Root Command Camera Workflow has a single root command with various flags for customization.
Syntax media-converter [flags] [source] [destination]
Arguments:
source - Source directory containing media files (required)destination - Destination directory for converted files (required)
Validation:
Exactly 2 arguments required
Source directory must exist
Destination directory created automatically if missing
Common Use Cases Dry Run Preview what would be converted without actually processing files:
Basic Dry Run
Dry Run with Custom Settings
media-converter --dry-run /media/photos /media/converted
Dry run mode shows file counts, estimated processing time, and output structure without modifying any files.
Standard Photo Conversion Convert photos to modern formats:
AVIF (Default)
WebP
Custom Quality
# Convert to AVIF with quality 80 media-converter /photos /converted
Video Conversion Convert videos to efficient codecs:
H.265 (Default)
H.264
AV1
Disable Hardware Acceleration
# Convert to H.265 with CRF 28 media-converter /videos /converted
Archive Mode Copy files without conversion for backup/archival:
media-converter --copy-only /source /backup
Copy-only mode automatically enables checksum verification and is incompatible with conversion-related flags.
Parallel Processing Control the number of concurrent conversions:
Custom Job Count
Auto (Default)
# Run 4 parallel conversions media-converter --jobs 4 /source /dest
Adaptive Workers Dynamically adjust worker count based on system resources:
media-converter \ --adaptive-workers \ --adaptive-workers-min 1 \ --adaptive-workers-max 6 \ --adaptive-workers-cpu-high 80 \ --adaptive-workers-cpu-low 50 \ /source /dest
Adaptive workers mode is especially useful for video conversions on systems with limited resources. The system automatically scales workers up or down based on CPU and memory utilization.
File Organization Control output file organization:
Organized by Date (Default)
Flat Structure
Custom Language
# Files sorted into YYYY/MM-Month/YYYY-MM-DD/ media-converter --organize-by-date /source /dest
Supported languages: en, fr, es, de
Original File Handling Keep Originals (Default)
Delete Originals
# Preserve source files after conversion media-converter --keep-originals /source /dest
When --keep-originals=false, files are only deleted after triple verification: existence check, integrity check, and size validation.
Security and Validation Checksum Verification
Custom Timeouts
Skip Disk Space Check
Custom Size Ratio
# Verify file integrity during copy media-converter --verify-checksum --copy-only /source /dest
JSON Mode for Integration Enable structured JSON output for programmatic use:
media-converter --json-mode /source /dest
JSON Events: { "type" : "start" , "total_files" : 100 } { "type" : "progress" , "file" : "photo.jpg" , "percent" : 50 } { "type" : "complete" , "file" : "photo.jpg" , "output_size" : 1024 } { "type" : "error" , "message" : "conversion failed" , "file" : "bad.jpg" , "fatal" : false } { "type" : "summary" , "converted" : 95 , "failed" : 5 }
Configuration File Use a custom configuration file:
media-converter --config /path/to/config.yaml /source /dest
Default location: $HOME/.media-converter.yaml
Complex Examples High-Quality Archival Conversion media-converter \ --photo-format avif \ --photo-quality-avif 95 \ --video-codec h265 \ --video-crf 20 \ --keep-originals \ --organize-by-date \ --jobs 4 \ /original/media /archive/converted
Fast Batch Processing media-converter \ --photo-quality-avif 75 \ --video-crf 30 \ --jobs 8 \ --adaptive-workers \ --adaptive-workers-max 8 \ /photos /output
Safe Production Run # Step 1: Dry run to verify media-converter --dry-run /source /dest # Step 2: Run with verification media-converter --verify-checksum --keep-originals /source /dest # Step 3: After verification, clean up originals media-converter --keep-originals=false --skip-disk-check /source /dest
Flag Incompatibilities Certain flags cannot be used together:
Copy-Only Mode Restrictions When --copy-only is enabled, the following flags are incompatible:
--photo-format--photo-quality-avif--photo-quality-webp--video-codec--video-crf--video-accelerationAll --adaptive-workers-* flags
Attempting to use conversion flags with --copy-only will result in an error.
Help and Version # Show help media-converter --help # Show version (if implemented) media-converter --version