HandBrake

Yes, for simple tasks (changing containers etc) I use FFmpeg in a terminal. For more complex tasks I retreat to the Handbrake GUI. I did try to parse the Handbrake cli but got lost :-/ lol!

I'm all about platform agnostic, space efficient & long term playability. My workflow was to run these AVI's through FFmpeg with the unpack filter then transcode with Handbrake into x264/AAC/MP4. But it's clear from your explanation that this extra step is not needed. Thanks to all for clarifyin...

With respect, the answer was very terse... In the GUI, 'normal' preset, subtitles are set to 'any'. Removing 'any' prevents subtitle streams being encoded. Now I finally learn the CLI version ignores subtitles by default. Thank you for this information. That is what I needed to know. Regards & b...

FFmpeg has the '-sn' switch.
Does Handbrake have a similar switch?
Poring through the Handbrake docs it appear it does not.

I'm guessing it involves fiddling about with enumerating streams & figuring out how to omit them.
I'll figure it out myself.

Is there a command line switch to omit (remove) all subtitles during conversion?

Yes Rodeo these are AVI's encoded with the dreaded Xvid/packed b-frames. My brief non pro understanding was they are not part of x264 spec & specifically unsupported in other containers. My question was how does Handbrake handle this. My answer is : automagically. :-) Thanks very much to you bot...

Ok, got it.
Many thanks.

I have source files that are Xvid encoded with packed b-frames. This is not a Good Thing [TM]. I wish to transcode them to per spec x264 files for trouble free playback on the widest range of devices. I'm guessing I insert bframes=0 into the "more settings" field of the video tab of the GU...