Currently, ffmpeg is missing from APT packages when using the stable versions of Debian and Ubuntu.There are numerous resources (example from SuperUser, another one from Debian's documentation and the one from AskUbuntu) which explain how to install it in a different (and more complex) way than a simple apt-get install ffmpeg.What I wonder is why the package is not there in the first place?From what I understood, avconv is a fork of ffmpeg and is a de facto standard for Debian similar distributions. Meanwhile, ffmpeg is not abandoned: the website mentions no intention to close the project in profit of avconv, despite the fact that the leader of ffmpeg left the project.So:Why ffmpeg was plainly removed from APT packages, instead of keeping it and simply adding avconv?Is there a reason (other than the fact that it became more difficult to install ffmpeg) to stop using it?
Why was ffmpeg removed from Debian?
debian;ffmpeg
Why was ffmpeg not available in the repo?For some time there was a so-called ffmpeg available after Debian switched to Libav, but it was not from FFmpeg. This can probably be explained best with a a rough timeline of what happened:Libav split from FFmpeg and kept the ffmpeg binary name (it also kept the names of the libraries, and the libav name was already being used by FFmpeg as a collective noun for the libraries: libavcodec, libavformat, libavutils, etc.).The Debian ffmpeg package maintainer at the time, a member of the Libav fork, switched Debian to use Libav.Libav eventually deprecated/renamed their ffmpeg to avconv, then eventually removed the counterfeit ffmpeg, but some downstream users such as Ubuntu kept the old, fake ffmpeg for compatibility and transitional reasons for some time.Debian/Ubuntu eventually removed the buggy, old, dead, fake ffmpeg.FFmpeg returns in Debian stable (jessie-backports) and Ubuntu Vivid 15.04.Debian/Ubuntu drops Libav.You're currently between steps 4 and 5. Updating to a newer release of your distro will allow you to install the real ffmpeg from the repository.Is there a reason to stop using ffmpeg?FFmpeg development is very active, and now that Libav has lost its major downstream users I think you can ask this question about avconv instead.Other stuff...the leader of the FFmpeg left the project.Michael Niedermayer is still quite active. He just got tired of some of the admin duties and politics and resigned as leader. Also, it was a gesture to Libav developers as a potential step for reunification with Libav developers.