diff --git a/MkvOpusEnc.py b/MkvOpusEnc.py
index 144fc64..ff34ee5 100644
--- a/MkvOpusEnc.py
+++ b/MkvOpusEnc.py
@@ -83,9 +83,10 @@ def convert_audio_track(stream_index, channels, temp_dir, source_file, should_do
     # First pass: Analyze the audio to get loudnorm stats
     # The stats are printed to stderr, so we must use subprocess.run directly to capture it.
     print("      - Pass 1: Analyzing...")
+    # Add -stats to show progress. -v error hides verbose info but keeps stats and the loudnorm JSON.
     result = subprocess.run(
-        ["ffmpeg", "-v", "info", "-i", str(temp_extracted), "-af", "loudnorm=I=-18:LRA=7:tp=-1:print_format=json", "-f", "null", "-"],
-        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True)
+        ["ffmpeg", "-v", "error", "-stats", "-i", str(temp_extracted), "-af", "loudnorm=I=-18:LRA=7:tp=-1:print_format=json", "-f", "null", "-"],
+        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, encoding='utf-8')
     
     # Find the start of the JSON block in stderr and parse it.
     # This is more robust than slicing the last N lines.
diff --git a/av1_opus_encoder.py b/av1_opus_encoder.py
index 102d5f0..6c59756 100644
--- a/av1_opus_encoder.py
+++ b/av1_opus_encoder.py
@@ -71,9 +71,10 @@ def convert_audio_track(index, ch, lang, audio_temp_dir, source_file, should_dow
     # First pass: Analyze the audio to get loudnorm stats
     # The stats are printed to stderr, so we must use subprocess.run directly to capture it.
     print("      - Pass 1: Analyzing...")
+    # Add -stats to show progress. -v error hides verbose info but keeps stats and the loudnorm JSON.
     result = subprocess.run(
-        ["ffmpeg", "-v", "info", "-i", str(temp_extracted), "-af", "loudnorm=I=-18:LRA=7:tp=-1:print_format=json", "-f", "null", "-"],
-        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True)
+        ["ffmpeg", "-v", "error", "-stats", "-i", str(temp_extracted), "-af", "loudnorm=I=-18:LRA=7:tp=-1:print_format=json", "-f", "null", "-"],
+        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, encoding='utf-8')
     
     # Find the start of the JSON block in stderr and parse it.
     # This is more robust than slicing the last N lines.