Open-source infrastructure projects (FFmpeg, VLC) are maintained by extremely small core teams of 5–15 people despite powering global media pipelines.
The case
The core community of FFmpeg is 10-15 people.
“The core community of VLC is five people. The core community of FFmpeg is ten to fifteen, and we are the ones who are going to maintain your code.”Jean-Baptiste Kempf · 6 May 2026
Topics
Citation Bureau · compiled from attributed public discussion. Last updated 2026-06-29.