Codecs and quality, without a second program
H.264 for things that must play everywhere, H.265 or AV1 when size matters more than compatibility, VP9 when the destination asks for it. Each comes with quality presets, and you can set the CRF yourself when you know what you want.
Because the converter lives in the player, you can watch the file, decide it needs to be smaller, and act on that without opening anything else.
Lossless remux when re-encoding is pointless
Changing the container is not the same job as changing the codec, and it should not cost the same. An instant lossless remux rewrites the wrapper and leaves the encoded picture exactly as it was.
It finishes in the time it takes to copy the data, and it cannot degrade anything, because nothing is decoded and re-encoded.
Pulling the audio out
Extract to MP3, FLAC or Opus straight from the player. FLAC when you are keeping it, Opus when you are shipping it, MP3 when something old has to read it.
No editing step is required first, so lifting the audio from a recording is a two-click job.
Images convert here too
Stills open in the same window, including ultrawide screenshots, very large photographs and SVG rasterized crisply. Convert to PNG, JPEG or WebP with a resize in two clicks.
It is the same reasoning as the video side: one door for all media, rather than a separate utility for each format you happen to meet.
One-click destinations
Presets for YouTube, TikTok, Reels, Instagram, Facebook and X pick the frame, the fit and the codec for you, and deliver the mix at the loudness those platforms expect rather than letting them squash it.
One click can queue a render for every destination at once, each at its own frame and loudness.
Converting an edit, not just a file
When you have made a cut, the export is the edit rather than the source. Reel renders your trims, splits and multiple source files into one new video, using the GPU encoder where the machine has one.
Frames are drawn by Reel's own compositor and handed to ffmpeg only to be encoded, which is why the preview and the export agree by construction.
Converting from a script
The headless side renders a project with a single command and a destination preset, with no window and no display attached.
Add a flag and you get exactly one JSON object on standard output, with progress and logs kept separate, so a pipeline can read the result without parsing prose.
Common questions
How do I convert a video to H.265 on Linux?
Open the file in Reel, choose H.265 in the convert panel, pick a quality preset or set your own CRF, and export. No separate converter is needed.
Can I change the container without losing quality?
Yes. An instant lossless remux rewrites the wrapper without decoding or re-encoding the picture, so nothing is degraded.
How do I extract the audio from a video?
Choose audio extraction in the convert panel and pick MP3, FLAC or Opus. You do not have to make an edit first.
Does converting use the GPU?
Exports use the GPU encoder where your machine has one. Reel's own compositor draws the frames and ffmpeg encodes them.
Can I convert for several platforms at once?
Yes. One click queues a render for every destination, each at its own frame and loudness.
Can I convert video from the command line?
Yes. The headless side renders a project with one command, speaks JSON on request and exits non-zero on failure.
Free and open source. Linux-first, with a Windows build too.