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

[James Almer]

On 4/17/2024 11:22 AM, Lynne wrote:
> Apr 17, 2024, 15:58 by michael at niedermayer.cc:
> 
>> 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)
>>
> 
> Just no.

Can you elaborate on why? The one thing i think would be problematic is 
making the AVCodec internals public, which could get in the way of 
improvements.

> 
> 
>> * ffchat
>>   (expand into realtime chat / zoom) this would
>>   bring in more users and developers, and we basically have almost
>>
> 
> Better leave that for others.
> There's an infinite amount of discord clones already.
> 
> 
>>   all parts for it already but some people where against it
>> * 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
>>
> 
> Maybe. Some WASM-based converter would be helpful.
> Though it may put us on fire, as we'd be distributing binaries
> of our code which may cause issues with "rights holders".
> 
> 
>> * 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
>>
> 
> These take enormous amounts of compute power to
> train, vast amounts of good high-quality data, and at
> the end, you'd have something as lasting as wet paper,
> because a competitor is literally weeks away, and they
> beat us with inferior methods by simply having vastly
> more compute than we do.

And we can't ship models.

> 
> 
>> * [your idea here]
>>
> 
> We keep doing what we're doing. It's what we're good at.
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