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Welcome to the Compressarr Wiki

Compressarr watches folders on your computer, automatically shrinks video files down to a much smaller size using HandBrake, and files the result into a neatly organized library — all on its own, with no clicking required once it's set up.

If you've ever used Sonarr or Radarr, think of Compressarr as sitting right after them in the chain: Sonarr/Radarr grabs a show or movie for you, Compressarr compresses it and puts it where your media server (Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, etc.) expects to find it. You get the same shows and movies using a fraction of the disk space, with no extra effort on your part.

This wiki is written for people who are new to Compressarr — you don't need to know anything about video encoding, command lines, or programming to follow it. Every page includes real screenshots of the app so you always know what you should be looking at.

Note

Compressarr contains no AI or machine learning at runtime. Movie/TV detection, file matching, and renaming all run on plain, inspectable regex pattern matching — the same deterministic logic every time, nothing generative involved.

Where to start

If this is your first time here, read the pages in this order:

1. Installation — downloading and installing Compressarr
2. First-Time Setup — the one-time setup every new install needs
3. Understanding Lanes — telling Compressarr which folders to watch
4. Understanding Presets — what the two built-in quality presets do
5. The Monitor Page — starting Compressarr and watching it work

Once you're up and running, these pages are here whenever you need them:

• Settings Reference — what every setting on the Settings page does
• Notifications — getting a message on your phone/Discord/Slack/etc. when a run finishes
• History Page — your compression stats over time, and how to read a report
• Backups & Restore — protecting your setup, and moving it to a new PC
• Home Assistant Integration — a live stats card on your HA dashboard
• Troubleshooting — the handful of things people actually get stuck on
• Updating Compressarr — keeping Compressarr up to date

The short version, if you're in a hurry

1. Install Compressarr and point it at your HandBrakeCLI.exe (or let it download one for you).
2. Create a Lane — one Input folder to watch, and where the finished files should end up.
3. Click Start Monitoring.
4. Drop a video file into the Input folder. Compressarr notices it, compresses it, and moves the result to your library. That's the whole loop.

Everything else in this wiki is filling in the details around that simple loop.

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Compressarr is free, open-source software. If it's saving you disk space, consider visiting the Donate page (the small heart icon at the bottom of the sidebar in the app) to help keep it going.