diff --git a/electron-builder.json5 b/electron-builder.json5
index b8e833c9c..11027e424 100644
--- a/electron-builder.json5
+++ b/electron-builder.json5
@@ -248,8 +248,9 @@
         // A single-level filter ships a helper that cannot start.
         //
         // The name is `helper-ffmpeg` rather than `ffmpeg` because that shorter
-        // name is taken: fetch-ffmpeg.mjs vendors the static ffmpeg executable
-        // there, and audioPeaks.ts resolves it by that path.
+        // name is taken: `linux-x64/ffmpeg` is the ffmpeg executable (the SDK's
+        // shared CLI, staged by build-linux-pipewire-helper.mjs with its RUNPATH
+        // on helper-ffmpeg/), and audioPeaks.ts resolves it by that path.
         "filter": ["linux-*/**"]
       }
     ]
diff --git a/electron/media/audioPeaks.test.ts b/electron/media/audioPeaks.test.ts
index 0376651c2..24891506c 100644
--- a/electron/media/audioPeaks.test.ts
+++ b/electron/media/audioPeaks.test.ts
@@ -118,6 +118,29 @@ describe("ffmpeg resolution", () => {
 		expect(isIncluded && !isExcluded).toBe(true);
 	});
 
+	it("on Linux, resolves the CLI the package ships beside helper-ffmpeg/", () => {
+		const platform = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(process, "platform")!;
+		const arch = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(process, "arch")!;
+		Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", { value: "linux" });
+		Object.defineProperty(process, "arch", { value: "x64" });
+		try {
+			// build-linux-pipewire-helper.mjs stages it at exactly this path; a rename on
+			// either side would ship a package whose transcription cannot start.
+			expect(ffmpegCandidates("/opt/app")).toContain(
+				path.join("/opt/app", "electron", "native", "bin", "linux-x64", "ffmpeg"),
+			);
+		} finally {
+			Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", platform);
+			Object.defineProperty(process, "arch", arch);
+		}
+		const linuxBlock = objectBody(
+			stripJson5Comments(readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, "electron-builder.json5"), "utf8")),
+			"linux",
+		);
+		// `linux-*/**` ships linux-x64/ffmpeg along with helper-ffmpeg/, which it links.
+		expect(linuxBlock).toMatch(/"filter"\s*:\s*\[\s*"linux-\*\/\*\*"\s*\]/);
+	});
+
 	it("honours the env override first", () => {
 		process.env.OPENSCREEN_FFMPEG_PATH = "/custom/ffmpeg";
 		try {
diff --git a/scripts/before-pack.cjs b/scripts/before-pack.cjs
index ea96e59c1..d4ecb5d48 100644
--- a/scripts/before-pack.cjs
+++ b/scripts/before-pack.cjs
@@ -191,6 +191,14 @@ const LINUX_REQUIRED = [
 		breaks: "Wayland capture is unavailable and cursor recording throws",
 		fix: FIX_LINUX_HELPER,
 	},
+	{
+		match: (name) => name === "ffmpeg",
+		what: "the LGPL ffmpeg CLI (spawned for waveform peaks and STT audio extraction)",
+		breaks:
+			"transcription fails over MCP and the CLI with stt:native-extraction-unavailable,\n" +
+			"and the editor falls back to a slow renderer decode",
+		fix: `${FIX_LINUX_HELPER}\n\nwhich stages the SDK's shared ffmpeg beside helper-ffmpeg/.`,
+	},
 	{
 		match: (name) => name === "whisper-stt-server",
 		what: "the whisper.cpp STT helper",
@@ -859,6 +867,7 @@ exports.__testing = {
 	checkMacOsVersionFloor,
 	MAC_MIN_OS_FLOOR,
 	MAC_REQUIRED,
+	LINUX_REQUIRED,
 	checkNativePayload,
 	checkWinShippedRedist,
 };
diff --git a/scripts/before-pack.test.mjs b/scripts/before-pack.test.mjs
index e39e9e041..b7df9a3bd 100644
--- a/scripts/before-pack.test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/before-pack.test.mjs
@@ -358,6 +358,39 @@ describe("MAC_REQUIRED", () => {
 	});
 });
 
+// The Linux twin of #616: packages shipped the libav shared objects but no ffmpeg CLI, so
+// transcription over MCP and the CLI failed with stt:native-extraction-unavailable.
+describe("LINUX_REQUIRED", () => {
+	it("refuses a payload that has everything except the ffmpeg binary", () => {
+		const { LINUX_REQUIRED, checkNativePayload } = testing();
+		const everything = [
+			"libonnxruntime.so",
+			"compositor_view.node",
+			"openscreen-pipewire-helper",
+			"whisper-stt-server",
+			"libggml-base.so",
+			...["avcodec", "avformat", "avutil", "swresample", "swscale", "avfilter"].map(
+				(lib, i) => `lib${lib}.so.${62 - i}`,
+			),
+		];
+		const check = (dir) =>
+			checkNativePayload({
+				dir,
+				required: LINUX_REQUIRED,
+				osLabel: "Linux",
+				bundleNoun: "the package",
+				emptyDirFix: "unused",
+			});
+		const payload = (names) => Object.fromEntries(names.map((n) => [n, Buffer.from("x")]));
+		withPayload(payload(everything), (dir) => {
+			expect(() => check(dir)).toThrow(/ffmpeg CLI/);
+		});
+		withPayload(payload([...everything, "ffmpeg"]), (dir) => {
+			expect(() => check(dir)).not.toThrow();
+		});
+	});
+});
+
 // The Windows counterpart. A synthetic PE32+ carrying only what importedDlls() reads: the
 // COFF machine, one section, and an import directory naming `imports`. The tests run on
 // the Linux CI, where no real Windows binary exists to point the guard at.
diff --git a/scripts/build-linux-pipewire-helper.mjs b/scripts/build-linux-pipewire-helper.mjs
index b6928c3a8..32a20be28 100644
--- a/scripts/build-linux-pipewire-helper.mjs
+++ b/scripts/build-linux-pipewire-helper.mjs
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ for (const dir of [outDir, devDir]) {
 	console.log(`Copied ${dest}`);
 	stageFfmpeg(dir);
 }
+stageFfmpegCli(outDir);
 
 /**
  * Copies the vendored ffmpeg shared libraries into `<dir>/helper-ffmpeg/`.
@@ -140,10 +141,10 @@ function stageFfmpeg(dir) {
 
 	const target = path.join(dir, "helper-ffmpeg");
 	fs.mkdirSync(target, { recursive: true });
-	// Only the sonames the helper actually links, and only the real files —
-	// the tree also holds unversioned `.so` symlinks that the loader never
-	// consults at runtime.
-	const wanted = /^lib(avcodec|avformat|avutil|avfilter|swscale|swresample)\.so\.\d+$/;
+	// Only the sonames the helper and the ffmpeg CLI (stageFfmpegCli) link, and
+	// only the real files — the tree also holds unversioned `.so` symlinks that
+	// the loader never consults at runtime. libavdevice is the CLI's alone.
+	const wanted = /^lib(avcodec|avformat|avutil|avfilter|avdevice|swscale|swresample)\.so\.\d+$/;
 	let copied = 0;
 	for (const entry of fs.readdirSync(source)) {
 		if (!wanted.test(entry)) {
@@ -161,6 +162,62 @@ function stageFfmpeg(dir) {
 	console.log(`Staged ${copied} ffmpeg libraries into ${target}`);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Stages the SDK's shared ffmpeg CLI as `<dir>/ffmpeg`, the path resolveFfmpeg()
+ * (electron/media/audioPeaks.ts) looks up, running against the libraries in
+ * `<dir>/helper-ffmpeg/`.
+ *
+ * WHY. Native STT audio extraction (electron/stt/extractAudio.ts), waveform peaks
+ * and extension clips all spawn this CLI. Without it a Linux package transcribes
+ * nothing over MCP or the CLI: extraction throws FfmpegUnavailableError and the
+ * renderer fallback cannot read the file outside the editor. Windows ships
+ * `ffmpeg-shared.exe` beside its DLLs and macOS stages the SDK's CLI beside its
+ * dylibs; this is the same shape. It is the shared CLI (~0.5 MB) linking the
+ * unrenamed set the helper already ships, not the 110 MB static build.
+ *
+ * BtbN's binary carries a broken RPATH (`-Wl:../lib`), so it cannot find its
+ * libraries anywhere; patchelf points it at `$ORIGIN/helper-ffmpeg`, the same
+ * RUNPATH the helper uses. The `-version` probe fails the build if it still
+ * cannot start.
+ */
+function stageFfmpegCli(dir) {
+	const source = path.join(
+		root,
+		"crates",
+		"thirdparty",
+		"ffmpeg-linux64-lgpl-shared",
+		"bin",
+		"ffmpeg",
+	);
+	if (!fs.existsSync(source)) {
+		console.warn(
+			`Vendored ffmpeg CLI not found at ${source}; native transcription needs OPENSCREEN_FFMPEG_PATH.`,
+		);
+		return;
+	}
+	const dest = path.join(dir, "ffmpeg");
+	fs.rmSync(dest, { recursive: true, force: true });
+	fs.copyFileSync(source, dest);
+	fs.chmodSync(dest, 0o755);
+	// ~/.local/bin first, like build-linux-compositor-addon.mjs: CI installs 0.18 there.
+	const localPatchelf = path.join(process.env.HOME ?? "", ".local", "bin", "patchelf");
+	const patchelf =
+		process.env.PATCHELF ?? (fs.existsSync(localPatchelf) ? localPatchelf : "patchelf");
+	const patched = spawnSync(patchelf, ["--set-rpath", "$ORIGIN/helper-ffmpeg", dest], {
+		encoding: "utf8",
+	});
+	if (patched.status !== 0) {
+		throw new Error(
+			`patchelf --set-rpath failed on ${dest}: ${patched.error?.message ?? patched.stderr}`,
+		);
+	}
+	const probe = spawnSync(dest, ["-hide_banner", "-version"], { encoding: "utf8" });
+	if (probe.status !== 0) {
+		throw new Error(`Staged ffmpeg CLI cannot start: ${probe.error?.message ?? probe.stderr}`);
+	}
+	console.log(`Staged ${dest}: ${probe.stdout.split("\n")[0]}`);
+}
+
 // A helper that cannot dlopen libpipewire is useless, and the failure is
 // otherwise invisible until someone records. `probeOnly` runs the whole
 // non-interactive path — dlopen, D-Bus, AvailableCursorModes — and stops short
diff --git a/scripts/fetch-ffmpeg.mjs b/scripts/fetch-ffmpeg.mjs
index 222485d97..ef61d3412 100644
--- a/scripts/fetch-ffmpeg.mjs
+++ b/scripts/fetch-ffmpeg.mjs
@@ -559,15 +559,14 @@ async function main() {
 	// one clobbered the other (`EEXIST: mkdir .../linux-x64/ffmpeg`). That conflict
 	// is gone — the helper's libraries live in `helper-ffmpeg/` now — so this flag
 	// no longer avoids a collision. What is left is a size argument: the static CLI
-	// is ~110 MB, `linux.extraResources` has no exclusion for it (unlike Windows'
-	// "!win32-*/ffmpeg.exe"), and Linux packages have shipped without it since
-	// v1.7.0.
+	// is ~110 MB and `linux.extraResources` has no exclusion for it (unlike Windows'
+	// "!win32-*/ffmpeg.exe").
 	//
-	// One caveat if that is ever revisited: the app is NOT entirely done with the
-	// CLI, contrary to assertLgpl's note below. electron/media/audioPeaks.ts spawns
-	// it to decode waveform peaks ~6x faster than the renderer can, and falls back
-	// to the browser pipelines when it is absent — so on Linux that fallback is
-	// always the one taken. Degraded, cached after the first decode, not broken.
+	// The app still needs A CLI, contrary to assertLgpl's note below: waveform peaks
+	// and native STT audio extraction spawn one. Linux packages ship the SHARED
+	// build's CLI instead (~0.5 MB, out of the SDK this flag vendors), staged at
+	// `<binDir>/ffmpeg` by build-linux-pipewire-helper.mjs beside the libraries it
+	// links. If this flag is dropped, that staged file is overwritten by the static one.
 	if (process.argv.includes("--sdk-only")) {
 		console.log(`Skipping the standalone ffmpeg CLI (--sdk-only).`);
 		await fetchSharedDlls(tag, binDir);