CLI Usage

Build first, then invoke the compiled CLI via the encodex command (the bin/encodex.js launcher wraps the Electron binary). CLI mode auto-activates when two positional arguments (input + output) are given, or explicitly with --cli:

# Convert a file (subcommand form)
encodex convert input.mp4 output.avi --video-codec libx265 --audio-codec aac

# Convert a file (legacy flat form — still works)
encodex input.mp4 output.avi --video-codec libx265 --audio-codec aac

# Show media info as a human table
encodex info input.mp4

# Show media info as JSON
encodex info input.mp4 --json

# List transcoder capabilities
encodex capabilities
encodex capabilities --json

# Lossless copy to different container
encodex convert input.mkv output.mp4 --copy

# Cut a segment
encodex convert input.mp4 output.mp4 --start-time 00:01:00 --end-time 00:02:30

# Compress an image
encodex compress photo.png -f jpg -q 30

# Extract audio (mp3 by default)
encodex extract-audio input.mp4

# Batch-convert several files / globs
encodex batch 'videos/**/*.mov' --concurrency 2 --output-dir converted

# Use a specific transcoder core
encodex convert input.mp4 output.mp4 --transcoder FFTOOL

Legacy flat usage (encodex in.mp4 out.mp4, encodex --info in.mp4) is shimmed into the matching subcommand automatically.

To make encodex available globally, run npm link from the project root (or npm install -g .). The raw npx electron . --cli ... form still works as an alternative.

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description
convert	Convert media (default when no subcommand matches). Alias: c
info	Show media info (human table, or --json for machine output)
capabilities	List available transcoder capabilities (table or --json)
compress	Compress an image
extract-audio	Extract the audio stream (default codec libmp3lame). Alias: audio
batch	Convert multiple inputs (files, globs, or directories) with a queue

Global Options

Global options can be placed before or after the subcommand name.

Option	Description
--transcoder <type>	Transcoder core: FFMPEG, FFTOOL, BMF (default: FFMPEG)
--theme <id>	Logo color theme: light, ocean, sunset, forest, lavender, rose, slate, dark (default: light)
--verbose	Verbose logging (routes status to stderr)
--quiet	Suppress status output
--no-color	Disable ANSI colors
--json	Machine-readable JSON output (status routed to stderr)
--timeout <seconds>	Conversion timeout in seconds (default: 300)

Convert Options

Option	Description
-v, --video-codec <codec>	Video codec (e.g. libx264, libx265, copy)
-a, --audio-codec <codec>	Audio codec (e.g. aac, libmp3lame, copy)
-q, --qscale <qscale>	Quality scale (1-31)
--bitrate-video <bitrate>	Video bitrate (e.g. 1000k)
--bitrate-audio <bitrate>	Audio bitrate (e.g. 192k)
--pix-fmt <format>	Pixel format (e.g. yuv420p, yuv444p)
-s, --scale <WxH>	Output resolution (e.g. 1280x720 or 50%)
--start-time <time>	Start time (HH:MM:SS or seconds)
--end-time <time>	End time
--duration <time>	Duration
--copy	Lossless stream copy
--no-audio	Exclude the audio stream from the output
--no-video	Exclude the video stream from the output (audio-only)
--hwaccel / --no-hwaccel	Toggle hardware acceleration
--hwaccel-mode <auto|encode>	Hardware acceleration mode (default: auto)
--info	Print media info for the input and exit

Compress Options

Option	Description
-o, --output <file>	Output file
-f, --format <format>	Output format (defaults from output extension)
-q, --quality <qscale>	Quality scale 1-31
-s, --scale <WxH>	Output resolution

Extract-audio Options

Option	Description
-o, --output <file>	Output file
-a, --audio-codec <codec>	Audio codec (default: libmp3lame)
--bitrate-audio <bitrate>	Audio bitrate (e.g. 192k)

Batch Options

Option	Description
--concurrency <n>	Max parallel conversions (default: 4, clamped 1-4)
--output-dir <dir>	Output directory for converted files
--suffix <s>	Suffix appended to derived output names (default: _encodex_converted)

Batch also accepts all convert encoding options (-v/--video-codec, -a/--audio-codec, --bitrate-video, --bitrate-audio, -q/--qscale, --pix-fmt, -s/--scale, --copy, --no-audio, --no-video) and applies them to every job.

Exit Codes

Code	Constant	Meaning
0	EXIT_CODES.SUCCESS	Clean success
1	EXIT_CODES.ERROR	Generic error
2	EXIT_CODES.USAGE	Invalid/incomplete arguments
3	EXIT_CODES.CANCELLED	Operation cancelled by the user
4	EXIT_CODES.NOT_FOUND	Input file, FFmpeg, or FFprobe not found
5	EXIT_CODES.TIMEOUT	Conversion exceeded --timeout