Loading manullay the binaries is working but, I would like it was automatic.

ctypes.CDLL('C:/Program Files/ffmpeg/bin/avcodec-60.dll')
ctypes.CDLL('C:/Program Files/ffmpeg/bin/avdevice-60.dll')
ctypes.CDLL('C:/Program Files/ffmpeg/bin/avfilter-9.dll')
ctypes.CDLL('C:/Program Files/ffmpeg/bin/avformat-60.dll')
ctypes.CDLL('C:/Program Files/ffmpeg/bin/avutil-58.dll')

I still don't know why it is not working without preloading libraries.

If I locate the libraries in the same folder of libtorio_ffmpeg6.pyd , they are detected while importing. That is, in Lib/site-packages/torio/lib

EDIT: I have been checking the internal code and in file torchaudio\_extension\__init__.py line 24 there is a code which is not being executed:

if os.name == "nt" and (3, 8) <= sys.version_info < (3, 9):
    _init_dll_path()

This code adds the paths from PATH environment variable to the DLL search path. However, I would like to know why it is only executed in Python 3.8 version.

Thank you.

Ran into this same unexpected behavior as well.

If _init_dll_path() is allowed to run it works as expected

Same problem here, struggling for hours. Win 11, Python 3.12.4, using pip, ffmpeg 6.1.2 with shared libraries, path OK, can run on CMD, restarted multiple times, etc... Using torchaudio==2.4.0+cu124 thou...

ctypes.CDLL workaround also did not work in my case. Only "soundfile" can be used.
Adding this to the code did not help either:

os.add_dll_directory("C:\\Programs\\ffmpeg-6.1\\bin\\")

PS: I'm trying to convert my code to use torch/torchaudio. Before torchaudio I've been using PyAV without any problems - using ffmpeg for a decade. torchaudio's ffmpeg documentation is also very cryptic. As far as I can see, torchaudio moved to ffmpeg as the main cross-platform library, but still too many problems.

Hi HarikalarKutusu, do you have all the required ffmpeg DLL files?

In my case I need all of these for ffmpeg to be detected, in addition to executing _init_dll_path from the file modified in torchaudio:

avcodec-60.dll
avdevice-60.dll
avfilter-9.dll
avformat-60.dll
avutil-58.dll
postproc-57.dll
swresample-4.dll
swscale-7.dll

Using the dlls from this ffmpeg shared build: https://github.com/GyanD/codexffmpeg/releases/tag/6.1.1

I used [ffmpeg-builds/win64-gpl-shared-6.1](https://github.com/users/BtbN/packages/container/package/ffmpeg-builds%2Fwin64-gpl-shared-6.1), the naming of the .dll files are the same (v6.1.2 but IMO should not effect this).

I did not update the _init_dll_path directly in tourchaudio distribution, but used os.add_dll_directory() in my code before calling any torch code. This is what it does if ran:

def _init_dll_path():
    # On Windows Python-3.8+ has `os.add_dll_directory` call,
    # which is called to configure dll search path.
    # To find cuda related dlls we need to make sure the
    # conda environment/bin path is configured Please take a look:
    # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59330863/cant-import-dll-module-in-python
    # Please note: if some path can't be added using add_dll_directory we simply ignore this path
    for path in os.environ.get("PATH", "").split(";"):
        if os.path.exists(path):
            try:
                os.add_dll_directory(path)
            except Exception:
                pass

Let me try the one from your link...
EDIT: No joy

Joy! I was wrong.
I imported the function and called it.

from torchaudio._extension.utils import _init_dll_path
...
def my_transcode_function():
    _init_dll_path()
   ...

Also changed the v3.8 limitation code to be safe.

# if os.name == "nt" and (3, 8) <= sys.version_info < (3, 9):
#     _init_dll_path()
if os.name == "nt" and (3, 8) <= sys.version_info < (3, 99):
    _init_dll_path()

It now works. Thank you for the guidance @chislonchow !