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[Bug]: #771

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[Bug]:#771
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thcp
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bugSomething isn't working

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@mblaustein-create
mblaustein-create
opened on Oct 5, 2026

Before reporting

  • I'm on the latest release and the issue still happens.
  • I searched existing issues and didn't find a duplicate.

What happened?

I just updated to the newest StemDeck for Mac (Silicon) and when it tries to load at the start, it keeps saying that the wrong version of ffmpeg is in the stemdesk application support folder. I have ffmpeg installed on the machine already (via brew) so I dont know why it insists on installing a new one, but whatever. It keeps installing the Intel version.

  • I have deleted the stemdeck/ffmpeg folder then restarted
    -I tried putting my own ffmpeg and ffprobe into the Stemdeck/ffmpeg folder, and it overwrote them with the intel ones.
  • I recopied my good versions and locked the files and it crashed because it couldn't update ffmpeg.
  • I zipped and renamed those files into the download folder, and it just overwrote those as well.
  • I added the STEMDECK_FFMPEG_URL constant to my ~.zshrc file pointing to a known good version.

Nothing I can do seems to let Stemdeck start. Am I missing something? I'm not about to install rosetta for this, as that's just silly. This is the specific error I get:

failed to run FFmpeg at /Users/mike/Library/Application Support/StemDeck/ffmpeg/ffmpeg: failed to start FFmpeg check: Bad CPU type in executable (os error 86)

→ The FFmpeg that was downloaded is built for a different kind of Mac than yours, so it cannot run. This happens when the Apple Silicon download source is unreachable and StemDeck falls back to an Intel-only build. Two ways out: install Rosetta with "softwareupdate --install-rosetta" in Terminal, which lets Intel builds run, or point StemDeck at a matching build by setting the STEMDECK_FFMPEG_URL environment variable before launching. Deleting the ffmpeg folder in StemDeck's data directory before retrying lets it fetch a fresh copy.

Steps to reproduce

  1. open Stemdeck
  2. Watch as it fails to open

Operating system

macOS (Apple Silicon)

StemDeck version

0.20.0

How did you install it?

macOS DMG

Logs / screenshots

failed to run FFmpeg at /Users/mike/Library/Application Support/StemDeck/ffmpeg/ffmpeg: failed to start FFmpeg check: Bad CPU type in executable (os error 86)

→ The FFmpeg that was downloaded is built for a different kind of Mac than yours, so it cannot run. This happens when the Apple Silicon download source is unreachable and StemDeck falls back to an Intel-only build. Two ways out: install Rosetta with "softwareupdate --install-rosetta" in Terminal, which lets Intel builds run, or point StemDeck at a matching build by setting the STEMDECK_FFMPEG_URL environment variable before launching. Deleting the ffmpeg folder in StemDeck's data directory before retrying lets it fetch a fresh copy.

Activity

  1. mblaustein-create
    added
    bugSomething isn't working
    on Oct 5, 2026
  2. thcp
    self-assigned this
    on Oct 6, 2026

  3. thcp commented on Oct 8, 2026

    @thcp
    thcp
    on Oct 8, 2026
    Collaborator

    Thanks for the details, and for trying your own ffmpeg. I understand how frustrating it is when the app keeps putting the wrong version back. I will look into this for the next release.

  4. pringithub commented on Oct 13, 2026

    @pringithub
    pringithub
    on Oct 13, 2026

    Same (or potentially similar) issue here on an M4 Air

    Could not download FFmpeg from either source.
Primary: FFmpeg at /Users/xxxxx/Library/Application Support/StemDeck/ffmpeg/ffmpeg is missing required encoder(s): libvorbis
Fallback: Could not reach the download server for FFmpeg. Check your internet connection and try again. (% Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed

  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0
100   353  100   353    0     0    801      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--   800

  0    21    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0
curl: (22) The requested URL returned error: 429)

→ If this keeps failing, your network or firewall may be blocking the FFmpeg download server. You can point StemDeck at a different FFmpeg build by setting the STEMDECK_FFMPEG_URL environment variable before launching, then retrying.

  5. pringithub commented on Oct 13, 2026

    @pringithub
    pringithub
    on Oct 13, 2026

    v0.19.1 is also broken, but v0.16.1 works.
    I didn't bother to check all of them in between to see where it breaks, sorry :)

  6. thcp
    added a commit that references this issue on Oct 19, 2026

    fix(desktop): never install an Intel FFmpeg on Apple Silicon, and pre…

    cac7a19

  7. thcp commented on Oct 19, 2026

    @thcp
    thcp
    on Oct 19, 2026
    Collaborator

    StemDeck first downloads an Apple Silicon build of ffmpeg. That build is missing an audio encoder the app needs (libvorbis), so StemDeck rejected it and fell back to an Intel-only build. That is the "Bad CPU type" error, and it is why your own copy kept getting replaced.

    Fixed in 0.21.0. On Apple Silicon StemDeck no longer installs the Intel build when it cannot run. It uses an ffmpeg you already have if it passes the check, and it no longer overwrites a binary you placed in the folder. To prepare, brew install ffmpeg-full includes the encoder. The plain brew install ffmpeg does not.

    If it still fails on 0.21.0, open a new issue with the log and I will look. You can follow @stemdeckapp for release news.

  8. thcp
    closed this as completedon Oct 19, 2026

  9. mblaustein-create commented on Oct 20, 2026

    @mblaustein-create
    mblaustein-create
    on Oct 20, 2026
    Author
    Fixed in 0.21.0. On Apple Silicon StemDeck no longer installs the Intel build when it cannot run. It uses an ffmpeg you already have if it passes the check, and it no longer overwrites a binary you placed in the folder. To prepare, `brew install ffmpeg-full` includes the encoder. The plain `brew install ffmpeg` does not.

    Yep! It is working now. Thanks for the quick turnaround on that!

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