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Encoding and Previews

Open Conversion > Encoding presets.... Select or duplicate a preset, configure its tabs, and save it. Independent defaults for movies and TV episodes apply to newly imported files. To give an existing batch the same settings, select its files and use Apply preset to selected files.

Editing a saved preset does not change existing per-file snapshots or queued jobs. Keep inspected per-file track selections retains manual track choices when applying a preset; clear it to resolve the preset's rules again.

Video and encoder​

H.264 uses software x264; H.265 uses x265. Detect compatible encoders tests locally available Intel Quick Sync, NVIDIA NVENC, AMD AMF, and Windows Media Foundation options on a generated clip. A successful test does not guarantee every input or driver configuration. Failed hardware jobs remain visible and do not silently switch to software.

Constant quality is the default; average bitrate is another option. Software CRF and hardware quality scales are different. Lower CRF, ICQ, CQ, or QP generally means higher quality; Media Foundation's 0-100 Quality scale runs the other way. Do not compare numbers across different encoders.

Balanced 1080p starts with H.264 software, CRF 22, medium speed, source frame rate, a 1920x1080 limit, no crop, and no upscaling. Compact 720p and Original size provide editable starting points. Encoding produces 8-bit SDR; HDR or wide-color sources need another color workflow and are blocked for SDR encoding.

Compatible stream copy avoids re-encoding, but requires MP4-compatible streams. It disables crop, scale, quality, speed, and frame-rate changes. Compatibility is checked, not guaranteed for every input.

Dimensions and tracks​

Choose Source size, SD 480p/576p, 720p, 1080p, 2160p/4K, or custom limits. These are aspect-preserving bounding boxes. A widescreen film may have fewer vertical pixels than the selected label. Smaller sources stay smaller unless upscaling is enabled. Rotation and non-square source pixels are accounted for. Manual crop uses even pixel counts; automatic crop and additional filters are future work.

Audio rules can keep all, the preferred language with a first-track fallback, the first track, or none. Supported text subtitles can keep all, a preferred language, or none. AAC bitrate is configurable for transcoding. Inspect a file to adjust its resolved per-file selections. Bitmap subtitles, extra video, attachments, and data are disclosed as omitted; MP4 text-subtitle styling may change.

Try a real preview​

  1. Select a file, choose a position, and select Source frame or Processed frame.
  2. Choose Refresh frame. The processed still demonstrates crop/scale geometry, not compression quality.
  3. Choose 10, 30, or 60 seconds and Encode preview. The clip uses the same settings as full conversion and is clamped at the source end.
  4. Play, seek, and adjust volume. Larger preview offers source video, encoded test clip, or still frame, with fit or actual-size viewing.
  5. If Windows cannot decode the clip, use the explicit external-player option.

Changing settings, position, or source invalidates the encoded preview. Closing cancels work and cleans its temporary session under %TEMP%\Reelabel-previews. An external player can hold a file open; close it to allow cleanup. Preview clips are not imported or queued.

Convert a batch​

Convert selected probes each source and opens Review encoding batch. Check complete paths, actual dimensions, selected/omitted tracks, and errors. Queue and convert is disabled until every row is valid. Original videos remain unchanged. Temporary outputs are validated before final placement.

Validation checks codec/dimensions, explicit frame rate, duration tolerance, track counts, and full-conversion chapter counts. It does not prove perceptual quality or universal player compatibility. Interrupted jobs require explicit retry. Presets persist in encoding-presets.json; see recovery for the library and queue.