EncodeKit

EncodeKit is a free, open-source, portable Windows batch video converter and FFmpeg GUI. Queue MP4, MKV, and other video files, compress them for personal use, or YouTube with AV1 or NVIDIA NVENC support, convert formats, strip audio, extract JPEG frames, and let encodes run in the background — no installer. Presets live in a simple .ini file, so you can tweak the built-in profiles or add your own.

EncodeKit is a small WinForms front-end around ffmpeg.exe. You keep your own presets in a plain presets.ini. The app:

• Queues many files
• Builds the FFmpeg command from the selected preset
• Runs them one after another
• Shows progress, ETA, CPU/RAM, and a live log
• Writes next to the source file, or into a folder you choose
• On every run, it creates a shortcut for itself in "Send To" for easy access for any files to be added using context menu.
• On every launch, EncodeKit writes a shortcut into the Windows Send to menu so you can right-click any file and add it to the open queue.
• It is meant to live on a USB stick or a tools folder: copy the directory, drop in FFmpeg, run.

No installer. No admin rights. Download the zip, extract it, run EncodeKit.exe from that folder.

All versions

1. Click Download above.
2. Extract the zip anywhere you like (Desktop, USB stick, tools folder).
3. Double-click EncodeKit.exe.

That is the whole app: the exe plus the assets folder. Copy the folder to another PC and it still runs.

• Batch, not one file at a time. Queue a folder, walk away.
• Presets you own. The command is an ini file, not buried in a GUI. Copy, tweak, share.
• Video is not re-encoded unless you ask. Mute is -c copy -an. JPEG dump is a frame extract. YouTube-like presets are the ones that actually compress.
• GPU when you have it, CPU when you don’t. Same list, CUDA rows disappear on machines without NVIDIA.
• Portable. No installer, no registry, no %APPDATA% requirement. The exe + assets folder is the whole app.
• The desktop stays usable. Thread cap + BelowNormal ffmpeg so a 4-hour AV1 job does not freeze Explorer.
• Send To. Right-click a clip in Explorer, it lands in the open queue.
• You can see the command. The log prints the exact ffmpeg line so you can debug or paste it elsewhere.

• Add button, or
• Drag videos onto the window, or
• Drag a folder (every file inside is queued), or
• Windows Send to → EncodeKit (a shortcut is created on first launch). A second Send to adds files to the already-open queue instead of starting another instance.

Duplicates are skipped. Size and duration are probed with ffprobe.

The dropdown lists every section in assets\presets.ini. NVIDIA / CUDA presets are hidden automatically if CUDA is not available. The last used preset is remembered.

Included starting points:

Hover / read the note under the dropdown for the short description of the current preset.

• Same as source — Clip.mp4 becomes Clip.1080p.mp4 next to the original. JPEG jobs become Clip-frames\0001.jpeg, 0002.jpeg, …
• Custom Directory — same file names, written into the folder you select. EncodeKit creates missing folders (needed for the JPEG sequence).

While a job runs you get elapsed time, ETA, speed, a percent bar, and the ffmpeg log.

• Source → Open — Explorer selects the original file.
• Converted — a button with the output size and the change vs the source, e.g. 12.4 MB (-64%).
  • Green if the file got smaller, red if it got larger.
  • Click opens the output file, or the frames folder for JPEG sequences.

Each section is one preset. Fields:

[My preset name]
note=Short description shown under the dropdown.
pre=-hwaccel cuda -hwaccel_output_format cuda
args=-c:v av1_nvenc ... -c:a aac -b:a 160k
suffix=.mysuffix
ext=mp4

• pre — flags before -i (hardware decode, etc.). Leave empty for CPU.
• args — flags after -i. This is the actual encode.
• suffix — inserted before the extension. Use -frames\%04d for an image sequence.
• ext — output extension. Use * to keep the source container (mute / remux jobs).

CUDA is detected from pre / args (cuda or nvenc). Those presets hide themselves when the GPU cannot run them.

Reload settings after you edit the ini (or restart the app).

cpu_percent=75
priority=BelowNormal

• cpu_percent (1–100) — cap FFmpeg (and SVT-AV1 lp=) at this fraction of logical processors.
• priority — Windows priority for ffmpeg.exe: Idle, BelowNormal, Normal, AboveNormal, High. BelowNormal keeps the desktop usable during long encodes.

You need:

• Windows 10/11 x64
• An internet connection the first time you build (so build.bat can fetch FFmpeg)
• .NET Framework 4.x — the csc.exe that ships with Windows is enough. Visual Studio is optional. If the compiler is missing, install the .NET Framework 4.8 Developer Pack

The source folder already has EncodeKit.cs, presets.ini, settings.ini, app.ico, and build.bat. There are no NuGet packages and no .csproj.

1. Download the source (clone this repo, or Code → Download ZIP and extract it).
2. Open the folder that contains build.bat.
3. Double-click build.bat.

The script compiles EncodeKit.exe and downloads a current FFmpeg GPL static build, then places ffmpeg.exe and ffprobe.exe in assets. When it finishes, run EncodeKit.exe from that same folder.

Optional: replace assets\app.ico before you build if you want a different icon. build.bat uses that file by default.

If csc.exe is missing, install the Developer Pack (or Visual Studio with the .NET desktop workload) and run build.bat again.