Batch video conversion from command line

Basically everything useful uses ffmpeg under the hood. So bash+ffmpeg is just fine. But tdarr exists too

I've been using a for loop with ffmpeg to convert to AV1

I start in the series root folder and it iterates through each seasons subfolder

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for f in ./**/*.mkv; do
      ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:v libsvtav1 -crf 0 "{f%.*}.av1.mkv"; done


  

Since I'm happy with the quality of everything so far, I've added this to the start to make it easier to delete the old files

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for f in ./**/*.mkv; do
      mv "$f" "${f%.*}.xyz.mkv"; done


  

And at the end I've added this to delete the old files

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for f in ./**/*.xyz.mkv; do
      rm " $f"; done

  

I'm pretty certain the two options I can think of are just front-ends for ffmpeg: Handbrake and Tdarr, Tdarr runs as a service and monitors your folder for things that don't match spec and then converts them, if you plan to continue acquiring ISOs.

I've heard that the size difference between 720p and 1080p for HEVC/h.265 is neglectable, so you should probably stick to 1080p for better quality.

But honestly I think what you want to do is neither worth the effort nor is the result very desirable.

You could probably use find and ffmpeg.

Use a python script. Use the subprocess function to run the ffmpeg command.

Alternatively you could look into av1-svt and av1an (!av1@lemmy.ml). But there are far more tools for x265

For batch converting ISOs to a specific resolution and format while preserving folder hierarchy on Linux, you can indeed use ffmpeg with a bash script. However, you might also consider using HandBrakeCLI, which is a command-line interface for HandBrake, a popular video transcoder.

Here's how you could use HandBrakeCLI to achieve your goal:

1. Install HandBrakeCLI if you haven't already:

 bash

    
sudo apt-get install handbrake-cli

  

2. Write a bash script to iterate through your directories, converting ISO files:

 bash

    
#!/bin/bash

# Set input and output directories
input_dir="/path/to/your/input/directory"
output_dir="/path/to/your/output/directory"

# Convert ISOs to 720p h.265
find "$input_dir" -name "*.iso" -type f | while read -r file; do
    output_file="${file%.iso}.mp4"
    handbrakecli --input "$file" --output "$output_dir/$output_file" --preset="Super HQ 720p30 Surround"
done

  

Adjust the preset according to your needs. You can check available presets with HandBrakeCLI --preset-list.

3. Make the script executable:

 bash

    
chmod +x convert_iso.sh

  

4. Run the script:

 bash

    
./convert_iso.sh

  

This script will convert all ISO files in the specified input directory to 720p h.265 MP4 files using HandBrakeCLI while preserving the folder hierarchy.

Usually it's not worth it. Redownload your videos in the desired size. Use radarr et al to manage it. There are People who are specialized on the task.only use raw material to encode. Reencoding makes quality worse. And time and effort isn't worth it.

It's much cheaper to buy more drives than to reencode a large library to av1 in order to save space.

I had the same need and didn’t want to read tooo much about ffmpeg and its options. I ended up using fastflix which uses ffmpeg under the hood with built in presets. Supports queues and lots of more stuff.

OK, I installed tdarr and... Well, not impressed. Quite messy, low quality UI and... Paid features. Meh

Tomorrow will try Unmanic, feels much more refined, I will see.

Nothing against "paid" in tdarr, just doesn't seems worthwhile given the low quality of the UI.

I am sure I am judging the book by the cover, but hey, even the Unmanic documentation feels better.

Use chatgpt to create a Python program that runs ffmpeg with your desired settings, and retains the folder structure. Important: use chatgpt 4, not 3