A script that will convert a variety of video formats to HVEC MKV files. Call the script with a trailing directory path and it will process the items in that location.
Process
When processing files, the changes are written to a temp file. Upon success, the original file is removed and replaced with the updated .mkv version.
The script will pause if another instances of itself is running. If the script pauses, the script is probably running from another call. It will wait until that completes before processing files. This is for automations where the script may be called multiple times from another script or binary and will keep the processor from getting overwhlmed with conversions.
Generally, if it is a video file and supported by ffmpeg a conversion will be attempted. Known formats/file types I've encountered so far that were successful: 3gp asf avc avi flv h264 mkv m4v mov mp4 mpg mpeg webm wmv
When complete it will give a summary of its work.
📋 Totals:
- ✅ Converted successfully: 8
- 🔁 Skipped (already HEVC): 136
- ❌ Failed conversions: 0
- 📈 Increased file size: 0
- 💾 Total space saved: 1.45 GB
*Requires ffmpeg.
Note: as of version 1.5.2 onward, the script now skips files encoded with AV1 since it is a superior compression format. Most devices since 2020 support this newer codec.