head to head · open source
Kodi vs ffmpeg-webCLI
Kodi has 21,422 GitHub stars, 6,655 forks, 466 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ffmpeg-webCLI has 1,465 stars, 143 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Kodi leads on adoption by 1,362% (21,422 vs 1,465 stars). Kodi is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; ffmpeg-webCLI is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. Kodi has attracted 31% as many forks as stars, ffmpeg-webCLI 10%. Kodi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Kodi | ffmpeg-webCLI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 143 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kodi if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ffmpeg-webCLI if
- You want the ffmpeg-webCLI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and ffmpeg-webCLI fits your workflow better
About Kodi
website • docs • community • add ons Welcome to Kodi Home Theater Software! Kodi is an award winning free and open source software media player and entertainment hub for digital media. Available as a native application for Android, Linux, BSD, macOS, iOS, tvOS and Windows operating systems , Kodi runs on most common processor architectures. Created in 2003 by a group of like minded programmers, Kodi is a non profit project run by the XBMC Foundation and developed by volunteers located around the world. More than 500 software developers have contributed to Kodi to date, and 100 plus translators have worked to…
About ffmpeg-webCLI
ffmpeg webCLI A browser based video editor powered by ffmpeg.wasm. No uploads, no servers all processing happens locally in your browser using WebAssembly. ▶ Live app: Paper This tool is a reference implementation of the Web CLI architecture, described in: The Web CLI: Verifiable Privacy for Tools, Models, and Inference Engines in the Browser Tejaswi Gowda, Arizona State University. arXiv: The paper defines the four properties (fidelity, progressive disclosure, offline first, zero egress), presents four reference implementations, and argues that for sensitive data, client side should be the default architecture…
read the full ffmpeg-webCLI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kodi or ffmpeg-webCLI more popular?
Kodi has 21,422 GitHub stars and ffmpeg-webCLI has 1,465. Kodi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kodi and ffmpeg-webCLI free?
Both are open source. Kodi has no licence declared in this registry, and ffmpeg-webCLI is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Kodi and ffmpeg-webCLI?
Kodi is written in C++ and ffmpeg-webCLI in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Kodi or ffmpeg-webCLI?
Choose Kodi if you want the larger community (21,422 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ffmpeg-webCLI if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.