avconvert
AVCONVERT(1) General Commands Manual AVCONVERT(1)
NAME
avconvert – movie conversion tool
SYNOPSIS
avconvert [-hv] -s <source_media> -o <output_movie> -p <preset_name>
DESCRIPTION
avconvert is a tool that converts source media files to different file
types for sharing on the web or loading onto devices. The tool will not
allow protected content to be converted. Only one video and one audio
track is preserved through the conversion, along with metadata tracks. The
tool will never resize the video higher than the source dimensions. If the
preset internal dimensions are larger than that of the source, the
conversion will maintain the source dimensions. The file extension
provided for the output movie will determine the output file type.
--source | -s file The source media file to be converted.
--output | -o file The output movie file to be created.
--preset | -p name Use the specified preset for file conversion. All
presets encode using AVC (H.264) encoding unless
otherwise specified in the preset name. Use
--help to get the full list.
Preset640x480 A 480p
Standard
Definition
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC
audio.
Preset960x540 A 540p
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC
audio.
Preset1280x720 A 720p
High
Definition
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC
audio.
Preset1920x1080 A 1080p
High
Definition
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC
audio.
Preset3840x2160 A 2160p
Ultra
High
Definition
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC
audio.
PresetAppleM4A An audio-
only
preset
with AAC
audio.
PresetAppleM4V480pSD A legacy
480p
Standard
Definition
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC audio
suitable
for
playing
on Apple
devices.
PresetAppleM4V720pHD A legacy
720p High
Definition
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC audio
suitable
for
playing
on Apple
devices.
PresetAppleM4V1080pHD A legacy
1080p
High
Definition
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC audio
suitable
for
playing
on Apple
devices.
PresetAppleM4VAppleTV A legacy
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC audio
suitable
for
playing
on older
AppleTV
models.
PresetAppleM4VCellular A legacy,
smaller
than
Standard
Definition,
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC audio
suitable
for
playing
on Apple
devices
when
streamed
over a
cellular
network.
PresetAppleM4ViPod A legacy
Standard
Definition
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC audio
suitable
for
playing
on an
iPod.
PresetAppleM4VWiFi A legacy,
smaller
than
Standard
Definition,
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC audio
suitable
for
playing
on Apple
devices
when
streamed
over a
WiFi
network.
PresetAppleProRes422LPCM A preset
with
Apple
ProRes
422 video
and LPCM
audio.
PresetAppleProRes4444LPCM A preset
with
Apple
ProRes
4444
video and
LPCM
audio.
PresetHEVC1920x1080 A 1080p
High
Definition
preset
with HEVC
video and
AAC
audio.
PresetHEVC1920x1080WithAlpha A 1080p
High
Definition
preset
with HEVC
alpha
video and
AAC
audio.
If a non-
alpha
source is
selected,
an error
will
occur.
PresetHEVC3840x2160 A 2160p
Ultra
High
Definition
preset
with HEVC
video and
AAC
audio.
PresetHEVC3840x2160WithAlpha A 2160p
Ultra
High
Definition
preset
with HEVC
alpha
video and
AAC
audio.
If a non-
alpha
source is
selected,
an error
will
occur.
PresetHEVC7680x4320 An 8K
preset
with HEVC
video and
AAC
audio.
PresetHEVCHighestQuality A high
quality
preset
with HEVC
video and
AAC
audio.
PresetHEVCHighestQualityWithAlpha A high
quality
preset
with HEVC
alpha
video and
AAC
audio.
If a non-
alpha
source is
selected,
an error
will
occur.
PresetHighestQuality A high
quality
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC
audio.
PresetLowQuality A low
quality,
smaller
than
Standard
Definition,
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC
audio.
PresetMediumQuality A medium
quality,
smaller
than
Standard
Definition,
preset
with
H.264
video and
AAC
audio.
PresetPassthrough A preset
that
passes
through
the video
and audio
tracks,
without
conversion.
OPTIONS
--disableFastStart Disable fast-start movie creation. Reduces disk
accesses if fast-start is not required.
--disableMetadataFilter Disable the metadata filter. Use with caution.
This will allow privacy sensitive source metadata
to be preserved in the output file. This may
include information such as the location of the
video, time when the video was recorded, video
capture device information, etc. If this option
is not specified, the aforementioned source
metadata is not present in the output file.
--duration num Trim the output movie to num seconds (decimal
allowed). Default is end of file.
--help | -h Print command usage and list available preset
names.
--multiPass Perform a higher quality multi-pass encode in the
conversion.
--progress | -prog Display progress during the conversion (default
with -v).
--replace Overwrite the output file, if it already exists.
--start num Skip the first num seconds (decimal allowed) of
the source movie. Default is beginning of file.
--verbose | -v Print additional information about the conversion.
EXAMPLES
Convert the source movie from 4k HEVC to 720p AVC using the 1280x720
encoding preset:
avconvert --source 4k_hevc_movie.mov --output 720p_avc_movie.mov
--preset Preset1280x720
Convert the source movie from 4k AVC to 4K HEVC using the
HEVCHighestQuality encoding preset:
avconvert -s 4k_avc_movie.mov -o 4k_hevc_movie.mov -p
PresetHEVCHighestQuality
Skip the first 3.5 seconds of the source movie and only convert the next 30
seconds:
avconvert --source source_movie.mov --output trimmed_movie.mov -p
PresetMediumQuality --start 3.5 --duration 30
Convert the source movie from a QuickTime movie file to an MPEG-4 file:
avconvert -s source_movie.mov -o output_movie.mp4 -p PresetLowQuality
HISTORY
avconvert command first appeared in Mac OS X 10.7.
64-bit implementation introduced in Mac OS X 10.15.
macOS October 8, 2021 macOS