The best media processing tools, according to hackers
5 media processing tools were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 1 earns the Hacker Approved badge.
Top pick
The most recommended media processing tool with the badge. Each figure is 25 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Handles nearly any media format
The near-universal, decades-proven tool for converting, remuxing, trimming and streaming almost any audio or video format, though its command-line syntax is notoriously hard to learn.
All 5 media processing tools, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FFmpeg | 232 | 94 | 71% | 12 | 15 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| 2 | Ez FFmpeg | 17 | 12 | 59% | 1 | — | — |
| 3 | GStreamer | 12 | 9 | 57% | 9 | — | — |
| 4 | FFmpeg WebCLI | 9 | 5 | 64% | 1 | — | — |
| 5 | ffmpeg.wasm | 7 | 3 | 70% | 6 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same media processing tool in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to media processing tools that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.