Video converters are computer programs that can change the storage format of digital video. They may recompress the video to another format in a process called transcoding, or may simply change the container format without changing the video format. The disadvantages of transcoding are that there is quality loss when transcoding between lossy compression formats, and that the process is highly CPU-intensive.
This article compares video converters that have their own articles on Wikipedia.
Video converter | Developer | License | Supported platform | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | |||
Any Video Converter | Anvsoft Inc. | Freeware | Yes | Yes | No |
Avidemux | Mean, Gruntster, Fahr | GPL-2.0-or-later | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Dr. DivX | DivX, Inc. | Adware bundled 15-day trial | Yes | Yes | No |
DVDVideoSoft Free Studio | DVDVideoSoft | Shareware (requires paid membership for basic operation) | Yes | No | No |
FFmpeg | FFmpeg project | LGPL-2.1-or-later and GPL-2.0-or-later | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FormatFactory | Chen Jun Hao | Freeware (ad supported) | Yes | No | No |
Freemake Video Converter | Freemake | Freeware (ad supported, requires payment to remove watermark) | Yes | No | No |
HandBrake | Handbrake Project | GPL-2.0-only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
MediaCoder | Stanley Huang | Freeware (ad supported) | Yes | No | No |
MEncoder | The MPlayer Project | GPL-2.0-or-later | Yes | Yes | Yes |
OggConvert | Tristan Brindle | LGPL-2.1-or-later | Experimental | No | Yes |
SUPER | eRightSoft | Freeware (ad supported) | Yes | No | No |
VirtualDub | Avery Lee | GPL-2.0-or-later | Yes | No | No |
Video converter | 3GP | AVI | Blu-ray video | DVD video | FLV | Matroska | MP4 | MPEG-PS | Ogg | QuickTime | SVCD | TS | TOD | VCD | WMV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Any Video Converter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Avidemux | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FFmpeg | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Freemake Video Converter | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FormatFactory | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
DVDVideoSoft Free Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HandBrake | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Prism Video Converter | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
SUPER [1] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Video converter | 3GP | AVI | Blu-ray video | DVD video | FLV | Matroska | MP4 | MPEG-PS | Ogg | QuickTime | Super Video CD | TS | TOD | Video CD | Webm | WMV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Any Video Converter | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Avidemux | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | No |
FFmpeg | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FormatFactory | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
DVDVideoSoft Free Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Freemake Video Converter [2] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes |
HandBrake | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No |
Prism Video Converter | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
SUPER | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Video converter | Apple-TV | iPad | iPhone | iPod | Android | PSP | PS3 | Xbox | HTC | Nokia mobile phones | BlackBerry | Zune | Nintendo DS | Samsung mobile phones |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Any Video Converter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Avidemux | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FFmpeg | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FormatFactory [3] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
DVDVideoSoft Free Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Freemake Video Converter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes [4] |
HandBrake | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
SUPER | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Video converter | Converts without transcoding | Batch convert | Join files | Converts audio files | Converts photos | Extract audio | Preview | Include effects | Editing tools | DVD burning | Blu-ray burning | Menu templates | Splitting into chapters | Converts online videos | Subtitles support | Upload to YouTube | Variable frame rate inputs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Any Video Converter | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
Avidemux | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
FFmpeg | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
FormatFactory | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | ? |
DVDVideoSoft Free Studio | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
Freemake Video Converter | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HandBrake [5] | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
SUPER | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
Video converter | By telephone | By email | By live chat | By forum |
---|---|---|---|---|
Any Video Converter | No | Yes | No | ? |
Avidemux | No | Yes | No | Yes |
DVDVideoSoft Free Studio | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FFmpeg | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
HandBrake [6] | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Freemake Video Converter | No | Yes | No | ? |
SUPER | No | No | No | ? |
FormatFactory | No | Yes | No | ? |
DivX is a brand of video codec products developed by DivX, LLC. There are three DivX codecs: the original MPEG-4 Part 2 DivX codec, the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC DivX Plus HD codec and the High Efficiency Video Coding DivX HEVC Ultra HD codec. The most recent version of the codec itself is version 6.9.2, which is several years old. New version numbers on the packages now reflect updates to the media player, converter, etc.
FLAC is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software package that includes a codec implementation. Digital audio compressed by FLAC's algorithm can typically be reduced to between 50 and 70 percent of its original size and decompresses to an identical copy of the original audio data.
Theora is a free lossy video compression format. It was developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and distributed without licensing fees alongside their other free and open media projects, including the Vorbis audio format and the Ogg container.
Transcoding is the direct digital-to-digital conversion of one encoding to another, such as for video data files, audio files, or character encoding. This is usually done in cases where a target device does not support the format or has limited storage capacity that mandates a reduced file size, or to convert incompatible or obsolete data to a better-supported or modern format.
An audio converter is a software or hardware tool that converts audio files from one format to another. This process is often necessary when users encounter compatibility issues with different devices, applications, or platforms that support specific audio file formats. Audio converters can be employed for a variety of purposes, ranging from personal entertainment to professional audio production.
Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver digital video content over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player version 6 and newer. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There are two different Flash Video file formats: FLV and F4V. The audio and video data within FLV files are encoded in the same way as SWF files. The F4V file format is based on the ISO base media file format, starting with Flash Player 9 update 3. Both formats are supported in Adobe Flash Player and developed by Adobe Systems. FLV was originally developed by Macromedia. In the early 2000s, Flash Video was the de facto standard for web-based streaming video. Users include Hulu, VEVO, Yahoo! Video, metacafe, Reuters.com, and many other news providers.
Avidemux is a free and open-source software application for non-linear video editing and transcoding multimedia files. The developers intend it as "a simple tool for simple video processing tasks" and to allow users "to do elementary things in a very straightforward way". It is written in C++ and uses Qt for its graphical user interface, and FFmpeg for its multimedia functions. Starting with version 2.4, Avidemux also offers a command-line interface, and since version 2.6, the original GTK port has not been maintained and is now discontinued.
ATI Avivo is a set of hardware and low level software features present on the ATI Radeon R520 family of GPUs and all later ATI Radeon products. ATI Avivo was designed to offload video decoding, encoding, and post-processing from a computer's CPU to a compatible GPU. ATI Avivo compatible GPUs have lower CPU usage when a player and decoder software that support ATI Avivo is used. ATI Avivo has been long superseded by Unified Video Decoder (UVD) and Video Coding Engine (VCE).
HandBrake is a free and open-source transcoder for digital video files. It was originally developed in 2003 by Eric Petit to make ripping DVDs to a data storage device easier. HandBrake's backend contains comparatively little original code; the program is an integration of many third-party audio and video libraries, both codecs and other components such as video deinterlacers. These are collected in such a manner to make their use more effective and accessible.
Elemental was an American software company based in Portland, Oregon, and active from 2006 to 2015. It was founded by three engineers formerly of the semiconductor company Pixel works: Sam Blackman (CEO), Jesse Rosenzweig (CTO), and Brian Lewis. In 2015, it was acquired by Amazon.
DivX Plus HD, launched in 2009, is the brand name for the file type that DivX, Inc. has chosen for their high definition video format. DivX Plus HD files consist of high definition H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video with surround sound Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) audio, wrapped up in the open-standard Matroska container, identified by the .mkv file extension. DivX Plus HD files leverage and extend on Matroska's ability to support multiple language tracks, subtitles, chapters, and additional bonus content.
Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Recorder (SUPER) is a closed-source front end for open-source software video players and encoders provided by the FFmpeg, MEncoder, MPlayer, x264, ffmpeg2theora, musepack, Monkey's Audio, True Audio, WavPack, libavcodec, and the Theora/Vorbis RealProducer plugIn projects. It was first released in 2005. SUPER provides a graphical user interface to these back-end programs, which use a command-line interface.
FormatFactory is an ad-supported freeware multimedia converter that can convert video, audio, and picture files. It is also capable of ripping DVDs and CDs to other file formats, as well as creating .iso images. It can also join multiple video files into one. FormatFactory supports the following formats:
WebM is an audiovisual media file format. It is primarily intended to offer a royalty-free alternative to use in the HTML video and the HTML audio elements. It has a sister project, WebP, for images. The development of the format is sponsored by Google, and the corresponding software is distributed under a BSD license.
Freemake Video Converter is a freemium video editing app developed by Ellora Assets Corporation. Designed primarily for entry-level users, the software offers a range of functionalities including video format conversion, DVD ripping, and the creation of photo slideshows and music visualizations. Additionally, Freemake Video Converter is capable of burning video streams that are compatible with various media, such as DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. It also features direct video uploading capabilities to platforms like YouTube., enhancing its utility for content creators. The application's user-friendly interface and broad compatibility make it accessible for individuals with minimal video editing experience.
WebP is a raster graphics file format developed by Google intended as a replacement for JPEG, PNG, and GIF file formats. It supports both lossy and lossless compression, as well as animation and alpha transparency.
Free Studio is a freeware set of multimedia programs developed by DVDVideoSoft. The programs are available in one integrated package and also as separate downloads.
Intel Quick Sync Video is Intel's brand for its dedicated video encoding and decoding hardware core. Quick Sync was introduced with the Sandy Bridge CPU microarchitecture on 9 January 2011 and has been found on the die of Intel CPUs ever since.
Video Code Engine is AMD's video encoding application-specific integrated circuit implementing the video codec H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. Since 2012 it was integrated into all of their GPUs and APUs except Oland.
WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is a Windows-based DVD ripping program for copying and transcoding DVD discs, disc images or simple file copies from a DVD.