Skip to content

Your first encode

This walks through one file, start to finish. It assumes FFmpeg is installed and detected - check Help ▸ Copy diagnostics if you are not sure.

The window

The window is two areas split horizontally, with the queue below them:

  • Inputs on the left - the files you have added and their probe status.
  • Encoding configuration on the right, with three tabs: General, Options, and Output.
  • Encoding queue underneath, with its own toolbar and Selected job / Session log tabs. Toggle it with F9.

1. Add an input

Drag files onto the window, press Ctrl+O, or use Add files….

Each file is probed in the background with ffprobe and MediaInfo. Probing is bounded, so adding a large batch will not lock up the interface. A file that fails to probe stays in the list with its error rather than disappearing.

2. Pick the audio stream

General ▸ Audio stream lists every audio stream the probe found, with its codec, channel layout, and language. Multi-track files start on the first stream; pick the one you actually want.

The eye button beside the list opens Inspect stream for the full probe detail, and the same action is on the input list's right-click menu.

3. Choose an encoder

General ▸ Encoder groups the sixteen adapters into FFmpeg built-in, Standalone encoders, and DeeZy (Dolby professional). Encoders whose tools are missing - or that the configured FFmpeg build does not expose - are shown as unavailable.

Codec and Container update to match the encoder. Both are read-only: the adapter decides what it can produce. An encoder that can write more than one container (AAC, for instance, writing either .m4a or .aac) lets you choose between them.

4. Set the audio controls

Still on General:

Control Range Notes
Sample rate Preserve, plus the rates the encoder accepts
Channel layout Preserve, plus the layouts the encoder accepts
Gain −30 to +30 dB, in 0.5 dB steps
Time modification Framerate conversions and speed multipliers 24 → 23.976, 23.976 → 25, 2x speed, and so on
Tempo 0.25× to 4× The ratio the conversion above fills in; editable directly
Audio delay Detected per track, editable Positive prepends silence, negative trims the start

The delay field fills in once the track is probed, and the line beneath it says where the value came from. See Audio controls for the detail.

Note

The DeeZy adapters disable sample rate, gain, and tempo, because preprocessing can discard the immersive metadata they depend on.

5. Set the encoder options

The Options tab is built from the selected encoder and titled after it - FFmpeg libopus options, DeeZy DDP options, and so on. Fields appear, disappear, and change their choices as you adjust related settings.

Every option, with its default and range, is in the encoder reference.

6. Choose the output

On the Output tab:

  • Output is generated from the input name and the encoder's container. Edit it, or use Browse…. A default output folder can be set in Settings.
  • Collision policy - Replace an existing file - is off by default. With it off, a generated name that already exists is numbered instead of overwritten.
  • Command preview shows the exact command that will run. It updates live, and is worth a glance before you queue a long job.

7. Queue and encode

The queue toolbar separates queueing from running:

Action Effect
Queue selected inputs Add to the queue without starting
Queue and start Add and begin immediately (Ctrl+Enter)
Start queue Run every queued job in order
Start selected Run only the selected queued jobs

The queue table shows State, Input, Encoder, Output, Progress, and Status. Progress is live, parsed from FFmpeg's own progress output or from DeeZy's staged percentages.

Jobs run one at a time. While one runs you can keep adding to the queue.

8. When it finishes

Select the job and read the Selected job tab for the command it ran and any error. Session log holds the running output for the session. The right-click menu on a job offers Open output folder, Copy command, and Copy error.

Output is written to a job-specific .part file and renamed into place only after the encoder exits successfully, so a crash or a cancellation never leaves a truncated file wearing the real name.

Next