# DEAD / distributed-encode

Canonical URL: https://encode.wiki/tools/utilities/distributed-encode/
Content version: ca42e61ede0a24f789d7287a0001244ad22f4abf
Status: current
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Checksum (SHA-256): 5c8dc25535d4c93c920d6c0d4e4fc4d3a81ca9d2c61db172c0f0381dad027168

> **Repository:** [Kosaka/distributed-encode](https://codeberg.org/Kosaka/distributed-encode) (No commits since May 2025). Poorly coded distributed encoding using av1an, python-rq, Redis, and optionally S3. Last commit: May 30, 2025. Stars: 3.

DEAD ("Distributed Encoding AV1, Dude!"), the `distributed-encode` project by Kosaka, splits a video into scenes the way [Av1an](/tools/utilities/av1an/) does, then hands the chunks to Av1an workers on several machines. It is for people with more than one encoding box who want them to work on the same file.

> **Caution — Alpha and dormant.**
>
> The author describes it as an early alpha with minimal documentation. The last commit was in May 2025.
## How it works

A client process detects scenes with Av1an and puts groups of scenes into a Redis queue as jobs (via python-rq). Worker processes on each machine take jobs, encode them with Av1an, and return the results, either through a shared network folder that every machine mounts at the same path or through an S3-compatible bucket. The client then joins the chunks with mkvmerge.

Requirements:

- Python 3.12 or newer and a reachable Redis server.
- On every worker, a patched Av1an from the author's [Av1an-verbosity](https://github.com/KosakaIsMe/Av1an-verbosity) fork, which reports per-chunk progress; stock Av1an does not work.
- Run it from the repository (or a distribution package; an Arch PKGBUILD is included), not from a virtual environment or pipx, because Av1an breaks inside one.

Audio is dropped, so mux it back afterwards with [mkvmerge](/tools/utilities/mkvtoolnix/). A VapourSynth script can be used for filtering with `--vs-input` (and `--vs-scene-input` for scene detection).

## Usage

With a shared folder mounted at `/mnt/dead` on all machines, start a worker on each encoding machine and then the client, from the root of the repository (an installed package provides the same commands as `dead`):

```sh
python src/distributed_encode.py server --name worker1 --basedir /mnt/dead --output-dir worker1_output
python src/distributed_encode.py client --input /mnt/dead/file.mkv --av1an-options "-e svt-av1" --encoder-options "--preset 4 --crf 30" --basedir /mnt/dead --output-dir client_output
```

Redis defaults to `127.0.0.1:6379`; point remote machines at it with `--host`, `--port` and `--password`. The `--s3-*` options replace the shared folder. Only expose Redis on a trusted network.