vt-enc: A VideoToolbox Encoding Script for macOS

vt-enc is a bash script that simplifies the process of encoding videos with FFmpeg using Apple's VideoToolbox framework on macOS. It provides an easy-to-use command-line interface for encoding videos with various options, including codec selection, quality settings, and scaling.

I mainly made this because I was sick of writing the same FFmpeg commands over and over again; this just looks nicer to me :P

Features

• Supports H.264 and HEVC (H.265) video encoding
• HE-AACv2 audio encoding available via AudioToolbox
• Adjustable video quality settings
• Optional video scaling (720p, 864p, 1080p)
• Option to copy audio instead of re-encoding
• Uses FFmpeg with VideoToolbox hardware acceleration

Prerequisites

Before using vt-enc, ensure you have the following:

• macOS (VideoToolbox is macOS-specific)
• FFmpeg with VideoToolbox support (ffmpeg_vt)
• gum for interactive prompts
• libdav1d (for AV1 decoding support)
• swscale (for scaling video)

Installation

1. Clone this repository or download the vt-enc.sh and build.sh scripts.

   git clone https://github.com/gianni-rosato/vt-enc.git
   cd vt-enc

2. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x build.sh

3. Run the builder script to set up ffmpeg_vt and install vt-enc:

   ./build.sh

   This script will:

   • Check for required dependencies
   • Build ffmpeg_vt if not already found on the system
   • Install vt-enc to /usr/local/bin

Usage

**vt-enc.sh** | VideoToolbox encoding script for macOS

Usage:
	/usr/local/bin/vt-enc -i <input> -o <output> [-c <codec>] [-q <quality>] [-s <scaling>] [-a]

Options:
	-i <input>	    Input video file
	-o <output>	    Output video file
	-c <codec>	    Codec to use (h264 or hevc; default: hevc)
	-q <quality>	Encoding quality (0-100; default: 40)
	-s <scaling>	Scale input (720p, 864p, 1080p; default: none)
	-a 		        Copy audio instead of re-encoding

Example Usage

vt-enc -i input.mp4 -o output.mov -c hevc -q 65 -s 864p -a

This command will encode input.mp4 to output.mov using the HEVC codec, with a quality of 65, scaled to 864p, and copying the audio without re-encoding to HE-AACv2.

Build Script

The build.sh script automates the process of building and installing ffmpeg_vt (FFmpeg with VideoToolbox support) and vt-enc. It performs the following tasks:

1. Checks for required dependencies (git, make, clang, gum)
2. Clones the FFmpeg repository (release/7.0 branch)
3. Configures and compiles FFmpeg with VideoToolbox support (ffmpeg_vt)
4. Offers to install ffmpeg_vt to /usr/local/bin
5. Offers to install vt-enc to /usr/local/bin

To use the build script, simply run:

./build.sh

Follow the prompts in the terminal to complete the installation process.

Notes

• The quality setting (-q) does not work inversely; lower values result in lower quality with smaller file sizes.
• HEVC encoding generally provides better compression than H.264 (roughly on par with x265 medium).
• Using the -a flag to copy audio does not guarantee that the input audio stream is compatible.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a PR if you'd like something added or changed!

License

Licensed under Apache 2.0. See the LICENSE file for details.