FFmpeg library not found

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

It’s been mentioned in other posts about this issue but the solution doesn’t work for me.
My Audacity log shows this:

09:24:31 PM: Audacity 2.0.6
09:24:31 PM: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries...
09:24:31 PM: mLibAVFormatPath ('C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll') is not empty. Loading from it.
09:24:31 PM: Looking up PATH environment variable...
09:24:31 PM: PATH = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files (x86)\Smart Projects\IsoBuster;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Windows Performance Toolkit\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD\ATI.ACE\Core-Static'
09:24:31 PM: Checking that 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity' is in PATH...
09:24:31 PM: Warning: FFmpeg directory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity' is not in PATH.
09:24:31 PM: Temporarily appending ';C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity' to PATH...
09:24:31 PM: Checking for monolithic avformat from 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll'.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Loading avutil from ''.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library '.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Loading avcodec from ''.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library '.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Loading avformat from 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll'.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Returning PATH to previous setting...
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
09:24:31 PM: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from default path, 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll'.
09:24:31 PM: Looking up PATH environment variable...
09:24:31 PM: PATH = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files (x86)\Smart Projects\IsoBuster;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Windows Performance Toolkit\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD\ATI.ACE\Core-Static'
09:24:31 PM: Checking that 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity' is in PATH...
09:24:31 PM: Warning: FFmpeg directory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity' is not in PATH.
09:24:31 PM: Temporarily appending ';C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity' to PATH...
09:24:31 PM: Checking for monolithic avformat from 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll'.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Loading avutil from ''.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library '.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Loading avcodec from ''.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library '.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Loading avformat from 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll'.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity\avformat-55.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Returning PATH to previous setting...
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
09:24:31 PM: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from system paths. File name is 'avformat-55.dll'.
09:24:31 PM: Looking up PATH environment variable...
09:24:31 PM: PATH = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files (x86)\Smart Projects\IsoBuster;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Windows Performance Toolkit\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD\ATI.ACE\Core-Static'
09:24:31 PM: Checking that '' is in PATH...
09:24:31 PM: FFmpeg directory is in PATH.
09:24:31 PM: Checking for monolithic avformat from 'avformat-55.dll'.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avformat-55.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Loading avutil from ''.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library '.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Loading avcodec from ''.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library '.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Loading avformat from 'avformat-55.dll'.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avformat-55.dll' (error 5: access is denied.)
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
09:24:31 PM: Error: Failed to find compatible FFmpeg libraries.

I’m getting access is denied for avformat-55.dll, and audacity shows it as not found. However LAME 3.99.3 shows as found ok. Both folders have the exactly same permissions as each other.
I’m on Windows 10, although I can’t remember if this is the first time I’ve tried audacity since upgrading to Windows 10 so I’m not sure if its to do with that.
Any ideas?

2

Log in as an administrator.

To be on the safe side, reinstall FFmpeg from http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/faq_installation_and_plug_ins.html#ffdown to "C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity".

Open File Explorer. Right-click over the folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity". Choose “Properties”. Click the “Security” tab, then the “Edit” button. Select the required group or user names and allow them “Full Control”.


Gale

3

I’ve already done all that. Re-installed both via the exe install and the zip extract. Running audacity as administrator (right click and RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR) gives the same error. Also all the inherited groups access to the folder have full control, I even added the everyone group with full control and still the same error. The DLL’s have inherited the permissions.

When I look in the preferences it does say where the DLL is but says its also not found, and when browsing I select it but it does nothing.
One thing I haven’t done yet is re-install audacity itself yet, I suspect there may be a problem somewhere there as its installed on my D drive rather than my C drive, also process explorer gives me access denied errors when looking at the permissions of the running exe (compared to say firefox or vlc player that show me as the user).

4

Looks like a complete re-install of Audacity over the top of the existing one has worked, it now sees FFmpeg.