Install FFmpeg

Discord Player v8 uses Remedia for audio playback. If you're running Remedia inside your bot, you'll need FFmpeg 9 shared libraries.

The easiest way to install them is with Remedia's installer. It handles the setup automatically.

Recommended installationCopy Anchor Link

Choose the command for your operating system.

Linux and macOS

curl -fsSL https://remedia.twlite.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --ffmpeg-only

Windows PowerShell

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://remedia.twlite.dev/install.ps1))) -FFmpegOnly

That's it. The installer downloads FFmpeg 9.0.2 and its required libraries into ~/.remedia/ffmpeg9.

@remedia/node finds these libraries automatically. You don't need to configure your system PATH or environment variables.

The --ffmpeg-only option installs FFmpeg without installing the Remedia server or changing your shell configuration.

Supported platforms include Linux x64/ARM64 (glibc), macOS Intel/Apple Silicon, and Windows x64.

For installer options, see the Remedia installation documentation.

Using a remote Remedia server?Copy Anchor Link

You don't need FFmpeg on your bot's machine if you're connecting exclusively to a remote Remedia server.

For remote playback, follow the Remedia server installation guide instead.

Manual installationCopy Anchor Link

Prefer installing FFmpeg yourself? You can use your operating system's package manager, download prebuilt shared libraries, or use micromamba.

Pick one of the following approaches for your platform. You don't need to use micromamba if you've already installed compatible libraries through another method.

macOSCopy Anchor Link

Homebrew is the simplest manual option on macOS:

brew install ffmpeg

Homebrew provides prebuilt packages for supported Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. Check that your installed formula provides the required FFmpeg 9 libraries.

@remedia/node automatically searches standard Homebrew installation locations, so no extra configuration is normally needed.

For an isolated installation, see Using micromamba below.

WindowsCopy Anchor Link

On Windows, install a shared FFmpeg build containing the DLLs needed by Remedia.

You have three options.

Option 1: Winget

winget install --id Gyan.FFmpeg.Shared --exact

Option 2: Scoop

scoop install ffmpeg-shared

Option 3: Download manually

Download the ffmpeg-release-full-shared.7z archive from gyan.dev and extract it.

Whichever method you choose, verify that the installed version contains the required FFmpeg 9 DLLs. Package managers may publish newer versions.

If Remedia cannot automatically locate the libraries, set REMEDIA_FFMPEG_DIR to the extracted installation directory:

$env:REMEDIA_FFMPEG_DIR = "C:\path\to\ffmpeg-release-full-shared"

This variable can point to the package root or the directory containing the DLLs.

You don't need to set it if Remedia already detects your installation.

For an isolated installation, see Using micromamba below.

LinuxCopy Anchor Link

Some Linux distributions provide compatible FFmpeg 9 libraries through their package managers.

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S ffmpeg

Fedora Rawhide

sudo dnf install ffmpeg-free

These commands are appropriate only when the repositories provide the required FFmpeg 9 shared-library versions.

Other distributions may ship an older version. For example, Ubuntu 24.04 and Debian stable do not provide the required FFmpeg 9 libraries through their default repositories.

If your distribution doesn't provide compatible packages, use the Remedia installer or the micromamba instructions below.

Avoid mixing packages from Debian unstable into a stable installation just to obtain FFmpeg.

Advanced installation optionsCopy Anchor Link

The following methods are intended for developers who need an isolated FFmpeg installation, are building Remedia from source, or use an unsupported platform.

You can skip this section if the recommended installer or your system package manager already works.

Using micromambaCopy Anchor Link

Micromamba installs FFmpeg into an isolated environment rather than replacing your system libraries.

Linux and macOS

micromamba create -n remedia-ffmpeg9 -c conda-forge 'ffmpeg=9.0.2' 'pkg-config=0.29.2'
micromamba activate remedia-ffmpeg9

Windows PowerShell

micromamba create -n remedia-ffmpeg9 -c conda-forge ffmpeg=9.0.2 pkg-config=0.29.2
micromamba activate remedia-ffmpeg9

This installation keeps the required FFmpeg version separate from other software on your system.

For native runtime discovery, you can point Remedia directly at the environment using REMEDIA_FFMPEG_DIR. When starting a standalone native executable, the operating system's shared-library search paths may also need configuration.

Building the native addon from sourceCopy Anchor Link

If you're compiling Remedia yourself, configure its build environment.

Linux and macOS

export FFMPEG_DIR="$CONDA_PREFIX"
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$CONDA_PREFIX/lib/pkgconfig"

For standalone native executables on Linux, a custom library location can be exposed through:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$CONDA_PREFIX/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:-}"

On macOS, a custom standalone runtime may require its library install paths or DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH to be configured. Protected macOS processes may ignore DYLD_* variables.

Windows PowerShell

$ffmpegRoot = Join-Path $env:CONDA_PREFIX "Library"
$env:FFMPEG_DIR = $ffmpegRoot
$env:PKG_CONFIG_PATH = Join-Path $ffmpegRoot "lib\pkgconfig"

For standalone native executables that rely on Windows DLL search paths:

$env:PATH = "$(Join-Path $ffmpegRoot 'bin');$env:PATH"

These build and loader settings are not required when using the default Remedia FFmpeg-only installer with @remedia/node.

Other platformsCopy Anchor Link

FreeBSD x64 can use a compatible custom FFmpeg installation.

Other platforms, including Linux musl, Linux ARMv7, and Android, may require manually supplied libraries or source builds.

If you compile FFmpeg yourself, build FFmpeg 9.0.2 with shared libraries enabled. Ensure that the libraries and their dependencies are compatible with your operating system and CPU architecture.

Verify your installationCopy Anchor Link

For embedded playback, run this command in the same environment as your bot:

node --input-type=module -e "import { Remedia } from '@remedia/node'; const engine = await Remedia.create(); await engine.close(); console.log('Remedia native runtime OK')"

If it prints Remedia native runtime OK, the native addon loaded and initialized successfully.

This checks native initialization, not actual audio playback.

If you're running a remote server, use its diagnostic command instead:

remedia-server doctor --config ./remedia.config.json --env-file .env

TroubleshootingCopy Anchor Link

If Remedia cannot load FFmpeg, check that you installed the shared libraries, not just the FFmpeg command-line executable.

Required library versionsCopy Anchor Link

Remedia requires the following FFmpeg 9 library versions:

All five libraries and their dependencies must be available to the process running Remedia.

If you're building from source, you can inspect the installed library versions using:

for library in libavcodec libavformat libavutil libavfilter libswresample; do
  pkg-config --modversion "$library"
done

You can also inspect native dependencies using ldd on Linux and FreeBSD, otool -L on macOS, or dumpbin /DEPENDENTS on Windows.

If discovery still fails, check the FfmpegLoadError reported by @remedia/node. It includes information about attempted library locations and compatibility failures.

For a detailed explanation of FFmpeg discovery and custom installations, see the Remedia FFmpeg documentation.