Remove tracks from .avi without re-encode

[stevebow]

Would anyone recommend a tool that will remove audio or video tracks from .avi files without re-encoding please? I have a few tools that do this already e.g. MKVToolNix for Windows, EditReady for Mac, but unfortunately neither of these will work with avi containers.

Thanks,
Steve

[Gully]

I've moved this to a more appropriate area of the forum.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Have you tried XMedia Recode? I know it can open AVI files.

[netmask]

Post a MediaInfo report on the actual file. (Text mode and then copy and paste into the post). Re MKV container you can insert an Avi file into MKV and this would reveal all tracks, you could then untick what you don't need and remux. No reencoding takes place in mkvmergegui and takes a couple of minutes. If you can't actually play mkv files and need Avi then maybe you can use Avidemux. But you will have to choose under audio and video to just copy after removing the tracks you don't want. Normally it is unusual for Avi files to have anything other than one video and one audio, but multi audio is possible.

[netmask]

Here is an example MediaInfo report on a MKV file that contains an AVI video plus audio and subtitles added.

Code: Select all

General
Complete name                            : U:\MyDownloads\Archive_movies\Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938).DVDRip.XviD\Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938).mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4 / Version 2
File size                                : 738 MiB
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 969 kb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2017-09-02 22:05:54
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v14.0.0 ('Flow') 32bit
Writing library                          : libebml v1.3.4 + libmatroska v1.4.5

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                           : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP                    : 1
Format settings, QPel                    : No
Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix                  : Custom
Codec ID                                 : V_MS/VFW/FOURCC / XVID
Codec ID/Hint                            : XviD
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Bit rate                                 : 835 kb/s
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 544 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.089
Stream size                              : 636 MiB (86%)
Writing library                          : XviD 1.2.1 (UTC 2008-12-04)
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 3
Mode                                     : Joint stereo
Mode extension                           : MS Stereo
Codec ID                                 : A_MPEG/L3
Codec ID/Hint                            : MP3
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 128 kb/s
Nominal bit rate                         : 160 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 41.667 FPS (1152 spf)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 97.3 MiB (13%)
Writing library                          : LAME3.98r
Encoding settings                        : -m j -V 4 -q 2 -lowpass 17.5 --abr 160
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Text #1
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : VobSub
Muxing mode                              : zlib
Codec ID                                 : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration                                 : 1 h 44 min
Bit rate                                 : 3 357 b/s
Count of elements                        : 1179
Stream size                              : 2.51 MiB (0%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Text #2
ID                                       : 4
Format                                   : VobSub
Muxing mode                              : zlib
Codec ID                                 : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration                                 : 1 h 43 min
Bit rate                                 : 2 611 b/s
Count of elements                        : 978
Stream size                              : 1.94 MiB (0%)
Language                                 : Spanish
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

[netmask]

And here is the original AVI file MediaInfo report

Code: Select all

General
Complete name                            : U:\MyDownloads\Archive_movies\Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938).DVDRip.XviD\Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938).avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 743 MiB
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 976 kb/s
Writing application                      : VirtualDubMod 1.5.4.1 (build 2178/release)
Writing library                          : VirtualDubMod build 2178/release

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                           : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP                    : 1
Format settings, QPel                    : No
Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix                  : Custom
Codec ID                                 : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                            : XviD
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Bit rate                                 : 835 kb/s
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 544 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.089
Stream size                              : 636 MiB (86%)
Writing library                          : XviD 1.2.1 (UTC 2008-12-04)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 3
Mode                                     : Joint stereo
Mode extension                           : MS Stereo
Codec ID                                 : 55
Codec ID/Hint                            : MP3
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 128 kb/s
Nominal bit rate                         : 160 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 97.3 MiB (13%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 24  ms (0.58 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration             : 144  ms
Writing library                          : LAME3.98r
Encoding settings                        : -m j -V 4 -q 2 -lowpass 17.5 --abr 160
Language                                 : English

[netmask]

Using MKV Toolkit to untick unwanted tracks

[stevebow]

Have you tried XMedia Recode? I know it can open AVI files.

Do you know if it will save out the file without re-encoding? I couldn't find that information at their website.

Thanks,
Steve

[stevebow]

If you can't actually play mkv files and need Avi then maybe you can use Avidemux. But you will have to choose under audio and video to just copy after removing the tracks you don't want. Normally it is unusual for Avi files to have anything other than one video and one audio, but multi audio is possible.

Thanks for the info. The final format has to be AVI so I can't "rewrap" in a MKV container unfortunately, or else I would have used MKVToolNix. I need to remove the audio track but leave the video (H264) as-is.

Avidemux is an editing tool, which tend to encode the finished edit into whatever format you choose. Would Avidemux recognise that the input format was AVI and simply save out an AVI without re-encoding the video (only) track in this case?

Thanks,
Steve

[Paul_oz53]

Have you tried XMedia Recode? I know it can open AVI files.

Do you know if it will save out the file without re-encoding? I couldn't find that information at their website.

Thanks,
Steve

I tried it but it appears only to re-encode. Mind you, I do a fair bit of re-encoding of .TS to .mp4 so I may find it useful.

[netmask]

If you can't actually play mkv files and need Avi then maybe you can use Avidemux. But you will have to choose under audio and video to just copy after removing the tracks you don't want. Normally it is unusual for Avi files to have anything other than one video and one audio, but multi audio is possible.

Thanks for the info. The final format has to be AVI so I can't "rewrap" in a MKV container unfortunately, or else I would have used MKVToolNix. I need to remove the audio track but leave the video (H264) as-is.

Avidemux is an editing tool, which tend to encode the finished edit into whatever format you choose. Would Avidemux recognise that the input format was AVI and simply save out an AVI without re-encoding the video (only) track in this case?

Thanks,
Steve

Avidemux does have the ability to simply copy the audio and video or process. You have to select the drop down menu's to do so otherwise it defaults to re-encoding. Read the help file. Look under the Audio menu at the top of the screen to select the track you want and then change the audio drop down menu on the left of the screen to choose 'Copy'.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

...
Avidemux is an editing tool, which tend to encode the finished edit into whatever format you choose. Would Avidemux recognise that the input format was AVI and simply save out an AVI without re-encoding the video (only) track in this case?

Avidemux can output what you want - a file with only a video track and it only takes a few seconds.
Set Audio -> Main Track -> Audio source to 'None'.
Set Video and Audio as 'Copy', Format: AVI
File -> Save -> Save Video
Job done

[stevebow]

Thanks very much netmask and Grumpy_Geoff, Avidemux has done the trick perfectly.

Steve