Minimalist static FFmpeg build on Ubuntu 16.04 with Nvidia NVENC enabled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Original guide with a standard build is [here](https://gist.github.com/Brainiarc7/95c9338a737aa36d9bb2931bed379219). With this guide, I'm adding more instructions to enable support for [NVIDIA CUVID](http://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/video-decoder/) and [NVIDIA NPP](https://developer.nvidia.com/npp) for enhanced encode and decode performance. First, prepare for the build and create the work space directory: cd ~/ mkdir ~/ffmpeg_sources sudo apt-get -y update && apt-get dist-upgrade -y sudo apt-get -y install autoconf automake build-essential libass-dev \ libtool \ pkg-config texinfo zlib1g-dev cmake mercurial **Install CUDA 9.2 SDK from Nvidia's repository:** Note that this phase will prompt you to install the device driver. Skip it, and skip the samples too.We will install the driver later. Fetch the repository installers first: cd ~/ffmpeg_sources wget -c -v -nc https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu1604/x86_64/cuda-repo-ubuntu1604_9.2.88-1_amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i cuda-repo-ubuntu1604_9.2.88-1_amd64.deb sudo apt-key adv --fetch-keys http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu1604/x86_64/7fa2af80.pub sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install cuda Ensure that you have the latest driver: ``` sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade ``` We keep the device driver up to the latest version so as to pass FFmpeg's NVENC driver version check. Now, set up the environment variables for CUDA: Edit the `/etc/environment` file and append the following: CUDA_HOME=/usr/local/cuda Now, append the PATH variable with the following: /usr/local/cuda/bin:$HOME/bin When done, remember to source the file: source /etc/environment **Build FFmpeg's dependency chain:** **Build and deploy nasm:** [Nasm](http://www.nasm.us/) is an assembler for x86 optimizations used by x264 and FFmpeg. Highly recommended or your resulting build may be very slow. Note that we're using the latest release candidate, and not the stable version as of the time of writing. cd ~/ffmpeg_sources wget http://www.nasm.us/pub/nasm/releasebuilds/2.14rc0/nasm-2.14rc0.tar.gz tar xzvf nasm-2.14rc0.tar.gz cd nasm-2.14rc0 ./configure --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" --bindir="$HOME/bin" make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean **Build and deploy libx264 statically:** This library provides a H.264 video encoder. See the [H.264 Encoding Guide](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264) for more information and usage examples. This requires ffmpeg to be configured with *--enable-gpl* *--enable-libx264*. cd ~/ffmpeg_sources git clone http://git.videolan.org/git/x264.git -b stable cd x264/ PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" ./configure --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" --bindir="$HOME/bin" --enable-static --disable-opencl PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean **Build and configure libx265:** This library provides a H.265/HEVC video encoder. See the [H.265 Encoding Guide](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.265) for more information and usage examples. cd ~/ffmpeg_sources hg clone https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265 cd ~/ffmpeg_sources/x265/build/linux PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" -DENABLE_SHARED:bool=off ../../source make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) clean **Build and deploy the libfdk-aac library:** This provides an AAC audio encoder. See the [AAC Audio Encoding Guide](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/AAC) for more information and usage examples. This requires ffmpeg to be configured with *--enable-libfdk-aac* (and *--enable-nonfree* if you also included *--enable-gpl*). cd ~/ffmpeg_sources wget -O fdk-aac.tar.gz https://github.com/mstorsjo/fdk-aac/tarball/master tar xzvf fdk-aac.tar.gz cd mstorsjo-fdk-aac* autoreconf -fiv ./configure --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" --disable-shared make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean Take note that [changes to the inclusion of third party headers](https://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg/nv-codec-headers.git) affects new builds, and this is fixed by: ``` cd ~/ffmpeg_sources git clone https://git.videolan.org/git/ffmpeg/nv-codec-headers.git cd nv-codec-headers make sudo make install ``` Proceed as usual: **Building a static ffmpeg binary with the required options:** cd ~/ffmpeg_sources git clone https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg -b master cd FFmpeg PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib/pkgconfig" ./configure \ --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" \ --pkg-config-flags="--static" \ --extra-cflags="-I$HOME/ffmpeg_build/include" \ --extra-ldflags="-L$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib" \ --bindir="$HOME/bin" \ --enable-cuda-sdk \ --enable-cuvid \ --enable-libnpp \ --extra-cflags="-I/usr/local/cuda/include/" \ --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/local/cuda/lib64/ \ --enable-gpl \ --enable-libass \ --enable-libfdk-aac \ --enable-libx264 \ --enable-libx265 \ --enable-nvenc \ --enable-nonfree PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean hash -r You may also want to tune your build further by calling upon NVCC to generate a build optimized for your GPU's CUDA architecture only. The example below shows the build options to pass for Pascal's GM10x-series GPUs, with an SM version of 6.1: cd ~/ffmpeg_sources git clone https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg -b master cd FFmpeg PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib/pkgconfig" ./configure \ --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" \ --pkg-config-flags="--static" \ --extra-cflags="-I$HOME/ffmpeg_build/include" \ --extra-ldflags="-L$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib" \ --bindir="$HOME/bin" \ --enable-cuda-sdk \ --enable-cuvid \ --enable-libnpp \ --extra-cflags="-I/usr/local/cuda/include/" \ --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/local/cuda/lib64/ \ --nvccflags="-gencode arch=compute_61,code=sm_61 -O2" \ --enable-gpl \ --enable-libass \ --enable-libfdk-aac \ --enable-libx264 \ --extra-libs=-lpthread \ --enable-libx265 \ --enable-nvenc \ --enable-nonfree PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean hash -r For the older Maxwell (GM204*-series) cards, the build below will generate optimized binaries for that CUDA architecture: ``` cd ~/ffmpeg_sources git clone https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg -b master cd FFmpeg PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib/pkgconfig" ./configure \ --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" \ --pkg-config-flags="--static" \ --extra-cflags="-I$HOME/ffmpeg_build/include" \ --extra-ldflags="-L$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib" \ --bindir="$HOME/bin" \ --enable-cuda \ --enable-cuvid \ --enable-libnpp \ --extra-cflags="-I/usr/local/cuda/include/" \ --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/local/cuda/lib64/ \ --nvccflags="-gencode arch=compute_52,code=sm_52 -O2" \ --enable-gpl \ --enable-libass \ --enable-libfdk-aac \ --enable-libx264 \ --enable-libx265 \ --extra-libs=-lpthread \ --enable-nvenc \ --enable-nonfree PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" make -j$(nproc) make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean hash -r ``` **Handling package upgrades:** For individual packages availed via git, simply navigate to their source directory and run git pull followed by re-building them: **(a). For nasm:** ``` cd ~/ffmpeg_sources git clone git://repo.or.cz/nasm.git cd nasm ./autogen.sh ./configure --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" --bindir="$HOME/bin" make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean ``` **(b). For x264:** ``` cd ~/ffmpeg_sources/x264 git pull PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" ./configure --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" --bindir="$HOME/bin" --enable-shared --disable-opencl PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean ``` **(c). For x265:** ``` cd ~/ffmpeg_sources/x265 hg pull hg update cd ~/ffmpeg_sources/x265/build/linux PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" -DENABLE_SHARED:bool=on ../../source make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) clean ``` **(d). For the FFmpeg NVENC headers:** ``` cd nv-codec-headers git pull make sudo make install ``` **(e). For FFmpeg:** **i. For Pascal - based GPU systems (GP10x):** ``` cd ~/ffmpeg_sources/FFmpeg PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pkgconfig" ./configure \ --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" \ --pkg-config-flags="--shared" \ --extra-cflags="-I$HOME/ffmpeg_build/include" \ --extra-ldflags="-L$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib" \ --bindir="$HOME/bin" \ --enable-cuda-sdk \ --enable-cuvid \ --enable-libnpp \ --extra-cflags="-I/usr/local/cuda/include/" \ --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/local/cuda/lib64/ \ --nvccflags="-gencode arch=compute_61,code=sm_61 -O2" \ --enable-gpl \ --enable-libass \ --enable-libfdk-aac \ --enable-libx264 \ --extra-libs=-lpthread \ --enable-libx265 \ --enable-nvenc \ --enable-nonfree PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean hash -r ``` **ii. For Maxwell (GM20x-based Tesla systems):** ``` cd ~/ffmpeg_sources/FFmpeg PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pkgconfig" ./configure \ --prefix="$HOME/ffmpeg_build" \ --extra-cflags="-I$HOME/ffmpeg_build/include" \ --extra-ldflags="-L$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib" \ --bindir="$HOME/bin" \ --enable-cuda \ --enable-cuvid \ --enable-libnpp \ --extra-cflags="-I/usr/local/cuda/include/" \ --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/local/cuda/lib64/ \ --nvccflags="-gencode arch=compute_52,code=sm_52 -O2" \ --enable-gpl \ --enable-libass \ --enable-libfdk-aac \ --enable-libx264 \ --enable-libx265 \ --extra-libs=-lpthread \ --enable-nvenc \ --enable-nonfree PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" make -j$(nproc) VERBOSE=1 make -j$(nproc) install make -j$(nproc) distclean hash -r ``` **On nasm:** We build nasm from source, using the git master tip as it contains the latest assembler optimizations for modern processor architectures. When considering subsequent updates to FFmpeg, consider switching to the git clone rather than the tarball fetched from nasm.us. However, we retain both versions for assembler testing and compatibility, should the master tip version fail to build due to compiler errors and warnings. **Confirm that all GPUs are working:** ``` nvidia-smi -q | grep Encoder | wc -l ``` This should return the number of GPUs present , and in the case of the dual Tesla M60s, based on the [GM204GL](https://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla-m60.html) SKUs, expect the number to be 4 on a dual-GPU system as each card has a single NVENC chip per graphics processor. Note that on newer platforms (such as the Nvidia Pascal P1000), the number of NVENC chips per GPU may vary, and may be up to 3 per GPU, totalling to six per Tesla board. See the [GPU support matrix](https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-decode-gpu-support-matrix) for more information. If `~/bin` is already in your path, you can call up ffmpeg directly. Note that the build instructions assume that the NVIDIA CUDA toolkit is on the system path, as is recommended during setup. **Hint:** Use [this](https://gist.github.com/Brainiarc7/2afac8aea75f4e01d7670bc2ff1afad1) guide to learn how to launch ffmpeg in multiple instances for faster NVENC based encoding on capable hardware.