A modern Python/CustomTkinter rewrite of the original transmutate.sh bash script. Convert images, videos, and audio using ffmpeg + ImageMagick with a modern, cross-platform GUI.

Requirements

Python 3.8+
customtkinter (pip install customtkinter)
Pillow (for animated image detection)
ffmpeg (must be in PATH)
magick / ImageMagick (optional, provides better WebP/GIF handling)

Usage

cd rewrite
python transmutate.py <path/to/file>

The GUI opens automatically and detects the media type of the file.

Features

Supported Conversions

Source → Target	Options
Image → Image	PNG, JPG, WebP, AVIF, GIF (animated), MP4, MKV, WebM, AVI, MOV (animated)
Image → Video	MP4, MKV, WebM, AVI, MOV
Image → Audio	MP3, FLAC, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC
Video → Image	PNG, JPG, WebP, AVIF
Video → Video	MP4, MKV, WebM, AVI, MOV, GIF, WebP (animated)
Video → Audio	MP3, FLAC, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC
Audio → Image	PNG, JPG, WebP, AVIF
Audio → Video	MP4, MKV, WebM, AVI, MOV
Audio → Audio	MP3, FLAC, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC

Per-Conversion Options

Quality slider (0-100, or 0-51 for video CRF) — smooth CustomTkinter slider
Audio quality slider (for video output)
Audio track selection (when multiple tracks exist)
Subtitle track selection (when multiple tracks exist)
Loop toggle (for GIF/WebP output)
Output path — same directory as source, auto-renamed on conflict

Conversion Modes

Image → Image: Direct ffmpeg conversion with quality control
Image → Video: Animated images are re-encoded with CRF
Image → Audio: Single frame extracted to audio
Video → Image: Single frame extraction
Video → Video: Full conversion with CRF and audio quality control
Video → GIF: Palettegen-based GIF with quality-dependent dithering
Video → WebP: Animated WebP output
Audio → Audio: Format conversion with quality control
Audio → Image: First frame extracted as image
Audio → Video: Single frame rendered as video

Architecture

rewrite/
├── transmutate.py          # Entry point (CLI → GUI)
├── transmutate_app/        # Package
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── gui.py              # CustomTkinter GUI application
│   └── engine/             # Conversion engine
│       ├── __init__.py
│       └── ffmpeg_engine.py  # Command building + execution

Compared to Bash Version

Feature	Bash (kdialog)	Python (CustomTkinter)
Dependencies	bash, ffmpeg, kdialog	python3, customtkinter, ffmpeg
GUI	Multiple sequential popups	Single unified CustomTkinter window
Stream selection	kdialog checklist	CustomTkinter checkboxes
Quality input	kdialog inputbox	CustomTkinter slider
File overwrite	kdialog yes/no	CustomTkinter dialog + auto-rename
Animated detection	ffprobe	Pillow + ffprobe
Code organization	Single monolithic script	Modular package

Description

Transmutate is a KDE desktop tool for converting images, videos, and audio files. It uses KDialog to provide interactive menus where users select the output format, set quality parameters, and choose audio/subtitle tracks. Under the hood, it leverages FFMPEG and ImageMagick to perform the actual transcoding.

Readme MIT 67 KiB