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How to remove audio channels based on channel count using FFmpeg

· One min read

Setting up

First make sure you have FFmpeg installed. Follow this guide if you haven't already:

https://docs.tdarr.io/blog/how-to-install-ffmpeg

Running the CLI

Removing unnecessary streams from your files can help save a lot of space. For example, if you have no need for 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound audio streams in your video files, you can use this guide to remove them. To remove streams by language using FFmpeg, you first need to gather file data using an application such as FFprobe or MediaInfo.

Check the following guide for gathering data using FFprobe:

https://docs.tdarr.io/blog/how-to-install-ffprobe-and-gather-data-from-a-media-file

The language data is kept within the data of each audio stream:

 {
"channels": 8,
}

Note, 7.1 surround sound is shown as 8 channel, likewise 5.1 surround sound is shown as 6 channel.

Once you've determined the index of the streams you need to remove, follow this guide to remove the streams:

https://docs.tdarr.io/blog/how-to-remove-media-file-streams-using-ffmpeg

You can automate this process on your files using the following Tdarr Plugins:

Tdarr_Plugin_00td_action_remove_audio_by_channel_count

info

Get started using Tdarr transcode automation for free with this link:

https://tdarr.io/download/