video2psp

video2psp converts videos to a PSP-compatible MP4 format, with a graphical interface and a command-line tool. You choose which audio and subtitle track to include (subtitles are burned in), or use an external subtitle file, and can trim the video to just the part you want.

Installation

Windows (no install needed)

Download video2psp-gui-<version>-windows.zip from the latest release, extract it and run video2psp-gui.exe. FFmpeg is already included.

Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognized app the first time; click More info → Run anyway.

Linux and macOS

video2psp needs Python 3.11+, FFmpeg (with ffprobe and the libx264 encoder) and Tkinter for the GUI. Install them with your package manager, then install video2psp with pipx, which keeps it in its own environment (plain pip install is blocked on many recent distros):

pipx ensurepath          # once, so the commands are found (then reopen the terminal)
pipx install video2psp
video2psp-gui            # or: video2psp <input_video> for the CLI

To update later: pipx upgrade video2psp.

To check that your FFmpeg can encode for the PSP, ffmpeg -hide_banner -encoders | grep libx264 should print a line.

Windows with Python

If you prefer the Python package over the standalone release, install FFmpeg (e.g. winget install Gyan.FFmpeg) and run:

pip install video2psp

From source

Clone this repository and run pip install . in it.

Usage

GUI

Prefer a graphical interface? Run:

video2psp --gui

(-g also works), or launch video2psp-gui to open it without a terminal window. The GUI lets you pick the input/output files, trim the video, choose tracks, and tweak quality/speed/frame rate/volume without touching the terminal. It follows the Windows light/dark setting, and the button in the top-right corner switches between them.

CLI

With the tool installed, simply run:

video2psp <input_video> [output_video] [options]

• If output_video is omitted, the output is saved next to the input with an .mp4 extension.
• If you do not specify --video-track, --audio-track or --subtitle-track, the script will prompt you to pick which tracks to use.
• To skip prompts, you can set them explicitly, for example:

  video2psp movie.mkv out.mp4 --video-track 0 --audio-track 0 --subtitle-track 1
  

• To burn an external subtitle file instead of an embedded track:

  video2psp movie.mkv out.mp4 --external-subs subs.srt
  

• To convert only part of the video, give a start and/or end time (seconds, MM:SS or HH:MM:SS). Burned-in subtitles stay in sync:

  video2psp movie.mkv out.mp4 --start 1:30 --end 22:10
  

• To adjust audio volume (e.g. 150%):

  video2psp movie.mkv out.mp4 --volume 1.5
  

• To trade encoding speed for compression efficiency (default: medium):

  video2psp movie.mkv out.mp4 --preset veryfast
  

  Available presets (slowest/best compression to fastest): veryslow, slower, slow, medium, fast, faster, veryfast, superfast, ultrafast.
• To control video quality/file size via CRF (0-51, lower = higher quality and larger file, default: 23):

  video2psp movie.mkv out.mp4 --crf 26
  

  Video is encoded at a constant quality target rather than a fixed bitrate, so simple scenes take up less space; -maxrate/-bufsize still cap the peak bitrate to respect the PSP's decoder buffer limits.
• The output keeps the source frame rate by default (max 29.97 fps, the PSP limit; higher rates are divided evenly, e.g. 59.94 → 29.97, 50 → 25). To pick one yourself:

  video2psp movie.mkv out.mp4 --fps 23.976
  

• Hardware (GPU) decoding is on by default and falls back to the CPU automatically when unavailable. If it causes problems on your machine, turn it off:

  video2psp movie.mkv out.mp4 --no-hwaccel
  

Notes & Limitations

• The PSP typically supports H.264 Baseline Level 3.0 with AAC audio.
• Resolution is scaled to fit within 480x272 (PSP screen size), preserving aspect ratio and padding with black bars as needed.
• Only one video and audio track is included, and one subtitle track can be burned.
• For image-based subtitles (like PGS or VobSub), you need to convert them to a text format (e.g., SRT) before burning.
• If no output file is given and the input is already an .mp4, the output is saved as <name>_psp.mp4 so the original is never overwritten.
• 10-bit sources and anamorphic videos (e.g. DVDs) are converted to 8-bit and square pixels automatically.

Feel free to contribute or customize further. Enjoy converting videos for your PSP!

License

video2psp is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. The Windows release bundles FFmpeg builds from gyan.dev, which are also distributed under the GPL.