Introduction
FFmpeg is the universal multimedia toolkit: a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert, filter, and stream audio and video. It is used by a number of media players (including VLC and MPlayer), video websites (including YouTube and Vimeo), web browsers (including Google Chrome/Chromium and Firefox), social media (including Facebook and Twitter) and countless other software projects in the multimedia field and beyond.
This is our ideas page for Google Summer of Code 2025. See the GSoC Timeline for important dates.
At the end of the program you can find all the results on the results page.
Information for Students
Getting Started
- Get to know FFmpeg. If you are a student interested in contributing to FFmpeg, it is recommended to start by subscribing to the ffmpeg-devel mailing-list, visiting our !Libera.Chat IRC channels (#ffmpeg-devel and #ffmpeg although you will find most developers on the first one), and exploring both the codebase and the development workflow. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Also do not hesitate to answer questions from other students on our IRC channel if you know the answer to something.
- Find a project. Listed on this page are mentored and un-mentored projects. Mentored projects are well-defined and mentor(s) have already volunteered. Un-mentored projects are additional ideas you may want to consider, but you will have to contact us to find a mentor. You can also propose your own project, if you can think of one that better fits your interest and skill level. If a project description is unclear or you have any questions, please get in touch with its mentor and/or join our IRC channel at #ffmpeg-devel.
- Contact us. If you decide on a project, get in touch with the community and let us know. If you want to work on a qualification task, let the respective mentor know so we can avoid duplicated efforts.
- Apply. Students should apply definitely before deadline on April 8nd. The "work" period begins on June 2nd and ends in November. Take a look at GSoC timeline for additional information. Note, make sure you apply to Google before April 8nd, even if you have not yet finished your qualification task. Please apply as soon as possible: Applications can be improved until the 8nd of April but not afterwards!
Note: A friendly reminder that while the application to GSoC is important for you and GSoC, FFmpeg mentors will not base their decision solely on the GSoC application. We will judge applicants based on their qualification tasks to understand their abilities in coding, learning the tools, communication skills etc. So please do not worry about your application being perfect for us. Although it is very important to follow GSoC's application rules so they can pay you.
Qualification Tasks
In order to get accepted you have to complete a small qualification task which in all cases include sending a patch to the development mailing list. FFmpeg development can be quite challenging and the qualification task helps us figure out whether you are motivated enough and have the potential to deliver successfully.
The qualification tasks are usually shown in the project description. Contact the respective mentor(s) for assistance on getting a related qualification task or if you want to propose your own. You can also browse the FFmpeg Bug Tracker for qualification task ideas. In general qualification tasks should include submitting a patch to the ffmpeg-devel mailing list which passes review and is accepted into the FFmpeg codebase. It will be common for such patches to need multiple iterations of submissions and reviews, so don't wait too long with the first submission! Note, please avoid picking a qualification task which another student is already working on, each student should work on a different qualification task.
Development
If you are selected for a particular project then you are not only expected to present a working implementation but you should also submit your work for inclusion for the ffmpeg codebase. This should be done at least 2-3 weeks before the end of the second work period by sending patches to the ffmpeg-devel mailing list where the ffmpeg community and your mentor will review your work. You will likely be asked to make some changes and resend improved versions. If you feel that no consensus is reached about how something should be done then follow the advice of your mentor.
In order to create good quality patches make sure to read the Developer Documentation.
Contacting FFmpeg
If you have questions or comments feel free to contact us via our mailing list, IRC channel, or e-mail one of the FFmpeg GSoC admins:
- Mailing-list: ffmpeg-devel
- IRC: #ffmpeg-devel on Libera.Chat
- FFmpeg GSoC Admins: Michael Niedermayer (michaelni in #ffmpeg-devel on Libera.Chat IRC, michaelni@gmx.at), Reynaldo Verdejo (reynaldo in #ffmpeg-devel on Libera.Chat IRC, R Verdejo on g mail), Thilo Borgmann (thilo in #ffmpeg-devel on Libera.Chat, thilo.borgmann at mail dot de)
You may also contact a mentor directly if you have questions specifically related to one of the projects listed on this page.
Mentored Project Ideas
This section lists well-defined projects that have one or more available mentors. If you are new to FFmpeg, and have relatively little experience with multimedia, you should favor one of these ideas rather than propose your own. Contact the respective mentor(s) to get more information about the project and the requested qualification task.
Template Project
Description: Template Description
Expected results: Template results
Prerequisites: Template prequisites
Difficulty:
Qualification Task: Template Qualification Task
Mentor: someone @ somehwere.net
Backup Mentor: someoneelse @ somewhere.net
Duration: 175 or 350 hours
Unmentored Projects
This is a list of projects that students are encouraged to consider if a mentored project is unavailable or not within the students skill or interests. The student will have to find a mentor for the project. A student can also propose their own project.
Template Project
Description: Template Description
Expected results: Template results
Prerequisites: Template prequisites
Difficulty:
Qualification Task: Template Qualification Task
Mentor: someone @ somehwere.net
Backup Mentor: someoneelse @ somewhere.net
Duration: 175 or 350 hours
Your Own Project Idea
A student can also propose a self-defined project! The amount of work defined by such a project should last for the majority of the GSoC work period duration and the task must be approved by the community. Also, a capable mentor from the community must be assigned. Ideas and inspiration for such project ideas could be found by browsing bugs and feature requests on our bug tracker but are of course not limited to such.
Students can discuss an idea with the community via the ffmpeg-devel mailing-list, the #ffmpeg-devel IRC channel, or contact the FFmpeg GSoC admins directly for more information. It is obviously of importance to start such a discussion well before the application deadline.
