Lex Fridman

The following is a conversation all about FFmpeg and VLC with Jean-Baptiste Kempf and Kieran Cunha.

FFmpeg is an open source software system that is the invisible backbone behind YouTube, Netflix, Chrome, VLC, Discord, and basically every platform that touches video or audio on the internet.

It can decode, encode, transcode, stream, and play almost any video or audio format ever created.

To me, it is one of the most incredible software systems ever developed.

And it's all done by volunteers.

VLC is also a legendary piece of software.

It is an open-source media player that plays basically anything you throw at it, any format, any platform, no ads, no tracking.

It has been downloaded over 6 billion times, and again, for me, it has been one of my favorite pieces of software ever, with the most legendary logo, which I, of course, had to honor in this conversation by wearing the...

VLC traffic cone hat the whole time.

So again, above all else, thank you to the incredible volunteer engineers who put their heart and soul into this code that has been used and loved by billions of people.

Thank you.

and about the two great engineers and human beings I'm talking to in this episode.

Jean-Baptiste is the president of Videoland and is a key figure behind VLC and FFmpeg.

Kieran is a longtime Kodak engineer, FFmpeg contributor, and the man behind the now infamous FFmpeg account on Twitter, X, that I recommend watching.

everybody follow for the memes and for the unapologetic celebration of open source and great low-level software engineering.

Let me also say that it's inspiring and humbling that so much of modern civilization rests on software built by people who are not chasing fame or money, but are obsessed with the craft of engineering.

We live in a world where billions of people consume video every day without ever thinking about the invisible machinery underneath it.

But that machinery matters.

Open source infrastructure matters.

It is one of the great examples of human beings quietly collaborating across borders to build something useful, durable, and elegant for the rest of us.