# Install zvbi with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) decoding library. Version 0.2.44 via Homebrew; verified 2026-04-20. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:zvbi ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install zvbi ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install zvbi ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: multimedia/zvbi/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add libzvbi ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libzvbi from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install libzvbi-common ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: libzvbi-common from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install zvbi ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: zvbi from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#zvbi ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/zv/zvbi/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S zvbi ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: zvbi from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install libzvbi-chains0 ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libzvbi-chains0 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:zvbi - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 0.2.44 - **Source summary:** Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) decoding library - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** GPL-2.0-or-later - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-04-20T08:48:40-04:00 - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - zvbi-atsc-cc (cli) - zvbi-chains (cli) - zvbi-ntsc-cc (cli) - zvbid (cli) - zvbi-atsc-cc (alias) - zvbi-chains (alias) - zvbi-ntsc-cc (alias) - zvbid (alias) ## Dependencies - gettext - libpng ## Build dependencies - autoconf - automake - gettext - libtool - pkgconf ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 0.2.44 - Package-manager updated: 2026-04-20 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Upstream latest detected: v0.2.44 (current) ## Project history and usage ZVBI is the Zapping VBI library, a C library and utility suite for capturing and decoding vertical blanking interval data such as teletext and closed captions from analog and digital TV capture devices. ### Project history ZVBI grew out of the Zapping TV viewer and earlier teletext work, with copyright history going back to 2000 and an original basis in AleVT. Michael H. Schimek maintained the earlier SourceForge-era library; current development moved to GitHub in September 2022 under zapping-vbi. ### Adoption history The library became infrastructure for media applications that needed VBI rather than a UI: it exposes capture, bit slicing, teletext caching, caption decoding, export, and rendering primitives. It also accumulated language bindings, notably Perl and Python interfaces, which kept the old broadcast-data toolkit usable from scripts and archival workflows. ### How it is used ZVBI reads raw or sliced VBI data from Linux V4L/V4L2, Linux DVB, FreeBSD BKTR, or the zvbid proxy, then decodes services such as Teletext, VPS/WSS/XDS, and NTSC/PAL closed captions. The bundled command-line tools cover proxying VBI devices, capturing ATSC or NTSC captions, and forcing applications through the VBI proxy. ### Why package nerds care ZVBI is a classic distro-library package: unglamorous, old, hardware-adjacent, and essential when someone needs to recover captions or teletext from real broadcast sources. Its significance is that it preserves knowledge of television side-channel data formats that most modern media stacks no longer expose directly. ### Timeline - 2000: Earliest copyright period for the Zapping VBI codebase. - 2000s: SourceForge-era ZVBI supports Zapping and standalone VBI applications. - 2022: The zvbi/libzvbi repository moves from SourceForge to GitHub for current development. - 2025: Recent releases continue from the GitHub repository. ### Related projects - Zapping: the TV viewer for which the library was originally written. - AleVT: earlier teletext software that ZVBI was originally based on. - Video::ZVBI and Python-ZVBI: language bindings around libzvbi. ### Sources - - - - ## Security Notes library-like package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - library-like package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** zvbi - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - libzvbi-common - 0.2.44-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libzvbi-common from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Vertical Blanking Interval decoder (VBI) - common files | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Debian apt - libzvbi-dev - 0.2.44-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libzvbi-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Vertical Blanking Interval decoder (VBI) - development files | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Debian apt - libzvbi-doc - 0.2.44-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libzvbi-doc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Vertical Blanking Interval decoder (VBI) - documentation files | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Debian apt - libzvbi0t64 - 0.2.44-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libzvbi0t64 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Vertical Blanking Interval decoder (VBI) - runtime files | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Debian apt - zvbi - 0.2.44-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: zvbi from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) utilities | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Nix - zvbi: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/zv/zvbi/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - libzvbi-common - 0.2.42-2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libzvbi-common from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Vertical Blanking Interval decoder (VBI) - common files | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Ubuntu apt - libzvbi-dev - 0.2.42-2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libzvbi-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Vertical Blanking Interval decoder (VBI) - development files | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Ubuntu apt - libzvbi-doc - 0.2.42-2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libzvbi-doc from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Vertical Blanking Interval decoder (VBI) - documentation files | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Ubuntu apt - libzvbi0t64 - 0.2.42-2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libzvbi0t64 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Vertical Blanking Interval decoder (VBI) - runtime files | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - Ubuntu apt - zvbi - 0.2.42-2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: zvbi from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) utilities | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - apk - libzvbi - 0.2.44-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libzvbi from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | VBI capture and decoding tools (libraries) | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - apk - libzvbi-dev - 0.2.44-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libzvbi-dev from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | VBI capture and decoding tools (development files) | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - apk - libzvbi-static - 0.2.44-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libzvbi-static from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | VBI capture and decoding tools (static library) | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - apk - zvbi - 0.2.44-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: zvbi from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | VBI capture and decoding tools | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi - apk - zvbi-doc - 0.2.44-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: zvbi-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | VBI capture and decoding tools (documentation) | https://github.com/zapping-vbi/zvbi ## Related links - [Source-control packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/source-control-tools/) - Belongs to a source-control command family. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Media and graphics packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/media-graphics-tools/) - Matched media, image, audio, video, or graphics metadata. - [gettext](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gettext/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libpng](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libpng/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [autoconf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/autoconf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [automake](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/automake/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libtool](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libtool/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [ffms2](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ffms2/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, library, media, video. - [libvmaf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libvmaf/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, library, media, video. - [libwebm](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libwebm/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, library, media, video. - [smpeg](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/smpeg/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, library, media, video. - [bento4](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/bento4/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, video. - [ccextractor](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ccextractor/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, video. - [dvanalyzer](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/dvanalyzer/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, video. - [dvr-scan](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/dvr-scan/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, video. - [ffmpegthumbnailer](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ffmpegthumbnailer/) - Both packages work with overlapping file formats or content types. Shared terms: cli, libpng, media, video. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/zvbi.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/zvbi.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph