Troubleshooting

Table of Contents

  1. “Command not found” or “Missing dependency” errors
  2. Conversion fails with “Invalid format” error
  3. LibreOffice conversions fail silently
  4. Batch conversion stops after one file
  5. Low quality output
  6. Slow conversion speed
  7. Getting Help

“Command not found” or “Missing dependency” errors

Problem: The required conversion tool is not installed.

Solution: Install the missing tool using your package manager:

# For image conversions
sudo apt install imagemagick

# For audio/video conversions
sudo apt install ffmpeg

# For document conversions
sudo apt install libreoffice pandoc calibre poppler-utils

# For archive conversions
sudo apt install p7zip-full rar genisoimage rpm2cpio cpio lzop xz-utils

See Dependencies for the full list.

Conversion fails with “Invalid format” error

Problem: The source or target format is not recognized.

Solutions:

  1. Ensure the file has the correct extension
  2. Check that the format is listed in Supported Formats
  3. Try a different target format from the same group
  4. Check conversion_exclusions in settings — the conversion pair may be explicitly excluded

LibreOffice conversions fail silently

Problem: LibreOffice returns success even when conversion fails, causing misleading errors.

Solution: This is automatically handled by the file validation system. If you see errors like “File validation failed: /tmp/file.odt”, check the previous command’s output shown in the error dialog for the actual LibreOffice error.

Batch conversion stops after one file

Problem: An error occurred and wasn’t handled properly.

Solutions:

  1. Check the error dialog for specific information
  2. Try converting files individually to identify the problematic one
  3. Ensure all selected files are valid and not corrupted

Low quality output

Problem: Default quality settings may not meet your needs.

Solutions:

  1. Edit user_settings.json to increase quality parameters (see Format Templates)
  2. For JPEG: Increase -quality value (85—100)
  3. For MP3: Increase bitrate -b:a (256k or 320k)
  4. For video: Decrease -crf value (18—23 for high quality)

Slow conversion speed

Problem: Complex conversions or large files take time.

Solutions:

  1. For video: Use faster presets (-preset fast or -preset ultrafast)
  2. Enable hardware acceleration in FFmpeg (if supported)
  3. Process fewer files at once
  4. Close other resource-intensive applications

See also Performance Tips.

Getting Help

If you encounter issues not covered here:

  1. Check the error message — it often contains specific information about what went wrong
  2. Enable debug mode — create ~/.config/simplyconvertfile/DEBUG for detailed logs (see Debug Mode)
  3. Verify dependencies — run the conversion command manually in terminal to test
  4. Report bugs — open an issue on GitHub with:
    • Operating system and version
    • Installed tool versions (convert --version, ffmpeg -version, etc.)
    • Error message and steps to reproduce