Convert Plugin

The convert plugin lets you convert parts of your collection to a directory of your choice, transcoding audio and embedding album art along the way. It can transcode to and from any format using a configurable command line.

Installation

Enable the convert plugin in your configuration (see Plugins). By default, the plugin depends on FFmpeg to transcode the audio, so you might want to install it.

Usage

To convert a part of your collection, run beet convert QUERY. This will display all items matching QUERY and ask you for confirmation before starting the conversion. The command will then transcode all the matching files to the destination directory given by the -d (--dest) option or the dest configuration. The path layout mirrors that of your library, but it may be customized through the paths configuration.

The plugin uses a command-line program to transcode the audio. With the -f (--format) option you can choose the transcoding command and customize the available commands through the configuration.

The -a (or --album) option causes the command to match albums instead of tracks.

By default, the command places converted files into the destination directory and leaves your library pristine. To instead back up your original files into the destination directory and keep converted files in your library, use the -k (or --keep-new) option.

To test your configuration without taking any actions, use the --pretend flag. The plugin will print out the commands it will run instead of executing them.

Configuration

The plugin offers several configuration options, all of which live under the convert: section:

  • dest sets the directory the files will be converted (or copied) to. A destination is required—you either have to provide it in the config file or on the command-line using the -d flag.
  • embed indicates whether or not to embed album art in converted items. Default: true.
  • If you set max_bitrate, all lossy files with a higher bitrate will be transcoded and those with a lower bitrate will simply be copied. Note that this does not guarantee that all converted files will have a lower bitrate—that depends on the encoder and its configuration.
  • auto gives you the option to import transcoded versions of your files automatically during the import command. With this option enabled, the importer will transcode all non-MP3 files over the maximum bitrate before adding them to your library.
  • quiet mode prevents the plugin from announcing every file it processes. Default: false.
  • paths lets you specify the directory structure and naming scheme for the converted files. Use the same format as the top-level paths section (see Path Format Configuration). By default, the plugin reuses your top-level path format settings.
  • Finally, threads determines the number of threads to use for parallel encoding. By default, the plugin will detect the number of processors available and use them all.

Configuring the transcoding command

You can customize the transcoding command through the formats map and select a command with the --format command-line option or the format configuration.:

convert:
    format: speex
    formats:
        speex:
            command: ffmpeg -i $source -y -acodec speex $dest
            extension: spx
        wav: ffmpeg -i $source -y -acodec pcm_s16le $dest

In this example beet convert will use the speex command by default. To convert the audio to wav, run beet convert -f wav. This will also use the format key (wav) as the file extension.

Each entry in the formats map consists of a key (the name of the format) as well as the command and the possibly the file extension. extension is the filename extension to be used for newly transcoded files. If only the command is given as a string, the file extension defaults to the format’s name. command is the command-line to use to transcode audio. The tokens $source and $dest in the command are replaced with the paths to the existing and new file.

The plugin in comes with default commands for the most common audio formats: mp3, alac, flac, aac, opus, ogg, wmv. For details have a look at the output of beet config -d.

For a one-command-fits-all solution use the convert.command and convert.extension options. If these are set the formats are ignored and the given command is used for all conversions.:

convert:
    command: ffmpeg -i $source -y -vn -aq 2 $dest
    extension: mp3