FFmpeg 6.0 Highlights: New Codecs, Filters, and Performance Boosts

About six months after FFmpeg 5.1, version 6.0 "Von Neumann" has been released. It adds many new encoders, decoders, filters, and CLI improvements, and introduces an ABI versioning scheme with annual major releases.

The release deprecates APIs that will be removed after three versions, and the last minor version of a major release becomes an LTS version, leading to more frequent and orderly releases.

New decoders include Bonk, RKA, Radiance, SC-4, APAC, VQC, WavArc, and several ADPCM formats, while QSV and NVENC now support AV1 encoding. The CLI gains speed improvements through threading, statistics options, and the ability to pass option values from files to filters. New audio and video filters such as arc, showcwt, backgroundkey, and ssim360 are added, along with hardware filters.

Additional enhancements comprise new FFT and MDCT implementations, numerous bug fixes, better ICC profile handling, color space improvements, extensive RISC‑V vector and scalar assembly optimizations, and API refinements. Vulkan improvements and further FFT optimizations are slated for the upcoming 6.1 minor release.

Radiance HDR image support

ddagrab (Desktop Duplication) video capture filter

-shortest_buf_duration option

Threaded builds

Each muxer runs in a separate thread

cropdetect filter new mode for motion‑vector and edge‑based crop‑area

VAAPI decode/encode for 10/12‑bit 422 and 444 HEVC and VP9

WBMP image format

a3dscope filter

bonk decoder and demuxer

Micronas SC-4 audio decoder

LAF demuxer

APAC decoder and demuxer

Media 100i decoder

DTS to PTS reorder bsf

ViewQuest VQC decoder

backgroundkey filter

nvenc AV1 encoding support

MediaCodec encoder

oneVPL support for QSV

QSV AV1 encoder

QSV decode/encode for 10/12‑bit HEVC and VP9

showcwt multimedia filter

corr video filter

adrc audio filter

afdelaysrc audio filter

WADY DPCM decoder and demuxer

CBD2 DPCM decoder

ssim360 video filter

New CLI options: -stats_enc_pre [_fmt], -stats_enc_post [_fmt], -stats_mux_pre [_fmt]

hstack_vaapi, vstack_vaapi, xstack_vaapi filters

XMD ADPCM decoder and demuxer

media100 to mjpegb bsf

New CLI option: -fix_sub_duration_heartbeat

WavArc decoder and demuxer

Deprecation of CrystalHD decoder

SDNS demuxer

RKA decoder and demuxer

Filtergraph syntax now supports passing file contents as option values using a leading '/'

hstack_qsv, vstack_qsv, xstack_qsv filters

Download FFmpeg 6.0 at http://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html#release_6.0.