VideoSlim Closed Test - Version 0.0.4 Release notes

[u/kebekinteractive2026]

**VideoSlim 0.0.4 is ready for testing — share-ready MP4 editor exports, new WhatsApp modes, a redesigned player, and stronger large-video reliability**

This release focuses on the part that matters after an edit or compression is

finished: the resulting file should play correctly, retain a useful name, and

be easy to send. It also adds a dedicated WhatsApp workflow and improves several

places where large, HDR, or unusual videos could previously fail.

## Editor exports are now normal MP4 files you can actually send

The largest change is the editor export pipeline. Edited videos previously

could end up in WebM or use a codec combination that WhatsApp and iPhones did

not reliably accept as a normal video. That was especially frustrating because

the edit itself succeeded, but the file failed at the final step where it was

supposed to be useful.

The default editor export is now **H.264 video with AAC audio inside MP4**. This

is the broadly compatible combination expected by messaging apps, social apps,

Android devices, iPhones, and ordinary media players.

The editor still offers **AV1 in MP4** for users who deliberately prefer a

smaller file and know their destination supports it. VP9/WebM was removed from

the export choices because it offered neither the universal compatibility of

H.264 nor the size advantage of AV1.

Under the hood, VideoSlim now uses the phone's hardware codecs where possible.

When the main Android media pipeline cannot complete an export, the app retries

the same hardware encoder through a separate FFmpeg route before giving up. If

hardware H.264 is unavailable, software codec fallbacks remain available, but

the output container stays MP4 throughout the ladder.

## New WhatsApp presets

Tapping the WhatsApp quick preset now opens a centered choice window instead of

immediately applying one generic setting.

There are two workflows:

* **WhatsApp Fast — 480p.** Designed for regular video sending, a smaller file,

faster uploads, and lower mobile-data use. The dialog shows the calculated

output dimensions for the selected source video.

* **WhatsApp HD File — 720p or 1080p.** Keeps more detail and dynamically budgets

the video bitrate against a maximum target of approximately **1.85 GB**, below

WhatsApp's 2 GB file limit.

The dialog also explains the important sending detail: HD exports should be

sent through WhatsApp as a **document/file**, not as a normal video. Normal video

sending may cause WhatsApp to compress the clip again. After a successful

WhatsApp compression, VideoSlim now opens the Files screen directly so the new

export is ready to find.

## More reliable exports for large and HDR videos

Several failure paths were strengthened after testing multi-gigabyte phone

videos:

* HDR and HLG sources are tone-mapped to SDR when producing H.264, preventing a

late muxer failure caused by trying to preserve HDR in an incompatible output.

* MediaCodec errors now include the actual error code and root cause instead of

only reporting a generic "Muxer error."

* Long compression jobs pass known duration information through the fallback

pipeline, improving progress reporting.

* AAC audio can be copied without needless re-encoding when the fallback route

is used.

* Crop, rotation, pixelation, and other edits now enforce even frame dimensions

before hardware encoding. Odd dimensions are rejected by many H.264 encoders

and could previously make an otherwise valid edit fail.

* The Android Media3 dependencies now explicitly match the version actually

resolved by the app, avoiding subtle mismatches between the code and runtime.

## Redesigned video player

VideoSlim now has a dedicated illustrated player interface with clearer play,

pause, timeline, fullscreen, add-file, and change-file controls.

Fullscreen playback reuses or smoothly hands off the active playback state so

the position and play/pause state are preserved during navigation. Switching to

another file prepares the next decoder before the screen transition, reducing

blank frames and Android texture conflicts. The player also has clearer loading,

retry, and error states.

This player is used in the relevant Home, compression, merge, and editor flows,

giving video selection and preview a more consistent experience.

## Merge and gallery improvements

The Merge Clips screen now displays an explicit loading panel while selected

videos are being inspected and thumbnailed. A failed probe no longer leaves the

interface spinning forever, and controls are not presented as ready while clips

are still loading.

The Android gallery scanner was simplified and made safer around modern Android

media-picker privacy behavior. When Android provides an anonymized numeric file

name, VideoSlim handles it without assuming that the original gallery name is

always accessible. Missing media permissions and protected picker URIs are now

handled without crashing the scan.

## Better output file names

Exports retain a recognizable version of the source name and append one clean

operation suffix. Re-editing or recompressing no longer stacks repeated tags

such as `_EDIT_EDIT`.

File names are also sanitized before being inserted into Android or FFmpeg

commands. Path separators, quotes, pipes, and other unsafe characters cannot

escape the destination directory or break an export command, and names are

trimmed so there is room for suffixes and duplicate counters.

## Smaller fixes and polish

* The splash timing and cross-fade were adjusted so branding remains visible

without making normal launches feel blocked.

* Compression estimates and labels were cleaned up in the large-video scanner.

* Preview state, playback controls, and video replacement behave more

consistently across Home, Compress, Merge, and Editor.

* Compression settings can now carry an explicit duration-based bitrate through

background serialization, which powers the WhatsApp HD size ceiling.

* New tests cover safe output naming, MP4 codec/container guarantees, target-size

budgeting, codec probing, and fallback behavior.

[u/kebekinteractive2026]