// system requirements

System requirements

What your machine needs to run MiniMax Converter — the minimum that gets you going, and what we recommend for the smoothest experience.

MiniMax Converter is a desktop app, not a web tool — it runs entirely on your computer. The basics are lightweight: any laptop from the last decade will handle audio, image, document, and PDF work fine. The heavier features — AI transcription, background removal, image upscaling, GPU video encoding, parallel batch conversion — scale with your hardware. Here's what you need.

Minimum

runs the app
  • OS Windows 10 (1809+), macOS 11 Big Sur, or any current Linux distribution (Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora, Arch, etc.)
  • CPU 64-bit dual-core processor (x86_64 or Apple Silicon ARM64) with AVX support — most CPUs from 2012 onwards qualify
  • RAM 4 GB
  • Disk 2 GB free for the app and any AI models you choose to download
  • GPU Not required — every feature has a CPU fallback
  • Display 1280 × 720
  • Network Only for the first download and to fetch optional AI models the first time you use them. After that, conversions run fully offline.

Recommended

smooth & fast
  • OS Windows 11, macOS 14 Sonoma or later, or a current Linux distribution (Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 40+, etc.)
  • CPU Quad-core or better. 8+ cores really shines for parallel audio batch conversion (one file per core).
  • RAM 8 GB. Bump to 16 GB if you transcribe long videos, upscale 4K photos, or run several conversions in parallel.
  • Disk 5 GB free. Leaves headroom for AI models, cached working files, and large source media.
  • GPU Any modern GPU helps. Video encoding: NVIDIA NVENC, AMD AMF, Intel QSV, Linux VAAPI, or macOS VideoToolbox. Image upscaling: any Vulkan-capable GPU (modern integrated graphics qualify). Transcription: Apple Neural Engine on M-series Macs, CUDA on NVIDIA, Vulkan elsewhere.
  • Display 1440 × 900 or larger
  • Network Same as minimum — only used for the initial download and first-time AI model fetches.

What scales with hardware

Most file conversions run anywhere. The features below are the ones where better hardware makes a visible difference.

  • Parallel audio batch conversion — scales with CPU cores. The app reserves 2 cores for the operating system and runs one ffmpeg process per remaining core. A 16-core machine processes 14 files in parallel; quad-cores process 2; older dual-cores fall back to serial automatically.
  • Video conversion — uses your GPU encoder when one is present (NVENC / AMF / QSV / VAAPI / VideoToolbox), or your CPU otherwise. A 4K H.264 encode takes 1–2 minutes on a modern GPU and 10–20 minutes on CPU.
  • Speech-to-text (subtitles & lyrics) — on Apple Silicon Macs, runs on the Neural Engine roughly 3× faster than CPU. On NVIDIA GPUs, runs on CUDA. On AMD, Intel, and older NVIDIA, runs on Vulkan. Without any of those, runs on CPU and still works fine on shorter clips.
  • AI image upscaling (2× / 3× / 4×) — Vulkan GPU when present (sub-second per image on modern hardware) or CPU (several seconds to a minute per image, depending on resolution).
  • Background removal — about 1–3 seconds per image on CPU; no GPU acceleration needed.
  • PDF, document, image, archive and ebook conversion — minimal — runs comfortably on any supported machine.

Not supported

  • 32-bit operating systems
  • Windows 7, 8, and 8.1
  • macOS 10.15 Catalina and earlier
  • ARM Linux (no aarch64 build at the moment)
  • CPUs without AVX support — required by the bundled video and transcription engines

About AI model downloads: first-time fetches are roughly 140 MB for transcription, 175 MB for background removal, and 60 MB for image upscaling. Models are cached in your home folder so they survive app updates and re-installs.

Not sure if your machine qualifies? Install on Linux for free, or grab the trial download — every feature is functional out of the box and you'll know within a few minutes whether your hardware keeps up.