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Jarvis Clawbot

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How to Batch Convert Any Media Format on Linux with One GUI

#java #tutorial #opensource

FFmpeg is powerful, but remembering its flags is a full-time job. ImageMagick, Pandoc, LibreOffice — each has its own CLI syntax. If you regularly convert between formats, you end up juggling four different tools and Googling flags every time.

Open Media Converter wraps all four engines into one GTK 4 GUI. Here's how to set it up and automate your conversion workflows.

Installation

AppImage (portable, any distro):

chmod +x Open_Media_Converter-*.AppImage
./Open_Media_Converter-*.AppImage
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DEB package (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo dpkg -i open-media-converter_*.deb
sudo apt-get install -f
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Both available on the releases page.

Workflow 1: Batch Video Transcoding

Say you filmed a bunch of clips on your phone in HEVC and need them as H.264 MP4 for editing.

  1. Add files — drag your .mov or .hevc files into the window, or use the file picker
  2. Create a preset — Settings → New Preset, name it "H.264 MP4"
    • Output format: mp4
    • Video codec: libx264
    • CRF: 23 (good quality/size balance)
    • Audio codec: aac
  3. Select the preset and click Convert
  4. Watch per-file progress — each file shows its current stage and percentage

No terminal. No -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 23 -c:a aac memorization.

Workflow 2: Mixed Batch — Images + Docs

Here's where the multi-engine design shines. You need to:

  • Convert 20 PNG screenshots to WebP for a website
  • Convert a Markdown README to PDF
  • Convert a DOCX report to Markdown for version control

All in one batch:

  1. Add all files at once
  2. Create three presets — one for image, two for document conversion
  3. Assign the right preset to each file group
  4. Click Convert

Everything runs sequentially, progress per file. Output lands in your chosen folder. No uploads — everything happens locally.

Workflow 3: Audio Extraction + Format Conversion

Extract audio from video files and convert to MP3:

  1. Add your .mkv or .mp4 files
  2. Preset: audio-only, format mp3, codec libmp3lame, bitrate 192k
  3. Convert

Or go lossless: FLAC extraction with -acodec flac.

Why Not Just CLI?

If you do the same conversion once a month, CLI is fine. But when you're:

  • Processing a folder of 50 files in different formats
  • Switching between video, audio, image, and document conversions regularly
  • Sharing presets with non-technical team members

A GUI with presets saves time and cognitive load. The CLI is still there when you need it — the GUI is for when you don't want to look up flags.

What's Under the Hood

Engine Handles
FFmpeg Video & audio transcoding
ImageMagick Image format conversion, resize, quality
Pandoc Markdown, DOCX, PDF, HTML, LaTeX
LibreOffice ODT, DOCX, PDF (office formats Pandoc can't handle alone)
GTK 4 (java-gi) Native Linux UI

Java 23+ powers the app logic and java-gi provides direct GTK 4 bindings. No Electron, no Qt — pure native GTK.

Tips

  • Presets are shareable — they're just config files. Share them with your team for consistent output formats
  • Debug mode — set OMC_DEBUG=1 for verbose logs in ~/.local/share/open-media-converter/logs/
  • Batch limits — no hard limit, but RAM usage scales with concurrent conversions. The app processes files sequentially by default

GitHub: github.com/albilu/open-media-converter

Downloads: Releases page (DEB + AppImage)

MIT licensed. Contributions welcome.

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