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