FormatFactory 2.6

One of the greatest problems for many PC users is connected with the difficulty they have in finding a reliable multimedia converter.

Most of them are not free, many are simply not able to deliver a decent conversion of any file you throw at them, and many times it is required for the user to download and install not one, but many converters, one for each type of media they want to transform, be it audio, video, or image. Well, all that is over with Format Factory. A 100% free program, it is able to transform video files from many formats, including MP4, AVI, 3GP, RMVB, GIF, WMV, MKV, MPG, VOB, MOV, FLV, and SWF, into any of the above. That is, you can transform AVI files to MKV, MKV to MOV, MOV to GIF, or any combination you wish. The same is true with audio files, as the program allows you to convert between MP3, WMA, FLAC, AAC, MMF, AMR, M4A, M4R, Ogg, MP2, WAV, and WavPack. Image conversion between JPG, PNG, ICO, BMP, GIF, TIF, PCX, and TGA formats is also supported.

As if this was not enough, the program includes other features - such as DVD to video conversion, music CD to audio file extraction, DVD/CD to ISO/CSO conversion, ISO to CSO conversion - and other utilities, such as a video joiner, an audio joiner, a muxer, and a useful little thing that analyses any media file you want and shows you its details, such as the codec used, the exact format, the bit rate, etc.

Each conversion you want to make gives you different options on how the output file will look like, depending on the format. For instance, there is a difference in the output settings when you are trying to transform something into AVI, compared to when you want to transform something into MKV. The list of codecs available for use, for example, is different, and the different presets for the output file are different too.

Other features include an option for transforming just a part of one file into another format - for example, one can select only a portion of a video and transform it into another format without having to convert the entire file and cut it afterwards. Other feature is able to put a watermark or subtitles in a movie when transforming it from one format to another. When it comes to audio files, you can change the bit rate, the number of audio channels, the volume, and the sample rate, as well as use different codecs depending on the format of the output file. As for images, you can make rotations and size changes, as well as insert tag lines with different fonts. DVD to video file mode is also an excellent feature, as it allows you to choose different subtitles and audio tracks, as well as adjust the settings of the output files, increasing or decreasing the output quality.

The conversion speed is excellent when compared to other multimedia converters. A conversion of an AVI video 700 MB in size and 2 hours long into MKV using default settings took 36 minutes in my computer, an improvement with respect to other similar software tools. Another great functionality is its batch conversion capability, which allows you to convert any media - be it video, audio, or image file - one after the other, in one single operation. You can even batch-convert entire folders full of media. It supports 56 different languages, and one can use different skins to alter the appearance of the interface. All in all, a great program, although I did miss a video file to DVD re-encoding option, as I am frequently in need of doing that conversion.