clever FFmpeg-GUI, small FFmpeg UI, fully portable, no installation.

[ProWo]

I gave up and deleted the file for good, but not before testing it using your latest version [3.4.1.01].
I can confirm that the app is now able to scan the damaged mp4 file successfully [without hanging or freezing] and can produce an
error file .. attached .. if you wish to take a look at the errors.

I have looked at this, most of the errors are from aac decoder, but unfortunately many are also from h264 decoder.
The video will probably not be repairable.

[Findu]

@ ProWo

Would it be helpful to make the four fields selectable so that the relevant streams will be marked in the grid?

[Attachment 86933 - Click to enlarge]

The upper check mark would only/also appear if, for example, all added streams were selected manually.

[videoAI]

so .. I finally tried the crop feature .. again .. no not the meta data crop under various [btw, the feature was my idea],
but the actual crop feature hidden very .. very well under the video encoding screen.

Did I crop an mp4 file successfully? yes
Was it easy? Nooooooo
it took me 15 mins to find the dam feature and another half an hour to crop a video clip, by trial and error.
so many un-necessary steps, {or features ?!! }, and numbers [some I understood, but many I had no clue what the heck they do].
so many !!!

There got to be a better way of cropping videos.
Nowadays, anybody can crop a video on their mobile phone in mere seconds and few clicks.

So .. why is it so cumbersome and difficult to do it on a laptop?? especially in 2025, and with
all the AI agents out there claiming to write flawless code?

I have no answer .. but guys you have to up your game .. or very soon, AI will take over your jobs. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I did however find an old gem, Mobile Media Converter
although outdated, [and not updated any longer], this small program allowed me to crop my video clip in mere seconds.
- right click on your loaded file, select crop
- move the 4 sliders by mouse [or keyboard arrow keys] as shown below
- click ok .. that's it .. seriously that's it.

@ProWo
1st I tried crop .. bad idea ..

[videoAI]

@ProWo
could you please add a cancel button [or simply an X in the form upper right corner] to all your forms.
most of your forms do not allow the user to cancel out of them.
ex: preview, rotate, properties, etc under the video encoding screen.

and thanks for fixing two of my bugs .. so far
1- App version status
2- Scan for errors

[ProWo]

Would it be helpful to make the four fields selectable so that the relevant streams will be marked in the grid?
The upper check mark would only/also appear if, for example, all added streams were selected manually.

I don't think that would bring any real improvement.

[ProWo]

could you please add a cancel button [or simply an X in the form upper right corner] to all your forms.
most of your forms do not allow the user to cancel out of them.
ex: preview, rotate, properties, etc under the video encoding screen.

The auxiliary forms without X are there to provide additional information or to query parameters.
In both cases, it makes no sense to simply close these forms. This is why the X is missing.

[ProWo]

Did I crop an mp4 file successfully? yes
Was it easy? Nooooooo
it took me 15 mins to find the dam feature and another half an hour to crop a video clip, by trial and error.
so many un-necessary steps, {or features ?!! }, and numbers [some I understood, but many I had no clue what the heck they do].
so many !!!

In most cases, using the crop function is very simple and automatic.
Click on crop until the values on the left remain the same 2-3 times.
Check with the preview.

Background:
Each time you click on crop, ffmpeg's cropdetect is executed on a different frame. This ensures that a correct value is determined.

[davidt1]

I am impressed with the muxing speed of Clever FFmpeg-GUI. Your software is sometimes 3x faster than me using ffmpeg when muxing a subtitle file to a 1080p video. I am wondering why it's much slower when I use ffmpeg. This is the command I use:

ffmpeg -i "input.mkv" -i "sub.srt" -map 0 -map 1 -c copy -c srt -metadata:0 language=eng -disposition:0 default "output.mkv"

[videoAI]

@ProWo

During usage, users may check out a feature to determine how it's implemented, to use it successfully at a later time.
The current design does not allow for backing out or cancelling out of the underlying action (ex: preview).

and your statement:
"These 'auxiliary' forms without X are there to provide additional information or to query parameters", is not accurate as
these forms forces you into one option which is: Trigger the action right away; even if you didn't want to or needed to.

could you please add a cancel button [or simply an X in the form upper right corner] to all your forms.
most of your forms do not allow the user to cancel out of them.
ex: preview, rotate, properties, etc under the video encoding screen.

The auxiliary forms without X are there to provide additional information or to query parameters.
In both cases, it makes no sense to simply close these forms. This is why the X is missing.

[videoAI]

you can't be serious ..

Users on this board, please look at both images and tell which is more user friendly ..

#1


or

#2

Did I crop an mp4 file successfully? yes
Was it easy? Nooooooo
it took me 15 mins to find the dam feature and another half an hour to crop a video clip, by trial and error.
so many un-necessary steps, {or features ?!! }, and numbers [some I understood, but many I had no clue what the heck they do].
so many !!!

In most cases, using the crop function is very simple and automatic.
Click on crop until the values on the left remain the same 2-3 times.
Check with the preview.

Background:
Each time you click on crop, ffmpeg's cropdetect is executed on a different frame. This ensures that a correct value is determined.

[videoAI]

@davidt1
This is a way to look at the FFMPEG code generated by the GUI.
but it may not work for mux-ing ..

you could also try posting here:
How-to-batch-convert-multiplex-any-files-with-ffmpeg

You can see the generated command line by clicking "To batch" instead of encode.
Then quit clever FFmpeg-GUI.
In your target folder you'll find a new file named BT_open.txt.
Open it with any text editor and you will see the command line and other info regarding the batch operation.

I am impressed with the muxing speed of Clever FFmpeg-GUI. Your software is sometimes 3x faster than me using ffmpeg when muxing a subtitle file to a 1080p video. I am wondering why it's much slower when I use ffmpeg. This is the command I use:

ffmpeg -i "input.mkv" -i "sub.srt" -map 0 -map 1 -c copy -c srt -metadata:0 language=eng -disposition:0 default "output.mkv"

[ProWo]

I am wondering why it's much slower when I use ffmpeg. This is the command I use:

ffmpeg -i "input.mkv" -i "sub.srt" -map 0 -map 1 -c copy -c:s srt -metadata:s:s:0 language=eng -disposition:s:0 default "output.mkv"

-c:s srt

recodes your srt input to srt; this isn't nedded with mkv as output, because mkv can handle srt, so pure streamcopy is enough.

If you want mp4 as output, then the srt recode is needed in this way:

-c:s mov_text

[ProWo]

you can't be serious ..

I have already explained everything to you.

BTW:
FFmpeg's cropdetect is more accurate than the manual method you showed.

[videoAI]

@ProWo

Thanks for responding ..

what you have implemented is called "Auto Crop" .. yet you named the button "Crop", but in hover and in page name you
called it by functionality "Crop Detection".

This is crop detection [or Auto Crop]:
FFmpeg's cropdetect filter automatically identifies the optimal cropping area of a video by analyzing the non-black regions.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf cropdetect=24:16:0 output.mp4
to generate a new video with the recommended [but not user defined] crop settings.

what I was looking for is a simple Crop function .. something like this:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "crop=w:h:y" output.mp4

vf indicates the usage of a video filter.
crop is the name of the filter.

w:h is the width and height of the output video.
x:y is the coordinate where the video will be cropped.

I hope this helps clarify where the confusion came from.

you can't be serious ..

I have already explained everything to you.

BTW:
FFmpeg's cropdetect is more accurate than the manual method you showed.

[videoAI]

@ProWo
A gentle reminder, that this issue is still pending ..

@ ProWo

I noticed that the "Post a review" link on the main page opens my default browser in light mode (which burns my eyes).

This is odd because my browser default mode is dark (Dark setting in chrome, no extension or addon).

If I copy the link (https://www.videohelp.com/softwareaddcomment?id=1799) that opened up in a new instance of the browser (light mode) and paste it manually in a new tab in my already opened default browser (dark mode) .. it shows in dark mode .. white text on black background. which is exactly what I want to happen.

is it possible to default the link to open in a tab of the default browser (if it is already running) instead of a new browser instance?

Thx

[ProWo]

A gentle reminder, that this issue is still pending ..

I noticed that the "Post a review" link on the main page opens my default browser in light mode (which burns my eyes).
This is odd because my browser default mode is dark (Dark setting in chrome, no extension or addon).
is it possible to default the link to open in a tab of the default browser (if it is already running) instead of a new browser instance?

No, it's just a web link.

[Findu]

@ ProWo

Just a few little things:

Perhaps you could standardize the description in these three places and call everything "Various"?

[Attachment 87012 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 87013 - Click to enlarge]

And the title units are in brackets everywhere else:

[Attachment 87014 - Click to enlarge]

I haven't noticed anything else so far!

[ProWo]

Just a few little things:
Perhaps you could standardize the description in these three places and call everything "Various"?
And the title units are in brackets everywhere else:

Good idea, will be done.
Thx for testing

[Findu]

@ ProWo

I forgot that:

If a source has multiple video streams and you extract them, you'll be asked whether to extract them as a container or raw file. It is rare, but can the number of the respective stream be displayed in the "Video extraction" window?

And the unprocessed raw streams don't appear in the list when you exit or start the program. Therefore they are not deleted. Is that intentional?

[ProWo]

If a source has multiple video streams and you extract them, you'll be asked whether to extract them as a container or raw file. It is rare, but can the number of the respective stream be displayed in the "Video extraction" window?

The stream index is alreday present. The column name is Stream (atm).
I'll rename it to Idx, to match the other grids.

And the unprocessed raw streams don't appear in the list when you exit or start the program. Therefore they are not deleted. Is that intentional?

Yes, because the raw video streams, as they are, cannot be edited any further.
They must be added as a new source, the frame rate is queried and a new mp4 video is automatically generated.
This can then be processed further.
For this reason, I am leaving the current situation as it is.

[ProWo]

Newest beta (v3.4.1.02), online now.
(Changelog will follow in the next full release).

[Findu]

@ ProWo

3.4.1.02 Feedback

The bug showing the source frequency of each audio stream has been fixed.

And thanks for the minor text changes on the audio/video encoding and stream extraction pages.

I'm still playing around with your new color space change feature.