Batch Desqueeze: Process Hundreds of Anamorphic Files at Once

You shot 200 clips on a shoot day. Each one needs desqueezing. Here is how to process all of them in 12 seconds instead of 12 hours.

The Problem: One Clip at a Time

Anamorphic filmmaking generates a lot of footage. A typical shoot day with a run-and-gun style might produce 100 to 300 clips. A travel trip with an anamorphic phone lens can easily hit 500 photos and videos over a week.

Every single one of those files needs to be desqueezed before it looks correct.

This is not creative work. You are not grading. You are not cutting. You are clicking through dialog boxes, applying the same setting over and over. And if you pick the wrong ratio on even one clip, you will not notice until you are deep into your edit.

What If You Mixed Lenses?

The problem gets worse if you used multiple anamorphic lenses on the same shoot. Maybe you started with a Sirui 50mm (1.33x) for interviews, switched to an Atlas Mercury (1.5x) for B-roll, and grabbed some phone footage with a Moment (1.33x).

Now your batch contains two different squeeze ratios. You need to sort your clips by lens, figure out which group is which, and apply different settings to each group. Miss one clip and it gets the wrong stretch.

This is where manual workflows break down entirely.

The Solution: Batch Processing with Auto-Detection

Desqueezed was designed specifically for this scenario. Instead of processing clips one at a time, you select an entire folder or photo album and let the app handle everything.

Here is what happens when you batch process:

1. Select your source. Pick a folder on your computer, drag and drop files, or select a photo album on your phone.
2. Desqueezed analyzes every file. Each file is examined individually. The app reads the metadata, identifies the lens, and determines the squeeze ratio. A Sirui clip gets 1.33x. An Atlas clip gets 1.5x. A Moment clip gets 1.33x. All in the same batch, all handled correctly.
3. Processing happens. Videos are corrected via metadata modification (zero re-encoding). Photos are resampled using Lanczos interpolation. The output files have the correct aspect ratio.
4. Done. Save to the same folder, a different folder, or share directly.

Why It Is So Fast

Desqueezed processes video files by modifying their container metadata, not by re-encoding the video stream. This is the same approach that tools like FFmpeg use with the -aspect flag, but automated and wrapped in a proper interface.

Because there is no re-encoding, the processing time is nearly independent of the video length. A 3-second clip and a 30-minute clip take roughly the same time to process. What matters is the number of files, not their duration.

For photos, the resampling step takes slightly longer since the actual pixel data is modified, but Lanczos resampling is highly optimized and processes a typical 12-megapixel photo in under a second.

Desktop vs. Mobile Batch Processing

The Pre-Edit Workflow

The most efficient way to use batch desqueezing is before you open your editing software. Here is why:

• Correct thumbnails. Your file browser and NLE show the correct aspect ratio from the start. No more squished preview thumbnails.
• No per-clip settings. Import your desqueezed files and start editing immediately. No Clip Attributes dialogs, no manual pixel aspect ratios.
• Correct review. Scrub through your footage in Finder, Windows Explorer, or your photo app and see the correct proportions. You can make selects and reject clips before ever opening your NLE.
• Zero quality loss. Since Desqueezed uses metadata correction for video (no re-encoding), the files you import into your NLE are bit-identical to the originals in terms of video data.

Handling Edge Cases

Mixed formats in one folder

Real shoot folders are messy. MOV files from your cinema camera, MP4 files from your phone, JPEG stills, maybe some DNG raw photos. Desqueezed handles all of these in the same batch. Different formats, different codecs, different resolutions -- each file is processed according to its own metadata.

Non-anamorphic files in the batch

What if your folder contains some spherical (non-anamorphic) footage mixed in with anamorphic clips? Desqueezed detects this. Files without anamorphic metadata are either skipped or processed at 1.0x (no stretch), depending on your settings. You will not accidentally stretch your spherical B-roll.

Custom squeeze ratios

If you are using a vintage or specialty lens that Desqueezed does not recognize from metadata, you can set a custom squeeze ratio and apply it to the entire batch. This is also useful for adapted lenses where the metadata does not include anamorphic information.

Comparing Batch Workflows

Stop Processing Clips One at a Time

If you shoot anamorphic regularly, batch processing is not a nice-to-have. It is the difference between a smooth post-production workflow and a tedious slog through dialog boxes.

Desqueezed Pro handles unlimited batch processing. Select your folder, let auto-detect identify every lens, and get back to the creative work. For more on the general desqueeze process, see how to desqueeze anamorphic footage. For phone-specific workflows, check the iPhone desqueeze guide.