View source for VLC HowTo/Transcode multiple videos

{{Howto|batch transcode or encode}}
{{Example code|l=GPL}}

== Idea ==
The idea is to use VLC to do some batch work to encode or [[transcode]] multiple files one after each other, without having to care about it. 

You may want to transcode all your videotheque to another format to play them on an [[iPod]], a [[Play on Zune|Zune]], a PS3 or an [[Play on Xbox|Xbox]].

== Codecs / Muxers ==
You have to choose the correct [[codec]]s for the device you want to transcode for.

We choose here [[H.264]] with [[AAC]] in a [[MPEG-TS|MPEG-2/TS]] muxer as an example.

== GUI ==
Batch convert is supported via the {{GUI}} in VLC 3.0.0

Otherwise, use command-line batch transcoding below.

== Command Lines ==
=== Windows ===
For example, to transcode a batch of m4a files (potentially in multiple subdirectories of a single common root directory) to mp3 files (512kb/s encoding with 44100 sampling frequency) you could use the following code in a Windows XP command prompt:
<syntaxhighlight lang="dos">
for %%a in (*.VOB) do "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc" -I dummy -vvv %%a --sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=1024,acodec=mp4a,ab=192,channels=2,deinterlace}:standard{access=file,mux=ts,dst=%%a.mpg} vlc://quit

@ECHO OFF
REM ########################################################################
REM # A Windows XP cmd.com script to batch convert m4a files to mp3.       #
REM #                                                                      #
REM # Copyright (C) 2008 Andrew Boden                                      #
REM # (boden@graduate.uwa.edu.au)                                          #
REM #                                                                      #
REM # This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify #
REM # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by #
REM # the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or    #
REM # (at your option) any later version.                                  # 
REM #                                                                      #
REM # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,      #
REM # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of       #
REM # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the        #
REM # GNU General Public License for more details.                         #
REM #                                                                      #
REM # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License    #
REM # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.#
REM #                                                                      #
REM # Version 1.0 (June 27th 2008)                                         #
REM # Uses VideoLAN VLC 0.8.6h (www.videolan.org)                          #
REM # Gracefully handles commas and apostrophes in file names.             #
REM # Not aware of any other characters needing graceful handling.         #
REM # 512kbps encoding with 44100 sampling.                                #
REM ########################################################################

FOR /R %%G IN (*.m4a) DO (CALL :SUB_VLC "%%G")
FOR /R %%G IN (*.m4a.mp*) DO (CALL :SUB_RENAME "%%G")
GOTO :eof

:SUB_VLC
 SET _firstbit=%1
 SET _qt="
 CALL SET _newnm=%%_firstbit:%_qt%=%%
 SET _commanm=%_newnm:,=_COMMA_%
 REM echo %_commanm%
 CALL "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc" -I dummy -vvv %1 --sout=#transcode{acodec="mpga",ab="512","channels=2",samplerate="44100"}:standard{access="file",mux="mpeg1",dst="%_commanm%.mp3"} vlc://quit
GOTO :eof

:SUB_RENAME
 SET _origfnm=%1
 SET _endbit=%_origfnm:*.m4a=%
 CALL SET _newfilenm=%%_origfnm:.m4a%_endbit%=.mp3%%
 SET _newfilenm=%_newfilenm:_COMMA_=,%
 COPY %1 %_newfilenm%
 DEL %1
GOTO :eof

:eof
</syntaxhighlight>

The same as above, for vlc >= 0.9:
<syntaxhighlight lang="dos">
@ECHO OFF
FOR /R %%G IN (*.m4a) DO (CALL :SUB_VLC "%%G")
FOR /R %%G IN (*.m4a.mp*) DO (CALL :SUB_RENAME "%%G")
GOTO :eof

:SUB_VLC
 SET _firstbit=%1
 SET _qt="
 CALL SET _newnm=%%_firstbit:%_qt%=%%
 SET _commanm=%_newnm:,=_COMMA_%
 REM echo %_commanm%
 CALL "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc" -I dummy -vvv %1 --sout=#transcode{acodec="mpga",ab="512","channels=2"}:standard{access="file",mux="raw",dst="%_commanm%.mp3"} vlc://quit
GOTO :eof

:SUB_RENAME
 SET _origfnm=%1
 SET _endbit=%_origfnm:*.m4a=%
 CALL SET _newfilenm=%%_origfnm:.m4a%_endbit%=.mp3%%
 SET _newfilenm=%_newfilenm:_COMMA_=,%
 COPY %1 %_newfilenm%
 DEL %1
GOTO :eof

:eof
</syntaxhighlight>

=== Windows 7 SendTo ===
This batch file allows to use the Windows SendTo context menu in Explorer.<br />
Copy the content in a file named MOV_to_MPG_Converter.bat and copy it to your SendTo directory (CMD SHELL:sendto)
<syntaxhighlight lang="dos">

@ECHO OFF
rem ***********************************************************************
rem * MOV to MPG batch converter. (2014-09-29 Sinx)                       *
rem *                                                                     *
rem * For installation just copy batch file to SendTo directory.          *
rem * On Win8 execute "SHELL:sendto" to go to Sendto folder.              *
rem *                                                                     *
rem * I got quite good compression rations with these parameters:         *
rem * vcodec=h264      codec used                                         *
rem * vb=10000         video bandwidth                                    *
rem * deinterlace=1    rebuild full pictures from keyframes and diffs.    *
rem * acodec=mp3       audio codec                                        *
rem * ab=128           128kbps mp3 quality                                *
rem * channels=2       stereo                                             *
rem *                                                                     *
rem * for parameters see                                                  *
rem * http://www.videolan.org/doc/vlc-user-guide/de/ch04.html             *
rem ***********************************************************************
echo **********************************************************************
echo MOV to MPG VLC batch converter called: %0 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8
echo **********************************************************************
echo.
echo For installation, just copy batch file to SendTo folder..
echo.

SET _new_extention=mpg

:start
if "%~1"=="" (call goto :the_end)
CALL :SUB_CONVERT %1
SHIFT
goto :start


:SUB_CONVERT
SET _orig_path=%~1
rem SET _orig_extention=%_orig_filename:*.=%
echo %_orig_path%
SET _orig_extention=%_orig_path:*.=%
CALL SET _new_path=%%_orig_path%:.%_orig_extention%=.%_new_extention%%%
set _new_path="%_new_path%"
echo.
echo Converting %1 ======TO===== %_new_path% ...
echo.

if exist "%ProgramFiles%\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" (
SET _vlc_path="%ProgramFiles%\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc"
) else (
SET _vlc_path="%ProgramFiles(x86)%\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc"
)

CALL %_vlc_path% -I dummy -vvv %1 --sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=10000,deinterlace=1,acodec=mp3,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:standard{access=file,mux=ts,dst=%_new_path%} vlc://quit
GOTO :eof

:the_end
echo **********************************************************************
echo * FINISHED                                                           *
echo **********************************************************************
pause
</syntaxhighlight>

=== Powershell ===
<syntaxhighlight lang="powershell">    
$outputExtension = ".mp3"
$bitrate = 160
$channels = 2

foreach($inputFile in get-childitem -recurse -Filter *.wav)
{ 
  $outputFileName = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($inputFile.FullName) + $outputExtension;
  $outputFileName = [System.IO.Path]::Combine($inputFile.DirectoryName, $outputFileName);
  
  $programFiles = ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)};
  if($programFiles -eq $null) { $programFiles = $env:ProgramFiles; }
  
  $processName = $programFiles + "\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe"
  $processArgs = "-I dummy -vvv `"$($inputFile.FullName)`" --sout=#transcode{acodec=`"mp3`",ab=`"$bitrate`",`"channels=$channels`"}:standard{access=`"file`",mux=`"wav`",dst=`"$outputFileName`"} vlc://quit"
  
  start-process $processName $processArgs -wait
}
</syntaxhighlight>
    
=== Unix / Linux ===
Transcodes all files in current directory (except hidden files), saving with suffix <code>.transcoded</code>.

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
#!/bin/sh                                                                                                                                                     
######################## Transcode the files using ... ########################
vcodec="mp4v"
acodec="mp4a"
vb="1024"
ab="128"
mux="mp4"
###############################################################################

# Store path to VLC in $vlc
if command -pv vlc >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    # Linux should find "vlc" when searching PATH
    vlc="vlc"
else
    # macOS seems to need an alias
    vlc="/Applications/Utilities/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC"
fi
# Sanity check
if ! command -pv "$vlc" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    printf '%s\n' "Cannot find path to VLC. Abort." >&2
    exit 1
fi

for filename in *; do
    printf '%s\n' "=> Transcoding '$filename'... "
    "$vlc" -I dummy -q "$filename" \
       --sout '#transcode{vcodec="$vcodec",vb="$vb",acodec="$acodec",ab="$ab"}:standard{mux="$mux",dst="$filename.transcoded",access=file}' \
       vlc://quit
    ls -lh "$filename" "$filename.transcoded"
    printf '\n'
done
</syntaxhighlight>

The wildcard <code>*.transcoded</code> will select all of the transcoded files for group operations.

To move files:
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
mv *.transcoded <directory>
</syntaxhighlight>
To remove all filename extensions (including <code>.transcoded</code>):
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
for filename in *.transcoded; do mv "$filename" "${filename%%.*}"; done
</syntaxhighlight>
To remove all filename extensions and replace with another (e.g. <code>.mp3</code>):
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
for filename in *.transcoded; do mv "$filename" "${filename%%.*}.mp3"; done
</syntaxhighlight>