FF Multi Converter

FF Multi Converter is a modern, cross-platform graphical application for converting audio, video, image, and document files between many popular formats. It uses FFmpeg, ImageMagick, LibreOffice, powerful open-source tools behind the scenes, while providing a simple and user-friendly interface for Linux and Windows users.

This repository keeps one upstream codebase with Linux and Windows support. The Debian packaging remains Linux-focused in debian/.

Runtime dependencies

Common:

• Python 3
• PyQt5
• FFmpeg
• ImageMagick

Linux document conversion:

• unoconv

Debian-based runtime packages:

sudo apt install python3 python3-pyqt5 ffmpeg imagemagick unoconv

Windows document conversion:

• LibreOffice, available as soffice.com or soffice in PATH

Run from source

Clone or download:

https://github.com/wachin/ffmulticonverter

Linux:

On Debian-based distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint, install the required runtime dependencies with:

sudo apt install python3 python3-pyqt5 ffmpeg imagemagick unoconv

Then run from a terminal in the root folder:

python3 -m ffmulticonverter.ffmulticonverter

Windows:

FF Multi Converter for Windows needs three external command-line tools available in PATH: FFmpeg, LibreOffice, and ImageMagick. After installing or changing PATH, close all PowerShell/CMD windows and open a new one before testing the commands.

FFmpeg in PATH

FFmpeg is required for audio and video conversion.

Download a Windows build from the official FFmpeg Windows download page:
https://ffmpeg.org/download.html#build-windows. The guide in this repository uses the builds from
gyan.dev.

Summary:

1. Download and extract the FFmpeg build.
2. Put the extracted files in a stable folder, for example C:\FFmpeg.
3. Add the bin folder to the Windows user Path, for example:

C:\FFmpeg\bin

4. Open a new PowerShell and verify:

ffmpeg -version

Full guide: docs/windows/EN/ffmpeg.md
Full Spanish guide: docs/windows/ES/ffmpeg.md.

LibreOffice in PATH

LibreOffice is required for document conversion on Windows. FF Multi Converter uses soffice/soffice.com in headless mode to convert documents such as .docx to .odt, .pdf, and other office formats.

Download LibreOffice from:
https://libreoffice.org/.

Summary:

1. Install the LibreOffice version that matches your Windows architecture.
2. Find the LibreOffice program folder. Usually it is:

C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program

3. Add that folder to the Windows user Path.
4. Open a new PowerShell and verify:

soffice --version

Full guide: docs/windows/EN/libreoffice-path.md
Full Spanish guide: docs/windows/ES/libreoffice-path.md.

ImageMagick in PATH

ImageMagick is required for image conversion. On Windows, FF Multi Converter uses magick, not convert, because Windows already includes an unrelated convert.exe.

Download ImageMagick from:
https://imagemagick.org/download/#gsc.tab=0.

Summary:

1. Install ImageMagick 7 for Windows.
2. In the installer, keep Add application directory to your system path enabled.
3. The legacy utilities are not required for FF Multi Converter.
4. Open a new PowerShell and verify:

magick --version

Full guide: docs/windows/EN/imagemagick.md
Full Spanish guide: docs/windows/ES/imagemagick.md.

When all three tools are ready, these commands should work from a new PowerShell:

ffmpeg -version
soffice --version
magick --version

Then install the Python dependency and run FF Multi Converter:

python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m ffmulticonverter.ffmulticonverter

Debian packaging

The debian/ directory is intentionally Linux-focused. It depends on the Linux runtime tools used by the Debian package and does not install Windows binaries or Windows-specific dependencies.

To build the .deb package on Debian-based distributions, install the package build dependencies with:

sudo apt install build-essential debhelper dh-python python3 python3-setuptools

Then build the package from the repository root with:

dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc

Platform notes

On Linux, image conversion uses ImageMagick through convert when available, or magick as a fallback. Document conversion uses unoconv when available, with LibreOffice soffice as a fallback.

On Windows, image conversion uses magick because Windows has its own convert.exe. Document conversion uses LibreOffice directly:

soffice --headless --convert-to pdf --outdir "C:\Output" "file.docx"

Additional Windows setup notes are in docs/windows/.

Format guide

FF Multi Converter is a graphical front-end. The real conversion work is done by FFmpeg, ImageMagick, unoconv, or LibreOffice. A format may appear in the interface but still require support in the installed external tool.

Audio/Video tab

Use this tab for audio files, video files, animated formats, and media containers. The Convert to field chooses the output container or file extension. Video codec chooses how the video stream is encoded. Audio codec chooses how the audio stream is encoded.

Default lets FFmpeg choose a suitable codec for the selected output format. Disable removes that stream: disabling video creates audio-only output, while disabling audio creates silent video.

Audio/Video output formats

Format	What it is useful for	Example use
3g2	3GPP2 mobile video container.	Legacy mobile phone video.
3gp	3GPP mobile video container.	Very old mobile devices.
aac	AAC audio stream file.	Extract or create AAC audio.
ac3	Dolby Digital audio stream.	DVD/home theater audio.
aif	AIFF audio.	Uncompressed audio for audio editors.
aiff	AIFF audio.	Mac/audio production workflows.
amr	Adaptive Multi-Rate speech audio.	Voice recordings and old phones.
ape	Monkey's Audio lossless audio.	Lossless audio archiving.
au	Sun/NeXT audio.	Legacy Unix audio files.
avi	Older video container.	Compatibility with old players.
caf	Core Audio Format.	Apple audio workflows.
dv	Digital Video format.	Old camcorder footage.
eac3	Enhanced AC-3 audio stream.	Modern surround audio.
flac	Lossless compressed audio.	Music archiving without quality loss.
flv	Flash Video container.	Legacy web video.
gif	Animated GIF output.	Short silent clips for sharing.
h264	Raw H.264 video stream.	Advanced workflows that need raw streams.
h265	Raw H.265/HEVC video stream.	Advanced HEVC workflows.
hevc	Raw HEVC video stream.	Advanced HEVC workflows.
m2ts	Blu-ray transport stream.	Blu-ray style video files.
m4a	MPEG-4 audio-only container.	AAC/ALAC music files.
m4b	MPEG-4 audiobook container.	Audiobooks and long spoken audio.
m4r	iPhone ringtone container.	Ringtones.
m4v	MPEG-4 video container.	Apple-compatible video.
mka	Matroska audio container.	Audio with modern codec flexibility.
mkv	Matroska video container.	High-quality video with many tracks.
mov	QuickTime container.	Apple/video editing workflows.
mp2	MPEG Layer II audio.	Broadcast and legacy audio.
mp3	Common compressed audio.	Music, podcasts, general compatibility.
mp4	Common MPEG-4 video container.	Phones, browsers, social platforms.
mpg	MPEG Program Stream.	DVD-era video compatibility.
mts	AVCHD transport stream.	Camcorder footage.
mxf	Professional media container.	Broadcast and editing systems.
oga	Ogg audio.	Open audio container.
ogg	Ogg media container.	Vorbis/Opus audio or Ogg video.
ogv	Ogg video.	Open video distribution.
opus	Opus audio stream/container.	Speech, streaming, high-quality low bitrate.
ts	MPEG transport stream.	Streaming, broadcast, recovery-friendly files.
vob	DVD video object.	DVD-style video.
wav	Uncompressed PCM audio container.	Audio editing and maximum compatibility.
webm	Open web video container.	Browser-friendly VP8/VP9/AV1 video.
wma	Windows Media Audio.	Windows legacy compatibility.
wmv	Windows Media Video.	Windows legacy compatibility.
wv	WavPack audio.	Lossless or hybrid audio archiving.

Video codecs

Codec	What it does	Example use
copy	Copies the video stream without re-encoding.	Change container from .mkv to .mp4 when compatible.
ffv1	Lossless intra-frame codec.	Archival masters and preservation.
flv	Flash video codec.	Legacy .flv files.
h263	Older low-bitrate video codec.	Legacy mobile/low-resolution video.
libaom-av1	AV1 encoder from AOM.	Modern open video with high compression.
libsvtav1	SVT-AV1 encoder.	Faster AV1 encoding when FFmpeg includes it.
libtheora	Theora video encoder.	Open Ogg video.
libvpx	VP8 encoder.	WebM video for older browser compatibility.
libvpx-vp9	VP9 encoder.	WebM with better compression than VP8.
libx264	H.264 encoder.	Best general choice for .mp4 compatibility.
libx265	H.265/HEVC encoder.	Smaller files than H.264, slower encoding.
libxvid	Xvid/MPEG-4 ASP encoder.	Older DVD player compatibility.
mpeg2video	MPEG-2 video encoder.	DVD-style video.
mpeg4	MPEG-4 Part 2 encoder.	Older devices and simple compatibility.
msmpeg4	Microsoft MPEG-4 variant.	Very old Windows media workflows.
prores	Apple ProRes encoder.	Editing-friendly intermediate files.
vp9	Native VP9 encoder.	WebM/VP9 output when available.
wmv2	Windows Media Video 8 codec.	Legacy Windows Media output.

Audio codecs

Codec	What it does	Example use
aac	Standard AAC audio encoder.	Audio in .mp4, .m4a, .m4v.
ac3	Dolby Digital encoder.	Surround audio for home theater.
alac	Apple Lossless encoder.	Lossless .m4a music files.
copy	Copies the audio stream without re-encoding.	Keep original audio while changing video.
eac3	Enhanced AC-3 encoder.	Modern surround audio.
flac	Free lossless audio codec.	Music archiving.
libfdk_aac	High-quality AAC encoder, not present in all FFmpeg builds.	Best AAC quality when available.
libmp3lame	MP3 encoder.	Podcasts and broad device compatibility.
libopus	Opus encoder.	Speech, streaming, Discord/WebRTC-like use.
libvorbis	Vorbis encoder.	Open .ogg audio.
mp2	MPEG Layer II audio encoder.	Broadcast and old video workflows.
opus	Native Opus encoder.	Opus audio when libopus is unavailable.
pcm_s16le	Uncompressed 16-bit PCM.	.wav files for editing.
wavpack	WavPack encoder.	Lossless audio archiving.
wmav2	Windows Media Audio 2.	Legacy Windows audio files.

Audio/Video examples

Goal	Convert to	Video codec	Audio codec	Useful options
Most compatible video	mp4	libx264	aac	Set audio bitrate to 128 or 192.
Smaller modern video	mp4	libx265	aac	Use when playback devices support HEVC.
Open web video	webm	libvpx-vp9	libopus	Good for browser playback.
Extract audio from video	mp3	Disable	libmp3lame	Video stream is removed.
Keep original streams, change container	mkv or mp4	copy	copy	Fast, no quality loss if streams are compatible.
Make a silent video	mp4	libx264	Disable	Audio stream is removed.
Lossless archive	mkv	ffv1	flac	Large files, good for preservation.

Images tab

Use this tab for still images, animated images, and image-like document formats. ImageMagick performs the conversion. On Windows this program calls magick, not convert, because Windows includes another unrelated convert.exe.

Image output formats

Format	What it is useful for	Example use
apng	Animated PNG.	Short animations with PNG-style quality.
avif	Modern high-compression image format.	Small web images with good quality.
bmp	Uncompressed bitmap.	Simple Windows compatibility.
cgm	Computer Graphics Metafile.	Technical/vector graphics workflows.
dds	DirectDraw Surface.	Game textures.
dng	Digital Negative raw photo format.	Photography/raw workflows.
dpx	Digital Picture Exchange.	Film and VFX frames.
emf	Enhanced Metafile.	Windows vector/metafile graphics.
eps	Encapsulated PostScript.	Print and vector workflows.
exr	OpenEXR high dynamic range image.	VFX and HDR image pipelines.
fpx	FlashPix image.	Legacy image archives.
gif	GIF image or animation.	Simple animations and compatibility.
hdr	Radiance HDR image.	High dynamic range images.
heic	HEIF image using HEVC compression.	iPhone-style photos.
heif	High Efficiency Image File format.	Modern photo storage.
ico	Icon file.	Windows icons and app icons.
j2k	JPEG 2000 codestream.	Archival or high-quality compression.
jbig	JBIG bi-level image.	Fax/scanned monochrome documents.
jng	JPEG Network Graphics.	Legacy web image format.
jp2	JPEG 2000 container.	Archival images and maps.
jpeg	JPEG image.	Photos and broad compatibility.
jpg	JPEG image, common extension.	Photos for web, email, and documents.
jxl	JPEG XL.	Modern image compression and archival use.
mrsid	MrSID geospatial image.	GIS and map imagery.
p7	Xv thumbnail/image format.	Legacy image workflows.
pdf	Portable Document Format.	Export images as PDF pages.
picon	Personal icon format.	Legacy icon workflows.
png	Portable Network Graphics.	Screenshots, transparency, lossless images.
ppm	Portable Pixmap.	Simple intermediate image format.
psd	Photoshop document.	Exchange with image editors.
rad	Radiance image.	HDR/rendering workflows.
svg	Scalable Vector Graphics.	Vector web graphics, when ImageMagick delegates support it.
tga	Targa image.	Game/video texture workflows.
tif	TIFF image.	Scans, print, archival images.
tiff	TIFF image.	Same as tif, longer extension.
webp	Modern web image format.	Small web images with or without transparency.
xpm	X PixMap.	Unix/Linux icon resources.

Image options

Option	What it does	Example
Image Size	Resizes the output. Both width and height must be filled.	800 x 600 creates an 800 by 600 image.
Maintain aspect ratio	Keeps the original proportions while resizing.	Resize a 4000x3000 photo to fit a smaller box without stretching faces.
Auto-crop	Adds ImageMagick trim behavior to remove uniform borders.	Remove white scanner margins around a document scan.
Rotate	Rotates clockwise by the number of degrees entered.	90 rotates a portrait photo into landscape.
Vertical flip	Flips top to bottom.	Correct an upside-down scan.
Horizontal flip	Flips left to right.	Mirror an image.
Extra options	Adds raw ImageMagick options to the command.	Use it for quality, compression, colors, background, filters, and advanced operations.

Image extra options examples

Put only the options, not the input or output file names.

Goal	Extra options
JPEG quality 85	-quality 85
WebP quality 80	-quality 80
Strip metadata	-strip
Convert to grayscale	-colorspace Gray
Add white background before JPEG export	-background white -alpha remove -alpha off
Sharpen slightly	-sharpen 0x1
Blur slightly	-blur 0x1
Limit colors	-colors 256
Make PNG compression stronger	-define png:compression-level=9
Resize using a high-quality filter	-filter Lanczos

Documents tab

Use this tab for office documents, spreadsheets, presentations, text formats, and document exports such as PDF or EPUB. On Linux, conversion uses unoconv when available. On Windows, conversion uses LibreOffice directly through soffice --headless --convert-to.

LibreOffice does not support every possible conversion direction equally. For best results, convert between related families: Writer documents to odt, docx, pdf, or epub; spreadsheets to ods, xlsx, or csv; presentations to odp, pptx, or pdf.

Document output formats

Format	What it is useful for	Example use
bib	BibTeX bibliography.	Bibliography data for LaTeX workflows.
csv	Comma-separated values.	Spreadsheet data exchange.
dif	Data Interchange Format.	Legacy spreadsheet exchange.
doc	Older Microsoft Word format.	Compatibility with old Word versions.
docm	Macro-enabled Word document.	Word documents that may contain macros.
docx	Modern Microsoft Word document.	Common editable text documents.
dot	Older Word template.	Legacy Word templates.
dotx	Modern Word template.	Word document templates.
epub	E-book format.	Export a document as an e-book.
fodp	Flat XML OpenDocument presentation.	Version-control-friendly presentation files.
fods	Flat XML OpenDocument spreadsheet.	Version-control-friendly spreadsheet files.
fodt	Flat XML OpenDocument text.	Version-control-friendly text documents.
html	Web page document.	Publish document content on the web.
ltx	LaTeX document.	Academic/typesetting workflows.
odp	OpenDocument presentation.	LibreOffice Impress presentations.
ods	OpenDocument spreadsheet.	LibreOffice Calc spreadsheets.
odt	OpenDocument text.	LibreOffice Writer documents.
otp	OpenDocument presentation template.	Impress templates.
ots	OpenDocument spreadsheet template.	Calc templates.
ott	OpenDocument text template.	Writer templates.
pdf	Portable Document Format.	Final documents for sharing or printing.
pot	Older PowerPoint template.	Legacy PowerPoint templates.
potx	Modern PowerPoint template.	PowerPoint templates.
pps	Older PowerPoint slideshow.	Legacy slideshow files.
ppsx	Modern PowerPoint slideshow.	Click-to-run presentation files.
ppt	Older PowerPoint presentation.	Legacy presentation compatibility.
pptx	Modern PowerPoint presentation.	Common editable presentation files.
rtf	Rich Text Format.	Simple formatted text exchange.
sdc	Older StarOffice spreadsheet.	Legacy StarOffice files.
sdw	Older StarOffice Writer document.	Legacy StarOffice text files.
txt	Plain text.	Extract text without formatting.
xls	Older Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.	Legacy Excel compatibility.
xlsm	Macro-enabled Excel spreadsheet.	Excel spreadsheets that may contain macros.
xlsx	Modern Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.	Common editable spreadsheet files.
xlt	Older Excel template.	Legacy spreadsheet templates.
xltx	Modern Excel template.	Excel spreadsheet templates.
xhtml	XHTML web document.	Structured web export.
xml	XML document/data.	Structured interchange when supported.

Document examples

Goal	Convert to
Edit a Word file in LibreOffice format	odt
Share a document without letting others edit it easily	pdf
Create an e-book from a Writer document	epub
Convert an Excel file to LibreOffice format	ods
Export spreadsheet rows for another program	csv
Convert a PowerPoint file to LibreOffice format	odp
Create a slideshow file from a presentation	ppsx
Extract simple text from a document	txt

License

FF Multi Converter is distributed under the GNU GPL v3 or later. See COPYING.