When you're dealing with large video files, it can be frustrating to find ways to manage them efficiently. In my case, I've been working with comedy episodes that are around 25 minutes long and have file sizes ranging from 1.5 to 4 GB – that's ridiculous! To make things easier, I started using Handbrake to reencode these files using the built-in feature.

However, while Handbrake is incredibly useful for this purpose, it has one major limitation: there's no option to resize the videos (AVS). This is a bit of a problem, since many of these episodes are in full HD resolution (1920x1080) and I only need standard definition. Unfortunately, I haven't found a workaround for this issue.

Recently, I stumbled upon a simple video that showed how to import a folder of MKV files into Handbrake and set them up for reencoding. Despite my best efforts, the process never worked as expected. This got me thinking about writing a command-line script that would allow me to reencode a batch of episodes all at once using the same script.

With Handbrake's batch feature, it's possible to automate this process and save myself a lot of time in the long run. While there are some limitations to the tool, its built-in features make it an essential part of my video management workflow.

Handbrake batch