diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index f02b1a8d8..607b9bc22 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ jobs:
           # the name crates/oak-ffmpeg-link/build.rs invokes; nasm is what
           # vcpkg's ffmpeg port requires to build (same split as the other
           # platforms: FFmpeg libraries come from the vcpkg manifest).
-          brew install cmake pkg-config nasm
+          brew install cmake pkg-config nasm autoconf automake libtool
 
       # ------------------------------------------------------------------
       # vcpkg (manifest mode) + caches
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 1015c34d9..0d9843666 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2332,9 +2332,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "ffmpeg-next"
-version = "9.0.0"
+version = "8.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "6380599799e175191eb7ffe82c97f36a2a90a36cbc54c738a903e5287d7f516a"
+checksum = "f7c4bd5ab1ac61f29c634df1175d350ded29cf74c3c6d4f7030431a5ae3c7d5d"
 dependencies = [
  "bitflags 2.13.1",
  "ffmpeg-sys-next",
@@ -2343,9 +2343,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "ffmpeg-sys-next"
-version = "9.0.0"
+version = "8.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9b939bf79dd5949412a4b81cfe21a07f48ea21b47fcbb5f57816c8c2de5ae30b"
+checksum = "a314bc0e022a33a99567ed4bd2576bd58ffd8fcff7891c29194cfecc26a62547"
 dependencies = [
  "bindgen 0.72.1",
  "cc",
diff --git a/crates/oak-audio/Cargo.toml b/crates/oak-audio/Cargo.toml
index bfefebb88..7a4c70af9 100644
--- a/crates/oak-audio/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/oak-audio/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ oak-codec = { path = "../oak-codec" }
 # ffmpeg_bridge library existed only to absorb FFmpeg API churn; the Rust
 # crate calls ffmpeg-next directly (same as oakcodec). The oak-ffmpeg-link
 # dependency above emits the transitive link flags of the static FFmpeg.
-ffmpeg-next = "9"
+ffmpeg-next = "8"
 
 # ASIO is intentionally not enabled: the asio-sys crate needs the proprietary
 # Steinberg ASIO SDK at link time, which CI and most dev machines do not have.
diff --git a/crates/oak-codec/Cargo.toml b/crates/oak-codec/Cargo.toml
index 1ec8fa940..8edb1b4c9 100644
--- a/crates/oak-codec/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/oak-codec/Cargo.toml
@@ -25,6 +25,6 @@ oak-core = { path = "../oak-core" }
 # release/<crate-version>, and every such pairing is broken upstream
 # (9.0.0 -> FFmpeg 9.0 removed AVCodec fields; 8.1.0 -> FFmpeg 8.1 added
 # enum variants; 8.0.0 -> FFmpeg 8.0 renamed FF_PROFILE_*).
-ffmpeg-next = { version = "9.0", features = ["static"] }
+ffmpeg-next = { version = "8", features = ["static"] }
 # `std::error::Error` impls for the crate-internal error enum.
 thiserror = "2"
diff --git a/vcpkg.json b/vcpkg.json
index f6ba6f645..e199eeb86 100644
--- a/vcpkg.json
+++ b/vcpkg.json
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 	"overrides": [
 		{
 			"name": "ffmpeg",
-			"version": "9.0.1#1"
+			"version": "8.1.2#3"
 		}
 	]
 }