Using command line with AVS Converters

AVS Video Converter, AVS Audio Converter, AVS Image Converter and AVS Document Converter accept optional command line parameters. These parameters can be useful to experienced users and for conversion process automation.

Commands

Any of the following commands will show console help (here and below AVS Converter is taken as an example, the same can be done for any of the converters available at www.avs4you.com website):

AVSVideoConverter.exe -h
AVSVideoConverter.exe /h
AVSVideoConverter.exe -?
AVSVideoConverter.exe /?

The following command will run application and add input files:

AVSVideoConverter.exe [file1] [file2] ... [fileN]

To run AVS Converters in automatic mode with the parameters taken from the configuration XML file any of the following commands can be used:

AVSVideoConverter.exe -a configurationXML
AVSVideoConverter.exe /a configurationXML

Variables

The following variables are used with the XML parameters which allow to specify paths to the files/folders on the computer hard disk:

.\ - the current directory;
..\ - the parent directory;
%APPDATA% - Application Data directory of the current user;
%COMMONPROGRAMFILES% - "Program Files/Common Files" directory;
%LOCALAPPDATA% - "AppData/Local" directory of the current user;
%MYDOCUMENTS% - "Documents" / "My Documents" directory of the current user;
%MYMUSIC% - "Music" / "My Music" directory of the current user;
%MYPICTURES% - "Pictures" / "My Pictures" directory of the current user;
%MYVIDEOS% - "Videos" / "My Videos" directory of the current user;
%PROGRAMFILES% - "Program Files" directory;
%SYSTEMDRIVE% - the drive where the system directory is placed;
%SYSTEMROOT% - the "Windows" directory;
%TEMP% - directory for temporary files ("Temp" directory of the current user);
%TMP% - directory for temporary files ("Temp" directory of the current user);
%USERPROFILE% - directory of the current user profile;
%WINDIR% - the "Windows" directory.

Example:

C:\Program Files\AVS4YOU\AVSVideoConverter\AVSVideoConverter.exe -a "D:\AVSVideoConverter.xml"

Log files

Command line converters generate the following files in the %APPDATA%\AVS4YOU\AVSVideoConverter folder (the example is given for AVS Video Converter, but is valid for all AVS converters, the only difference will be in the folder and the file names):

AVSVideoConverter.log - the log file with the description of the operations performed by the application and the errors occurred;
AVSVideoConverter.rpt - the report file with each conversion task result recording and the errors occurred;
ConversionProgress.rpt - the report file with the current conversion task progress value (0% ... 100%).

The current conversion process status can be detected using the AVSVideoConverter.rpt and ConversionProgress.rpt files.

AVSVideoConverter.rpt has the following format:

[Application name and version]

[Date and time of report creation]

[Conversion result]
[ERROR]

[Date and time of report closing]

The Conversion result can accept the following value variants:

NOT STARTED
INTERRUPTED
FAILED
SUCCEEDED

If the conversion result value is NOT STARTED or FAILED, the next lines will contain the description of the ERROR.

AVSVideoConverterPro.rpt example #1:

AVS Video Converter v.12.3.1 - REPORT

Report created at 2024-04-23 17:02:01

Conversion result: NOT STARTED
ERROR: No input files.

Report ended at 2024-04-23 17:02:01

AVSVideoConverterPro.rpt example #2:

AVS Video Converter v.12.3.1 - REPORT

Report created at 2024-04-23 17:02:01

Conversion result: INTERRUPTED

Report ended at 2024-04-23 17:02:01

AVSVideoConverterPro.rpt example #3:

AVS Video Converter v.12.3.1 - REPORT

Report created at 2024-04-23 17:02:01

Conversion result: SUCCEEDED

Report ended at 2024-04-23 17:02:01

AVSVideoConverterPro.rpt example #4:

AVS Video Converter v.12.3.1 - REPORT

Report created at 2024-04-23 17:02:01

Conversion result: FAILED
ERROR: Not enough free space on disk.

Report ended at 2024-04-23 17:02:01

Please read the following sections to learn more about proper formatting of XML files used to automate the conversion process with AVS Converters: