Right now, outside from bare file browser functionality, Files offers a few convenient features in a context menu that appears when you left-click a file, namely options to compress it or send it by E-Mail or Bluetooth.
I propose one more convenient feature: a quick conversion option. Earlier this day I discovered that alpha 2 version of Audacity 4 does not work with m4a files, and I had a need to convert them to a more supported format, like WAV. There is no app to make the conversion pre-installed with GNOME / Fedora, so most people will likely resort to online converters with known drawbacks.
It seems a pretty easy-to-implement feature that can be expected to be used frequently. FFMPEG as a dependency is just 2.5 MiB, and there are lighter options if that’s a problem.
Hi, I don’t see why a file managaer should provide such functionality. Specific knowledge about the files is needed, so it sounds like a task for a dedicated app/apps, which probably already exist.
What specific knowledge aside for initial format (that Files already recognizes do display in Properties) are you referring to?
What comes to dedicated app, usually when a user encounters a need to convert a file they are browsing files in a file browser. Converter can be as minimal as one drop-down menu. It seems more beneficial to the workflow to have a converter right there, a click away, than open a third app and drag the file(s) there and then the result — back to the browser.
Media file formats will generally have various encoding options to affect the output quality and file size. For a quick convert with your preferred default encoding options you can write a short script and put it in your ~/.local/share/nautilus/scripts/ directory. That adds a menu entry for it in your context menu.
If you search for “nautilus scripts” you can find scripts made by others as example, maybe one already doing what you need.
I will try to find/write one, but it would be cool for everyone to have it by default. Would eliminate the need to go to Software or browser looking for a third-party solution.
Still not a substitute for a proper built-in converter as I do not have access to creating hamburger menus. I think this feature was in GNOME 2’s Nautilus, I’ve seen it in another script, but it no longer works.