03. November 2015 · Comments Off on Concatenating Audio Files in Windows with FFmpeg · Categories: Audio, Command-line Tools, Multimedia · Tags: batch files, ffmpeg
Last updated on 09/23/2021

This guide demonstrates how to automate concatenating two or more audio files of the same format using FFmpeg while preserving the metadata in the merged file. A tested example batch file is provided to help illustrate. This guide is related to a previous post for concatenating audio files also with a batch file, but with using a different set of command-line tools for joining them.

clapper board

What is FFmpeg?

FFmpeg is an open-source and cross-platform command-line set of SW programs for recording, converting and streaming audio and video. First developed under Linux, compiled versions are available for most operating systems and platforms. It has since become one of the best-known and most widely used products of its type. FFmpeg is compatible with a large number of SW applications and it’s used in many popular SW products such as VLC Media Player, YouTube, and Handbrake. Although FFmpeg includes over 100 codecs and a mind-boggling number of possible combined command-line options, it’s not that difficult to use.

To demonstrate how easy it can be, FFmpeg.org provides this example command for converting input.mp4 to output.avi on its homepage:

$ ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.avi

While the above example is simple, FFmpeg commands can also be more complex.

Main FFmpeg Tools

The FFmpeg version used for this guide is a Windows complied version availiable from CODEX FFMPEG. Simply download the latest 32 or 64-bit static build from the builds page here and extract it to a folder (builds are compressed in 7z format). The version used was git-dee7440 (2015-11-01).

The FFmpeg package contains the following three main executable tools in the bin folder:

  • ffmpeg.exe – a command-line encoder and media converter
  • ffmprobe.exe – a command-line tool to analyze and display media information
  • ffplay.exe – a simple media player

Note that there are a number of commands that are common between the three tools. Only ffmpeg.exe and ffmprobe.exe are used in this guide.

FFmpeg Help Files

FFmpeg provides three levels of help files: basic, long, and full. To view the commands available in the help files, click the ff-prompt.bat file in the root directory to open a command window or open your own in the bin folder and type in one of the following commands:

ffmpeg -h -- print basic options
ffmpeg -h long -- print more options
ffmpeg -h full -- print all options (including all format and codec specific options, very long

Here are links to the basic help file: ffmpeg_help and the full help file: ffmpeg_help_full. When printed to text, the help file sizes are: 5kB for the basic, 25kB for the full, and 487kB for the long help files. The long help file contains about 7,000 lines, which provides a hint as to how many commands are available.

Batch File

Batch file link: tasks_FFmpeg.bat

The link for the batch file used for this guide is provided above. Be sure to remove the txt extension before using it. The batch file is setup to work by the drag and drop method only.

To concatenate the audio files and write the metadata to the merged file, the batch file steps through the following:

  1. Delete any previous metadata text files, listfiles, or json data files.
  2. Write metadata for each audio file to a separate metadata text file
  3. Write the filenames of the audio files to confiles.txt (see below format), a listfile FFmpeg uses to identify the audio files to concatenate
  4. Concatenate the audio files and write the metadata from the first audio file’s metadata.txt file to the joined audio file.

For FFmpeg to use a listfile (confiles.txt), the filenames must be written to the confiles.txt file on separate lines using the following format.

file 'filename1.ext'
file 'filename2.ext'

The provided batch script should work for most audio formats of the same type provided they were encoded using the same codec (although they can be different containers). It was tested with opus, mp3, and aac files on a PC running Windows XP.

The batch script also provides options to separately print out audio file metadata, basic data, or stream and container (format) data to screen or to a file in json format (human readable form), with options to change the format in the script.

Command-Line Description

The main FFmpeg commands for extracting the metadata and concatenating the audio files are explained below. Although the ffprobe command was also used, it’s fairly simple to understand and should be self-explanatory by examining the code and the help files. The filenames used below are not actually in the batch script but have been simplified for explaination purposes.

The below command extracts and writes the metadata to a text file:

ffmpeg -i infile.ext -f ffmetadata metadatafile1.txt
  • ffmpeg – calls ffmpeg
  • -i infile.ext – specifies infile.ext as an input file
  • -f ffmetadata metadatafile1.txt  – formats the metadata to file metadatafile1.txt

The metadata1.txt file is formatted as below:

;FFMETADATA1
album=Name of Album
artist=Artist Name
genre=Music Genre Name
title=Title Name
track=Track #
date=Date
encoder=Encoder Used

The next command is used to process mp3 files only. It concatenates the mp3 files and writes the metadatafile1.txt contents in id3 format of the first mp3 file to the merged mp3 file:

ffmpeg -f concat -i confiles.txt -i metadatafile1.txt -map_metadata 1 -id3v2_version 3 -write_id3v1 1 -c copy filename1_merged.mp3
  • ffmpeg – calls ffmpeg
  • -f concat -i confiles.txt – use concat demuxer to concatenate the mp3 files listed in confiles.txt (treats confiiles.txt as a single file and specifies it as input file 0)
  • -i metadatafile1.txt – specify metadatafile1.txt as input file 1
  • -map_metadata 1 – map input file 1 as the source for metadata (metadatafile1.txt)
  • -id3v2_version 3 – select ID3v2 version 3 to write
  • -write_id3v1 1 – enable ID3v1 writing
  • -c copy filename1_merged.mp3 – stream copy to filename1_merged.mp3 (-c copy = stream copy)

The next command listed processes audio files other than mp3. It functions the same as the previous command but writes standard metadata (if present) from the first audio file to the merged file:

ffmpeg -f concat -i confiles.txt -i metadatafile1.txt -map_metadata 1 -c copy filename1_merged.ext
  • ffmpeg – calls ffmpeg
  • -f concat -i confiles.txt – use concat demuxer to concatenate the files listed in confiles.txt (treats confiiles.txt as a single file and specifies it as input file 0)
  • -i metadatafile1.txt – specify metadatafile1.txt as input file 1
  • -map_metadata 1 – map input file 1 as the source for metadata (metadatafile1.txt)
  • -c copy filename1_merged.mp3 – stream copy to filename1_merged.ext (-c copy = stream copy)

Additional Help – Online Command-line Generators

There are a number of online FFmpeg command-line generators that can help construct various audio and video FFmpeg commands. A few of them are listed below:

FFmpeg Command Generator

References:

Useful FFmpeg Commands

Concatenating media files

FFprobeTips

FFmpeg & FFprobe Cheatsheet

FFmpeg Windows Binaries:

CodexFFMpeg

BtbN / FFmpeg-Builds

 

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16. October 2015 · Comments Off on Where to find Command-line Utilities for Batch Files · Categories: Command-line Tools, Development, TechBits · Tags: batch files
Last updated on 12/01/2017

Command-line utilities are useful for expanding the capabilities of batch files. There are many more available, but the below list can be used as a starting point.

Free Command-line Utilities for Batch Scripts

NameDescriptionSourceSize Uncompressed (kB)More info/License
BusyBoxA single binary with many common Unix tools. Often used in embedded Linux systems. Fewer options than originals due to size optimizationRon Yorston647kGNU General Public License
BYTE* / FREEWARE ToolsOver twenty-five mostly system admin toolsBYTE* FREEWARE ToolsMost under 20kOpen-Source GNU GPL
CyLog Software Command-Line UtilitiesTen utilities for string manipulation, searching, user input, and moreCyLog Software26-232kFree (Proprietary License)
DSToolBoxTwelve utilitiesDreamCycle Studios40-158kFreeware
F2KO SoftwareOver 40 utilitiesCMD ToolsVariousFreeware
Gammadyne's Free DOS UtilitiesSixteen various utilities including timers, file management tools, and a DOS shellGammadyne's Free DOS Utilities76-421kFreeware
GnuWinOver 160 separately downloadable native Win32 open source utilities for Windows 2k-Win7GnuWinVariousGNU General Public License
Gow (Gnu On Windows)Over 100 useful open source UNIX applications compiled as native win32 binariesBrent Matzelle1-1795kOpen Source MIT License
GtoolsSeveral command-line and GUI Windows Administrative Toolsgtools current version19- 520kOpen Source
HexatomiumAbout a dozen utilitiesWindows Apps by FS112-320kFree for personal use
Horst Schaeffer's Software PagesSeveral various utilities  CMD 32/64 bit 4-35kFreeware
IntelliAdminAbout 10 useful command line utilities. Note that not every utility listed is a command line toolFree UtilitiesVariousFreeware
NircmdA small command-line utility that can perform many different tasksNirSoft43kFreeware. 32 and 64 bit versions also available
Ritchie LawrenceA somewhat outdated (2005), but still useful list of command-line utilitiesRitchie LawrenceVariousMostly Freeware
Rob nan der Woude's Scripting PagesDescriptions and download links for a many utilities. Probably the most up-to-date and comprehensive listing of its kindBatch UtilitiesVariousAlmost entirely Freeware
RubyPdf Software Download CenterSpecialized PDF ToolsRubypdf TechnologiesUp to a few MBMostly Freeware
Small command line utilitiesOver 150 system utilities. Archive package or separately. Page also has small GUI tools and NET utilities.LTRData6-100k. Most under 20kFreeware
SwissFileKnifeCombines many functions into a single, portable executableStahlWorks Technologies 1,576kBSD License. Binaries and source code available. Versions for Mac and Linux.
SystemTools UtilitiesA dozen utilities focusing on user account and networking tasksSystemTools SoftwareMost under 50kFreeware
Util32Twenty 32-bit useful command-line utilitiesPersoft23-180kFreeware
Uwe Sieber's HomepageFile, drive, USB and misc toolsUwe Sieber's HomepageVariousFreeware

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14. March 2015 · Comments Off on Automate mp3 File Concatenation with Windows Command-line Tools · Categories: Audio, Command-line Tools, Windows · Tags: batch files
Last updated on 12/12/2022

Although it requires a bit more technical effort than GUI-based applications, merging mp3 files with the command-line allows for a faster and more complete merging process and more flexibility and customization options. This guide demonstrates how to use a batch file and free Windows command-line tools to concatenate two or more mp3 files, preserve the ID3 metadata, and repair and verify the integrity of the combined file. The information in this guide was tested on system running XP SP3 32-bit and should be similar for other Windows versions.

merging mp3s

Command-line vs GUI tools

Command-line tools generally provide more options than GUI-based tools and that’s especially true for tools working with complex SW such as media files, which can be created with many different types of codecs, containers, and formats. Most GUI-based tools use command-line tools on the back-end, but GUIs are rarely able to incorporate all the possible combinations of complex commands and options of those tools into their designs. It’s difficult to design GUI’s that can accomplish difficult tasks and still be easy to use. Because GUI-based application designs are often driven primarily for ease-of-use and wide appeal, functionality and complexity are necessarily reduced in order to accomplish those goals. Command-line tools are the opposite, they are more difficult to learn and to use, but are generally able to accomplish a wider and more sophisticated range of tasks.

Command-line

Advantages – faster execution, specialized tasks can be accomplished by executing a single script, flexibility/customization (adding tools, changing options, etc.), free, uses less system resources

Disadvantages– requires coding or understanding code, takes more time and effort to configure, less intuitive

GUI-based

Advantages – quicker learning curve, more intuitive visually and for multitasking, more complete viewing and listing of information, easier switching between commands

Disadvantages – slower execution (additional programs are often required  for processing ID3 tags or to repair VBR headers), requires more system resources (video, drivers, mouse, etc.), limited options for advanced tasks (especially for free versions), limited availability of easy-to-use but highly configurable applicaions

Command-line Tools for this Guide

The command-line tools used in this guide are:

MP3Wrap (ver 0.5) – Wraps two or more mp3 files into a single file. The command-line executable is mp3wrap.exe.

ID3 mass tagger (ver 0.78) – Copies the ID3 tag to the merged file. This is the download link for the older freeware version, which is the version used in this guide. A newer version (1.21.25) is available here for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems, but it non-free shareware. It includes a GUI and a command-line version.

MP3Val (ver 0.1.8) – Validates and fixes MPEG stream, frame, and header errors. Includes both GUI and command-line versions. The command-line executable is mp3val.exe.

Because MP3Wrap strips and replaces the ID3 tags with its own information, ID3 is used to copy the tags from one of the files. MP3Val repairs any errors in the pre-merged files copied into the merged file or produced during the merging process.

Command-line Examples:

Command-line syntax useage for this guide and in the batch script:

Merge Files

The batch file provides an option to use either the Windows command-line or MP3wrap to merge the files.

The command to merge mp3 files with Windows command-line:

copy /b file1.mp3+file2.mp3+file3.mp3 outputfile.mp3

/b = binary file

Command to merge mp3 files with MP3wrap:

mp3wrap outputfile.mp3 file1.mp3 file2.mp3 file3.mp3

additional commands for MP3Wrap (ver 0.5): mp3wrap_cmd_help:

Copy Tags

The command-line syntax to copy the ID3 tags from input file1 to the output file with ID3:

id3.exe -D file1.mp3 outputfile.mp3

-D = duplicate tags from filename

additional commands for ID3 (ver 0.78): id3_078_help

Fix and Validate

Command-line syntax to fix and validate the output file with MP3Val:

mp3val outputfile.mp3 -f -nb -si

-f = try to fix errors

-nb = delete .bak files (suitable with -f)

-si = suppress INFO messages

additional commands for MP3Val (ver 0.1.8): mp3val_cmd_help

Merging mp3 Files: Process

Steps

If using the provided batch file (see below), two steps are required.

1. Prepare the mp3 files

Ensure that the mp3 files to be merged have the same frequency, bitrate, and MPEG coding and layering. Otherwise, the output file may contain non-apparent errors, even if no errors were displayed during the merging process.

2. Drag and drop the mp3 files onto the batch file to merge

Drag and drop the mp3 files all at once and in the order to be processed by the batch script. Rename/renumber the files as necessary to obtain the right order.

Batch File Processing Steps:

  1. Display the order of the mp3 files to be processed
  2. Ask the user to select between merging the files with the Windows command-line or MP3Wrap
  3. Merge the mp3 files into a temp file, “temp_MP3WRAP.mp3”
  4. Transfer the ID3 tags from the first mp3 file to the temp file with ID3
  5. Fix and validate the temp file with MP3Val
  6. Rename the temp file to the first mp3 file and append “_merged” to the file name
  7. Exit

Example Batch File:

Ensure that the file extension is changed to “bat” before using.

mergeMP3_cects.bat

References:

blogferret.com – id3.exe – ideal tool for tagging and renaming MP3 files

alexenglish.info – Concatenating MP3 Files in Linux

cephas.net – Merge multiples MP3 files into one

ghacks.net – ID3 Mass Tagger

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06. January 2012 · Comments Off on Using the WinRAR Command-line tools in Windows · Categories: Batch Files, Windows · Tags: Archiving Tasks, batch files
Last updated on 08/06/2018

This guide describes the use of the WinRAR command-line tools (v5.01) for compressing and uncompressing files in a directory and their use in batch files (for IZArc and 7-zip, see this post). This guide is an extension of a previous post, Automate Zipping Tasks using the Command-line Interface that explained the use of the command-line tools for two free compression utilities, IZArc and 7-Zip. The information in this guide was tested on a Windows PC running Vista.

compression represented by a vise

WinRAR is a popular and powerful archive manager that can be used from the command-line or with scripting languages such as batch files. It includes two command-line tools, rar.exe and unrar.exe, where rar.exe compresses and unrar.exe uncompresses files. Both are located in the “C:\Program Files\WinRAR” folder in the installable version. Although WinRAR is shareware, it can be used on a trial basis for 40 days. Using WinRAR’s command-line tools is similar to those for IZArc and 7-Zip. The syntax for using the WinRAR executables is:

RAR or UNRAR <command> -<switch1> -<switchN> <archive> <files...> <@listfiles...> <path_to_extract\>

To get a listing of the options for the rar and unrar commands, open a command window, cd to the WinRAR directory, and type rar or unrar and then press enter (rar /?  or rar help may also be used, use rar >rar_cmds.txt or unrar >unrar_cmds.txt to print the command options to a file). For more detailed information, open the rar.txt file in the WinRAR directory which contains the RAR console version user’s manual.

Examples to compress a folder:

rar a -r yourfiles.rar *.txt

creates archive yourfiles.rar and compresses all .txt files in the current folder

rar a -r C:\yourfolder\yourfiles.rar *.txt

creates archive yourfiles.rar in C:\yourfolder and compresses all .txt files in the current folder and its subfolders

rar a -r C:\yourfolder\yourfiles.rar C:\otherfolder\*.txt

creates archive yourfiles.rar in C:\yourfolder and compresses all .txt files in otherfolder and its subfolders

rar a yourfiles 

creates archive yourfiles.rar and compresses all files in the current folder, but doesn’t include subfolders (note lack of extension; WinRAR will use the default extension .rar)

“a” command. Adds to the archive

“-r”  switch. Recurses subfolders

Examples to uncompress a folder: 

unrar x c:\yourfile.rar *.gif c:\extractfolder\

extracts all *.gif files from yourfile.rar to c:\extractfolder\ (trailing backslash required) and restores the folder structure

unrar e c:\yourfile.rar 

extracts all files in c:\yourfile.rar to the current folder (folder structure ignored)

“x” command. Extracts with full paths

“e” command. Extracts and ignores paths

Compression example using Multiple Switches:

rar a -r -ep -u -df -x*.bat e_archive.rar c:\test\*.*

compresses all new or updated files from c:\test and its subfolders to e_archive.rar, deletes the files after they are added to the archive, and excludes any files with a “bat” extension,

“a” command adds to the archive

“-r”  switch. Recurses subfolders

“-ep” switch. Adds files to the archive without including the path information. Multiple can exist in the archive with the same name.

“-u” switch. Equivalent to the “u” command when combined with the “a” command. Adds new files and updates older versions of the files already in the archive

“-df” switch. Deletes files after they are moved to the archive

“-x” switch. Excludes the specified file(s) from the operation

Basic rules for WinRAR:

  • When files or listfiles are not specified, all files in the current folder are processed
  • When specifying all files in a folder, yourfolder or yourfolder\*.* are equivalent
  • Folder structures are automatically saved in archives (but not automatically extracted)
  • WinRAR uses the .rar extension by default, but that can be overridden by specifying the zip extension in the archive name
  • Switches and commands are not case sensitive and can be written in either upper or lower case

Another point is that WinRAR doesn’t appear to install to the Windows path environment variable, so it must be specified either at a command prompt, set permanently in the environment variable settings, or specified in a batch file (WinRAR v3.71.0.0 was used for this guide and that may not be the case for all versions).

To set the Windows path environment variable temporarily at a command prompt or in a batch file, use the following command:

set path="C:\Program Files\WinRAR\";%path%

To set it permanently in the Windows path for your PC:

start–>Control Panel–>System–>Advanced system settings–>Advanced Tab–>Environment Variables–>System Variables–>Path–>Edit. Add the path ;C:\Program Files\WinRAR; to the end (don’t forget the single semicolons at the beginning and end). Hit OK three times.

Using WinRAR in Batch Files:

Two batch file examples are provided below, The uncompress_rar.bat file decompresses all .rar files from a folder and places the extracted files into another directory.

The compress_rar_rev2.bat file provides the following compression options for a user specified directory. Option 4 is the most commonly used structure and the most appropriate option in most cases:

  1. Compress files in dir individually (no subdirs)
  2. Compress files in dir and subdirs individually – no paths
  3. Compress all files in dir into a single archive (no subdirs)
  4. Compress all files in dir and subdirs into a single archive
  5. Compress all files in dir and subdirs into a single archive – no paths

Be sure to change the extension(s) to .bat before using either file and edit the folder paths as required. Both of the following batch files temporarily set the Windows path environment variable for the WinRAR application folder when executed.

Batch file downloads:

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09. December 2010 · Comments Off on Create Custom Grub4Dos, GRUB and Syslinux Compatible Splash Images · Categories: Batch Files, Graphics · Tags: batch files, Boot Loaders, Linux
Last updated on 12/07/2017

Syslinux Boot Menu ScreenThis guide demonstrates how to quickly and easily create custom 640×480 splash images for Grub4Dos, GRUB, and Syslinux menus using the Windows version of ImageMagick. The information in this guide was tested with Grub4Dos ver 0.4.4, GRUB ver 0.97, and Syslinux ver 4.04. Both of these Grub4Dos and GRUB versions have nearly the same requirements for splash images so that the same images can be used by either one. The formats are xpm for GRUB/Grub4Dos and png/jpg for Syslinux.

This guide does not cover splash images for GRUB2, the newest version and replacement for GRUB, which only recognizes the .tga, .jpeg, and .png image formats. GRUB is now officially known as GRUB Legacy, and while no longer developed as of version 0.9x, it is still being supported and enhanced, so GRUB will continue to remain a very usable boot-loader for the immediate future. Syslinux graphical menus are generated using the vesamenu.c32 module, which must be included in the boot medium. Syslinux Hi-color menus, like GRUB and Grub4Dos menus, also use a 640×480 size splash image, but have slightly different requirements as explained below. Also, Grub4Dos and GRUB have some splash screen requirements that are not specified in the Syslinux documentation, so apparently those particular graphical attributes are either not applicable or have no limitations in Syslinux.

grub4dos menu screenThis is a quick and dirty method that was tested to work as specified for this guide. The aim of this guide is to quickly generate custom splash images from existing images rather than to create works of art. As such, the quality of the finished images largely depends on the initial quality and size of the original image files.

The requirements for Grub4Dos or GRUB splash screen images are:

  • The image must use the .xpm format (.xpm files are usually g-zipped for faster loading).
  • The image must be exactly 640×480 pixels in size.
  • The image can’t have more than 14 colors.

The requirements for Syslinux Hi-color splash screen images are:

  • The image must be in the .png or .jpg format.
  • The image must be exactly 640×480 pixels in size.
  • Image depth and number of colors requirements appear to be unspecified. For this guide, the depth is set to 16 bits and the number of colors is set to 14 in the ImageMagick convert command line to obtain a smaller file size. For some images, the user may wish to increase the number of colors for better quality results.

Tools:
In Windows, the only tools required to create splash images are the ImageMagick freeware graphical image suite and a text editor to create batch files such as notepad. ImageMagick is a command-line only tool that’s fairly easy to use. As a command-line application, commands are executable from batch files or with other scripting languages. The self-installing version of ImageMagick automatically sets the registry entries, making it possible to execute it from any directory. If using the portable version, the path variable needs to be set manually or specified in a batch file to achieve this functionality. ImageMagick portable for Windows, ImageMagick-6.7.4-Q16-windows.zip, was used for this guide and tested on PCs running Vista and WinXP.

Image files to convert:
In most cases, make sure images are in the .bmp, .jpg, or .png format and are 640×480 pixels in size or have the same aspect ratio (e.g. 800×600, 1024×768, etc.) before converting them. If images are in any other format or don’t have a 640×480 aspect ratio, re-size them and change the format to .bmp, .jpg, or .png before using ImageMagick. For Grub4Dos or GRUB boot menu screens, if another original image format is used, such as .gif, ImageMagick will process it without error, but the image may be distorted or render incorrectly. Files can easily be re-sized and converted to .bmp, .jpg, or .png formats using most graphical editing programs already on your computer. Note that the .png format usually results in a slightly smaller file size than the .bmp format.

Note: ImageMagick’s
resize operator is designed to produce the best possible result for the requested image size (i.e. 640×480) and ignores aspect ratio if image distortion occurs during the conversion process. Thus the re-size operator does not necessarily scale the image! That is why it’s important to use true 640×480 pixel images (or images with the same aspect ratio (e.g. 4:3) before converting them with ImageMagick. Make sure to verify image size after converting with ImageMagick. The final size of images must be exactly 640×480 to work as splash screens.
______________________________________________________________________________

Steps to Create Grub4Dos and GRUB Compatible Splash Images:

Step 1: Download and Install ImageMagick

Step 2: Convert Image Files into Grub4Dos or GRUB Compatible Images with the ImageMagick command line:

Open a command window in Windows by clicking the Start button, select RUN…, then type “cmd” and click the “OK” button. In the command window, navigate to the directory where the files are located and use the following command to convert each file to a Grub4Dos and GRUB compatible splash image:

convert -resize 640x480 -colors 14 filename.bmp filename.xpm.gz

To install a Grub4Dos or GRUB splash image in menu.lst:

  • Copy the splash image to your HDD (e.g. hdo, hd1, etc.) or USB (e.g. sda1, sdb2, etc.) in the default folder or in a folder of your choice
  • Edit the menu.lst file to reflect the location of the splash image:

    splashimage (hd0,0)/yourfolder/filename.xpm.gz

Batch file example:

Drag and drop single or multiple .bmp, .jpg, or .png images into the batch file to automatically convert them into GRUB or Grub4Dos compatible splash screen images. Click to open the file link in your browser and then cut and paste the code into a text editor or right click to download the batch file code. Be sure to change the file extension to .bat before using:

convert_oldgrub_grub4dos_rev2.bat (drag and drop a single file or multiple files into this batch file)

convert_grub_rev3a.bat (updated script with more options)
_________________________________________________________________________

Steps to Create Syslinux Compatible Splash Images:

Step 1: Download and Install ImageMagick

Step 2: Convert Image Files into Syslinux Compatible Images using the ImageMagick command line:

Open a command window in Windows by clicking the Start button, select RUN…, then type “cmd” and click the “OK” button. In the command window, navigate to the directory where the files are located and use the following command to convert each file to a Syslinux compatible splash image:

convert -resize 640x480 -depth 16 -colors 14 yourfile.bmp yourfile.png

Note: Increasing colors from 14 to a higher value in the above command can result in higher quality images, but also slightly increases the file size.

To install a Syslinux splash image:

  • Make sure the vesamenu.c32 module is installed to the boot medium (get it from the Syslinux com32\modules\ folder). Vesamenu.c32 is usually placed in the same folder or partition as the syslinux.cfg file.
  • Copy the splash image to your HDD (e.g. hdo, hd1, etc.) or USB (e.g. sda1, sdb2, etc.) in the default folder or in a folder of your choice
  • Edit the syslinux.cfg file to reflect the location of the splash image:

    MENU BACKGROUND /yourfolder/yourfile.png

Batch file example:

Drag and drop single or multiple .bmp, .jpg, or .png images into the batch file to automatically convert them into Syslinux compatible splash screen images. Click to open the file link in your browser and then cut and paste the code into a text editor or right click the link to download the batch file code. Be sure to change the file extension to .bat before using:

convert_syslinux_rev2.bat (drag and drop single or multiple files into this batch file)

convert_syslinux_rev3a.bat (updated script with more options)
____________________________________________________________________

References:

Fedoraproject.org wiki – How to create a custom syslinux splash

ImageMagick – Resizing Images

Syslinux.zytor.com – Comboot/menu.c32

 

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