Video · 2026-05-06 · 4h 18m · 6 moments

FFmpeg: The Incredible Technology Behind Video on the Internet | Lex Fridman Podcast #496

✦ AI generated

GUEST Jean-Baptiste Kempf GUEST Kieran Kunhya

timeline · colored by role

Claim◆

We care about excellent code. We don't care who you are — maybe you're a dog, I don't care. We care about the quality of your code because this is what defines our community.

The FFmpeg community is strictly meritocratic: only code quality matters, not the contributor's background, employer, or identity.

transcript

Jean-Baptiste Kempf: The important is, is your code good? We care about excellent code. We don't care who you are. Like maybe you're a dog. I don't care, right? I don't care where you come from. I need to look at your code. Oh, yeah, but I'm an engineer at this very large company in Italy, in Germany, in the US. We don't care. We care about the quality of your code because this is what defines our community

Data

dav1d has 240,000 lines of handwritten assembly — 79.9% assembly, 19.6% C, 0.5% other. Every cycle matters because we are talking about three billion devices decoding video nonstop.

The AV1 decoder dav1d is composed of 240,000 lines of handwritten assembly (79.9%), making it one of the largest assembly codebases, essential for software decoding on billions of devices lacking hardware decoders.

transcript

Jean-Baptiste Kempf: And just this one has two hundred and forty thousand. Every cycle matters. We are talking about probably three billion devices which are going to decode video nonstop because, for example, thirty percent of the video from Netflix is now in AV1, fifty percent of YouTube. — This is what peak video codecs should look like. — Seventy-nine point nine percent assembly, nineteen point six percent C, and zero point five percent other.

gives example · 1

Anecdote◆

Two intelligence agencies tried to ask us to put a backdoor in VLC. We said no — we would shut it down rather than compromise our software.

Jean-Baptiste Kempf reveals that intelligence agencies approached VideoLAN to insert a backdoor into VLC, and the team refused, stating they would shut down the project rather than compromise it.

transcript

Jean-Baptiste Kempf: The intelligence agencies tried to, like, say, 'Can you put a backdoor in VLC?' — Yes. Two of them. — Well, what did you say? — No. Well, I was a lot less polite. — Basically saying, 'Hell no.' — Like, if we had to compromise our software, we would shut it down. This is clear.

provides context · 1

Data

FFmpeg is probably one of the biggest CPU users in the world, running on an order of magnitude of 100 million to a billion CPUs as we speak.

FFmpeg's ubiquity means it is among the largest CPU users in the world, running on potentially billions of devices simultaneously.

transcript

Kieran Kunhya: FFmpeg is probably one of the biggest CPU users in the world. There's it's probably running— ... as we speak easily 100 mil- order of magnitude 100 million, maybe even a billion CPUs as we speak. So every instruction matters.

provides context · 1

Context

I refused dozens of millions of dollars, several times, to keep VLC ad-free. I did not do it because I thought it was not moral and it was not the right thing to do.

Jean-Baptiste Kempf explains he repeatedly refused millions of dollars from shady ad companies to keep VLC free of ads and spyware, prioritizing ethics and the community over personal enrichment.

transcript

Jean-Baptiste Kempf: I refuse dozens of millions of dollars, yes, several times. Yes, I could be a multimillionaire and be somewhere on the beach. Um, but I did not do it because I thought it was not moral and it was not the right thing to do. And this is very important for myself, is to be like, I work for the greater good, I work for people.

extends · 2

Claim

The XZ fiasco has shown how a dependence on unpaid volunteers can cause major problems. Trillion-dollar corporations expect free and urgent support from volunteers.

Kieran criticizes the asymmetry where trillion-dollar companies like Microsoft expect free, urgent support from volunteer-run open source projects, using the XZ backdoor incident and a Microsoft Teams bug report as examples.

transcript

Kieran Kunhya: The XZ fiasco has shown how a dependence on unpaid volunteers can cause major problems. Trillion-dollar corporations expect free and urgent support from volunteers. Microsoft, Microsoft Teams posted on a bug tracker full of volunteers that their issue is high priority. After politely requesting a support contract from Microsoft for long-term maintenance, they offered a one-time payment of a few thousand dollars instead. This is unacceptable.

rebuts · 1supports · 1

Highlight slides

FFmpeg: Meritocracy Over Everything✦ from: We care about excellent code. We don't care who you are — maybe you're a dog, I don't care. We care about the quality of your code because this is what defines our community.How the Community Defines Itself✦ from: We care about excellent code. We don't care who you are — maybe you're a dog, I don't care. We care about the quality of your code because this is what defines our community.Intelligence agencies requested a VLC backdoor; VideoLAN refused✦ from: Two intelligence agencies tried to ask us to put a backdoor in VLC. We said no — we would shut it down rather than compromise our software.

Related episodes

Article · Simon Willison's Weblog

We care about excellent code. We don't care who you are — maybe you're a dog, I don't care. We care about the quality of your code because this is what defines our community.

dav1d has 240,000 lines of handwritten assembly — 79.9% assembly, 19.6% C, 0.5% other. Every cycle matters because we are talking about three billion devices decoding video nonstop.

Two intelligence agencies tried to ask us to put a backdoor in VLC. We said no — we would shut it down rather than compromise our software.

FFmpeg is probably one of the biggest CPU users in the world, running on an order of magnitude of 100 million to a billion CPUs as we speak.

I refused dozens of millions of dollars, several times, to keep VLC ad-free. I did not do it because I thought it was not moral and it was not the right thing to do.

The XZ fiasco has shown how a dependence on unpaid volunteers can cause major problems. Trillion-dollar corporations expect free and urgent support from volunteers.

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