What's the best open source GUI to compress videos on linux?

federino@programming.dev to Open Source@lemmy.ml – 30 points –

I'd like to compress my videos without using the terminal, what is the best GUI today that can do this?

Is this kind of program popular on linux? I know that ffmpeg is very popular on the terminal

24

Handbrake is great.

Only downside is that they do not want to add features, simple stuff like replacing the audio. But otherwise yes, go to solution

They have their scope. It's a video transcoder. Programs are better suited to doing their job well rather than stretching themselves thin with loads of features.

Then why can we apply video filters etc. if it is only for transcoding? That is a really basic thing. Like no audio or pass through. You can also add subtitles. Why not audio?

I'm not a developer. Just explaining why projects keep within their scope and don't bloat their software with features, which in turn take more effort to maintain.

I know, all good, that is just such an odd choice.

Handbrake is great. But I would also recommend using Kdenlive. It is a video editor but if you just open your video in it and just export the project, you will get some good output format options.

When I realized I could just make high quality GIFs with KDEnlive it was a game changer.

How is your experience with exporting GIFs in terms of file size? They tend to run larger than, say, mp4 files, right?

I use Shotcut btw.

GIFs exported in the original file resolution are usually pretty damn big, but I don't like giant GIFs myself, so I've found the 480x270 to be a good size to keep most of them below 25 megabytes.

I recommend using WebM container with VP9 codec instead of GIF if you are exporting it for web. It even supports alpha.

Handbrake is good for a few files, but I still prefer ffmpeg when doing a large batch.

You can batch processes in handbrake.

Why? I have done ~100 files in one batch with no issue?

It's easier to type a command than it is to add files to Handbrake one at a time. I can also run multiple encodes simultaneously. It takes 2-4 to max out my CPU depending on the codec and resolution.

Why one at a time? Just load a folder and apply the same settings to all of them. If the settings are different per file.. not sure which method would be less annoying.

I use Shotcut for more or less any video operations that require re-encoding. It's great for basic editing but also simple transcoding jobs too