FFmpeg 9.1 has been released with a new native AAC encoder, offering improved audio quality and performance over previous versions. The update brings enhancements to the popular multimedia framework, benefiting users who rely on FFmpeg for audio encoding tasks.
Background
- FFmpeg is the leading open-source multimedia framework used by virtually every major video player, streaming service, and editing tool (VLC, YouTube, OBS, etc.) to encode, decode, and process audio/video files.
- AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is the dominant lossy audio codec, used in YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify (vs. Ogg Vorbis), and most streaming platforms. It succeeded MP3 for better quality at similar bitrates.
- Version 9.1 marks a major upgrade to FFmpeg's built-in native AAC encoder (the "native" one, not the external library-based encoders like libfdk_aac).
- Prior to this, FFmpeg's native AAC encoder was widely considered inferior in quality to alternatives — this release claims significant improvements, potentially reducing the need for users to install external codecs (which may have licensing or distribution complications).