"Media" in this context refers to video and audio format, such as MP4, AVI, 3GP and so on.

My mainstay format conversion utility was WinFF, which is essentially nothing more than a graphical front-end for FFMPEG. Whenever you want to convert anything to anything no matter if you’re running Windows, Mac or Linux, FFMPEG is more or less required.

Format Factory to the best of my knowledge also uses FFMPEG for its media type conversions, but it’s a whole lot easier to use even compared to WinFF, which is already easy to begin with.

Important note: Format Factory does install two browser toolbar apps that you have to remove. Unfortunately the installer installs "Ask Toolbar" and "Ask Toolbar Updater" without asking you first. Very shady. They can be uninstalled easily, and no, it’s not spyware because this is a featured download on Download.com. However the fact it still does it is just plain wrong and I don’t deny that. Aside from that however, everything else is OK. If you’re still bothered by the toolbar uninstallation stuff, just use WinFF linked above instead or use FFMPEG from the command line.

Moving on..

What I appreciate about Format Factory up front is the stupidly easy "All to" buttons on the left:

Your "All to" options cover just about everything you’d want a media format conversion utility for. Mobile Device, MP4, AVI, 3GP, RMVB, GIF, WMV, MKV, MPG, VOB, MOV, FLV and SWF. You simply click the button for what format you want to convert to, a window pops up where you click the "Add File" button, set any options you want (which includes cropping, a nice touch), do your conversion and.. that’s it.

Does it work? Yes. Does it work well? Also a yes. Conversions are easy and the speed is only limited to how fast or not fast your PC is.

Link: Format Factory

Like what you read?

If so, please join over 28,000 people who receive our exclusive weekly newsletter and computer tips, and get FREE COPIES of 5 eBooks we created, as our gift to you for subscribing. Just enter your name and email below: