[DasIch]

libav has less features and is less secure. If they can't keep up with fixing security bugs, I can't help but wonder on how they fare on less important bugs, probably not that good either.

Given how there appear to be no problems adding new features to ffmpeg, any technical debt the project has incurred seems to be within manageable range.

It doesn't look at all, as if libav is better, by any reasonable metric.

[crystalgiver]

The nuance in "worse is better" is that it's about the approach, not the output. libav's approach is to focus on an elegant API and software architecture instead of focusing on development speed and features.

The output in the short term is that libav is riddled with bugs, the hope is that in the long term this will pay off. Unfortunately in the interim ffmpeg seems to have propelled ahead.

[DasIch]

If you re-design, refactor or rewrite your code to improve something but leave bugs behind in the process you are not improving anything, your just shoveling shit from one place to the other.