mkvify

Small tool I built to turn a folder of mixed video files into MKV so my smart TV can play them: GitHub - eddygarcas/zig-systems-software: Systems programming utilities · GitHub (the mkvify folder).

The thing that shapes the whole design: MKV is just a container, so converting to it is a lossless rewrap. Re-encoding is a separate question, and you only need it when a codec inside the file won’t play on the TV. So the job is really per-stream: copy what you can, re-encode only what you have to.

A shell script version needs about 4 ffprobe calls per file and then parses the text output.

Supported Zig versions

what versions are supported?
zig-0-16

AI / LLM usage disclosure

I used an LLM for the codec and container stuff, as well as refactor my original development and documentation, what actually stops a smart TV playing a file, when a stream can be copied instead of re-encoded, loudness and downmixing. I didn’t know any of that going in, so worth double-checking those bits rather than taking them as fact.