Video downloads are fun until they become unplayable. So, here’s the list of the best video converters to help your downloads stay relevant everywhere.

Video conversion is not the best thing you want to do with a video, but it becomes unavoidable sometimes.

For instance, you can only upload videos in selected formats on YouTube, Facebook, etc. Similarly, media players don’t play every other format in which you download or create videos.

And finally, video converters are a must have for efficient video editing to suit specific applications.

General features to look for in any video converter:

• Supports several formats
• Capable of scaling and changing resolutions
• Allow adding audio tracks
• Permit changing frame rates

So, here’s our round-up of the best open-source video converters.

Please note this is not a ranking list.

Avidemux video editor

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and powerful scripting capabilities.

Avidemux is available for Linux, BSD, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows under the GNU GPL license. The program was written from scratch by Mean, but code from other people and projects has been used as well. Patches, translations and even bug reports are always welcome.

MEncoder with Mplayer

Mplayer is again an advanced option that doesn’t come with a GUI. You will have it upon yourself to find and download from the available unofficial MEncoder frontends.

The functionality depends upon the GUI you use. Most of them are outdated and not in current development.

One such GUI is GMEncoder. MEncoder is available for Linux, Windows, and macOS X.

Shutter Encoder

Shutter Encoder is one of the best video converter software, it handles images and audio too!

It has been designed by video editors in order to be as accessible and efficient as possible.

Shutter Encoder makes use of FFmpeg to handle its encoding, allowing support for almost

every codec you’ve ever heard of, and many more you haven’t.

Don’t just take our word for it though, Avid themselves recommend Shutter Encoder

as part of your Media Composer and ProTools ingesting workflow!

Ciano

Ciano is a desktop multimedia conversion application responsible for converting videos, music and images. The software focuses on simplicity.

Originally created to provide the best possible experience in the elementary operating system, Ciano makes use of the largest conversion tools: FFmpeg and ImageMagick without needing any knowledge of how these tools work.

The software is developed in the Vala programming language.

FFqueue

FFQueue is (yet another) graphical user interface for FFMpeg with comprehensive support for both the basic features but also the more advanced features like filtergraphs.

FFQueue makes it easy to create multiple jobs and process them as a single queue.FFQueue can sort out the most significant output from FFMpeg and display it in the graphical console and save it to a HTML-based (color coded) logfile for easy review when the queue has been processed.

Mystiq

Mystiq simplifies FFmpeg. This open-source, free GUI is clean and very intuitive to install and begin with.

There are plenty of presets for no-hassle conversion. In addition, expert users can benefit from FFmpeg capabilities by navigating to Edit>Set Parameters>Advanced.

You can also go through our own coverage on Mystiq. It can be downloaded for Windows and Linux.

Video Converter Com

A free web app that converts video files, allowing you to change the video format, resolution or size right in your browser.

You can upload files up to 4 GB in size. Uploading speed depends on your internet connection speed.

The app supports more than 300 video formats, and the number keeps growing.

Online Video Converter Com

OnlineVideoConverter.com (OVC) is a free online media conversion web application that allows you to convert any video link or file to various formats without the need to install any software on your computer. OVC is fully compatible with all modern browsers and has been touted online as the best online video conversion utility as it offers high quality and super fast conversions to many audio ( .mp3 / .aac / .ogg / .wma / .m4a / .flac / .wav ) and video ( .mp4 / .avi / .mpg / .mov / .wmv / .flv / .m4v / .webm / .mkv / .3gp ) formats. A wide range of online video portals are supported, including YouTube, Dailymotion and Vimeo.

Conclusion

For an average Linux user like me, the most powerful option is Handbrake, followed by Avidemux. Both offer easy installation and excellent features.

But medium to expert users should try FFmpeg with any suitable GUI.

And go with Shutter Encoder if you’re brave enough to wander in the wild.

Another article you can read is 10 Free Open Source Video Editors for Linux [ in 2021 ]