmpeg`.

### Uninstalling FFmpeg from your Mac

If you no longer need FFmpeg on your Mac, you can remove it cleanly. If you installed it with Homebrew, run:

```bash
brew uninstall ffmpeg
```

Homebrew will remove the binary and uncouple its dependencies. If no other tools on your system require the supporting libraries that were installed alongside FFmpeg, you can remove orphaned packages by running `brew autoremove`.

If you installed a static build manually, remove the executable files directly from `/usr/local/bin`:

```bash
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg /usr/local/bin/ffprobe
```

MacLC eliminates the need for terminal commands, package managers, and command-line tools. Built on VLC 4.0's engine with FFmpeg and dav1d compiled natively inside the application, MacLC opens MKV, WebM, MP4, AV1, and ProRes files instantly on any Apple Silicon Mac with zero setup.

## Do you really need FFmpeg to play videos on a Mac?

Many Mac users assume they must install FFmpeg in Terminal because Apple's built-in QuickTime Player refuses to open popular formats like MKV, WebM, AVI, or FLAC. QuickTime relies exclusively on Apple's proprietary system frameworks, which omit support for open-source containers and non-Apple audio formats.

However, desktop media players designed for macOS do not rely on your Mac's terminal or Homebrew setup. Dedicated open-source players—including VLC media player and IINA—bundle their own private compilations of FFmpeg's `libavcodec` and `libavformat` libraries directly inside their application bundles.

When you drag an MKV film into MacLC, the player's built-in demuxers read the file, the video goes to the Apple Silicon media engine through VideoToolbox, and HDR is shown the way your screen can show it. You do not need to install Homebrew, configure your `$PATH`, or run conversion scripts.

You only need standalone FFmpeg if you plan to:
- Run automated terminal commands to convert, compress, or edit media files.
- Merge separated 4K video and audio streams downloaded with `yt-dlp`.
- Extract audio tracks or subtitles from video files via shell scripts.

For everyday video playback, a modern player handles everything automatically. To learn more about how FFmpeg works inside media players, read our overview of [what is FFmpeg](/maclc/blog/what-is-ffmpeg/) and explore our guide to [what is a codec](/maclc/blog/what-is-a-codec/).

## What to do next

Now that you have FFmpeg installed and verified in your terminal, you can start running media commands on your Mac. Check out our [FFmpeg commands cheat sheet](/maclc/blog/ffmpeg-commands-cheat-sheet/) for ready-to-use recipes that remux MKV to MP4 in seconds, compress videos using Apple Silicon hardware encoding, and extract audio tracks without quality loss.

If you also want to play streaming web links directly from your terminal or desktop, read our guide on [how to install yt-dlp on Mac](/maclc/blog/how-to-install-yt-dlp-on-mac/). And if all you wanted was to watch your favorite video files without touching the command line, download [MacLC](/maclc/donate/) and enjoy native Apple Silicon playback.

## Questions people ask

### Where does Homebrew install FFmpeg on Apple Silicon Macs?

Homebrew installs FFmpeg to /opt/homebrew/Cellar/ffmpeg/ and creates symbolic links in /opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg. On older Intel Macs, the location was /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg.

### How do I fix 'zsh: command not found: ffmpeg'?

This error occurs when /opt/homebrew/bin is not in your shell's PATH variable. Add eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)" to your ~/.zprofile file and restart Terminal.

### Can I download FFmpeg as a Mac DMG application?

No. The FFmpeg project does not publish an official DMG application or installer on the Mac App Store. It is distributed as command-line source code, package manager formulae, or static terminal binaries.

### Do I need FFmpeg installed to use MacLC or VLC?

No. Video players like MacLC and VLC bundle their own private copies of libavcodec and libavformat inside the app bundle, so you never need to install FFmpeg separately to watch movies.

---
MacLC is a free, open-source video player for Apple Silicon Macs: https://www.hazenstudio.com/maclc/ · download: https://www.hazenstudio.com/maclc/donate/