Programs like VLC Media Player or SMPlayer play nearly all media formats that you throw at them and that is a good thing.
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Video converters come into play if you prefer to use a different program and do not want to install codecs on your system, or want to make the video available on a different device, a smartphone or DVD player for example as these tend to support a limit number of different media formats.
Even if a video is in the correct format, you may prefer to convert the video, for instance to reduce the resolution to match the native resolution of the device you want to play it on and to reduce the size of the file at the same time.
We have reviewed quite a few video converters for Windows in the past. Here is a quick list of alternatives that you may want to check out as well:
VSCD Free Video Converter is a free program for the Windows operating system that you can use for all of your media converting needs. The program comes with rich functionality to convert lots of media formats into other formats and it even supports a handful of extra features that you may find useful.
You can use it to convert media into different formats, use device-specific conversions, and even have it burn videos files to DVD to watch it on a DVD player.
You can add video files via drag and drop to the program or use the built-in file browser to pick files or folders this way. Add folder offers an interesting option as it allows you to add all videos located in a folder - and all subfolders - to the interface at the same time.
Once you have added your videos it is time to select the output that you want to generate. The best option that you have to do that is to click on Devices or Formats in the main menu where you can select PC, DVD or mobile devices such as iPod, Xbox or mobile devices. PC formats include avi, mpg, mov, mkv, rm and flv which you can select and configure on the same screen.
The program supports conversion profiles of which several are available by default. You can create your own conversion profile which becomes then available whenever you convert videos using the program.
Support for custom profiles is a great way of saving your own media output formats so that you may load them whenever you require them.
Profiles let you configure video and audio settings in detail, including video and audio codecs that you want to use, resolution, bitrate, framerate, and other quality settings. You can save these to a new profile or edit existing profiles instead.
A click on convert files starts the file conversion process which felt speedy when done on a reasonably fast test system. The program will prompt for a blank DVD if you have selected to create a video DVD.
A video editor is built-in which you can use to cut regions from the video. This can be useful to cut scenes that you do not want included in the resulting video file, or ads if you have recorded a TV show.
The editor is easy to use but basic, and not comparable to professional video editing tools. Still, it is ideal for cutting out scenes. You may use it to export the audio and capture still scenes from the video besides the cutting options mentioned already.
VSCD Free Video Converter supports a handful of other options of interest. You can use it to merge multiple video files into a single media file, or split a media file into multiple output files.
If you load a container format you may select the video and audio track if multiple are available.
Feature Overview
Supported formats: DVD, AVI, MPEG, WMV and ASF, FLV and SWF, MOV, MP4 and M4V, RM and RMVB, 3GP, AMV and more.
Create custom conversion profiles
Merge or split video files
Can burn DVD videos
Uses video card to accelerate conversions
Closing Words
The program is a great option when it comes to video conversions on the PC. It could use an update on the supported devices, as devices like Apple's iPhone, Android or iPad are missing.It is a great program if you are currently looking for a video converter.
The program is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.
VSCD Free Video Converter SUCKS! I downloaded it (free version, Maybee Bad?) and edited the saved a MOV vid from My Iphone. (Vid needed as prime evidence in a court battle I am in now for slander) and now it won’t play on anything?When I try to save or export, I just get a promp telling Me “U’ve chosen premium features, upgrade to PRO to continue) Ransom Ware! CRAP!
Martin Brinkmann said on August 8, 2018 at 8:29 pm
I’m sorry you experienced this issue. I just tried the conversion to the .mov format and it converted and saved the video just fine. Maybe they changed the functionality in the meantime?
If you’re comfortable with the command line, FFmpeg will do it for you; not only videos, but audio files, too.
It’s cross-platform, and there are third-party GUI builds available (I think VLC media player uses it). http://ffmpeg.org/
This looks awesome. I can’t wait to see how it compares to Freemake Video Converter, my current go-to program.
For those of you worried about Freemake’s toolbars and such, do what I do:
Download the full installation from FileHippo.com (a software repository from the CCleaner folks) instead of the “web installer” from Freemake. Then just uncheck the Submit Anonymous Data — like you should do with every program — and say no to those tool bars.
I’m assuming it’s the same with VSCD here. An unfortunate rule of modern software, most of it comes with bundled junk!
Morely Dotes said on September 19, 2012 at 8:32 pm
I’m afraid this one doesn’t compare at all to Freemake. It’s clearly written to cater to people who have no idea what format they really need, nor do they know what constitutes high quality video. Compare the MP4 formats pre-built and available in this to Freemake and you’ll see it’s mean for the average tech-illiterate teenager, not the videophile.
Always enjoy reading your inputs via RSS – one of my gurus. But you might warn adherents to load this converter with care – the amount of accompanying trash is somewhat exceptional.
Martin Brinkmann said on September 19, 2012 at 3:45 pm
VSCD Free Video Converter SUCKS! I downloaded it (free version, Maybee Bad?) and edited the saved a MOV vid from My Iphone. (Vid needed as prime evidence in a court battle I am in now for slander) and now it won’t play on anything?When I try to save or export, I just get a promp telling Me “U’ve chosen premium features, upgrade to PRO to continue) Ransom Ware! CRAP!
I’m sorry you experienced this issue. I just tried the conversion to the .mov format and it converted and saved the video just fine. Maybe they changed the functionality in the meantime?
VLC has a build-in video converter.
If you’re comfortable with the command line, FFmpeg will do it for you; not only videos, but audio files, too.
It’s cross-platform, and there are third-party GUI builds available (I think VLC media player uses it).
http://ffmpeg.org/
This looks awesome. I can’t wait to see how it compares to Freemake Video Converter, my current go-to program.
For those of you worried about Freemake’s toolbars and such, do what I do:
Download the full installation from FileHippo.com (a software repository from the CCleaner folks) instead of the “web installer” from Freemake. Then just uncheck the Submit Anonymous Data — like you should do with every program — and say no to those tool bars.
I’m assuming it’s the same with VSCD here. An unfortunate rule of modern software, most of it comes with bundled junk!
I’m afraid this one doesn’t compare at all to Freemake. It’s clearly written to cater to people who have no idea what format they really need, nor do they know what constitutes high quality video. Compare the MP4 formats pre-built and available in this to Freemake and you’ll see it’s mean for the average tech-illiterate teenager, not the videophile.
Good for kids, not good for tech-heads.
*~*
Always enjoy reading your inputs via RSS – one of my gurus. But you might warn adherents to load this converter with care – the amount of accompanying trash is somewhat exceptional.
Björn, can you please be more specific?