diff --git a/.devcontainer/post_create.sh b/.devcontainer/post_create.sh
index 9c5dec5bb..1a1832f3b 100755
--- a/.devcontainer/post_create.sh
+++ b/.devcontainer/post_create.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ curl -L https://api.github.com/meta | jq -r '.ssh_keys | .[]' | \
 sudo mkdir -p /media/frigate
 sudo chown -R "$(id -u):$(id -g)" /media/frigate
 
+# When started as a service, LIBAVFORMAT_VERSION_MAJOR is defined in the
+# s6 service file. For dev, where frigate is started from an interactive
+# shell, we define it in .bashrc instead.
+echo 'export LIBAVFORMAT_VERSION_MAJOR=$(ffmpeg -version | grep -Po "libavformat\W+\K\d+")' >> $HOME/.bashrc
+
 make version
 
 cd web
diff --git a/docker/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/frigate/run b/docker/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/frigate/run
index d46f3c856..f2cc40fcf 100755
--- a/docker/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/frigate/run
+++ b/docker/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/frigate/run
@@ -42,10 +42,9 @@ function migrate_db_path() {
     fi
 }
 
-LIBAVFORMAT_VERSION_MAJOR=$(ffmpeg -version | grep -Po 'libavformat\W+\K\d+') || echo "[ERROR] Failed to determine ffmpeg version"
-
 echo "[INFO] Preparing Frigate..."
 migrate_db_path
+export LIBAVFORMAT_VERSION_MAJOR=$(ffmpeg -version | grep -Po 'libavformat\W+\K\d+')
 
 echo "[INFO] Starting Frigate..."