Hybrid is a video and audio conversion front end for Windows, macOS and Linux, developed by Selur. Hybrid does not encode by itself. Its Qt-based interface drives a set of external command-line tools. It builds the commands and scripts they need and runs them as jobs. The result is a single program that can take most input formats and turn them into common audio and video formats and containers. Hybrid is free for personal use.
The program is aimed at advanced users: it has no wizard-style mode and expects knowledge of containers, codecs and stream handling.
Sources Hybrid can open
Hybrid accepts most formats that FFmpeg or MPlayer can decode, which covers the usual camera, download and disc-rip files. It also reads raw elementary streams in VC-1, AVC, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 ASP. It can load Avisynth scripts as a source, so a hand-written script can serve as the input to an encode.
Encoding audio and video
The user sets up a conversion on the Base tab. Under Processing, the user picks what happens to each kind of stream. The user can re-encode video with a chosen encoder or pass it through untouched. Audio can be converted or passed through. Each encoder then has its own tab with its settings; the x264 tab, for example, holds the rate-control mode, such as a single-pass constant rate factor.
For video, Hybrid can produce MPEG-4 ASP, AVC, HEVC, VP8, VP9, AV1, ProRes, FFV1, UT Video and FFvHuff, using several encoder programs for most formats, including hardware encoders. Audio output covers AAC, MP3, AC-3, E-AC-3, DTS, Vorbis, Opus, FLAC and PCM, again with more than one encoder available for several of these. A bitrate calculator is included for planning output sizes.
Containers, chapters and subtitles
Hybrid muxes finished streams into MP4, MKV, MOV, M2TS, WebM or AVI, or writes them as a Blu-ray or AVCHD disc structure. Hybrid can add tags to AVI, MKV, MP4 and MOV files and handles chapters and subtitles for MKV, MP4 and Blu-ray output. Users can create chapters manually or generate them automatically. They can encode a disc source as a single title or chapter by chapter.
Because audio and video both support pass-through, Hybrid also works as a remuxing and editing tool. Users can move a file to a different container without re-encoding. They set audio to pass through all streams and video to pass through, then choose an output name with the new container’s extension. The Automation settings decide which subtitle and audio streams are carried over, and they can limit both to selected languages.
Vapoursynth and Avisynth filtering
Processing beyond simple scaling goes through a frameserver. Hybrid supports Vapoursynth on all platforms and Avisynth on Windows only, plus a smaller set of basic FFmpeg filters. The user enables the wanted filters in the Filtering tab, and Hybrid generates the script that applies them before the encoder receives the frames.
By default each filter or filter group appears once in the generated Vapoursynth script, in an order the user can rearrange. Crop, rotate, resize and letterbox always stay in that sequence because Hybrid calculates resolutions around it. A Filter Queue mode lets users add most filters several times at chosen positions. Users can also insert their own script code before any filter. If that code changes the width, height, frame rate, scan type or color format, they add hint lines so Hybrid can follow the change.
Frame rate conversion
FFmpeg alone can raise a clip to 60 fps, either by interpolating new in-between frames or by duplicating existing ones. Avisynth adds methods such as InterFrame, SalFPS3 and FrameRateConverter, and Vapoursynth offers InterFrame/SVP, MVTools, RIFE and FrameRateConverter. Further RIFE variants need the optional torch or vs-mlrt add-ons. Artifacts become more likely the further the target rate exceeds the source.
Profiles and saved settings
Hybrid loads a set of defaults at startup. The user can overwrite these with the current settings, reset them to the built-in values, or save them automatically on exit. Global profiles store the same full set of settings without loading them automatically, so different complete setups can be swapped in. Specific profiles cover one area only, such as audio, video, Vapoursynth, Avisynth or a single encoder tab. An AV-Combo profile pairs an audio profile with a video profile and is applied from the main tab in one step.
Job queue
Hybrid does not encode directly from the settings screen. Each configured conversion is added to the queue from the Base tab, and the queue is started from the Jobs tab. Several sources can be prepared with different settings and processed in one run.
Platform packages and add-ons
The Windows build is 64-bit, with optional add-ons for extra Vapoursynth filters; the macOS build targets Apple silicon. Some AAC encoders are not shipped because of their license terms. Linux users can choose an AppImage that carries the base tools and most dependencies. Alternatively, a smaller binary contains only the interface and relies on tools installed on the system.
