convopus

convopus is a Python CLI program for converting audio files and directories to opus — or MP3 — using ffmpeg.

Features

• Convert audio to Opus, or MP3 with --mp3
• Convert whole directories, with optional recursive folder scanning (-r)
• --out directory for converted files with mirrored folder structure
• Fast multiprocessing conversion (-m)
• Multiple input files / directories in a single run
• Customizable via config.json: bitrate, container, VBR, convertible file types, defaults for every flag
• Cross-platform: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android (via Termux)
• Live progress bars per file and for the whole run

Requirements

• ffmpeg installed and on your PATH
• Python 3.10+

Installation

pip install convopus

Or from source with uv:

git clone https://github.com/D221/convopus
cd convopus
uv tool install .

Usage

convopus -h                            # full help
convopus music/                        # convert a directory (originals are kept)
convopus -r music/                     # include subdirectories
convopus -r --out converted/ music/    # write results to converted/, originals untouched
convopus -dk album/                    # delete originals after converting
convopus -m -r biglibrary/             # convert in parallel
convopus --mp3 -k song.flac            # convert to MP3 instead of opus
convopus a.flac b/ c.wav               # multiple inputs in one run

With -o/--out DIRECTORY converted files are written to that directory instead of next to the originals: the input structure is mirrored under it — subfolders are recreated when -r/--recursive is used, otherwise files are placed directly in the output directory.

usage: convopus [-h] [-r] [--mp3] [-c CONTAINER] [--vbr {on,off}] [-b BITRATE]
                [-o DIRECTORY] [-k | -dk] [-m | -nm] [--config] [-v]
                [input ...]

A Python CLI program for converting audio files to opus

positional arguments:
  input                 Input files or directories (optional) (default: None)

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -k, --keep-original-files
                        Keeps original files after conversion (default: False)
  -dk, --delete-original-files
                        Delete original files after conversion (default:
                        False)
  -m, --multithreading  Use multithreading for faster conversion (default:
                        False)
  -nm, --no-multithreading
                        Do not use multithreading (default: False)
  --config              Prints config location and it's content (default:
                        False)
  -v, --version         show program's version number and exit

Conversion Options:
  -r, --recursive       Also convert files in subdirectories (default: False)
  --mp3                 Convert to mp3 instead - 320 or V0 depending on VBR
                        (default: False)
  -c CONTAINER, --container CONTAINER
                        Container for audio files (.ogg, .opus, .oga, .mkv,
                        .webm) (default: .opus)
  --vbr {on,off}        Variable Bitrate option (default: on)
  -b BITRATE, --bitrate BITRATE
                        Preferred bitrate for audio files (default: 128k)
  -o DIRECTORY, --out DIRECTORY
                        Output directory for converted files (input structure
                        is mirrored under it) (default: None)

Configuration

You can customize settings in config.json located in:

You can override the config file location with the CONVOPUS_CONFIG environment variable. Configs from older convopus versions are migrated automatically on first run.

The default config:

{
    "bitrate": "128k",
    "container": ".opus",
    "keep": true,
    "vbr": "on",
    "recursive": false,
    "multi_threading": true,
    "common_types": [".flac", ".mp3", ".wav", ".m4a", ".aac", ".webm", ".mp4", ".avi", ".mkv", ".mpc", ".wma"]
}

Keys are matched case-insensitively — configs written by older convopus versions keep working. Missing or invalid values fall back to defaults with a warning instead of failing, so a broken config never stops the CLI from running.

License

MIT