Transcode

• About
• Installation
• Updating
• Requirements
• Usage
• Examples
• License

About

Transcode converts a whole directory of video files in one run from the command line. It wraps Lisa Melton’s Video Transcoding, which converts one file per invocation. Transcode applies that same workflow to every video in a directory with one command.

Transcode can:

• Convert an entire directory to .m4v in a single run.

• Select the main audio and burned-in subtitle stream for each file.

• Extract audio to .mp3.

• Scan files to list their available audio and subtitle streams.

• Print a summary table of the results.

It recognizes these input formats: avi, flv, m2ts, m4v, mkv, mp4, mpg, mpeg, mov, ts, webm, vob, and wmv.

Installation

Transcode ships as a Ruby gem and requires Ruby 3.2 or later. It runs on macOS, GNU/Linux, Windows, and any other system Ruby supports. See Installing Ruby if your platform lacks Ruby 3.2+.

Install with:

gem install transcode

Updating

Update with:

gem update transcode

Requirements

See Video Transcoding’s requirements for external dependencies.

Usage

transcode [options]
  -a, --act      Performs actual encoding.
  -u, --aud aud  Sets the audio stream numbers.
  -d, --dir dir  Sets the directory to transcode.
  -m, --mp3      Converts files to MP3.
  -o, --out out  Sets the output directory.
  -s, --sca      Scans files in the directory.
  -t, --sub sub  Sets the subtitle stream numbers.
  -i, --tit tit  Sets the title number.
  -v, --version  Shows the version.
  -w, --wid wid  Sets the output table width.

Transcode performs a dry run by default. It prints the commands it would run and a summary table without changing any files. Adding --act starts the encoding.

Without --dir and --out, Transcode reads from and writes to the current directory. The --aud and --sub options take comma-separated stream numbers: one value applies to every file, or each file takes its own value.

Examples

Scan the source directory to inspect the available audio and subtitle streams:

transcode --sca --dir [source]

Transcode three files from [source] to [destination] with the selected audio and subtitle streams. Add --act once the plan looks right:

transcode \
  --act \
  --aud 1,3,1 \
  --dir [source] \
  --out [destination] \
  --sub 2,1,3

Extract the audio of every file in the current directory to .mp3:

transcode --mp3 --act

License

transcode carries copyright by David Rabkin and ships under a Zero-Clause BSD license.