Script to run handbrake recursively through a folder tree

Handbrake is a fantastic tool for (among other uses), converting videos into mobile formats. It is extremely easy to use and can usually get a video properly converted in just a few clicks. To get Videos encoded for use on my phone, I use the “iPhone & iPod Touch” preset. It will convert your video to .mp4 as well as scale it down to a consumable size. This format will work on any smartphone I’ve seen.

My issue is that when converting a folder full of videos, I don’t want to have to use the gui to add a bunch of videos to the queue one by one. Its a very clicky process. This simple bash script will walk handbrake through all the files in a selected folder (and its subfolders). This uses the find command to traverse recursively through a directory structure. It will place the transcoded file in the same folder as its source and change its extension to “.mp4″.

Usage: handbrakefolder.sh [FOLDER]
Run handbrake on all the files contained in [FOLDER]. (the current directory by default)

#!/bin/bash
#
# Change this to specify a different handbrake preset. You can list them by running: "HandBrakeCLI --preset-list"
#
PRESET="iPhone & iPod Touch"
if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
	TRANSCODEDIR="."
else
TRANSCODEDIR="$1"
fi
find "$TRANSCODEDIR"/* -type f -exec bash -c 'HandBrakeCLI -i "$1" -o "${1%\.*}".mp4 --preset="$PRESET"' __ {} \;

Save that into a .sh file like “handbrakefolder.sh” and grant it the execute permission (chmod +x handbrakefolder.sh).

Thanks to Vinnie and http://mywiki.wooledge.org/UsingFind for their help in this.

Now you can simply execute this script against a folder containing your video files. like this:


For a folder structure like this:
Videos
-> show1
    vid1.avi
-> show2
    -> season 1
        ep1.avi
        ep2.avi
    -> season 2
        ep1.avi
        ep2.avi
-> show3
    vid1.avi
    vid2.avi

hostname% handbrakefolder.sh Videos
...
....
...
When done, it will look like this:
Videos
-> show1
    vid1.avi
    vid1.mp4
-> show2
    -> season 1
        ep1.avi
        ep1.mp4
        ep2.avi
        ep2.mp4
    -> season 2
        ep1.avi
        ep1.mp4
        ep2.avi
        ep2.mp4
-> show3
    vid1.avi
    vid1.mp4
    vid2.avi
    vid2.mp4

2010: 08/10
CATEGORY: shell scripting
TAGS: bash script
Handbrake
recursive
10 comments

#!/bin/bash # # Change this to specify a different handbrake preset. You can list them by running: "HandBrakeCLI --preset-list" # PRESET="iPhone & iPod Touch" if [ -z "$1" ] ; then TRANSCODEDIR="." else TRANSCODEDIR="$1" fi find "$TRANSCODEDIR"/* -type f -exec bash -c 'HandBrakeCLI -i "$1" -o "${1%\.avi*}".mp4 --preset="$PRESET"' __ {} \;

- Dave
- August 10th, 2010
- REPLY
- QUOTE
This just gets better and better!

The bonus is that link to http://mywiki.wooledge.org/UsingFind now, maybe, I can make more sense out of these shell scripts!

So what’s next Jacob? Rewriting output file names to drop the .avi?

Cheers,

Dave
- - Vinnie
  - August 12th, 2010
  - REPLY
  - QUOTE
  Dave,
  
  I just realized that I posted a new comment instead of replying.
  
  Here is a modified version of the script that strips the .AVI extension from the output file. Using this will be left ORIGINALFILE.AVI and ORIGINALFILE.MP4 (instead of ORIGINALFILE.AVI.MP4) Enjoy!
  
  Vinnie
```
#!/bin/bash
#
# Change this to specify a different handbrake preset. You can list them by running: "HandBrakeCLI --preset-list"
#
PRESET="iPhone & iPod Touch"

if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
	TRANSCODEDIR="."
else
TRANSCODEDIR="$1"
fi
find "$TRANSCODEDIR"/* -type f -exec bash -c 'HandBrakeCLI -i "$1" -o "${1%\.avi*}".mp4 --preset="$PRESET"' __ {} \;
```
- maynard
- September 3rd, 2010
- REPLY
- QUOTE
My handbrake is stiff.
- - jacob
  - September 3rd, 2010
  - REPLY
  - QUOTE
  you’re welcome?
- Phil
- January 30th, 2011
- REPLY
- QUOTE
Great script, I am trying to modify the output folder and am hitting issues.

Here is what I put.

find “$TRANSCODEDIR”/* -type f -exec bash -c ‘/Applications/HandBrakeCLI -i “$1″ -o /Volumes/Terror/iFlicks_Watch_Folder/ –preset=”$PRESET”‘ __ {} \;

The script runs but handbrake throws an error saying that no muxer was selected. I think the issue is something to do with my “” and thefroe handbrakeCLI is not seeing the preset flag.

Any idea?

Thanks.

Phil
- Graham
- September 5th, 2011
- REPLY
- QUOTE
Yes, could also use help on this as well. How to change the output director? Has to do with the $1 being the full path including filename. I just want to get the filename itself and output to a directory I specify, rather than in the folder of the original file. Makes things tidier.
- supachupa
- September 16th, 2011
- REPLY
- QUOTE
first.. thanks! I will give this a try. I’ve got 7TB of ripped DVD’s (legitimate) and I need to free up some space.

second.. “it’s” is a contraction for ‘it is’. The correct spelling should be “its” with no apostrophe when you are using a possessive pronoun similar to his or hers.

Thanks!
- - jacob
  - September 16th, 2011
  - REPLY
  - QUOTE
  Thx for the spellcheck.
  all fixed.
  I hope the script helps you. If you run into any problems, let me know.
- murray
- October 16th, 2011
- REPLY
- QUOTE
I just found this script and decided it solves all my problems…then realized it sure looks like it might be for a Linux environment…and I’m running XP.

I also don’t know enough to know if that’s the case. I >COULD< eventually set up another PC that runs Linux (not the family PC), but is this script workable in some scenario under Windows XP?

Thank you
- - jacob
  - October 16th, 2011
  - REPLY
  - QUOTE
  Yes, this is a BASH shell script. If you’re stuck with windows XP, you could try running the script inside a cygwin environment. Give it a shot and report back. I’ll be happy to help you through it.

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