How to Check Installed libvpx Version

To find the version number of the installed libvpx library on your system, you can use several quick command-line methods depending on your operating system and development environment. This article guides you through retrieving the version of this WebM VP8/VP9 video codec library using pkg-config, system package managers, and direct file inspection.

If you have the development files for libvpx installed, pkg-config is the fastest and most reliable way to query the exact version number. Run the following command in your terminal:

pkg-config --modversion vpx

This will output the version number directly (for example, 1.13.0).

Method 2: Using Package Managers

If you installed libvpx via a system package manager, you can query the manager to find the installed version.

On Ubuntu / Debian:

Use dpkg to search for installed libvpx packages:

dpkg -l | grep libvpx

Alternatively, you can get detailed information about the package:

apt show libvpx-dev

On Fedora / Red Hat / CentOS:

Query the RPM database:

rpm -qi libvpx

On macOS (using Homebrew):

If you installed the library using Homebrew, run:

brew info libvpx

Method 3: Checking the Shared Library Files

If you do not have package managers or pkg-config available, you can inspect the shared library filenames in your system’s library directories. The version number is often appended to the file name.

Run the following command to search for libvpx files in common library directories:

find /usr/lib /usr/local/lib /lib -name "libvpx.so*" -o -name "libvpx.dylib*" 2>/dev/null

This will return paths such as /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libvpx.so.7.1.0, where 7.1.0 indicates the library’s internal release version.