Stacher Update 7.1.8 (Patreon)

Hi everyone!

Stacher version 7.1.8 was just released and, if you haven't gotten it yet, it's on it's way with some pretty cool improvements and new features!

At the end of 2025, there was a Poll on what features you all wanted to see in Stacher. The top 3 most voted for features were:

File Conversions: Convert media in your library from one format to another

Metadata Editor: Edit and embed metadata on files directly.

Expand on Cropping/Trimming Tools making this UI/Interaction better and more feature rich

I'm excited to say that, with this update, you'll start seeing TWO of the three above in Stacher:

An updated Crop/Trim tool and the first iteration of File Conversions, being released in "Beta" for now as this is a rather large feature and it's functionality will likely evolve over time... Especially as I receive feedback from you all!

The Metadata Editor is also a rather large update and will be on it's way in a future update. I know it was the second highest wanted feature (vs the crop/trim tool) but it's probably best to focus on one larger feature at a time.

As always, let me know if you have any issues, questions, or have feedback in general. And, with that, let's get to it!

Updated Crop/Trim Tool

Prior to version 7.1.8, the Crop/Trim tool has been sorely lacking in both features and a positive UI experience. For example, you could only make one trim selection. If you needed multiple clips, you would have to repeat the entire process several times.

Not anymore! In 7.1.8, you can make as many selections as you like! Each file will automatically be suffixed with the start and end times of your trim, so you don't even need to make any Output Template changes to your output file naming schema.

How does it work?

The seek track is larger and, on load, will have the entire track selected. You can click and drag the start and end tabs to the positions you want to create a clip.

To add more clips, you just click and drag roughly the area on the track you want to clip and then, once again, use the start and end tabs to make your selection more precise.

Below the track, you'll find each of your selections listed out. Here you can manually enter the exact start and end time you're looking for. Neat!

File Conversions (Beta)

Let's say you have your media in your library, but it's in MOV format and you really need it in MP4 format.... Or maybe you have it as an MP4 but what you really need is just the audio as an MP3. Maybe, what you're looking to do is take a small snippet out of a larger video clip and make a high quality GIF.

Well, in 7.1.8 you can do all of those things!

How does it work?

In the Stacher Library media player, you'll have a hamburger menu just under the player. When you select it, you'll find a new option simply labeled "Convert".

Once selected, you'll be presented with the conversion modal. You may recognize the seek track from the new crop/trim tool. It's being re-used here and, just like the trim tool, you can grab the start and end tabs to create clips from your media.

Obviously, if you don't want a clip and instead would like to convert the entire file, leave the start and end tabs at the beginning and end of your seek track.

Next, select the format you would like to convert to. You can even select the same format if your goal is simply to trim without converting!

You'll notice there is a switch labeled "Replace in Library". It's disabled by default but, if you enable it, the media item your library will be updated to reference your newly converted file! This does not replace the file on your hard drive, it simply updates the reference in your library. You can always switch it back via the "Resolve Path" option in the media players menu.

The "Strip metadata" option does just that, it removes all metadata from the output file. It's disabled by default so, unless you enable this, your converted file will have the same metadata as your original file.

If, however, you are converting into an audio file and you enable the strip metadata, you will have the option of entering your own metadata for some fields including setting the thumbnail/cover art.

In the example above, thumbnail options were automatically derived from previously generated previews which were enabled in the Library tab of the Settings window. If you do not have previously generated previews enabled OR you want to use a custom image, just select the Import option to select a custom image from your hard drive.

When it comes to making GIFs, you'll see additional options to set the desired output frame rate and image width. Height will be automatically calculated to maintain aspect ratio from the source media.

This feature is in BETA - Please test it out, play with it, and let me know if any issues or changes you find or want to see! This feature is in relatively early development so you can really have an impact on how it evolves over time. The Developer Chat in the bottom left corner of Stacher (Premium users) is the best way to share your feedback!

Finally, let's talk about performance.

Behind the scenes, Stacher uses ffmpeg for conversions. Currently Stacher runs ffmpeg as a single process, so queued files are converted sequentially rather than in parallel.

Re‑encoding is CPU‑ and I/O‑intensive — it can make fans spin up and CPU usage spike. If you have a capable GPU, Stacher can offload much of the encoding work to the GPU, improving performance. If enabled, Stacher will detect supported GPU encoders/drivers and use them where available.

In the Library tab of Settings there's a new "Hardware Acceleration" option. Enable it to allow Stacher to use your GPU.

This setting is disabled by default. Stacher will use hardware acceleration only when a compatible GPU, drivers, and ffmpeg encoder (e.g., NVENC, QuickSync, VideoToolbox, AMF) are available; otherwise it falls back to CPU.

Improved Output File Template Component

The output file template component is how you specify which variables to use when naming your output files. It can be a confusing task, especially when there are so many options and formatting variations.

This updated component aims to solve some of those problems by offering clearer tags and the ability to access variations for each simply by clicking it. You can even drag and drop tags to place them in the desired position of your output file name. Check it out:

Let's say you want to have better organization of your media files and would like to create directories based on author or some other metadata. Simply click the tag and enable the switch to use the variable as a folder!

You'll see the folder icon appear that denotes the tag will dictate the name of a folder on your system. If the folder doesn't already exist, it will automatically be created.

You can create as many folders as you like but remember, the last tag must not be a folder and instead be your desired file name. For example, `Title` `File Extension`.

You'll almost always want to end your output template with `File Extension`, this is how your filename gets it's `.mp4`, `.mp3`, etc extension in it's filename.

As always, you can switch into manual mode if you prefer to edit the variables directly!

Pre/Post Scripts

You'll find a new tab in your settings window labeled "Scripts". In this tab, you'll have options to set a "pre script" and/or a "post script".

These settings are a bit more advanced and I intend on a more in depth post on how these work.

Basically though, you can write your own scripts external to Stacher. They can be shell scripts, batch files, executable binaries, anything that is runnable and have Stacher execute them before or after each process.

This is a great way to do any cleanup, documentation, or other automation.

For example, let's say you want Stacher to shutdown your computer once it finishes or, maybe, send you an email with any errors it encountered and then shutdown your machine. You can write a custom script that does just that and tell Stacher to execute it when it's finished!

How do you get information from Stacher into your script though?

Write your scripts so that they can accept arguments and then, in Stacher, you can specify the arguments you should pass as input. For example, in the example above that sends an email with any errors, you could pass the argument `$error`to your script to get the error information. After that, it's just a matter of having your script parse the error data and implement handling.

There are other variables available and I'm sure more will be added in the future. They are all listed within the Settings tab itself!

Note that the Pre-script will not have access to as many variables because almost all of the metadata isn't available before the actual process begins.

Also in 7.1.8

Updated Terminal Screen - Access it via `Command Key` +` T` or `CTRL` +` T` on windows

Updated Playlist Prompt UI

In addition to File Import, you can reference a file directly in place of a URL with the file://{file_path} format. This will run with the `--batch-file`argument

Custom thumbnail added for `--batch-file` threads

Updated progress bars in the Library to indicate files currently in progress of conversion

And a few other minor changes - As always, a full change log is available at https://changelog.stacher.io