# ff-sys
Low-level FFmpeg FFI bindings generated by bindgen. Not intended for direct use; use the higher-level `ff-*` crates instead.
`ff-sys` is the raw, unsafe FFI foundation the rest of the `ff-*` family is built on: bindgen-generated bindings over the FFmpeg C API (libavcodec, libavformat, libavfilter, libswscale, libswresample, libavutil), plus a few thin safe-wrapper modules. It offers no safety guarantees of its own; every call is `unsafe`. Reach for it directly only when you need an FFmpeg API the higher-level crates do not yet expose; otherwise use the safe `ff-*` crates. Each crate is versioned independently; see crates.io for current versions.
## Installation Prerequisites
**FFmpeg 7.x** development libraries must be available on your system before building any crate in this workspace. FFmpeg 6.x is not supported (the `SWS_*` flags differ in API shape), and FFmpeg 8.x is detected separately via the `SwsFlags` enum.
### Windows
Install FFmpeg via [vcpkg](https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg):
```sh
vcpkg install ffmpeg:x64-windows
```
The build script reads `VCPKG_ROOT` to locate the installation (defaulting to `C:\vcpkg`) and expects FFmpeg under `<VCPKG_ROOT>\installed\x64-windows`. bindgen also requires libclang: set `LIBCLANG_PATH` to your LLVM `bin` directory (containing `libclang.dll`) if it is not in a standard location such as `C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin`.
### Linux
Detected via pkg-config:
```sh
sudo apt install libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev \
libavfilter-dev libswscale-dev libswresample-dev
```
If FFmpeg is installed in a non-standard location, set `PKG_CONFIG_PATH` to its `lib/pkgconfig` directory.
### macOS
```sh
brew install ffmpeg
```
## Platform Support
| Platform | Detection | Notes |
|----------|----------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| Windows | vcpkg (`VCPKG_ROOT`) | `ffmpeg:x64-windows` triplet; `LIBCLANG_PATH` for bindgen |
| Linux | pkg-config | Dev packages (`-dev`) must be installed |
| macOS | Homebrew, pkg-config | Auto-detects `/opt/homebrew` or `/usr/local`, falls back to pkg-config |
## Wrapper Modules
Alongside the raw bindgen output, `ff-sys` ships thin safe-wrapper modules that isolate the most error-prone FFmpeg call sequences:
| Module | Wraps |
|--------------|--------------------------------------------|
| `avcodec` | `AVCodecContext`, codec open/close |
| `avformat` | `AVFormatContext`, demux/mux lifecycle |
| `swscale` | `SwsContext`, pixel format conversion |
| `swresample` | `SwrContext`, sample format / channel layout conversion |
These modules are public (`pub mod`) but are meant for use by the higher-level `ff-*` crates rather than for direct consumption.
## MSRV
Rust 1.93.0 (edition 2024).
## License
MIT OR Apache-2.0