BatchEncoder is a user-friendly audio conversion software for Windows

Ashwin
Sep 25, 2020
Updated • Sep 29, 2020
Software, Windows software
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11

While lossless tracks are a joy to listen to due to their quality, having a massive library of songs comes at a price: storage space. This becomes an issue if your phone doesn't have a microSD card slot, or if your desktop computer's drives are nearing the 0 Gigabyte free mark.

BatchEncoder is a user-friendly audio conversion software for Windows

That's where converting the tracks into lossy formats can help.

BatchEncoder is a user-friendly software that supports lossless and lossy audio conversion. Hate command-line based tools? Well, this program acts as an all-in-one front-end for several open source tools.

Tip: check out other batch encoders such as Shutter Encoder, Shana Encoder, or Hamster Audio Converter that we have reviewed in the past.

BatchEncoder is easy to get into, the interface has a menu bar and a couple of dropdown menus at the top, and a large pane in the middle. To begin, click on the Edit Menu or right-click anywhere on the large pane and select "Add Files". If you want to convert an entire folder of tracks, use the add folder option.

BatchEncoder add files and folders

The added tracks are displayed in the large pane at the center of the BatchEncoder interface. The File menu has some list options that can be handy. Save a list of the current list of tracks(as an XML file)for later use. Use the Load list option to pick up where you left off. Clear List deletes the queue, so you can start fresh.

The right-click menu has options to select and deselect items from the list, a basic rename function similar to Windows Explorer's F2 function. Open File plays the selected track in your default music player, while "Open Location" brings up an Explorer window where the track is located on your drive.

The tracks pane displays the name of the song, the input format, the file size (in bytes), the output format and preset. Done adding the tracks? It's time to pick the output format that you wanted to convert the tracks to, to do this click the dropdown menu to the left. BatchEncoder supports several audio formats including AAC, AC3, ALAC, APE, DTS, FLAC, LA, M4A, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, OFR, OGG, OPUS, TAK, TTA, WAV, WV, etc.

The important thing to note here is that BatchEncoder does not ship with the encoding tools (for e.g. FFMPEG, LAME, etc) by default. Instead, the program will download the required tool during the conversion process. For e.g. I was converting some FLAC files to MP3, and BatchEncoder downloaded the LAME encoder and placed it in its Tools folder.

BatchEncoder tools

The preset menu on the right-hand side has several options for the bitrates: ABR, VBR, and CBR (average, variable and constant) that you can pick from. Choose the folder in which the converted tracks should be saved to, by using the "Set the output path" field at the bottom left-hand corner.

Experienced users can manually configure the preset, formats, tools (download URLs), from the Options menu. Don't want to automatically download the tools? Disable the option, and use your own copies instead.

BatchEncoder Options

The threads option next to the output path, is for tweaking the number of processor threads to be used for the conversion. Unless you have a ton of songs to be converted simultaneously, and you have a powerful computer, the multi-thread setting is best left alone.

Hit the F9 key or the Convert button to start converting the tracks to the selected format.

BatchEncoder progress

Don't panic if the Status column reads "Downloading". As I mentioned earlier, the application gets the encoding tools required from the internet.

BatchEncoder completed

When the process is done,  your resized tracks will be ready to use.

BatchEncoder converted tracks

Portable versions of BatchEncoder are available for 32-bit and 64-bit systems. The program is open source.

The only thing I didn't like about BatchEncoder is that it discards the tags and metadata of tracks.

Summary
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Author Rating
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3 based on 1 votes
Software Name
BatchEncoder
Operating System
Windows
Software Category
Multimedia
Price
Free
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Comments

  1. Dustyn said on September 28, 2020 at 3:17 am
    Reply

    This is exactly the software I have been looking for! Thanks! :)

  2. justsomepedantry said on September 27, 2020 at 5:47 am
    Reply

    Dear Ashwin,

    If you are going to use the abbreviation “e.g.” then you don’t add “for” before “e.g.”, because e.g. already means “for example”, so when you write “for e.g.” in practice you wrote “for for example”, i.e., “for” is written twice.

    ps. If you start a sentence with “e.g.”, or “i.e.” for that matter, then the first letter is capitalized as follow, “E.g.”, “I.e.”.

    So, the examples in the article where e.g. is used;

    – For e.g. I was converting some FLAC files…
    becomes…
    – E.g. I was converting some FLAC files…

    and…

    – encoding tools (for e.g. FFMPEG, LAME, etc)…
    becomes…
    – encoding tools (e.g. FFMPEG, LAME, etc)…

    Cheers :)

  3. Anonymous said on September 26, 2020 at 9:48 pm
    Reply

    Xld is a similar program for macOS.

  4. Yuliya said on September 25, 2020 at 10:02 pm
    Reply

    fre:ac or AIMP AC are the best imo. Of course, you can do that with ffmpeg as well, if you’re into commandline, that much.

    1. ipnonymous said on September 26, 2020 at 3:06 pm
      Reply

      fre:ac is great(also runs on Linux with wine) There is also a portable version(windows).

      If you are into Perfect quality, check out Exact audio Copy(windows) which features AccurateRip Dvd/Cd drive calibration and verifies ripped tracks against an Internet database, making sure they are error free.

  5. converter said on September 25, 2020 at 7:24 pm
    Reply

    > The only thing I didn’t like about BatchEncoder is that it discards the tags and metadata of tracks.
    Foobar2000 then ;)

    @VioletMoon
    > but to save a few MB of space isn’t meaningful.
    lossless to lossy, usually MP3, gives about 10X reduction.

  6. VioletMoon said on September 25, 2020 at 6:12 pm
    Reply

    Does the program calculate current size of “batch” and then show the “batch” size after conversion?

    From the screenshots, the initial size is covered; it appears you were working with two different play lists.

    I honestly can’t tell, but I wouldn’t use any conversion tool with music unless there is a meaningful reduction in size.

    Meaningful is a subjective terms, but to save a few MB of space isn’t meaningful.

  7. Anonymous said on September 25, 2020 at 5:43 pm
    Reply

    .net

    No Thanks.

    1. Anonymous said on October 10, 2020 at 1:51 pm
      Reply

      MFC and C++

    2. no comprende said on September 27, 2020 at 6:39 am
      Reply

      What is the problem with .net when it comes to an encoder?

      1. Dustyn said on September 28, 2020 at 3:16 am
        Reply

        Yeah, I don’t get the problem either.
        .NET is now integrated into Windows so there shouldn’t be an issue.

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