Easy Online Conversion of Media Files
Written by Alan Friday, 13 August 2010 08:00
For quite a while I have been using a pair of programs to convert media files. I have used Any Video Converter (Review Here) and, more recently FreeMake Video Converter (Review Here) for video file conversion. For audio files I have used Media Monkey. But, recently I found online-ConVert which handles file conversion via a web app.
Online conversion tools are nothing new. There have been quite a few of them available over the past few years. Online-ConVert, though, goes quite a bit further than any I have seen before. It handles a greater variety of files – audio, video, image, document and ebook. What it does not do is decrypt. You can’t use this to strip DRM from a file, which is a smart way to not be sued out of business. Of course, like so many other new web sites and tools, how they will stay in business is a mystery. They are free to use and ad-free as well, although it does appear that they are soliciting ads so we may see them on the site soon. And, honestly, that is just fine. I don’t mind seeing ads on web sites because if it weren’t for those ads the site probably wouldn’t exist.
It also allows you to select the bitrate, frequency and channels, as well as trimming the file.
The list of files it handles is larger than any I had previously seen on this type of site. Let me run through the list.
Audio: AAC, FLAC, M4A, MMF, MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA
Document: DOC, Flash, HTML, ODT, PDF
Ebook: Epub, FB2, LIT, LRF, Mobi, OEB, PDB, PDF, TCR
Image: BMP, EPS, GIF, EXR, JPEG, PDF, PNG, SVG, TGA, TIFF, WBMP
Video: 3GP, AVI, FLV, MKV, MOV, MP4, MPEG-2, OGG, VP8, WMV, iPhone, iPod, Nintendo DS, PS3, PSP, Wii, XBox 360
I did a quick test using an audio file. I used and MP3 formatted song and converted it to WMA. Here’s how it works:
1. Under Audio Converter I clicked the drop-down box and chose WMA.
2. On the new screen you can browse to the location of the file you want to convert and then choose bitrate, frequency and channels or leave the default “No Change”. Below those drop-downs is the option to trim the file.
3. Once you have selected your preferences click Convert File.
It took 28 seconds to convert a song of 3:41. When it was finished it popped up a dialogue box (the standard Firefox version) prompting me to download the new file.
It works great, is quick, and has a huge amount of file types and formats available. I may not use it to replace video file conversion, but for audio and photo files I think it will be my new choice. Actually for documents too, but I just never have a reason to convert documents. But, if I do, I think I will use this also. The only reason I am hedging on video is because it will first have to upload the native file to the web and video files tend to be rather large. That said, if you don’t want to add another program to your PC and you don’t mind waiting for the upload (and subsequent download of the formatted version) then it will be the choice in that arena as well.
Related posts:
- Converting Videos With Any Video Converter
- FreeMake Video Converter
- Boxee in Windows Media Center
- Zune Video Podcasts in Media Center
- Rebuilding Windows Media Player Library
