[Mac] how to transcode to original folder (next to the input file)?

[Stooovie]

Hi, I love the tools but I can't figure out how to have the output files created next to the originals. That's always my preferred way to work. I'm on Big Sur. Thanks!

[lisamelton]

@Stooovie See my comment here in your other issue:

#312 (comment)

Yes, but you should never do that. This is because the output path name would likely be the same as the input path name and I prevent you from overwriting your original.

Please, never write to the same directory as your original files. This is how horrible data loss accidents happen.

[Stooovie]

The best solution then would be to have the script create a new "Transcoded" subfolder in the original folder. Any way to do that?

[khaosx]

@Stooovie One way of accomplishing this would be to create whatever directory you’d like the output to live in, change to that directory, and run the tool. A number of us run our own wrapper scripts to customize the process, myself included, and choosing the output is generally one of those things that gets handled there. @donmelton is correct in his assertion that the path of specific output location is the path towards data loss.

Hope this helps a bit. Cheers!

[jpmhouston]

My scripts, the tools they invoke, and the files I run them on always end up with different file extensions, so I haven't had a problem outputting to the same directory.

My scripts are in fact simple fish shell functions, they also move the original to the trash using "trash" from homebrew:
function conv ; for f in $argv ; convert-video -q -o (dirname $f) $f && trash $f ; end ; end
function trans ; for f in $argv ; transcode-video -q --mp4 --no-log -o (dirname $f) $f && trash $f ; end end

I use these in conjunction with another fish function that grabs the finder selection and makes them the parameters to the function, so I select files then execute "conv (selection)" at shell prompt to batch convert (well, I also have a swift program for renaming automatically, so the command I usually do is really "rename-tv (selection) && conv (selection)")