Your First Conversion
Launch Frame
Open Frame from your Applications folder (macOS), Start Menu (Windows), or application launcher (Linux).You’ll see the main dashboard with three panels:
- Preview panel (top left): Displays video preview and playback controls
- File list (bottom left): Shows all imported files and conversion status
- Settings panel (right): Configuration options for the selected file
Import media files
Add files to Frame using either method:Method 1: File Dialog
- Click the plus (+) button in the title bar
- Select one or more media files from the file picker
- Click Open
- Drag media files directly from your file manager
- Drop them anywhere on the Frame window
- Files will be added automatically
Frame automatically probes each file with ffprobe to extract metadata including codec, resolution, duration, bitrate, and available audio/subtitle tracks.
Review source metadata
Select a file from the file list to view its properties. Navigate to the Source tab in the settings panel to see:
- Video codec, resolution, and frame rate
- Audio tracks with codec and channel layout
- Subtitle tracks (if available)
- File duration and bitrate
- Color space and pixel format information
Configure output format
Switch to the Output tab to configure the container format:
- Container: Choose from MP4, MKV, WebM, MOV, GIF, MP3, M4A, WAV, or FLAC
- Output name: Customize the filename (optional—Frame generates one automatically)
Select video codec and quality
Navigate to the Video tab:Codec Selection:
- H.264 (libx264): Universal compatibility, excellent quality
- H.265 (libx265): Better compression, smaller files, modern devices
- VP9: Web-friendly, open source
- ProRes: Professional editing, high quality, large files
- SVT-AV1: Next-gen compression, excellent efficiency
- Hardware encoders: VideoToolbox (macOS), NVENC (NVIDIA) for faster encoding
- CRF (Constant Rate Factor): Quality-based encoding (18-28 recommended)
- Lower values = higher quality + larger files
- Higher values = lower quality + smaller files
- Target Bitrate: Size-based encoding in kbps
- Resolution: Keep original or scale to preset/custom dimensions
- Scaling Algorithm: Lanczos (best quality), Bicubic, Bilinear, Nearest
- Frame Rate: Maintain source FPS or convert to specific rate
- Preset: Balance between encoding speed and compression efficiency
Configure audio settings
Switch to the Audio tab:
- Codec: AAC (universal), Opus (best quality), MP3 (compatibility), FLAC (lossless)
- Bitrate: 128-320 kbps (higher = better quality)
- Channels: Stereo, Mono, or preserve source channel layout
- Audio Tracks: Select which tracks to include (for multi-audio files)
- Volume: Adjust volume percentage (100% = no change)
- Normalization: Enable to automatically balance audio levels
Optional: Advanced features
Explore additional capabilities:Video Preview & Trimming:
- Use the preview panel to play your video
- Set start and end times to trim specific segments
- Apply rotation and flips using the toolbar buttons
- Enable crop mode to select specific video regions
- Enable Real-ESRGAN upscaling for 2x or 4x resolution enhancement
- Best for upscaling lower-resolution content
- Preserve: Keep original metadata tags
- Clean: Remove all metadata
- Replace: Set custom title, artist, album, genre, date, and comment fields
- Select subtitle tracks to include
- Burn subtitles directly into video (for compatibility)
Save as preset (optional)
If you’ll reuse these settings:
- Navigate to the Presets tab
- Enter a preset name (e.g., “YouTube Upload” or “High Quality Archive”)
- Click Save Preset
Select files for conversion
In the file list (bottom left panel):
- Each file has a checkbox on the left
- Check the files you want to convert
- Unchecked files will be skipped
- Use Toggle All to quickly select/deselect all files
Start the conversion
Click the Start button (play icon) in the title bar.Frame will begin processing files:
- Progress bars show conversion progress for each file
- Status indicators display current state (queued, processing, completed, error)
- Real-time logs are available in the Logs view (toggle via title bar)
Concurrent Processing: Frame processes multiple files simultaneously (default: 2 concurrent conversions). Adjust this in Settings > Max Concurrency based on your system resources.
Monitor progress and completion
While conversions run:
- Pause/Resume: Click the pause button on individual files to control processing
- Cancel: Remove files from the queue if needed
- View Logs: Switch to Logs view to see detailed FFmpeg output
- Completed files show a green checkmark
- Click Open next to a file to reveal it in your file manager
- Failed conversions show error details in the logs
Understanding the Interface
Frame’s interface is organized into functional areas:Title Bar
- Add Files (+): Import new media files
- Start/Stop: Control conversion queue
- Dashboard/Logs: Toggle between main view and detailed logs
- Settings: Configure app-wide preferences (concurrency, etc.)
- File Count & Size: Shows selection summary
Preview Panel (Top Left)
- Video Player: Preview source files with playback controls
- Timeline: Navigate through video and set trim points
- Transform Tools: Rotate, flip, and crop video
- Crop Mode: Visual cropping with aspect ratio presets
File List (Bottom Left)
- Checkbox: Select files for batch conversion
- Thumbnail: Visual preview of each file
- Status: Current state (idle, processing, completed, error)
- Progress: Real-time conversion percentage
- Actions: Remove, pause, resume, or open output
Settings Panel (Right)
- Tabs: Source, Output, Video, Audio, Subtitles, Metadata, Presets
- Dynamic Options: Available settings adapt to selected codec and container
- Validation: Real-time feedback on incompatible settings
Common Workflows
Convert Video for YouTube
Reduce File Size
Extract Audio from Video
Create Animated GIF
Tips & Best Practices
Choosing the Right Codec
Choosing the Right Codec
- H.264: Best for compatibility—plays on virtually all devices
- H.265: 25-50% smaller files than H.264 at same quality, requires modern devices (2016+)
- VP9: Great for web delivery, especially with WebM container
- AV1: Future-proof with best compression, but slower encoding
- ProRes: Professional editing workflows, preserve maximum quality
- Hardware Encoders: Faster encoding but larger files compared to software encoders
Quality vs File Size
Quality vs File Size
CRF Mode (Recommended):
- CRF 18-22: Near-lossless, large files
- CRF 23-25: Excellent quality, balanced size (recommended)
- CRF 26-28: Good quality, smaller files
- CRF 29+: Noticeable quality loss, very small files
Performance Optimization
Performance Optimization
- Hardware Encoding: Use VideoToolbox or NVENC for real-time encoding on supported hardware
- Concurrency: Increase max concurrent conversions if you have CPU headroom (Settings > Max Concurrency)
- Presets: Faster presets (ultrafast, superfast) encode quickly but produce larger files; slower presets (slow, veryslow) are more efficient
- Resolution: Encoding 4K is much slower than 1080p—scale down if acceptable
Batch Processing
Batch Processing
- Import all files at once (multi-select in file dialog or drag-drop)
- Select one file and configure desired settings
- Save as preset
- Apply preset to all files (Presets tab > Apply to All Files)
- Check all files in the list
- Click Start to process entire batch
Troubleshooting
Conversion fails with error
Conversion fails with error
- Check the Logs view for detailed FFmpeg error messages
- Verify the source file isn’t corrupted (test in a media player)
- Ensure codec and container are compatible (e.g., VP9 requires WebM/MKV, not MP4)
- Try a different codec or quality setting
- Check available disk space in the output directory
Output file is too large
Output file is too large
- Use H.265 or AV1 codecs for better compression
- Increase CRF value (lower quality, smaller size)
- Reduce resolution (e.g., 4K → 1080p)
- Lower frame rate if acceptable (e.g., 60fps → 30fps)
- Reduce audio bitrate (192 kbps is usually sufficient)
Encoding is very slow
Encoding is very slow
- Try hardware encoding (VideoToolbox on macOS, NVENC on NVIDIA GPUs)
- Use a faster preset (faster, veryfast)
- Reduce resolution before encoding
- Disable AI upscaling if enabled
- Avoid two-pass encoding for faster results
Video quality is poor
Video quality is poor
- Lower CRF value (higher quality): try CRF 20 or 18
- Use slower preset for better compression (medium, slow)
- Verify resolution isn’t being downscaled unintentionally
- Check scaling algorithm (use Lanczos for best quality)
- Consider hardware encoder limitations (software encoders often produce better quality)
Next Steps
Now that you’ve completed your first conversion:Explore Features
Learn about advanced features like AI upscaling, hardware acceleration, and metadata management
API Reference
Dive into technical documentation for developers and power users
Presets Guide
Master preset management for efficient batch processing
FFmpeg Integration
Understand how Frame constructs FFmpeg commands and arguments