ShrinkRay

Features

Everything You Need

A complete video compression toolkit in a single binary.

🧙

Interactive TUI Wizard

Step-by-step guided compression with a beautiful terminal UI. Pick files, choose presets, preview settings, and encode -- all without leaving your terminal.

🎯

18 Built-in Presets

Quality-tier, purpose-driven, and platform-specific presets so you never have to think about FFmpeg flags again.

🧠

Smart Recommendations

Analyzes your source video and suggests the optimal preset based on resolution, duration, codec, and file size.

⚡

Hardware Acceleration

Auto-detects NVIDIA NVENC, AMD AMF, Intel QSV, and Apple VideoToolbox for 5-8x faster encoding.

📦

Batch Processing

Point at a folder and walk away. Parallel workers chew through hundreds of files with recursive scanning and per-file progress.

🖥

Headless Mode

Full CLI flag parity for scripting, CI/CD pipelines, and automation. Every TUI option has a corresponding flag.

Presets

18 Smart Presets

Three categories of presets for every use case. No FFmpeg knowledge required.

Quality Tier Purpose-Driven Platform-Specific

lossless

Mathematically identical output. CRF 0, no quality loss.

CRF 0 · H.264

ultra

Near-lossless for archival. Visually indistinguishable from source.

CRF 16 · H.265

high

High quality with meaningful compression. Great for editors.

CRF 20 · H.265

balanced Recommended

Best quality-to-size ratio. The default choice for most videos.

CRF 26 · H.265

compact

Aggressive compression for storage savings. Minor quality trade-off.

CRF 30 · H.265

tiny

Maximum compression. Smallest possible files.

CRF 35 · H.265

web-optimized

Fast-start MP4 with web-friendly settings for streaming.

CRF 24 · H.264 · faststart

Lightning-Fast Hardware Encoding

ShrinkRay auto-detects your GPU and picks the fastest available encoder — no configuration needed.

NVIDIA NVENC

GPU-accelerated H.264 & H.265 encoding via CUDA cores

Auto-detected

AMD AMF

Advanced Media Framework for Radeon GPU encoding

Auto-detected

VideoToolbox

Native macOS hardware encoding for Apple Silicon & Intel Macs

Auto-detected

Intel QSV

Quick Sync Video for fast encoding on Intel integrated & Arc GPUs

Auto-detected

Encoding Speed Comparison

Software

Hardware

5–8x

5-8x

ShrinkRay auto-detects your hardware and picks the fastest encoder.
Falls back gracefully to software encoding when no GPU is available.

Encoding Engine

Every Codec, Total Control

Pick the right codec for your use case. Fine-tune quality, speed, and file size down to the last byte.

Codec Comparison

H.264 / AVCMost Compatible

100 MB

H.265 / HEVCBest Compression

60 MB

AV1Next-Gen

45 MB

VP9Open · Web

55 MB

Same quality source — relative output file sizes

Quality Controls

CRF Fine-Tuning18

0 Lossless51 Smallest

Speed Presetmedium

ultrafastveryslow

Max Resolution2160p 4K

480p4K

Two-pass encoding for precise file size targeting

Precision Mode

Tell it the exact size you want

Need to hit a Discord upload limit or email attachment cap? Set a target size and ShrinkRay calculates the optimal bitrate automatically.

$shrinkray--target-size25mbvideo.mp4

CRF Fine-Tuning Two-Pass Encoding Target Size Mode Speed Presets Resolution Control Up to 4K

Parallel Engine

Batch Processing at Scale

Point ShrinkRay at a folder and walk away. Parallel workers chew through hundreds of files while you grab coffee.

./project/ (47 files)

clip01.mp4380 MB

clip02.mp4512 MB

interview/take1.mov1.2 GB

b-roll/drone.mp4890 MB

finals/export_v2.mp42.1 GB

... +42 more files

4 workers

Parallel Workers

100%✓

67%▶

50%▶

33%▶

shrinkray — batch mode

$ shrinkray -i ./project/ -p compact -j 4 --recursive --no-tui

📦 Found 47 video files (12.4 GB total)

⚡ Worker 1: clip01.mp4 ████████████ 100% ✓ (380MB → 42MB)

⚡ Worker 2: clip02.mp4 ████████████ 67%

⚡ Worker 3: clip03.mp4 ████████████ 50%

⚡ Worker 4: clip04.mp4 ████████████ 33%

✓ Complete: 12/47 files | 4.2 GB saved | ~2.1x avg compression

⚡

Parallel Workers

Saturate all CPU cores with concurrent FFmpeg workers. Scale from 1 to N threads.

-j 4

📁

Recursive Scanning

Crawl nested directories automatically. Every video file found, no matter how deep.

--recursive

📈

Per-File Progress

Live progress bars for each worker. Know exactly what's happening at a glance.

--no-tui

⏩

Skip Smart

Already compressed? Already optimal? ShrinkRay skips files that don't need work.

--skip-existing

🔁

Sort Order

Process largest-first, smallest-first, alphabetical, or by date. Your queue, your rules.

--sort size-desc

🔄

Retry Failed Jobs

Transient failures get retried automatically. No babysitting overnight batch runs.

--retry 3

Get Started

Install ShrinkRay

PowerShell Shell Script Go Install GitHub Releases

# Windows PowerShell
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jparkerweb/shrinkray/main/install.ps1 | iex

Downloads to %LOCALAPPDATA%\shrinkray and adds to PATH.

# macOS / Linux one-liner
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jparkerweb/shrinkray/main/install.sh | sh

Detects your OS and architecture automatically.

# Build from source with Go 1.25+
go install github.com/jparkerweb/shrinkray@latest

Requires Go 1.25.0 or later. Binary lands in $GOPATH/bin.

# Download the latest release for your platform
https://github.com/jparkerweb/shrinkray/releases/latest

# Extract and move to your PATH
tar -xzf shrinkray_*.tar.gz
sudo mv shrinkray /usr/local/bin/

Pre-built binaries for Windows, macOS (amd64/arm64), and Linux (amd64/arm64).

How ShrinkRay Compares

The best of CLI power with none of the complexity.

Feature	Raw FFmpeg	HandBrake	ShrinkRay
Smart Presets	✗ Manual flags	~ Basic presets	✓ 18 smart presets
HW Auto-Detection	✗ Manual config	✓ Yes	✓ 4 accelerators
Batch Processing	~ Shell scripts	✓ Queue	✓ Parallel workers
Interactive TUI	✗ None	✓ GUI only	✓ Terminal wizard
Headless / Scripting	✓ Yes	~ CLI mode	✓ Full flag parity
Target File Size	~ Manual bitrate calc	✗ No	✓ --target-size
Single Binary	✗ FFmpeg suite	✗ Installer	✓ Zero deps

Use Cases

Built for Everyone

From solo creators to automated pipelines, ShrinkRay fits the way you work.

Content Creators

Compress gameplay footage for Discord and YouTube without visible quality loss. Hit upload limits effortlessly while keeping every frame crisp.

Social Media Managers

One-click presets tuned for TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Export platform-ready files without memorizing codec settings.

DevOps / CI/CD

Headless mode with stdin pipe integration for automated video processing pipelines. Drop ShrinkRay into any build or media workflow.

Video Editors

Batch compress project exports while preserving quality. Process entire folders of renders overnight and reclaim drive space by morning.

Digital Archivists

Archive large video libraries with H.265 or AV1 at near-lossless quality. Slash storage costs without sacrificing a single detail.

Business Users

Email-friendly compression that just works. Shrink meeting recordings and demos to shareable sizes without touching a settings panel.

⚡Cross-Platform

Runs Everywhere

A single static binary with zero runtime dependencies—just bring your own FFmpeg. Built with Go and shipped via GoReleaser for every major OS and architecture.

Windows

amd64

Install

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jparkerweb/shrinkray/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

macOS

amd64arm64

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jparkerweb/shrinkray/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

🐧

Linux

amd64arm64

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jparkerweb/shrinkray/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

📦

Single binary—no installers

⚙️

Zero dependencies (just FFmpeg)

🚀

Built with Go + GoReleaser

Shell completions: bash zsh fish powershell

Download for Your Platform Auto-detects your OS · All releases on GitHub

YAML Configuration

Fully Configurable

One config file to set your defaults, output rules, batch behavior, and theme. No flags to memorize.

config.yaml

1defaults:

2 preset: balancedSMART PRESETS

3 codec: h265HEVC DEFAULT

5output:

6 suffix: _shrunk

7 mode: suffixSAFE OUTPUT

8 conflict: rename

10batch:

11 jobs: 2PARALLEL

12 skipExisting: false

13 sort: size-asc

15ui:

16 theme: neon-duskTHEMES

17 animations: true

Smart Presets & Codec

Set your default compression preset and codec once. Choose from 18 built-in presets like balanced, web-optimized, or archive so every encode starts exactly how you want.

Output Rules

Control naming with suffix or subfolder mode. Conflict resolution via rename, overwrite, or skip ensures your originals are never touched.

Batch Processing

Run parallel encodes with jobs: 2, skip already-compressed files, and sort the queue by size, name, or date. Process entire directories hands-free.

UI Theming

Switch between neon-dusk and electric-sunset color themes. Toggle animations on or off depending on your terminal preference.

Linux / macOS~/.config/shrinkray/config.yaml

Windows%APPDATA%\shrinkray\config.yaml

Everything You Need

See It In Action

18 Smart Presets

Lightning-Fast Hardware Encoding

Every Codec, Total Control

Codec Comparison

Quality Controls

Tell it the exact size you want

Batch Processing at Scale

Install ShrinkRay

How ShrinkRay Compares

Built for Everyone

Content Creators

Social Media Managers

DevOps / CI/CD

Video Editors

Digital Archivists

Business Users

Runs Everywhere

Fully Configurable

Open Source & Community Driven

Star on GitHub

Report Issues

Contribute