Kdenlive/Manual/Useful Information/FAQ
What components does Kdenlive use?
In effect Kdenlive is frontend to melt - which uses the MLT video framework. The MLT video framework relies on the FFMPEG project. Kdenlive writes sh.mlt XML files that code the edit points and transitions and it then calls /usr/bin/kdenlive_render and /usr/bin/melt to render the video.