ffmpeg_ply

ffmpeg_ply is a simple implementation of a video player (similar to ffplay) written in C. It leverages FFmpeg for media decoding and SDL2 for rendering video and audio.

Important

This project is still under construction 🏗️.

Resources I am using

• How to Write a Video Player in Less Than 1000 Lines: The primary guide for this implementation.
• leandromoreira/ffmpeg-libav-tutorial: FFmpeg libav tutorial for learning media fundamentals.
• leandromoreira/digital_video_introduction: Introduction to video technology and codecs.
• rambod-rahmani/ffmpeg-video-player: Reference implementation.
• ffplay.c: The official FFmpeg player source.

How to Build

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following installed:

• gcc
• FFmpeg libraries (libavformat, libavcodec, libavutil, libswscale, libswresample)
• SDL2
• pkg-config

Compilation

Use the provided Makefile to build the project:

make build

To clean the build artifacts:

make clean

Usage

Run the player by passing a video file as an argument:

./player <input_file>

Playground

The playground/ directory contains various experimental programs used to test specific features of SDL2 and FFmpeg in isolation, such as:

• Audio playback and mixing.
• Simple SDL2 rendering.
• Synchronized audio/video playback experiments.

Each subdirectory in playground/ typically contains its own standalone implementation for learning purposes.