About video file conversion

When you transfer video files to a portable device you often need a video format converter. Video conversion or encoding is also needed when you want to make your videos available for download and need to reduce the size of the video file. In general just about every practical video format is lossy. When the video is played what you see is of lower quality than before it was compressed. In other word each time you convert a video from one format to another you will lose some video quality. To convert a video you can either use a video format conversion service or you can download a program to do the conversion on your computer. Video conversion in general requires a lot of computations and will take time even on a modern computer.

Video format converter services

Zamzar is a free video format converter service. Actually the site handles a whole range of file conversions and you can even use it to download streaming videos from the web. Enter a url to your file or select a file on your computer. When the video file conversion is done you will be notified by email and can download the converted file in the format you requested. The free version of Zamzar has a file size limit set to 100 MB, if you need to convert larger files you need to sign up to their paid service. Zamzar homepage: http://zamzar.com/

vixy.net is a free video format conversion service you use to download Flash video from Internet and get them converted into MPEG4 on the fly. There is also a beta version of a Windows/Mac application that does the conversion on your computer. Vixy.net homepage: http://vixy.net/

Video format conversion software

Fast video indexer can batch convert video files to jpeg images. The program can also generate video index pictures and create html web pages with video screenshots. When you present videos for download on the web it is good to have a preview index image of the video. Then visitors can decide quickly if they are interested in downloading or viewing the video. Use your best quality video file to generate video indexes for best results. Fast video indexer homepage: http://www.FastVideoIndexer.com

Super is really a whole range of video file converters all in one free bundle. Actually it is a nice graphical interface on top of a lot of open source projects (ffmpeg, Mencoder, MPlayer, x264, ffmpeg2theora, the libavcodec library and the theora/vorbis RealProducer plugIn.) that can handle video and audio format conversions. One problem with many of the great free video programs is that they are anything but easy to use, Super changes this. The homepage for Super is a mess but if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will be able to find the download link. Super homepage: http://www.erightsoft.com/Superdc.html