striptracks-standalone

Strips unwanted audio and subtitle tracks from video files using mkvmerge. Point it at a directory, tell it which languages to keep, done. No re-encoding -- streams pass through untouched, just repackaged into MKV.

If you have Radarr/Sonarr, it can pull language preferences from your quality profiles and rescan your library after processing. Or just hardcode :eng:und and forget about it.

Forked from TheCaptain989/radarr-striptracks.

Quick start

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  striptracks:
    image: thecaptain989/radarr-striptracks:latest
    environment:
      STRIPTRACKS_AUDIO: ":eng:und"
      STRIPTRACKS_DIR: /movies
    volumes:
      - /path/to/movies:/movies

docker compose run --rm striptracks

Processes every video file under /movies, keeps English and undefined audio, strips all embedded subtitles, outputs MKV. Shows progress like [47/2000] Processing: ... as it goes.

Run modes

Three modes, controlled by STRIPTRACKS_MODE:

run (default) -- process all files, print summary, exit.

wait -- process all files, then sit there until you press Enter. Useful when you want the container to stay up for docker exec or manual re-triggers.

watch -- process all files, then monitor the directory for new files using inotifywait. When a file appears or changes, wait for it to finish writing (configurable delay), then process it. Runs until you stop the container.

# Watch mode example
environment:
  STRIPTRACKS_MODE: watch
  STRIPTRACKS_WATCH_DELAY: 60        # seconds to wait after file detected
  STRIPTRACKS_CACHE_REFRESH: 30      # minutes between API cache refreshes
  STRIPTRACKS_DIR: /movies
  STRIPTRACKS_AUDIO: ":eng:und"

Configuration

CLI flags override env vars. A docker-compose.yml example with all options is included in the repo.

Environment variables

Variable	Description	Default
STRIPTRACKS_DIR	Directory to process recursively	(required)
STRIPTRACKS_AUDIO	Audio languages to keep (e.g., :eng:und)	auto-detect from API
STRIPTRACKS_SUBS	Subtitle languages to keep (empty = strip all)	strip all
STRIPTRACKS_MODE	Run mode: run, wait, watch	run
STRIPTRACKS_WATCH_DELAY	Seconds to wait after detecting a new file	60
STRIPTRACKS_CACHE_REFRESH	Minutes between API cache refreshes (watch mode)	30
STRIPTRACKS_DRY_RUN	Set true to preview without changes	false
STRIPTRACKS_TEST	Set true to validate config and exit	false
STRIPTRACKS_STATE_FILE	Path to processed-files state file	/config/striptracks.state
STRIPTRACKS_EXCLUDE	Comma-separated glob patterns to exclude
STRIPTRACKS_EXTENSIONS	File extensions to process	mkv,mp4,avi,wmv,flv,mov,webm
STRIPTRACKS_REORDER	Reorder tracks to match language priority	false
STRIPTRACKS_DEBUG	Debug level (0-3)	0
STRIPTRACKS_LOG	Log file path	/config/logs/striptracks.log
STRIPTRACKS_PRIORITY	Process priority: idle, low, medium, high	medium
RADARR_URL	Radarr API URL (e.g., http://radarr:7878)
RADARR_API_KEY	Radarr API key
SONARR_URL	Sonarr API URL (e.g., http://sonarr:8989)
SONARR_API_KEY	Sonarr API key

Skipping files

The tool tracks which files it has already processed in a state file (default: /config/striptracks.state). On re-runs, files with the same path and modification time are skipped. This makes re-runs fast -- only new or changed files get processed.

Disable with --no-state if you want to reprocess everything.

Excluding files

Skip certain paths with glob patterns:

STRIPTRACKS_EXCLUDE: "*/extras/*,*/featurettes/*,*/behind the scenes/*"

Or on the command line (repeatable):

--exclude "*/extras/*" --exclude "*/samples/*"

Test mode

Validate your config without processing anything:

docker compose run --rm striptracks --test

Reports binary versions, API connections, library counts, and current settings.

Language codes

ISO 639-2 codes, prefixed with colons. Concatenate them:

:eng          # English only
:eng:und      # English and undefined
:eng:jpn:und  # English, Japanese, and undefined
:any          # keep everything

Modifiers go after the code:

Modifier	Meaning
+f	Only forced tracks
-f	Exclude forced tracks
+d	Only default tracks
-d	Exclude default tracks
+N	Keep at most N tracks
=name	Match track name (case-insensitive substring)

So :eng+f is forced English only, :any+d1 is one default track in any language, :eng=Commentary matches English tracks with "Commentary" in the name.

The :org code

:org means "whatever the original language of the movie/series is."

With Radarr/Sonarr configured, it looks this up automatically per file. Without the API, pass it manually: --original-language Japanese.

Radarr/Sonarr API

Set RADARR_URL + RADARR_API_KEY (and/or the Sonarr equivalents) and the tool will cache your library on startup, match each file to a movie or series by path, pull language preferences from the quality profile, resolve :org, and trigger a rescan after processing.

Both Radarr and Sonarr can run at the same time. Radarr is checked first. If a file doesn't match anything, it falls back to STRIPTRACKS_AUDIO.

In watch mode, the cache refreshes periodically (default every 30 minutes) so newly added movies/series get picked up.

Dry run

See what would happen without touching anything:

docker compose run --rm striptracks --dry-run

[DRY RUN] --- /movies/Movie (2024)/Movie.2024.mkv ---
[DRY RUN]   AUDIO tracks:
[DRY RUN]     [KEEP] Track 1: eng [default]
[DRY RUN]     [STRIP] Track 2: fre
[DRY RUN]   SUBTITLES tracks:
[DRY RUN]     [STRIP] Track 3: eng
[DRY RUN]     [STRIP] Track 4: fre
[DRY RUN] Would keep 1 tracks, remove 3 tracks

Examples

English audio only, nuke all embedded subs:

STRIPTRACKS_AUDIO: ":eng:und"
STRIPTRACKS_DIR: /movies

Anime -- keep English and Japanese audio, keep English subs (PGS/ASS from Blu-ray):

STRIPTRACKS_AUDIO: ":eng:jpn"
STRIPTRACKS_SUBS: ":eng"
STRIPTRACKS_DIR: /anime

Let Radarr decide languages, reorder tracks, watch for new files:

RADARR_URL: http://radarr:7878
RADARR_API_KEY: abc123
STRIPTRACKS_DIR: /movies
STRIPTRACKS_REORDER: "true"
STRIPTRACKS_MODE: watch

Skip extras and featurettes:

STRIPTRACKS_AUDIO: ":eng:und"
STRIPTRACKS_DIR: /movies
STRIPTRACKS_EXCLUDE: "*/extras/*,*/featurettes/*"

One file:

docker compose run --rm striptracks -f /movies/movie.mkv -a :eng:und -s :eng

Project structure

striptracks-standalone.sh   # Entry point (~80 lines)
lib/
  logging.sh                # Log output, ANSI colors
  cli.sh                    # Argument parsing, help text, exit handling
  language.sh               # Language code parsing and :org resolution
  api.sh                    # Radarr/Sonarr API calls and library caching
  environment.sh            # Binary checks, API setup, test mode
  media.sh                  # Video inspection, language detection
  tracks.sh                 # Track selection (the big jq logic)
  remux.sh                  # mkvmerge execution, file replacement
  directory.sh              # Directory traversal, watch mode, state tracking
Dockerfile
docker-compose.yml          # Example with all options

Dependencies

The container has everything. Outside Docker you need:

• mkvmerge and mkvpropedit (mkvtoolnix)
• jq
• curl (only for API features)
• inotify-tools (only for watch mode, Linux only)
• bash 4+

How it works

mkvmerge remuxes the file -- copies streams into a new MKV container without the unwanted tracks. No re-encoding, so it runs at disk speed and is lossless. Non-MKV inputs (MP4, AVI, etc.) come out as MKV. The original is deleted after a successful remux.

Files that already have the right tracks and are already MKV get skipped (just a title metadata update).

License

GPL-3.0-only