Getting the Dependencies
1. Uninstall x264, libx264-dev, and ffmpeg if they are already installed. Open a terminal and run the following:
sudo apt-get purge ffmpeg x264 libx264-dev
2. Next, get all of the packages you will need to install FFmpeg and x264 (you may need to enable the universe and multiverse repositories):
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install build-essential subversion git-core checkinstall yasm texi2html libfaac-dev libfaad-dev libmp3lame-dev libsdl1.2-dev libtheora-dev libx11-dev libxvidcore4-dev zlib1g-dev
Install x264
3. Get the most current source files from the official x264 git repository, compile, and install. You can run "./configure --help" to see what features you can enable/disable. If you are behind a firewall or unable to use git, then daily source tarballs are also available.
cd
git clone git://git.videolan.org/x264.git
cd x264
./configure
make
sudo checkinstall --fstrans=no --install=yes --pkgname=x264 --pkgversion "1:0.svn`date +%Y%m%d`-0.0ubuntu1" --default
4. Get the most current source files from the official FFmpeg svn, compile, and install. Run "./configure --help" to see what features you can enable/disable. If you are behind a firewall or unable to use subversion, then nightly FFmpeg snapshots are also available.
cd
svn checkout svn://svn.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg
cd ffmpeg
./configure --enable-gpl --enable-nonfree --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab
make
sudo checkinstall --fstrans=no --install=yes --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion "3:0.svn`date +%Y%m%d`-12ubuntu3" --default
That's it for installation. You can keep the ~/x264 and ~/ffmpeg directories if you later want to update the source files to a new revision. See "Updating Your Installation" below for more details.Additionally, you can download these .DEB files which I created just moments ago:
Using FFmpeg
Audio / video encoding guide
FFmpeg cheat sheet
Or you can automate this using the Audio / Video / Image / Text / ISO Converter Nautilus Script
Updating Your Installation
You may eventually want to update to the newest revisions of FFmpeg and x264 if there are any major developments or changes:
sudo apt-get purge ffmpeg x264
cd ~/x264
make distclean
git pull
./configure
make
sudo checkinstall --fstrans=no --install=yes --pkgname=x264 --pkgversion "1:0.svn`date +%Y%m%d`-0.0ubuntu1" --default
cd ~/ffmpeg
make distclean
svn update
./configure --enable-gpl --enable-nonfree --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libfaad --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-x11grab
make
sudo checkinstall --fstrans=no --install=yes --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion "3:0.svn`date +%Y%m%d`-12ubuntu3" --default
Reverting Changes Made by This Tutorial
To remove FFmpeg/x264 and any changes made from this tutorial:
sudo apt-get purge x264 ffmpeg build-essential subversion git-core checkinstall yasm texi2html libfaac-dev libfaad-dev libmp3lame-dev libsdl1.2-dev libtheora-dev libx11-dev libxvidcore4-dev zlib1g-dev
Lastly, delete the ffmpeg and x264 directories in your home folder and if you want, install ffmpeg and x264 from Ubuntu repo.
[Credits: FakeOutdoorsman user @ ubuntuforums.org]