VideoTools Installation Guide

Welcome to the VideoTools installation guide. Please select your operating system to view the detailed instructions.

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Supported Platforms

Windows

For Windows 10 and 11, please follow our detailed, step-by-step guide. It covers both automated and manual setup.

• View Windows Installation Guide
  • Documentation is now hosted in-repo (docs/) and on Forgejo wiki: https://git.leaktechnologies.dev/leak_technologies/VideoTools/wiki.
  • Use scripts\windows\install.bat or scripts\windows\install.ps1 on Windows.
  • The Windows installer defaults to MSI downloads for GStreamer; use -PreferWinget to try winget first.
  • Use -GStreamerVersion to override the default MSI version when needed.
  • Optional DVD authoring tools default to the Leak Technologies mirror installer and can use winget with -PreferWinget.
  • SourceForge DVDStyler mirrors are opt-in on Windows via VT_DVDSTYLER_ALLOW_SOURCEFORGE=1.
  • Use VT_MIRROR_TOKEN or VT_MIRROR_BASIC if Leak Technologies mirrors are private.
  • scripts\windows\build.bat delegates to PowerShell for elevation and build output.
  • If GCC fails the build preflight, use MSYS2 UCRT64 with mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-toolchain.
  • The Windows installer provisions a repo-local MSYS2 toolchain at Tools\msys64 (UCRT64). Override with VT_MSYS2_ROOT or VT_MSYS2_FLAVOR.
  • The Windows installer can reinstall the MSYS2 toolchain if GCC fails a test compile and will auto-install build tools when missing (Scoop GCC is ignored).
  • The Windows build script attempts to repair missing MSYS2 GCC packages automatically when possible.
  • On Windows first run, if FFmpeg is missing, the app can install a user-local FFmpeg bundle to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VideoTools\bin from inside the UI.
  • The Settings > Dependencies tab now prioritizes core dependencies and provides install actions for FFmpeg across platforms (Windows app-local install, Linux package manager commands).
  • Windows builds embed the VT icon when the MSYS2 windres tool is available.
  • Logs default to ~/Videos/VideoTools/logs and can be changed in Settings.
  • Forgejo dev builds produce a Linux AppImage with the VT icon embedded.
  • Forgejo Windows packaging workflows emit GITHUB_OUTPUT as UTF-8 (no BOM) to avoid host-runner post-step failures.
  • Forgejo Windows packages are built as GUI-only binaries (no console window) and include only VideoTools.exe plus README.md in the zip at dist/windows/ (artifacts upload only the zip).
  • Forgejo dev release workflow now builds Linux and Windows artifacts in the same run before publishing (replaces standalone Windows/Linux packaging workflows).
  • Forgejo dev releases upload only Linux AppImage/zip and Windows zip (no build metadata files).
  • Forgejo dev releases delete existing assets with the same name before uploading new ones.
  • Forgejo dev releases now purge existing release assets before uploading to prevent duplicates.
  • Forgejo dev releases fail if asset purge or upload calls are unauthorized.
  • Forgejo dev release workflow uses concurrency to prevent overlapping uploads.
  • Forgejo dev release publish now skips stale workflow runs when master has advanced, preventing older commits from updating older dev tags.
  • Forgejo dev releases use a nightly release note body plus a concise highlights list from the matching docs/CHANGELOG.md section.
  • Forgejo dev release/workflow versioning is sourced from the VERSION file first (with main.go fallback).
  • Forgejo dev release publish step updates the matched tag release metadata (name/body/prerelease), so only the target dev tag is modified.
  • Forgejo mirrors the repository to Codeberg using built-in push mirror settings.
  • Windows builds pause on success or failure so you can review output before the window closes.
  • On Windows VMs with basic/virtual display adapters, VideoTools will show a preflight warning and exit; enable 3D acceleration or install GPU drivers.
  • Whisper model downloads use the Leak Technologies mirror by default and are optional on Windows.
  • Windows build scripts will prompt for elevation when needed.
  • The Windows installer waits for a keypress before closing on success.
  • On failure, the Windows installer pauses so you can copy the error before closing.
  • The Windows installer creates Start Menu shortcuts under "VideoTools" (Build shortcut plus app shortcut after build).
• Windows Packaging Roadmap

Linux

For Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, etc.) and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), the installation is handled by a single, powerful script.

• View Linux & WSL Installation Guide
  • Whisper model downloads use the Leak Technologies mirror with upstream fallback.

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General Requirements

Before you begin, ensure your system meets these basic requirements:

• Go: Version 1.21 or later is required to build the application; the installer will auto-install it when missing.
• FFmpeg: Required for all video and audio processing. Our platform-specific guides cover how to install this.
• Python + pip: Required for AI tooling and optional modules; the installers will set this up automatically where possible.
• Disk Space: At least 2 GB of free disk space for the application and its dependencies.
• Internet Connection: Required for downloading dependencies during the build process.
• Player Controls: Fullscreen toggle is available in the Player module after install.
• UI Layout: The main menu adapts to window width; resize the window to change tile density.
• Scrolling: Settings and long panels use adaptive scroll speed for smoother navigation at different window sizes.
• Settings Tabs: Each Settings tab scrolls independently so the tab header stays visible.
• Master Settings: Preferences include global hardware acceleration detection and module visibility toggles.
• Subtitles: The Subtitles module can extract embedded tracks losslessly or OCR image-based tracks to SRT/ASS (requires Tesseract). OCR language codes: eng, fra, iku.
• Conversion Stability: Conversion workers now catch internal panics and surface a failure dialog instead of closing the UI.
• Recovery Notice: If a conversion was active when the app closed, a notice appears on next launch with the last job details.

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Downloads

• VT package: App package only. Use Settings > Dependencies or platform install scripts to install optional runtime tools.

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Development

If you are a developer looking to contribute to the project, please see the Build and Run Guide for instructions on setting up a development environment. Build scripts write packaged artifacts to dist/<os>/<channel>/ and emit a build.json file alongside each zip.