ffzap ⚡ is a simple, fast command-line tool for processing media files with ffmpeg. As it's multithreaded and can run as many tasks in parallel as your system can handle, it's perfect for converting, compressing, or editing audio and video files quickly and efficiently.

Because it uses ffmpeg under the hood, it supports any media file processing that ffmpeg can handle.

Installation

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

brew tap CodeF0x/formulae
brew install ffzap

For macOS, both x86_64 and aarch64 builds are provided. For Linux, only x86_64.

Winget (Windows 10 / 11)

winget install CodeF0x.ffzap

Only x86_64.

Cargo (Universal -- 32bit and 64bit)

(Install Rust first if you haven't already)

cargo install ffzap

Every architecture Rust has compile-targets for.

Building from source

(Install Rust first if you haven't already)

git clone https://github.com/CodeF0x/ffzap
cd ffzap
cargo build --release

Every architecture Rust has compile-targets for.

The ffzap executable will be under target/release/

Or Download a prebuilt binary

and add it to your path.

Usage

ffzap's usage is almost identical to ffmpeg, consider this simple example:

ffzap -i vids/test-1.webm -f "-c:v libx264 -b:v 1000k" -o transcoded.mp4

Mind that the ffmpeg processing options go into the -f argument (short for --ffmpeg-options), need to be passed as a string and without the file name.

With a single file it doesn't really make sense to use ffzap, so consider this more advanced example:

ffzap -i vids/**/*.{mp4,mkv} -f "-c:v libx264 -b:v 1000k" -o transcoded/{{name}}.mp4 -t 4

This command takes all videos in vids and its subfolders ending in .mp4 and .mkv, processes them using the options provided by -f and saves them to a (new) directory called transcoded, keeping the original filename and changing the file extension to .mp4 while processing 4 files in parallel.

For more info on the -o syntax, run ffzap --help. For more ffmpeg options, visit ffmpeg's documentation.

Requirements

• a working installation of ffmpeg
• (just for installing / building via Cargo) a working installation of the Rust programming language

Available options

Click here to expand section

$ ffzap --help
⚡ A multithreaded CLI for digital media processing using ffmpeg. If ffmpeg can do it, ffzap can do it - as many files in parallel as your system can handle.

Usage: ffzap [OPTIONS] --ffmpeg-options <FFMPEG_OPTIONS> --output <OUTPUT>

Options:
-t, --thread-count <THREAD_COUNT>
        The amount of threads you want to utilize. most systems can handle 2. Go higher if you have a powerful computer. Default is 2. Can't be lower than 1

        [default: 2]

-f, --ffmpeg-options <FFMPEG_OPTIONS>
        Options you want to pass to ffmpeg. For the output file name, use --output

-i, --input-directory <INPUT_DIRECTORY>...
        The files you want to process

    --input-file <INPUT_FILE>
        Path to a file containing paths to process. One path per line

    --overwrite
        If ffmpeg should overwrite files if they already exist. Default is false

    --verbose
        If verbose logs should be shown while ffzap is running

    --delete
        Delete the source file after it was successfully processed. If the process fails, the file is kept

-o, --output <OUTPUT>
        Specify the output file pattern. Use placeholders to customize file paths:

        {{dir}}  - Entire specified file path, e.g. ./path/to/file.txt -> ?./path/to/

        {{name}} - Original file's name (without extension)

        {{ext}}  - Original file's extension

        Example: /destination/{{dir}}/{{name}}_transcoded.{{ext}}

        Outputs the file in /destination, mirroring the original structure and keeping both the file extension and name, while adding _transcoded to the name.

-h, --help
        Print help (see a summary with '-h')

-V, --version
        Print version

License

You are free to:

• Use: You can use this software for any purpose.
• Modify: You can modify the software as you like.
• Distribute: You can distribute the original or lightly modified software only if you credit the original author ( Tobias "CodeF0x" Oettl). Selling of the original or lightly modified versions is not allowed.
• Sell or redistribute substantially modified versions: If you make significant changes to this software, you may redistribute or sell the modified version without crediting the original author.

Conditions:

• No selling of this software in its original form or with minor modifications.
• Credit must be given to the original author (Tobias "CodeF0x" Oettl) if redistributing unmodified or minimally modified versions.