Using AviSynth+ on POSIX systems ¶

As of version 3.5, AviSynth+ can now be built and used natively on Linux, macOS, and BSD.

AviSynth+ prerequisites ¶

Depending on your OS or distribution, the commands to fetch the necessary prerequisites for building AviSynth+ differ.

At a bare minimum:

CMake 3.8 or higher.
GCC 8 or higher, or similarly recent version of Clang or AppleClang.

Note

The use of Ninja as the generator for CMake is a matter of personal preference. Feel free to use GNU Make if so compelled (i.e. just a plain 'cmake ..' invocation).

Linux ¶

Ubuntu 19.10 or higher ¶

sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake git ninja-build checkinstall

git clone https://github.com/AviSynth/AviSynthPlus && \
cd AviSynthPlus && \
mkdir avisynth-build && \
cd avisynth-build && \

cmake ../ -G Ninja && \
ninja && \
    sudo checkinstall --pkgname=avisynth --pkgversion="$(grep -r \
    Version avs_core/avisynth.pc | cut -f2 -d " ")-$(date --rfc-3339=date | \
    sed 's/-//g')-git" --backup=no --deldoc=yes --delspec=yes --deldesc=yes \
    --strip=yes --stripso=yes --addso=yes --fstrans=no --default ninja install

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS ¶

18.04 ships with GCC 7, which is not sufficient to build AviSynth+ without the use of the filesystem submodule.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/AviSynth/AviSynthPlus && \
cd AviSynthPlus && \
mkdir avisynth-build && \
cd avisynth-build && \

cmake ../ -G Ninja && \
ninja && \
    sudo checkinstall --pkgname=avisynth --pkgversion="$(grep -r \
    Version avs_core/avisynth.pc | cut -f2 -d " ")-$(date --rfc-3339=date | \
    sed 's/-//g')-git" --backup=no --deldoc=yes --delspec=yes --deldesc=yes \
    --strip=yes --stripso=yes --addso=yes --fstrans=no --default ninja install

Distributions without checkinstall ¶

Not all Linux distributions have checkinstall in their repositories, either due to a lack of checkinstall working with their package management system or simply due to omission. In these cases, the install step is a little different:

sudo ninja install
sudo ldconfig

macOS ¶

Requires Homebrew:

https://brew.sh/

brew install cmake ninja gcc

GCC isn't strictly necessary for AviSynth+, but it can side-step the need to use an external implementation on High Sierra and Mojave.

10.13 High Sierra and 10.14 Mojave ¶

Apple's libc++ doesn't support the C++17 filesystem functionality on either of these versions of macOS, so we have to resort to using an external implementation as a submodule.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/AviSynth/AviSynthPlus && \
cd AviSynthPlus && \
mkdir avisynth-build && \
cd avisynth-build

cmake ../ -G Ninja && \
ninja && \
sudo ninja install

10.15 Catalina and higher ¶

C++17 filesystem support is available on Catalina, so it can be built with the default Clang installation.

cmake ../ -G Ninja && \
ninja && \
sudo ninja install

FreeBSD ¶

Tested on FreeBSD 12.1.

pkg install cmake git gmake ninja

git clone https://github.com/AviSynth/AviSynthPlus && \
cd AviSynthPlus && \
mkdir avisynth-build && \
cd avisynth-build

Building AviSynth+ (GNU Make)¶

cmake ../ && \
gmake -j$(nproc) && \
gmake install

Building AviSynth+ (Ninja)¶

cmake ../ -G Ninja && \
ninja && \
sudo ninja install

FFmpeg support ¶

On all of these OSes, AviSynth+ can interface with FFmpeg. This change was applied to the FFmpeg git master branch on 2020-04-05.

It is always useful to check their guide before the process: https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/CompilationGuide

To compile a basic build of FFmpeg that supports AviSynth+, the following steps will suffice:

Prerequisites ¶

Linux ¶

Ubuntu ¶

First, enable the Sources repository by either enabling it using the Software Sources dialog or by uncommenting the right lines in /etc/apt/sources.list.

sudo apt-get build-dep ffmpeg
sudo apt-get install nasm libsdl2-dev

macOS ¶

Homebrew prerequisites:

brew install xz sdl2 pkg-config nasm

FreeBSD ¶

pkg install nasm sdl2

Building FFmpeg ¶

git clone https://git.videolan.org/git/ffmpeg.git
cd ffmpeg

Linux ¶

Ubuntu ¶

./configure --prefix=$HOME/ffmpeg_build --enable-gpl --enable-version3 \
--disable-doc --disable-debug --enable-pic --enable-avisynth && \
make -j$(nproc) && \
make install

Installing FFmpeg to the system can be done by leaving out the --prefix option and then using the following checkinstall command:

sudo checkinstall --pkgname=ffmpeg --pkgversion="7:$(git rev-list \
--count HEAD)-g$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)" --backup=no --deldoc=yes \
--delspec=yes --deldesc=yes --strip=yes --stripso=yes --addso=yes \
--fstrans=no --default

Raspbian ¶

Raspberry Pi 5 is able to compile ffmpeg and its prerequisites within a reasonable time, which means 7-10 minutes (when you don't forget setting -j4 for multithreaded build process).

This is a general Ubuntu/Debian compilation guide by the ffmpeg project: https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/CompilationGuide/Ubuntu

You can also refer to this video (Raspberry Pi 5 - Compile FFMPEG on Raspberry PI OS): https://www.youtube.com/live/if9UG4kJ9L4?si=Nq802tiUteRdlyHE

which helps you through the process.

Important: you'll need some additions, like extending the configuration with --enable-avisynth and maybe --disable-doc.

macOS ¶

./configure --prefix=$HOME/ffmpeg_build --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-doc \
--disable-debug --enable-avisynth
make -j$(nproc)
make install

On Catalina, --extra-cflags="-fno-stack-check" is necessary when using AppleClang as the compiler.

FreeBSD ¶

./configure --prefix=$HOME/ffmpeg_build --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-doc \
--disable-debug --enable-pic --enable-avisynth --cc=cc
gmake -j$(nproc)
gmake install

Testing the installation ¶

FFplay can be used to preview scripts in a pinch; if mpv or VLC is built against the patched version of FFmpeg, those can be used to play back scripts in a more comfortable player experience.

The easiest two scripts to test the installation are Version or Colorbars/ColorbarsHD.

Version()

Colorbars() # or ColorbarsHD()

And running this script in the test build of FFmpeg:

cd ~/ffmpeg_build/bin

Create the script in this directory, for ease of testing.

To play the script:

./ffplay -i test.avs

To convert as usual:

./ffmpeg -i test.avs [encoding options]

Benchmark:

./ffmpeg -benchmark -i test.avs -f null -

Stream to a GUI, e.g. to VLC Media Player on a Raspberry Pi. Choose "Open Network Stream" from menu, and enter udp://@127.0.0.1:10000 for the network url.

./ffmpeg -i test.avs -pix_fmt yuv420p -f mpegts udp://127.0.0.1:10000

Troubleshooting:

ffmpeg reports an unknown error. One possible reason is that libavisynth.so could not be loaded; the $LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable may be empty. Check with echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH. Fix it by (Raspberry Pi 5 Raspbian):

echo 'export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH' >> ~/.bashrc

ffmpeg does not recognize the AviSynth script. You probably typed ffmpeg instead of ./ffmpeg. For example, Raspberry Pi 5 Raspbian comes with a 5.x ffmpeg without AviSynth support, and your command finds that one.

Loading actual video sources will require a source filter. FFMS2 doesn't require any porting to these OSes, making it the most straightforward option at the moment.

Building FFMS2 ¶

FFMS2 doesn't require any additional prerequisites, so it can be built straight away.

git clone https://github.com/ffms/ffms2 && \
cd ffms2

Linux ¶

Ubuntu ¶

    PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib/pkgconfig \
    CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include/avisynth" \
    ./autogen.sh --enable-shared --enable-avisynth && \
make -j$(nproc) && \
    sudo checkinstall --pkgname=ffms2 --pkgversion="1:$(./version.sh)-git" \
    --backup=no --deldoc=yes --delspec=yes --deldesc=yes --strip=yes --stripso=yes \
    --addso=yes --fstrans=no --default

macOS ¶

brew install autoconf automake libtool m4

    PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib/pkgconfig \
    CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include/avisynth" \
    ./autogen.sh --enable-shared --enable-avisynth && \
make -j$(nproc) && \
sudo make install

FreeBSD ¶

pkg install autoconf automake libtool m4

    PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/ffmpeg_build/lib/pkgconfig \
    CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include/avisynth" \
    ./autogen.sh --enable-shared --enable-avisynth && \
gmake -j$(nproc) && \
gmake install

Plugin autoloading ¶

AviSynth+ will use several directories for autoloading: the avisynth/ subdirectory where libavisynth.so was installed, $HOME/.avisynth, and the directory given to the USER_AVS_PLUGINDIR_LOCATION configuration option (defaults to $HOME/.local/lib/avisynth). The latter of which can hold plugins (and symlinks to plugins) or AVSI files without needing root permissions.

On FreeBSD, procfs needs to be mounted first in order for autoloading to function.

Back to the main page

$ Date: 2025-04-15 15:15:00 $

Using AviSynth+ on POSIX systems ¶

AviSynth+ prerequisites ¶

Linux ¶

Ubuntu 19.10 or higher ¶

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS ¶

Distributions without checkinstall ¶

macOS ¶

10.13 High Sierra and 10.14 Mojave ¶

10.15 Catalina and higher ¶

FreeBSD ¶

Building AviSynth+ (GNU Make)¶

Building AviSynth+ (Ninja)¶

FFmpeg support ¶

Prerequisites ¶

Linux ¶

Ubuntu ¶

macOS ¶

FreeBSD ¶

Building FFmpeg ¶

Linux ¶

Ubuntu ¶

Raspbian ¶

macOS ¶

FreeBSD ¶

Testing the installation ¶

Building FFMS2 ¶

Linux ¶

Ubuntu ¶

macOS ¶

FreeBSD ¶

Plugin autoloading ¶

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