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SlimVideo - Make Your Videos Lighter

SlimVideo Logo Platform License

A cross-platform minimalist video compression tool

English | 简体中文

✨ Features

  • 🚀 Easy to Use - Drag and drop to compress, zero learning curve
  • 🎯 Smart Compression - High quality and high speed templates
  • 🔒 Local Processing - All processing done locally, protecting privacy
  • 🌍 Cross-Platform - Supports Windows, macOS, and Linux
  • 🆓 Completely Free - Open source and free, no usage restrictions

💡 Why Choose SlimVideo?

Advantages Over Using FFmpeg Directly

Comparison FFmpeg Command Line SlimVideo
Learning Curve Need to memorize complex commands and parameters Drag and drop, zero learning curve
Parameter Setup Manually calculate bitrate, quality settings Enter target size or ratio, auto-calculated
Operation Difficulty Long commands like:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx265 -b:v 2000k ...		 Select template, set parameters, one-click compress
Progress Display Text output in terminal Beautiful visual progress bar
File Management Manually specify output path and filename Auto-naming, prevents overwriting original
Video Information Requires separate ffprobe command Auto-parsed and displayed details
Compression Results Manually compare file sizes Auto-statistics of saved space
Target Users Professional users, developers Everyone, including non-technical users

Core Advantages

🎯 Smart Parameter Calculation

  • Target Size Mode: Enter desired file size (e.g., 100MB), auto-calculates optimal bitrate
  • Compression Ratio Mode: Set compression ratio (e.g., 50%), auto-adjusts parameters
  • Quality Assurance: Built-in smart algorithm ensures bitrate won't be too low

🎨 Zero Barrier to Entry

FFmpeg Way:
❌ Need to learn complex commands
❌ Need to understand codec parameters
❌ Need to calculate video bitrate

SlimVideo Way:
✅ Drag in video file
✅ Select compression template (High Speed/High Quality)
✅ Set target size
✅ Click start, done!

🔒 Safe and Reliable

  • Never overwrites original file, auto-adds _compressed suffix
  • All processing done locally, privacy protected
  • Can cancel compression anytime

📊 Intuitive Feedback

  • Real-time compression progress display
  • Auto-displays saved space size and percentage
  • One-click to open compressed file location

💡 In Short: SlimVideo wraps FFmpeg's powerful but complex features into an easy-to-use tool for everyone. For 90% of daily video compression needs, SlimVideo provides a more efficient and user-friendly solution.

📸 Interface Preview

Main Interface

  • Drop Zone: Intuitive file drag and drop
  • Video Info: Auto-display file details
  • Compression Settings: Flexible parameter configuration
  • Real-time Progress: Clear compression progress display

Compression Templates

🚄 High Speed Template (H.264)

  • Codec: H.264 (AVC)
  • Compression Speed: Fast
  • Compatibility: Excellent
  • Use Case: Quick compression needed

🎬 High Quality Template (H.265)

  • Codec: H.265 (HEVC)
  • Compression Ratio: High (files ~50% of H.264 at same quality)
  • Compression Speed: Medium
  • Use Case: Minimum file size desired

🚀 Quick Start

System Requirements

  • Windows: Windows 10 or higher
  • macOS: macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) or higher
  • Linux: Popular distributions (Ubuntu 20.04+, Fedora 35+, etc.)
  • Node.js 18+
  • FFmpeg

Installation Steps

1. Install FFmpeg

macOS 
# Install using Homebrew
brew install ffmpeg
Windows

Option 1: Using Chocolatey (Recommended)

# Run PowerShell as Administrator
choco install ffmpeg

Option 2: Manual Installation

  1. Visit FFmpeg Official Website
  2. Download Windows build
  3. Extract to C:\ffmpeg
  4. Add C:\ffmpeg\bin to system PATH environment variable
Linux 
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg

# Fedora
sudo dnf install ffmpeg

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S ffmpeg

2. Clone the Project

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/slimvideo.git
cd slimvideo

3. Install Dependencies

npm install

4. Run the Application

# Development mode
npm run dev

# Build the application
npm run build

# Package application
npm run build:mac      # macOS
npm run build:win      # Windows
npm run build:linux    # Linux

📖 Usage Guide

Basic Workflow

  1. Import Video

    • Drag and drop video file to the app window
    • Or click the select file button
    • Supported formats: MP4, AVI, MOV

  2. Select Compression Template

    • High Speed (H.264): Fast compression, good compatibility
    • High Quality (H.265): High compression ratio, smaller files

  3. Set Compression Parameters

    • Target Size: Specify compressed file size directly (e.g., 100MB)
    • Compression Ratio: Compress by percentage (e.g., 50% = half the original size)

  4. Start Compression

    • Click "Start Compression" button
    • View real-time compression progress
    • Can cancel anytime

  5. Complete

    • View saved space statistics when done
    • Open file location directly
    • Or continue compressing new videos

Output Information

  • Output Location: Same directory as original file
  • File Naming: Original filename + _compressed suffix
    • Example: vacation.mp4 → vacation_compressed.mp4
  • Format Preservation: Output format matches input format

🛠️ Tech Stack

Core Technologies

  • Electron 27 - Cross-platform desktop app framework
  • React 18 - UI building
  • TypeScript 5 - Type safety
  • Tailwind CSS 3 - Styling framework

Build Tools

  • electron-vite - Fast Electron build tool
  • electron-builder - App packaging tool

Video Processing

  • FFmpeg - Video encoding/decoding engine
  • fluent-ffmpeg - FFmpeg Node.js wrapper

📁 Project Structure

slimvideo/
├── src/
│   ├── main/                 # Electron main process
│   │   ├── index.ts         # Main process entry
│   │   └── ffmpeg.ts        # FFmpeg processing logic
│   ├── preload/              # Preload scripts
│   │   └── index.ts         # IPC bridge
│   └── renderer/             # React renderer process
│       ├── src/
│       │   ├── App.tsx      # Main component
│       │   ├── components/  # UI components
│       │   └── styles/      # Style files
│       └── index.html
├── resources/                # App resources
├── package.json
├── electron.vite.config.ts
└── README.md

🔧 Development Guide

Development Mode

npm run dev

The app will start in development mode with hot reload support.

Building the App

# Build all files
npm run build

# macOS
npm run build:mac              # Universal build
npm run build:mac:arm64        # Apple Silicon
npm run build:mac:x64          # Intel

# Windows
npm run build:win              # Windows installer

# Linux
npm run build:linux            # AppImage and deb packages

Packaged apps are located in the out/ directory.

Debugging Tips

  • DevTools automatically open in development mode
  • View FFmpeg output logs
  • Use React DevTools for component debugging

❓ FAQ

Q: FFmpeg not found error?

A: Please ensure FFmpeg is properly installed:

  • macOS: brew install ffmpeg
  • Windows: Use Chocolatey choco install ffmpeg or manually add to PATH
  • Linux: sudo apt install ffmpeg (Ubuntu/Debian)

Q: Compression is slow?

A:

  • Use "High Speed" template (H.264) for faster compression
  • H.265 has higher compression ratio but slower speed
  • Large files require more time to compress

Q: Does it support batch compression?

A: Current version (v1.0) doesn't support it, planned for future releases.

Q: How to control output video quality?

A:

  • Larger target size = better quality
  • Higher compression ratio = lower quality
  • Recommended to keep at 30-70% of original size for good results

🗺️ Roadmap

v1.0 ✅ (Current Version)

  • Basic video compression
  • H.264/H.265 codec support
  • Real-time progress display
  • Native Mac UI

v1.1+ (Planned)

  • Batch processing
  • More video format support (MKV, WEBM)
  • Video preview
  • GPU hardware acceleration
  • More codecs (VP9, AV1)

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

  1. Fork this project
  2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
  3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
  4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
  5. Open a Pull Request

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details

👨‍💻 Authors

SlimVideo Team

🙏 Acknowledgments

⭐ Star History

If this project helps you, please give it a Star ⭐️

Built with ❤️ as an open-source project

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