need help with command line (convert multiple files, DTS-HD MA to FLAC)

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Lucario
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2025 8:06 pm

need help with command line (convert multiple files, DTS-HD MA to FLAC)

Post by Lucario »

Hey, I'm used to using software with command lines, like with ffmpeg, yt-dlp, mkvmerge or waifu2x. So I'm not new to that. Sadly, I was unable to find clear instructions on how a full command for makemkvcon64 should look like. There seems to be no help command. The usage.txt looks unclear/incomplete to me. A quick search via Google or in this forum showed no helpful results.

I want to input an MKV-file with two DTS-HD MA audio tracks in it, to convert these into FLAC into a different folder. I want to do that with multiple files, so if that's possible with multiple files at once, that would be a nice extra. Also a nice extra would be if it's possible to not copy the DTS-cores as separate audio tracts into the new file, as it's sadly default to do that in the GUI.

Doing that with the GUI with hundreds of files would be way to tedious. Thanks.
flojo
Posts: 262
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2023 4:27 am
Location: El Paso

Re: need help with command line (convert multiple files, DTS-HD MA to FLAC)

Post by flojo »

You sound like Ai.
Lucario
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2025 8:06 pm

Re: need help with command line (convert multiple files, DTS-HD MA to FLAC)

Post by Lucario »

You sound like an idiot.

Anyways, an AI in fact helped me with my problem. This .bat-file (run within a command line) does what I want:

Code: Select all

@echo off
set MAKEMKV_PATH="[path]\makemkvcon64.exe"
set PROFILE_PATH="[path]\FLAC-best.mmcp.xml"
set INPUT_DIR="[input-folder]"
set OUTPUT_DIR="[output-folder]"

for %%f in ("%INPUT_DIR%\*.mkv") do (
    set FILENAME=%%~nf
    echo Processing %%f...
    %MAKEMKV_PATH% mkv --profile=%PROFILE_PATH% file:"%%f" all "%OUTPUT_DIR%"
)
Of course [path], [input folder], and [output folder] need to be replaced accordingly.

This is the custom FLAC-best.mmcp.xml I use:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<profile>
    <!-- profile name (will appear in GUI if you open it, but not needed for command line) -->
    <name lang="eng">FLAC-best</name>

    <!-- common MKV flags -->
    <mkvSettings 
        ignoreForcedSubtitlesFlag="true"
        useISO639Type2T="false"
    />

    <!-- settings for older versions -->
    <profileSettings
        app_DefaultSelectionString="-sel:all,+sel:(favlang|nolang),+sel:lossless,-sel:(havemulti|havelossless),-sel:core,-sel:mvcvideo,=100:all,-10:favlang"
    />

    <!-- output formats/rules -->
    <outputSettings name="copy" outputFormat="directCopy">
        <description lang="eng">Copy track as is</description>
    </outputSettings>
    <outputSettings name="flac-best" outputFormat="FLAC">
        <description lang="eng">Save as FLAC (best compression)</description>
        <extraArgs>-compression_level 12</extraArgs>
    </outputSettings>

    <!-- default rule -->
    <trackSettings input="default">
        <output outputSettingsName="copy" 
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- saves stereo LPCM as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="LPCM-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-best"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- saves multi-channel LPCM as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="LPCM-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-best"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- saves stereo TrueHD as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="TRUEHD-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-best"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- saves multi-channel TrueHD as FLAC (optionaly, change it to copy if you want to preserve TrueHD Atmos) -->
    <trackSettings input="TRUEHD-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-best"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- saves stereo DTS-HD MA as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDMA-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-best"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- saves multi-channel DTS-HD MA as FLAC (optionaly, change it to copy if you want to preserve DTS:X) -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDMA-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-best"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- deselects stereo DTS-HD core tracks -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHD-core-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="copy"
                defaultSelection="-sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- deselects multi-channel DTS-HD core tracks -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHD-core-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="copy"
                defaultSelection="-sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- copies standalone stereo DTS tracks -->
    <trackSettings input="DTS-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="copy"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- copies standalone multi-channel DTS tracks -->
    <trackSettings input="DTS-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="copy"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- copies stereo DTS-HD LBR tracks -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDLBR-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="copy"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- copies multi-channel DTS-HD LBR tracks -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDLBR-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="copy"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
</profile>
With this, I can automatically take all MKV-files from the input-folder to the output-folder, converting any lossless audio-track into FLAC with best compression and leaving out the DTS-core-tracks, which MakeMKV otherwise by default would copy into the new files as separate audio-tracks.
Last edited by Lucario on Mon Sep 29, 2025 3:13 am, edited 2 times in total.
flojo
Posts: 262
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2023 4:27 am
Location: El Paso

Re: need help with command line (convert multiple files, DTS-HD MA to FLAC)

Post by flojo »

Ai advertising for Ai.
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