this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
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I'm making a FOSS all-in-one file converter app - looking for opinions! (files.catbox.moe)
submitted 2 weeks ago by popcar2@programming.dev to c/opensource@programming.dev
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I'm currently working on a file converter app that lets you easily convert your files in bulk without needing to mess around with 500 settings or confusing command-line apps. It's mostly a replacement for all those "convert X to Y" websites.

This is just a front-end for ffmpeg and imagemagick, but the goal is to make something so simple even my parents could use without uploading sensitive files to shady websites on the internet. I've looked around, and I found all the local GUI converters like Handbrake are unwieldy to use, especially if you just want to convert in bulk.

The project is still very early, but I'd like some feedback:

  1. Does anyone think this project is worth finishing, or are there too many GUI file converters out there already?

  2. What do you think about the UI so far?

Cheers.

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[–] entwine@programming.dev 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Godot? Wtf?

Also,

I’ve looked around, and I found all the local GUI converters like Handbrake are unwieldy to use, especially if you just want to convert in bulk.

Idk Handbrake specifically, but generally when that kind of thing happens it's for a good reason. There are a lot of options when converting a video file, and you can't support them all without exposing that complexity in some form. If you don't think so, then you haven't done enough research into the problem space.

With that said, a "dumbed down" version of Handbrake that is optimized for a single common use case could be useful. For example, re-encoding iPhone videos to minimize compression artifacts when sharing over Whatsapp could be useful to people. However, I don't think a desktop app is the most accessible implementation for that.

EDIT: also, even if a desktop app was a good choice, it might be more practical to implement it as like a preset for Handbrake rather than a whole separate app. My mom isn't very tech literate, but I could probably teach her how to activate a preset (idk if Handbrake supports presets, but it probably does lol)