Script for video compression automation using Handbrake CLI

This is a bash script I wrote to automate the compression process. I would usually render a video using Davinci Resolve and then have to manually put the video through Handbrake to compress the video into a smaller file size.

How to use it

First, download the git repo by

git clone https://github.com/Roshan-Thomas/handbrake-cli-script.git

And then run the script by

./cron-job.sh '<PARENT FOLDER>' <NUMBER OF SECONDS TO WAIT>

The first argument takes in the parent folder where the video file to be compressed exists. And, the second argument takes in the number of seconds to wait before running Handbrake CLI (default is 0 seconds).

Note: The waiting period was done so that the video can be completely rendered by Resolve and then be compressed

Here i am using a specific folder structure for my video editing process. You can choose to use the same structure or change the script accordingly

project
└───01 Footage
│   │   footage.mov
│   
└───02 Titles
    │   title.png
|
└───03 Exports
│   │   Export 1.mov 

If you decide to change the file structure, then change line 16 in the script to

cd "$CURRENT_DIR/$1/<EXPORTS FOLDER NAME>/"

Handbrake Preset

I have also included the HandBrake preset I use for compressing my videos in the git repo as well.

If you want to change the preset to someother .json file then change line 20 to

HandBrakeCLI --preset-import-file "$CURRENT_DIR/<YOUR CUSTOM PRESET>" -i 'Export 1.mov' -o 'Export 1 (Compressed).m4v' -a 1

Contributions

This is a very rudimentary script I wrote so that it can speed up my editing process. If you would like to contribute to it, then fork the repo and make the neccessary changes and then create a pull request.

Thanks and Happy Editing 😊