vidpack 0.3.1

A Python script for efficiently compressing videos without sacrificing quality

CLI Video Compressor

Pack is a simple yet powerful CLI video compressor.

It reduces file sizes by up to 60% while maintaining high quality, using FFmpeg under the hood. Compress individual videos or entire folders with ease.

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Installation | Upgrade

You might be sure that you have installed Python 3.10+ and FFmpeg. The CLI app uses FFmpeg under the hood, so make sure you have it installed and added to your PATH.

pip install -U vidpack

Prerequisites

```console
# MacOS
brew install ffmpeg

# Ubuntu
sudo apt install ffmpeg

# ArchLinux
sudo pacman -S ffmpeg

# Fedora
sudo dnf install ffmpeg
```

Basic Usage

To compress a video or multiple videos, you will use the pack command, followed by the required input argument (a file or a directory).

pack INPUT [OPTIONS]

[!NOTE] INPUT: This is the file or directory you want to process. If you provide a directory, all videos within it will be compressed.

[!TIP] For additional help or to see all available options, you can use the command:

pack --help

Options

Pack offers several options to customize the compression process:

• --output, -o: Specifies the output file to save the compressed video.
• --quality, -q: Defines the video quality level (0-100). Default value: 75.
• --overwrite, -w: Overwrites the output file if it already exists.
• --delete-original, -d: Deletes the original video after successful compression.
• --codec, -c: Specifies the video codec to use for compression(h264, libx265). Default is h264.
• --verbose, -v: Enables debugging mode for more information during the process.

[!IMPORTANT] The H265 (libx265) codec offers superior compression quality and produces smaller file sizes compared to H264. However, encoding with H265 is more time-consuming and requires significantly more processing power. If you have a modern GPU and enough time for encoding, H265 is an excellent choice for reducing file sizes without sacrificing quality.

Usage Examples

To compress a video named video.mp4, simply run:

pack video.mp4

This command will compress video.mp4 with default settings(quality: 75) and save the result as video_compressed.mp4 in the same directory.

Show more examples

Specify an output file

If you want to specify the name or location of the compressed file:

pack video.mp4 --output compressed/small_video.mp4

This command will compress video.mp4 and save the result as small_video.mp4 in the compressed directory.

Adjust compression quality

To compress a video with a specific quality (e.g., 60):

pack video.mp4 -q 60

This will compress the video with lower quality, resulting in a smaller file size.

Compress all videos in a directory

To compress all videos in a directory:

pack /path/to/my/videos

This command will compress all videos in the specified directory and save the results in the same directory.

Overwrite existing files

If you want to overwrite existing compressed files:

pack video.mp4 --output output.mp4 --overwrite

This will overwrite the file output.mp4 if it already exists.

Delete the original file after compression

To delete the original video file after successful compression:

pack video.mp4 --delete-original

The original video.mp4 will be deleted after compression.

Specify a video codec

To compress a video with a specific video codec (e.g., libx265):

pack video.mp4 --codec libx265

This will compress the video with the libx265 codec, resulting in a smaller file size. Currently, only h264 and libx265 codecs are supported.

Use multiple options

You can combine multiple options in a single command:

pack video.mp4 -o compressed.mp4 -q 80 -w -d -v

This command will compress video.mp4 with a quality of 80, save the result as compressed.mp4, overwrite if the file exists, delete the original, and display detailed information during the process.

Additional Notes

• The quality option (-q) affects both visual quality and file size. A lower value will result in a smaller file but lower visual quality, while a higher value will maintain better quality but with a larger file size.
• It's always recommended to backup your original videos before using the delete option (-d).
• The verbose mode (-v) is useful for diagnosing issues or better understanding the compression process.

[!TIP] If you are a Windows user, you can install ffmpeg and python manually or using package managers like Scoop. Once you have installed a package manager, you can just run something like scoop install python ffmpeg.

[!TIP] Windows user can watch a tutorial video on YouTube about the installation process [Here].

Contributors

See my other projects