Mkvtoolnix Batch Remove Audio OSX

[neostylez]

hey all,

i have been searching and i can't seem to find the right answer, or i don't know enough about this kind of stuff on OS X


I have a large folder of Multi Audio MKV files, and i need to disable 3 of the 4 audio tracks

I know how to do this one by one, but i have read i should be able to do this with a batch file... I can't for the life of me, get any of the examples to work for me.

Could anyone please point me in the right direction.

[Baldrick]

Can you post an example that doesn't work?

[sneaker]

Do you want to disable or remove the tracks?

For removing you need to write a script using mkvmerge:

#!/bin/bash

mkdir "output"

for filename in ./*.mkv
do
     mkvmerge -o "./output/$filename" --audio-tracks 1 "./$filename"
done

"1" is a trackID in this case. Mkvmerge counts all tracks and starts with 0 so "1" is the second track of the file. You can also use language codes like "eng", e.g. if you only want to keep English audio.

[Titanmarcel]

Can anyone help me to setup a script for Mac and MKVToolNix to delete unwantend audio tracks (in my case ID2) from a whole bunch of MKV's?

I'm so sorry but I'm a absolute newbie.

Would be so great if anyone could help me.

Bets wishes from Germany!

[sneaker]

You should be able to use the script I posted above. It will only keep audio track ID1 so it will already do what you want if there are only two audio tracks. Otherwise you can use "!2" instead of "1". It means "keep all audio tracks except ID2".

[Titanmarcel]

Thank you for your reply but how do I have to use it? Do I have to use it within MKVToolNix or do I have to run AppleScript and create something?

[sneaker]

There are different ways to run it. One is to save it in a text file called e.g. "whatever.sh" and copy that to the folder you want to work in. Then open the terminal and navigate to said folder (cd command...). There you need to make it executable once via "chmod +x whatever.sh". Then "./whatever.sh" to actually execute it. You may have to edit the "mkvmerge" in the script to include the full absolute path of the mkvmerge executable or copy it to a known path like (I think) "/usr/local/bin". https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/377326-mkvtoolnix-8-9-0-mkvmerge-from-command-line

[Titanmarcel]

Thank you so much! You are my hero of the day!

After a long long time I'm now abled to get this problem solved for me.

Thank you!!!

[4ie2]

Do you want to disable or remove the tracks?

For removing you need to write a script using mkvmerge:

#!/bin/bash

mkdir "output"

for filename in ./*.mkv
do
     mkvmerge -o "./output/$filename" --audio-tracks 1 "./$filename"
done

"1" is a trackID in this case. Mkvmerge counts all tracks and starts with 0 so "1" is the second track of the file. You can also use language codes like "eng", e.g. if you only want to keep English audio.

Thanks this was very helpful. How can I edit this to also merge a subtitle file with the same name? I tried

mkvmerge -o "./output/$filename" --audio-tracks 1 --language 0:eng "./$filename.srt" "./$filename"

but I got the response "filename.srt': A track with the ID 1 was requested but not found in the file."

[sneaker]

The order of the commands is important. They belong before the corresponding input file. You tried to use "--audio-tracks 1" on the subtitle file.
This will keep only the audio track with TrackID 1 of the mkv and set the language of the srt to english:
mkvmerge -o "./output/$filename" --audio-tracks 1 "./$filename" --language 0:eng "./$filename.srt"
(for "file.mkv.srt")

mkvmerge -o "./output/$filename" --audio-tracks 1 "./$filename" --language 0:eng "./${filename%.*}.srt"
(for "file.srt")

https://mkvtoolnix.download/doc/mkvmerge.html

[4ie2]

The order of the commands is important. They belong before the corresponding input file. You tried to use "--audio-tracks 1" on the subtitle file.
This will keep only the audio track with TrackID 1 of the mkv and set the language of the srt to english:
mkvmerge -o "./output/$filename" --audio-tracks 1 "./$filename" --language 0:eng "./$filename.srt"
(for "file.mkv.srt")

mkvmerge -o "./output/$filename" --audio-tracks 1 "./$filename" --language 0:eng "./${filename%.*}.srt"
(for "file.srt")

https://mkvtoolnix.download/doc/mkvmerge.html

Thanks for clarifying! Is this an applescript? I want to learn all the syntax

[sneaker]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bash_(Unix_shell)

[4ie2]

The order of the commands is important. They belong before the corresponding input file. You tried to use "--audio-tracks 1" on the subtitle file.
This will keep only the audio track with TrackID 1 of the mkv and set the language of the srt to english:
mkvmerge -o "./output/$filename" --audio-tracks 1 "./$filename" --language 0:eng "./$filename.srt"
(for "file.mkv.srt")

mkvmerge -o "./output/$filename" --audio-tracks 1 "./$filename" --language 0:eng "./${filename%.*}.srt"
(for "file.srt")

https://mkvtoolnix.download/doc/mkvmerge.html

What is the proper format for chaining multiple commands within the same filename? For example to select video, english audio, english subtitles. Thanks!

[sneaker]

Simply put multiple commands.
https://mkvtoolnix.download/doc/mkvmerge.html#d4e1751