Heretic Ffmpeg Jun 2026

They committed the ultimate open-source sin: they forked the project.

Around 2015 and 2016, the tide turned. Major distributions realized that FFmpeg was evolving faster and was more widely supported by third-party software. One by one, Debian, Ubuntu, and others switched back to FFmpeg as the default. heretic ffmpeg

The Libav team, while technically disciplined, failed to maintain the momentum and community engagement that FFmpeg had. They were perceived by some as elitist and difficult to work with. Meanwhile, the original FFmpeg project adapted. They eventually implemented the governance changes the Libav developers had wanted all along, effectively negating the reason for the split. They committed the ultimate open-source sin: they forked