anything2anything

A minimalist Python CLI tool for converting files between formats within the same category. This tool acts as a thin wrapper around existing command-line tools (FFmpeg, ImageMagick, LibreOffice) to provide a unified interface for file conversion.

Features

• Category-based conversion: Only converts files within the same category (e.g., image to image, audio to audio)
• Multiple format support: Supports audio, video, image, document, spreadsheet, and presentation formats
• Simple CLI: Clean, intuitive command-line interface
• Extensible design: Easy to add new formats by updating the category mappings

Requirements

System dependencies

This tool requires the following external command-line tools to be installed and available in your PATH:

• FFmpeg: For audio and video conversions
• ImageMagick: For image conversions
• LibreOffice: For document, spreadsheet, and presentation conversions

Installation instructions:

• macOS: brew install ffmpeg imagemagick libreoffice
• Linux (Ubuntu/Debian): sudo apt-get install ffmpeg imagemagick libreoffice
• Windows: Download installers from the respective project websites

Python requirements

• Python 3.11 or higher

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd anything2anything

2. Create a virtual environment:

   python3 -m venv .venv

3. Activate the virtual environment:

   # macOS/Linux
   source .venv/bin/activate
   
   # Windows
   .venv\Scripts\activate

4. Install the package:

   pip install .

   For development (editable install):

   pip install -e .

Usage

Basic syntax

anything2anything INPUT_PATH OUTPUT_PATH [options]

Note: For backwards compatibility, python anything2anything.py ... still works, but the recommended way is to use the anything2anything command after installation.

Options

• --force, -f: Overwrite output file if it already exists
• --verbose, -v: Print detailed information about the conversion process
• --help: Show help message

Examples

Image conversion

# Convert HEIC to JPG
anything2anything inputs/photo.heic outputs/photo.jpg

# Convert JPG to WebP with verbose output
anything2anything inputs/image.jpg outputs/image.webp --verbose

Audio conversion

# Convert M4A to MP3
anything2anything inputs/audio.m4a outputs/audio.mp3

# Convert WAV to M4A
anything2anything inputs/recording.wav outputs/recording.m4a

Video conversion

# Convert MOV to MP4
anything2anything inputs/video.mov outputs/video.mp4

# Convert with force overwrite
anything2anything inputs/video.mp4 outputs/video.mov --force

Document conversion

# Convert DOCX to ODT
anything2anything inputs/document.docx outputs/document.odt

# Convert DOC to RTF
anything2anything inputs/document.doc outputs/document.rtf

Spreadsheet conversion

# Convert XLSX to ODS
anything2anything inputs/spreadsheet.xlsx outputs/spreadsheet.ods

# Convert CSV to XLSX
anything2anything inputs/data.csv outputs/data.xlsx

Presentation conversion

# Convert PPTX to ODP
anything2anything inputs/presentation.pptx outputs/presentation.odp

Supported formats

Audio

• .mp3 - MPEG Audio Layer 3
• .wav - Waveform Audio
• .m4a - MPEG-4 Audio

Video

• .mov - QuickTime Movie
• .mp4 - MPEG-4 Video

Image

• .heic - High Efficiency Image Container
• .jpg, .jpeg - JPEG Image
• .gif - Graphics Interchange Format
• .icns - Apple Icon Image
• .webp - WebP Image
• .avif - AV1 Image File Format
• .svg - Scalable Vector Graphics
• .png - Portable Network Graphics

Spreadsheet

• .csv - Comma-Separated Values
• .ods - OpenDocument Spreadsheet
• .xlsx - Microsoft Excel (OpenXML)
• .xls - Microsoft Excel (Legacy)
• .xlsm - Microsoft Excel Macro-Enabled

Presentation

• .odp - OpenDocument Presentation
• .ppt - Microsoft PowerPoint (Legacy)
• .pptx - Microsoft PowerPoint (OpenXML)

Document

• .docx - Microsoft Word (OpenXML)
• .doc - Microsoft Word (Legacy)
• .odt - OpenDocument Text
• .txt - Plain Text
• .rtf - Rich Text Format
• .pdf - Portable Document Format

Error handling

The tool provides clear error messages for common issues:

• Unsupported format: If the input or output format is not supported
• Category mismatch: If attempting to convert between different categories (e.g., image to audio)
• Missing tools: If required external tools (FFmpeg, ImageMagick, LibreOffice) are not found
• File not found: If the input file does not exist
• Conversion failure: If the underlying tool fails to convert the file

Use the --verbose flag to see detailed error output from the underlying tools.

Project structure

anything2anything/
├── anything2anything.py          # Compatibility shim (backwards compatibility)
├── pyproject.toml                # Package configuration and build metadata
├── src/                          # Source code directory
│   └── anything2anything/        # Main package
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── cli.py                # CLI entry point
│       ├── categories.py         # Category definitions and extension mapping
│       ├── converters.py         # Backend conversion functions
│       └── dispatcher.py         # Conversion routing logic
├── requirements.txt              # Python dependencies (for reference)
├── .gitignore                    # Git ignore patterns
├── inputs/                       # Directory for sample inputs
├── outputs/                      # Directory for sample outputs
└── README.md                     # This file

Development

Setup

For development, install the package in editable mode:

pip install -e .

This allows you to make changes to the code and test them immediately without reinstalling.

Extending the codebase

The codebase is designed to be simple and extensible. To add support for new formats:

1. Add the extension to EXTENSION_TO_CATEGORY in src/anything2anything/categories.py
2. If needed, add a new converter function in src/anything2anything/converters.py
3. Update the dispatcher if a new category is added