In this article I'll talk about the Batch file I created to convert my Videos to the AV1 encoding.
My external HDD was getting full, so I spent a day to delete files I don't need anymore, but that wasn't enough. So, with what I learned from my earlier research on AV1 Encoding, I figured I could compress the older videos of my Let's Play game footage with AV1 encoding... I won't need most of them again, but I want to keep them all just in case.
So, I did some research (hint: conversations with AI) and guided AI to crate a batch code to do the job for me.
This code converts .mp4 files to .mkv files and vice-versa. The generated AV1 file does have less quality, but the size tradeoff for videos I probably won't need again, it wasn't a bad compromise.
Since this is just a batch code there are limits to how complex it can be. If I knew it'll become this long, I would've used python, but at least for now it does the job. The conversion on my PC takes about 9 minutes for an hour long video (at 720p) and twice as long in larger videos (1080p.) As I said above the quality is compromised, so I'll probably update this code to generate better quality.
What do you think?
The Code:
@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
:: ============================================
:: Parse Command Line Arguments
:: ============================================
set "qvbr_quality=30"
set "resolution="
set "scale_filter="
:parse_args
if "%~1"=="" goto :done_args
if /i "%~1"=="-q" (
set "qvbr_quality=%~2"
shift
shift
goto :parse_args
)
if /i "%~1"=="--qvbr" (
set "qvbr_quality=%~2"
shift
shift
goto :parse_args
)
if /i "%~1"=="-r" (
set "resolution=%~2"
shift
shift
goto :parse_args
)
if /i "%~1"=="--resolution" (
set "resolution=%~2"
shift
shift
goto :parse_args
)
shift
goto :parse_args
:done_args
:: Build scale filter if resolution specified
if defined resolution (
set "scale_filter=scale=-2:%resolution%,"
)
:: ============================================
:: Setup Log File
:: ============================================
for %%I in (.) do set "foldername=%%~nxI"
:: Use WMIC for locale-independent date/time
for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%a in ('wmic os get localdatetime /value ^| find "="') do set "dt=%%a"
set "logfile=VidConvert-Log-!foldername!-!dt:~0,4!-!dt:~4,2!-!dt:~6,2!-!dt:~8,2!-!dt:~10,2!.txt"
:: Initialize log file with header
>> "%logfile%" echo ============================================
>> "%logfile%" echo AV1 Batch Converter Log
>> "%logfile%" echo ============================================
>> "%logfile%" echo Date: !dt:~0,4!-!dt:~4,2!-!dt:~6,2! !dt:~8,2!:!dt:~10,2!:!dt:~12,2!
>> "%logfile%" echo Quality Level: %qvbr_quality%
if defined resolution >> "%logfile%" echo Resolution: %resolution%p
>> "%logfile%" echo.
echo ============================================
echo AV1 Batch Converter for MKV/MP4 Files
echo ============================================
echo.
echo Settings:
echo QVBR Quality: %qvbr_quality%
if defined resolution (
echo Resolution: %resolution%p (scaled)
) else (
echo Resolution: Original
)
echo Log File: %logfile%
echo.
:: Initialize counters and totals
set /a completed=0
set /a remaining=0
set /a current=0
set /a skipped=0
set /a errors=0
set /a total_input_size=0
set /a total_output_size=0
:: Count files that need conversion
for %%f in (*.mkv) do (
if not exist "%%~nf.mp4" set /a remaining+=1
)
for %%f in (*.mp4) do (
if not exist "%%~nf.mkv" set /a remaining+=1
)
set /a total=%remaining%
if %total%==0 (
echo No files need conversion. All MKV/MP4 pairs already exist.
>> "%logfile%" echo No files need conversion. All MKV/MP4 pairs already exist.
goto :end
)
echo Files to convert: %total%
echo.
:: ============================================
:: Convert MKV to MP4
:: ============================================
for %%f in (*.mkv) do (
set "input=%%f"
set "basename=%%~nf"
set "output=%%~nf.mp4"
if exist "!output!" (
echo [SKIP] !output! already exists
set /a skipped+=1
) else (
set /a current+=1
:: Get input file size in bytes
for %%a in ("!input!") do set /a input_size=%%~za
echo.
echo ============================================
echo [!current!/%total%] Converting: !input!
echo ============================================
echo Input size: !input_size! bytes
echo Encoding in progress...
echo.
:: Log start of conversion
>> "%logfile%" echo [%date% %time%] START: !input!
:: Run FFmpeg with AMF AV1 encoder (output to terminal only)
ffmpeg -y -xerror -i "!input!" -c:v av1_amf -rc qvbr -qvbr_quality_level %qvbr_quality% -preset high_quality -aq_mode caq -preencode true -preanalysis true -pa_lookahead_buffer_depth 40 -pa_taq_mode 2 -pa_adaptive_mini_gop true -bf 3 -g 180 -vf "!scale_filter!hqdn3d=2:2:0:0" -c:a copy "!output!"
if errorlevel 1 (
echo.
echo [ERROR] FFmpeg failed on !input!
if exist "!output!" del "!output!"
set /a errors+=1
>> "%logfile%" echo [%date% %time%] ERROR: !input! - Conversion failed
>> "%logfile%" echo.
) else (
:: Get output file size
for %%a in ("!output!") do set /a output_size=%%~za
:: Calculate compression ratio (fixed point math with 2 decimals)
set /a ratio_num=input_size*100/output_size
set /a ratio_whole=ratio_num/100
set /a ratio_dec=ratio_num%%100
set /a saved_percent=100-(output_size*100/input_size)
:: Apply creation date from input to output
powershell -command "try { $src = Get-Item '!input!'; $dst = Get-Item '!output!'; $dst.CreationTime = $src.CreationTime } catch {}"
set /a completed+=1
set /a total_input_size+=input_size
set /a total_output_size+=output_size
echo.
echo ----------------------------------------
echo [DONE] !input! -^> !output!
echo ----------------------------------------
echo Input: !input_size! bytes
echo Output: !output_size! bytes
echo Ratio: !ratio_whole!.!ratio_dec!x (!saved_percent%% smaller)
echo ----------------------------------------
:: Log successful conversion
>> "%logfile%" echo [%date% %time%] DONE: !input! -^> !output!
>> "%logfile%" echo Input: !input_size! bytes
>> "%logfile%" echo Output: !output_size! bytes
>> "%logfile%" echo Ratio: !ratio_whole!.!ratio_dec!x (!saved_percent%% smaller)
>> "%logfile%" echo.
)
set /a remaining=total-completed-skipped-errors
echo Progress: Completed=%completed% Remaining=!remaining! Errors=%errors%
if !completed! GTR 0 (
set /a mod=completed%%3
if !mod!==0 (
echo.
echo ****************************************
echo STATUS: %completed% done, !remaining! remaining, %errors% errors
echo ****************************************
echo.
)
)
)
)
:: ============================================
:: Convert MP4 to MKV
:: ============================================
for %%f in (*.mp4) do (
set "input=%%f"
set "basename=%%~nf"
set "output=%%~nf.mkv"
if exist "!output!" (
echo [SKIP] !output! already exists
set /a skipped+=1
) else (
set /a current+=1
:: Get input file size in bytes
for %%a in ("!input!") do set /a input_size=%%~za
echo.
echo ============================================
echo [!current!/%total%] Converting: !input!
echo ============================================
echo Input size: !input_size! bytes
echo Encoding in progress...
echo.
:: Log start of conversion
>> "%logfile%" echo [%date% %time%] START: !input!
:: Run FFmpeg with AMF AV1 encoder (output to terminal only)
ffmpeg -y -xerror -i "!input!" -c:v av1_amf -rc qvbr -qvbr_quality_level %qvbr_quality% -preset high_quality -aq_mode caq -preencode true -preanalysis true -pa_lookahead_buffer_depth 40 -pa_taq_mode 2 -pa_adaptive_mini_gop true -bf 3 -g 180 -vf "!scale_filter!hqdn3d=2:2:0:0" -c:a copy "!output!"
if errorlevel 1 (
echo.
echo [ERROR] FFmpeg failed on !input!
if exist "!output!" del "!output!"
set /a errors+=1
>> "%logfile%" echo [%date% %time%] ERROR: !input! - Conversion failed
>> "%logfile%" echo.
) else (
:: Get output file size
for %%a in ("!output!") do set /a output_size=%%~za
:: Calculate compression ratio (fixed point math with 2 decimals)
set /a ratio_num=input_size*100/output_size
set /a ratio_whole=ratio_num/100
set /a ratio_dec=ratio_num%%100
set /a saved_percent=100-(output_size*100/input_size)
:: Apply creation date from input to output
powershell -command "try { $src = Get-Item '!input!'; $dst = Get-Item '!output!'; $dst.CreationTime = $src.CreationTime } catch {}"
set /a completed+=1
set /a total_input_size+=input_size
set /a total_output_size+=output_size
echo.
echo ----------------------------------------
echo [DONE] !input! -^> !output!
echo ----------------------------------------
echo Input: !input_size! bytes
echo Output: !output_size! bytes
echo Ratio: !ratio_whole!.!ratio_dec!x (!saved_percent%% smaller)
echo ----------------------------------------
:: Log successful conversion
>> "%logfile%" echo [%date% %time%] DONE: !input! -^> !output!
>> "%logfile%" echo Input: !input_size! bytes
>> "%logfile%" echo Output: !output_size! bytes
>> "%logfile%" echo Ratio: !ratio_whole!.!ratio_dec!x (!saved_percent%% smaller)
>> "%logfile%" echo.
)
set /a remaining=total-completed-skipped-errors
echo Progress: Completed=%completed% Remaining=!remaining! Errors=%errors%
if !completed! GTR 0 (
set /a mod=completed%%3
if !mod!==0 (
echo.
echo ****************************************
echo STATUS: %completed% done, !remaining! remaining, %errors% errors
echo ****************************************
echo.
)
)
)
)
:end
echo.
echo ============================================
echo CONVERSION COMPLETE
echo ============================================
echo Files converted: %completed%
echo Files skipped: %skipped%
echo Files failed: %errors%
echo.
if %completed% GTR 0 (
:: Calculate total compression stats
set /a total_ratio_num=total_input_size*100/total_output_size
set /a total_ratio_whole=total_ratio_num/100
set /a total_ratio_dec=total_ratio_num%%100
set /a total_saved_percent=100-(total_output_size*100/total_input_size)
echo TOTAL COMPRESSION SUMMARY
echo ----------------------------------------
echo Input size: %total_input_size% bytes
echo Output size: %total_output_size% bytes
echo Ratio: !total_ratio_whole!.!total_ratio_dec!x
echo Space saved: !total_saved_percent!%%
echo ============================================
:: Write final summary to log
>> "%logfile%" echo ============================================
>> "%logfile%" echo FINAL SUMMARY
>> "%logfile%" echo ============================================
>> "%logfile%" echo Files converted: %completed%
>> "%logfile%" echo Files skipped: %skipped%
>> "%logfile%" echo Files failed: %errors%
>> "%logfile%" echo Input size: %total_input_size% bytes
>> "%logfile%" echo Output size: %total_output_size% bytes
>> "%logfile%" echo Ratio: !total_ratio_whole!.!total_ratio_dec!x
>> "%logfile%" echo Space saved: !total_saved_percent!%%
>> "%logfile%" echo ============================================
)
echo Log saved to: %logfile%
echo.
echo Press any key to close...
pause >nul