diff --git a/README.rdoc b/README.rdoc
index 7a7d14af..d45c0c57 100644
--- a/README.rdoc
+++ b/README.rdoc
@@ -94,6 +94,14 @@ Use ffpreset files to avoid headaches when encoding with libx264 (http://www.ffm
   options = {:video_codec => "libx264", :video_preset => "medium"} # audio_preset and file_preset also availible
   movie.transcode("movie.mp4", options) # encodes video using libx264-medium.ffpreset
 
+== Specify the path to ffmpeg
+
+By default, streamio assumes that the ffmpeg binary is available in the execution path and named ffmpeg and so will run commands that look something like "ffmpeg -i /path/to/input.file ...". Use the FFMPEG.ffmpeg_binary setter to specify the full path to the binary if necessary:
+
+  FFMPEG.ffmpeg_binary = '/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg'
+
+This will cause the same command to run as "/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg -i /path/to/input.file ..." instead.
+
 == Copyright
 
 Copyright (c) 2010 Streamio Networks AB. See LICENSE for details.
diff --git a/lib/ffmpeg/movie.rb b/lib/ffmpeg/movie.rb
index bc2a7f7f..061e5a56 100644
--- a/lib/ffmpeg/movie.rb
+++ b/lib/ffmpeg/movie.rb
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ def initialize(path)
       
       @path = escape(path)
 
-      stdin, stdout, stderr = Open3.popen3("ffmpeg -i '#{path}'") # Output will land in stderr
+      stdin, stdout, stderr = Open3.popen3("#{FFMPEG.ffmpeg_binary} -i '#{path}'") # Output will land in stderr
       output = stderr.read
       
       fix_encoding(output)
diff --git a/lib/ffmpeg/transcoder.rb b/lib/ffmpeg/transcoder.rb
index 28aed621..89d5e1e0 100644
--- a/lib/ffmpeg/transcoder.rb
+++ b/lib/ffmpeg/transcoder.rb
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def initialize(movie, output_file, options = EncodingOptions.new, transcoder_opt
     # ffmpeg <  0.8: frame=  413 fps= 48 q=31.0 size=    2139kB time=16.52 bitrate=1060.6kbits/s
     # ffmpeg >= 0.8: frame= 4855 fps= 46 q=31.0 size=   45306kB time=00:02:42.28 bitrate=2287.0kbits/
     def run
-      command = "ffmpeg -y -i '#{@movie.path}' #{@raw_options} '#{@output_file}'"
+      command = "#{FFMPEG.ffmpeg_binary} -y -i '#{@movie.path}' #{@raw_options} '#{@output_file}'"
       FFMPEG.logger.info("Running transcoding...\n#{command}\n")
       output = ""
       last_output = nil
diff --git a/lib/streamio-ffmpeg.rb b/lib/streamio-ffmpeg.rb
index 7084e464..1892c5b7 100644
--- a/lib/streamio-ffmpeg.rb
+++ b/lib/streamio-ffmpeg.rb
@@ -27,4 +27,20 @@ def self.logger
     logger.level = Logger::INFO
     @logger = logger
   end
+
+  # Set the path of the ffmpeg binary.
+  # Can be useful if you need to specify a path such as /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg
+  #
+  # @param [String] path to the ffmpeg binary
+  # @return [String] the path you set
+  def self.ffmpeg_binary=(bin)
+    @ffmpeg_binary = bin
+  end
+
+  # Get the path to the ffmpeg binary, defaulting to 'ffmpeg'
+  #
+  # @return [String] the path to the ffmpeg binary
+  def self.ffmpeg_binary
+    @ffmpeg_binary.nil? ? 'ffmpeg' : @ffmpeg_binary
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/streamio-ffmpeg_spec.rb b/spec/streamio-ffmpeg_spec.rb
index 2e423d50..86b65a6e 100644
--- a/spec/streamio-ffmpeg_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/streamio-ffmpeg_spec.rb
@@ -21,4 +21,20 @@
       FFMPEG.logger.should == new_logger
     end
   end
+
+  describe "ffmpeg_binary" do
+    after(:each) do
+      FFMPEG.ffmpeg_binary = nil
+    end
+
+    it "should default to 'ffmpeg'" do
+      FFMPEG.ffmpeg_binary.should == 'ffmpeg'
+    end
+
+    it "should be assignable" do
+      new_binary = '/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg'
+      FFMPEG.ffmpeg_binary = new_binary
+      FFMPEG.ffmpeg_binary.should == new_binary
+    end
+  end
 end
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