[FFmpeg-devel] [RFC] 5 year plan & Inovation

[Niklas Haas]

On Wed, 17 Apr 2024 15:58:32 +0200 Michael Niedermayer <michael at niedermayer.cc> wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> The pace of inovation in FFmpeg has been slowing down.
> Most work is concentarted nowadays on code refactoring, and adding
> support for new codecs and formats.
> 
> Should we
> * make a list of longer term goals
> * vote on them
> * and then together work towards implementing them
> ?
> 
> (The idea here is to increase the success of larger efforts
>  than adding codecs and refactoring code)
> It would then also not be possible for individuals to object
> to a previously agreed goal.
> And it would add ideas for which we can try to get funding/grants for
> 
> (larger scale changes need consensus first that we as a whole want
>  them before we would be able to ask for funding/grants for them)
> 
> Some ideas and why they would help FFmpeg:
> 
> * Switch to a plugin architecture
>     (Increase the number of developers willing to contribute and reduce
>      friction as the team and community grows)

This would almost surely hurt productivity as it will require exposing,
versioning, documenting and maintaining a vast number of internal APIs
which we are currently at the liberty of modifying freely.

> * ffchat
>     (expand into realtime chat / zoom) this would
>     bring in more users and developers, and we basically have almost
>     all parts for it already but some people where against it

This seems like a user application on top of FFmpeg, not something that
should be part of FFmpeg core. Can you explain what modifications in
FFmpeg would be necessary for something like this?

> * client side / in browser support
>     (expand towards webapps, webpages using ffmpeg client side in the browser)
>     bring in more users and developers, and it will be costly for us
>     if we let others take this area as its important and significant

I don't understand this point - don't all major browsers already vendor
FFmpeg for decoding?

> * AI / neural network filters and codecs
>     The future seems to be AI based. Future Filters and Codecs will use
>     neural networks. FFmpeg can be at the forefront, developing these

We already have TensorFlow support, no? (vf_sr etc.) What more is
needed?

> * [your idea here]
> 
> thx
> 
> -- 
> Michael     GnuPG fingerprint: 9FF2128B147EF6730BADF133611EC787040B0FAB
> 
> It is what and why we do it that matters, not just one of them.
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