Transmute

Privacy-focused, GPU-accelerated media converter built in Rust

Transmute is a high-performance media conversion tool that processes images and PDFs locally on your machine with optional GPU acceleration. No cloud services, no telemetry, no network calls - your files never leave your device.

Features

• Format Conversion: Convert between PNG, JPEG, WebP, TIFF, BMP, and PDF
• Image Compression: Optimize images with adaptive quality settings (low, medium, high, maximum)
• Multi-Image to PDF: Merge multiple images into a single PDF document
• Batch Processing: Convert multiple files in parallel with progress tracking
• GPU Acceleration: Optional GPU-accelerated processing via wgpu (Vulkan, Metal, DX12)
• Natural Language Commands: Execute conversions using natural language (e.g., "convert my photos to PDF")
• CLI & GUI: Choose between terminal interface or graphical application
• Cross-Platform: Linux, macOS, and Windows support
• Privacy-First: Zero network I/O, all processing happens locally
• Configurable: Persistent settings with TOML configuration file

Screenshots

User Interface

The Transmute GUI provides an intuitive interface for media conversion with drag-and-drop support, real-time progress tracking, and easy configuration management.

Supported Formats

Format	Input	Output	Compression	Notes
PNG	Yes	Yes	Lossless	Optimized with oxipng
JPEG	Yes	Yes	Lossy	High-quality encoding with mozjpeg
WebP	Yes	Yes	Both	Modern compression format
TIFF	Yes	Yes	Both	Supports multi-page documents
BMP	Yes	Yes	Lossless	Uncompressed bitmap format
GIF	Yes	Yes	Lossless	Animated GIF support
PDF	Yes	Yes	Document	GPU-accelerated rasterization

Installation

Platform Support

• Linux: Full CLI and GUI support (primary development platform)
• macOS: Full CLI and GUI support
• Windows: Full CLI and GUI support

Build Requirements

Linux

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libssl-dev

# For GUI support, install GTK3
sudo apt install libgtk-3-dev

# For GPU acceleration (optional)
# Vulkan is recommended on Linux
sudo apt install libvulkan-dev vulkan-tools

macOS

# Install Xcode Command Line Tools
xcode-select --install

# Rust (if not already installed)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# GPU acceleration uses Metal (built into macOS)

Windows

1. Install Visual Studio Build Tools with C++ support
2. Install Rust from rustup.rs
3. GPU acceleration uses DirectX 12 (Windows 10+)

Install from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/PsychoPunkSage/transmute.git
cd transmute

# Build and install CLI (transmute binary)
cargo install --path crates/transmute-cli

# Build and install GUI (transmute-gui binary)
cargo install --path crates/transmute-gui

# Or build both in development mode
cargo build --release

Binaries will be available at:

• CLI: target/release/transmute
• GUI: target/release/transmute-gui

Usage

CLI Usage

Basic Conversion

# Convert single image
transmute convert input.png --format jpg

# Convert with custom output path
transmute convert photo.jpg --format webp --output compressed.webp

# Multi-image to PDF
transmute convert img1.jpg img2.png img3.webp --format pdf --output album.pdf

Compression

# Compress with quality preset
transmute compress large_photo.jpg --quality high

# Compress with percentage (1-100)
transmute compress image.png --quality 85

# Compress and change format
transmute compress photo.png --format jpg --quality medium

Available quality presets: low, medium (balanced), high, maximum (max)

Batch Processing

# Convert all PNGs in current directory to JPEG
transmute batch "*.png" --format jpg

# Convert all images in a folder
transmute batch "./photos/*.jpg" --format webp --output ./compressed/

# Use glob patterns
transmute batch "**/*.png" --format pdf --output combined.pdf

Natural Language Commands

# Natural language interface
transmute natural convert all my photos to PDF

# More examples
transmute natural compress images in Desktop to 80% quality
transmute natural merge vacation photos into album.pdf

Configuration Management

# Show current configuration
transmute config show

# Set default quality
transmute config set default_quality high

# Enable GPU acceleration
transmute config set use_gpu true

# Set parallel jobs (0 = auto-detect)
transmute config set parallel_jobs 4

# Reset to defaults
transmute config reset

# Show config file path
transmute config path

Global Options

# Verbose logging
transmute --verbose convert input.png --format jpg

# Disable GPU acceleration
transmute --no-gpu convert input.png --format jpg

# Set parallel jobs
transmute --jobs 8 batch "*.png" --format jpg

# Disable colored output
transmute --no-color convert input.png --format jpg

# Disable progress bars
transmute --no-progress batch "*.jpg" --format webp

GUI Usage

Launch the graphical interface:

transmute-gui

Features

1. Drag & Drop: Drop files or folders directly into the application
2. Operation Selector: Choose between Convert, Compress, or Enhance
3. Format Selection: Pick target format from dropdown
4. Quality Control: Adjust compression quality with visual slider
5. Batch Queue: Process multiple files with progress tracking
6. Settings Panel: Configure GPU usage, default quality, and output paths

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Ctrl+O: Open file picker
• Ctrl+S: Start processing
• Ctrl+,: Open settings
• Ctrl+Q: Quit application

GPU Acceleration

Transmute automatically detects available GPU backends:

Priority Order:

1. Vulkan (Linux, Windows, Android)
2. Metal (macOS, iOS)
3. DirectX 12 (Windows 10+)
4. OpenGL (Fallback for older systems)

When GPU acceleration helps most:

• Images larger than 2MP (1920x1080)
• Batch processing 10+ images
• PDF generation with many pages
• Color space conversions (YCbCr, CMYK)

Disable GPU if:

• Running on systems without dedicated GPU
• Experiencing driver compatibility issues
• Processing small images (<500KB)

# Disable GPU for single operation
transmute --no-gpu convert input.jpg --format png

# Disable GPU permanently
transmute config set use_gpu false

Configuration

Configuration file location:

• Linux: ~/.config/transmute/config.toml
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/transmute/config.toml
• Windows: %APPDATA%\transmute\config.toml

Example Configuration

# Default quality setting for compression
default_quality = "high"

# Enable GPU acceleration
use_gpu = true

# Number of parallel jobs (0 = auto-detect based on CPU cores)
parallel_jobs = 0

# Show progress bars in CLI
show_progress = true

# Enable colored output
colored_output = true

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details

Author: PsychoPunkSage