Video audio files come in so many formats nowadays that I’ve literally lost count. MP3, AVI, WMV, OGG, MP4, 3GP – the list goes on and on. While most players support the bulk of file formats, there will always be the odd file which isn’t compatible. For example, Microsoft Zune’s don’t play OGG music files and Ipods don’t play WMV files.
Here’s how you get around this by converting your files into something your player can digest.
1. Zamzar Online File Conversion
Zamar is an online facility where you upload your input file, let Zamzar convert it, then download it in your desired format.
What I liked about Zamzar was it’s batch processing capabilities where you could add multiple files to a queue and Zamzar would process them all (100mb limit). Going beyond traditional media conversion, It also translates office documents, for example handling conversions such as Excel to CSV, and Word Documents to PDF formats.
2. Media – Convert Online File Conversion
Media Convert is a a lot like Zamzar (supporting media and office documents) except it does not support batch file processing. It does however, allow a conversion of a file which is already online. Just enter the URL, and Media-Convert will download the file, convert it, and offer it up to you in your desired format.
Remember the free music sources I listed here? Now you can grab them in whatever file format you want.
3. Any-DVD-Converter
Don’t let the name deceive you. “Any-DVD-Converter” can convert almost all video formats known to man, including movie formats for iPod/PSP or other portable video device, MP4 player or smart phone. While not as convenient for quick file conversions, offline players are of course much more powerful and functional than online converters.
4. SUPER (Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer)
A less polished but more powerful version of “Any-DVD-Converter”, SUPER is an offline player which caters for all video types, but also supports audio files, and has movie to animated GIF support, making it the offline converter of choice for many people.
5. Search on Softpedia
When all else fails, do a search on Softpedia – which is my preferred choice for free software searches. You can find a lot of file converters here as well. Where Google results are flawed and littered with Shareware or Spyware disguising itself as free software, Softpedia offers up widely-recognized certification for all it’s freeware.
What are your favourite file converters? Tell us in the comments!
[tags] video, video editing, video software, audio, wma, mp3, [/tags]
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December 9th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Thanks for the info. I have a lot of music and video files which are incompatible with some players. Going to try out Zamzar and Any-DVD-Converter.
December 10th, 2006 at 12:17 am
Nice list. Bookmarked it. Keep it up.
December 10th, 2006 at 2:10 am
Adam: If you have a lot of files, I recommend you use the offline converters like SUPER and Any-DVD-Converter… uploading many files online seems like a very time consuming activity.
February 12th, 2007 at 3:21 am
how about ffmpeg/mencoder? :D
February 13th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Cipo : That’s good software as well – thanks for the tip :)
May 25th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Great, but I like “Video/Audio to exe” best
June 9th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
its good
September 24th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Idk the only really good flv converter i have found so far is the Batch Flv Converter but to get it to burn properly you must set it from 600 to 4096 kbps or atleast for me… built off ffmpeg engine
October 2nd, 2007 at 1:25 pm
that’s good, i like Zamzar
but i want to ask something, do you know where I can convert video or flv file to mtv or amv file??
so difficult to find that.
And thank’s so much
October 14th, 2007 at 8:09 am
try http://www.youconvertit.com too
November 10th, 2007 at 10:23 am
hello, im having difficulties in downloading video files in my mp4., my mp4 only supported mtv, wma and mp3, and i’ve a lots of amv format videos files. can you help me guys to find the right and best software that convert amv to mtv/wma format?? please do help me.. thanks a lot! email me to this add: aine143444@hotmail.com
November 17th, 2007 at 1:28 am
can anyone teach me how to convert mp4 files to video files that can be play in window media player?i used my N73 to shoot some video but it’ can’t be play in window media player and also window movie maker…i want to edit it and make a short clip for my presentation…thanx for helping…
March 11th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Trying to convert my resume format from Hotmail to MS Word.Is this possible.Help
March 12th, 2009 at 12:21 am
@Kim: Just try the usual copy and paste?
April 5th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
One program that I’ve used and it lets you convert to almost any format is:-
“FormatFactory”
Download link:-
http://www.brothersoft.com/formatfactory-98431.html
May 17th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Can i ask if there’s any offline format converter that works for the Mac Operating system?