# Install video-compare with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, scoop

Split screen video comparison tool using FFmpeg and SDL2. Version 20260708 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-08. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#video-compare.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:video-compare
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install video-compare
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install video-compare
```

  Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: multimedia/video-compare/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#video-compare
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/vi/video-compare/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Windows

- Scoop (92%):

```sh
scoop install extras/video-compare
```

  Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/video-compare.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Extras/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:video-compare
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 20260708
- **Source summary:** Split screen video comparison tool using FFmpeg and SDL2
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/pixop/video-compare>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/pixop/video-compare>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-08T21:41:57Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- video-compare (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 20260708
## Project history and usage

video-compare is a C++14 visual comparison tool for video and image material. It uses FFmpeg libraries for decoding/filtering and SDL2 for the interactive display, then presents two inputs in sync with a movable split-screen comparison view.

### Project history

The earliest GitHub release visible in the upstream release stream is dated July 24, 2020 and provided a Windows build. Through 2021, releases continued as Windows packages and began calling out bundled FFmpeg capabilities such as AV1 support. By the mid-2020s, the release notes show a more mature analysis tool: metadata overlays, subtraction modes, scopes, cropping, frame stepping, display-mode cycling, and CI-built release artifacts.

The project lives in the video-quality and encoding-tools niche rather than the general media-player niche. Its README describes comparing the impact of codecs, resizing algorithms, and other modifications on synchronized files, while also allowing mismatched resolutions, frame rates, color formats, containers, codecs, durations, image files, and image sequences.

### How it is used

Typical usage is visual quality assurance: compare an original against an encoded, resized, filtered, restored, or AI-enhanced output; inspect differences with the split slider; step frames while paused; and use auxiliary analysis views such as histogram, vectorscope, waveform, metadata, or subtraction modes when eyeballing artifacts is not enough.

### Why package nerds care

This is a package-nerd tool because it wraps FFmpeg's broad format support in a purpose-built interactive UI. It is not a transcoder itself; it is the thing a codec tester, video restoration hobbyist, or packaging QA person reaches for after producing two files and needing a fast visual answer about what changed.

### Timeline

- 2020-07-24: Earliest visible upstream release, a Windows build tagged 20200724.
- 2021-12-23: A Windows release notes FFmpeg 4.4.1 shared libraries and AV1 support.
- 2025-12-13: Release notes describe CI builds via GitHub Actions for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- 2026-05-02: Release 20260502 adds fullscreen switching, display-mode cycling, aspect-view controls, and deterministic paused frame stepping.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/pixop/video-compare>
- <https://github.com/pixop/video-compare/releases/tag/20200724>
- <https://github.com/pixop/video-compare/releases/tag/20211223>
- <https://github.com/pixop/video-compare/releases/tag/20251213>
- <https://github.com/pixop/video-compare/releases/tag/20260502>


## Security Notes

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

- **Geiger risk:** blue / medium
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - video-compare: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/vi/video-compare/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- MacPorts - video-compare: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: multimedia/video-compare/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Scoop - extras/video-compare: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/video-compare.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Extras/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/video-compare.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/video-compare.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph