FFmpeg is a complete open source solution to record, convert and stream audio and video. It includes libavcodec, the leading audio/video codec library. FFmpeg is developped under Linux, but it can compile under most OSes, including Windows.

The project is made of several components:

ffmpeg is a command line tool to convert one video file format to another. It also supports grabbing and encoding in real time from a TV card.
ffserver is an HTTP (RTSP is being developped) multimedia streaming server for live broadcasts. Time shifting of live broadcast is also supported.
libavcodec is a library containing all the ffmpeg audio/video encoders and decoders. Most codecs were developped from scratch to ensure best performances and high code reusability.
libavformat is a library containing parsers and generators for all common audio/video formats.

FFmpeg is released under GNU Lesser General Public License or GNU General Public License (depending on wich sub-libraries one would include). The project is hosted at SourceForge.

For more information see http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/

See also