Considering it doesn't cost a dime, the application delivers exceptional results. Converting any type of DVD through a simple-to-understand GUI, the program whizzes through the process of producing an MPEG-4 file to save on your machine. Note that you'll need to have the right codecs installed for the type of file you wish to convert however such as DivX, Xvid, OGM, 3ivx, etc. Handbrake supports any DVD-like source such as VIDEO_TS folders, .VOB, .TS files, DVD images and real DVD. However. unencrypted-protection methods including CSS are not supported internally and must be handled externally with third-party software and libraries.

Handbrake for Mac lets you perform two-pass conversions and codify a double soundtrack. Another great feature is the bitrate calculator, which alters the quality of the video according to the final file size you wish to achieve. You can even trim the black bands around a movie to maximize the size of the file. Other features worth mentioning are chapter selection, basic subtitle support (burned into the picture) and grayscale encoding. Although I experienced a couple of crashes with this version of HandBrake for Mac, it's nevertheless a great open source solution for ripping your DVDs.

HandBrake for Mac is an incredibly impressive and efficient video encoder for all of your MPEG-4 ripping needs. Best of all, it's free!

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MPEG Streamclip is more than a simple encoder. It also works as an editor, converter and player. The application supports almost any video format and can export converted files to any format of your choice.

Despite its slightly unintuitive interface, which might put off first time users, MPEG Streamclip is actually relatively easy to use. Just select your file, choose a compression type and let MPEG Streamclip do the rest. You'll find a wide choice of settings which will let you adjust quality, encoding level and bitrate of videos among other things.

MPEG Streamclip can handle multiple audio tracks and works with files larger than 4GB, although you'll have to make sure these are cut up in smaller segments.

If you are on DVB, you'll be glad to know it supports a number of DreamBox and TopField models. MPEG-2 devices can also be easily connected and used with MPEG Streamclip.

Despite its slightly unintuitive user interface, MPEG Streamclip is a highly effective and versatile video encoder and converter.

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Switch has the advantage of being free and allowing you to quickly batch convert audio tracks. Note that the free version of Switch only converts to MP3 and some of the functions are limited after 14 days, but the full version converts to more than a dozen, with all the common file types like MP3, WMA or AAC available.

You'll also be able to set the bitrate, once again choosing from more than a dozen options and, more importantly, with a choice of variable or constant bitrate. Switch also features an error protection feature to enhance your recordings.

Switch's toolbox feature is supposed to help you perform any audio task, but all it really does is automatically install extra software from the developer. We suggest using it only if you know precisely what you want to do and are ready to install a new application. Switch also has a feature to add CD album details from the freeDB database. Even though we tried it on a few well known tracks, it didn't work well.

Despite these drawbacks, Switch is a speedy audio converter with many features.

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All2MP3 converts music files directly into MP3 audio format using AppleScript. After starting the program, you simply drag and drop files onto the program window and select the quality of target files. All you have to do is click on the All2MP3 button and the conversion process starts. The program converts MPC, APE, WV, FLAC, OGG, WMA, AIFF and WAV.

There are very few options beyond that other than you can choose whether you want the application to delete the original files automatically or keep them. It does not recognize all formats although it does support the major ones listed above. Audio quality is excellent and the conversion process is fast but it would have been nice if you could select exactly what bitrate you want to convert to. As it is, the default is 128Kbs although Super apparently refers to 320kbps.

All2MP3 is the simplest MP3 converters for Mac that you'll ever find without plugins - don't look any further for one-off conversions.

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Fastest Free YouTube Downloader to MP3 Converter is a free downloader and converter for saving any YouTube video into popular formats including MP3 for PC, Mac OSX, iPod, iPhone, Android, iPad, Blackberry, Droid X, Samsung Galaxy S and more.

Note that you can't run Fastest Free YouTube Downloader to MP3 Converter from a disk image - it has to be dragged into your Applications folder. Once opened, select a folder to download to and then enter the URL of the video you'd like to use. Downloading is very fast although for some reason, I was unable to access the preferences which were blanked out in the menu. A pop-up alerts you when downloads are complete and it works discreetly in the background while you do other things.

You may suffer a few problems with sound quality on some downloads but overall, Fastest Free YouTube Downloader to MP3 Converter is a well designed and efficient downloader.

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When there were barely any decent applications to convert to DivX, ffmpegX was a true godsend. It is still a very good converter which handles a lot of audio and video formats, but it now faces competition from newer and very reliable alternatives such as Handbrake.

After nearly a two year wait, during which we really thought ffmpegX had been abandoned, the application finally got an update, which fixed a few minor issues, yet still keeps the old, Panther like interface.

Converting media is generally quick and easy, and one of the strengths of ffmpegX is all the different audio and video formats you can choose from. The program also includes a rather basic, yet necessary, media player so you can preview your newly encoded videos before burning them or storing them on your mobile device. If you dig in the settings you'll see you can perform all sorts of advanced functions like joining, fixing or authoring videos and creating an img. Advanced users will also be able to set bitrate and all sorts of video parameters.

Another strong point of ffmpegX is that it can convert your subtitles, not only to DVD Studio Pro 1.5 format but also to the more common SRT format. This, and the range of encoding formats to choose from, still make it an essential tool for any true video addict.

Still, ffmpegX is not for beginners, as it is filled with settings and tools, that only confirmed users will feel comfortable with.

We hope that we won't have to wait as long for the next update, and that ffmpegX will keep offering new encoding features. For now, it still remains an excellent audio and video encoder with great subtitle support.

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Kigo Video Converter supports all popular video formats including FLV, MPEG1, MPEG2, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, MOV, AVI, M2TS, MPEG TS/TP (for HD Video) and M4V, etc. You can choose whether to convert video or just audio and is suitable for conversion for iPods, iPhones, Archos and other major portable audio devices. The pre-defined settings for each device are one of the stand-out features of Kigo Video Converter because it saves so much hassle setting bitrates, screen resolution sizes etc.

If you want to convert several files at once, Kigo Video Converter supports batch conversions including the ability to configure different profiles for different users or file types. If you're just looking to use it as a YouTube converter, it's ideal because it can automatically download YouTube content. This feature extends to Google Video as well but not other video sites such as Daily Motion and Break.com. Unfortunately, there is no default support for WMV or RMVB formats although by downloading and installing the MPlayer codec packaged, you can add this feature to Kigo Video Converter.

Kigo Video Converter packs a lot into a video converter that's surprisingly free to use and supports enough formats to satisfy even the most demanding conversion needs.

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After you've found a video you want to keep, all you'll have to do is save it and convert it. TubeTV has presets for most outputs you might be using like the Apple TV, iPod or iPhone and uses the high quality H.264 codec to convert them. The only thing is that you'll need to have Quicktime and the Perian component to convert and play the flash files.

A clear cut browser-like interface and simple conversion features make TubeTV a great program to find and convert online video clips. However most users will already know that you can view You Tube videos with the iPhone and Apple TV anyways. Our suggestion is to use TubeTV if, when browsing You Tube, you come across a video you really want to keep and need it in Flash format.

TubeTV is a Flash converter with a browser preview and search for YouTube and Google Video.

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AnyVideo Converter HD is very easy to use with a slick interface. The different device formats you can convert to are all illustrated with images of the devices in a slick iTunes style cover flow browser. Simply drag your video or a collection of videos onto the AnyVideo Converter HD icon. There are few settings beyond that though so if you need to specify, bitrate, framerate or other technical specs, you won't be able to.

Particularly when it comes to videos, the most impressive thing is that AnyVideo Converter HD retains both the quality and aspect ratio of them when converting. Before conversion all videos are analyzed if the original video has a smaller screen size than the native device, the converted video will have the same resolution as the original one. File sizes are minimized to decrease conversion time.

The sheer choice of formats to convert to in AnyVideo Converter HD is very impressive and conversions are generally fast. You don't need to have any specialist technical knowledge as everything is simply drag and drop with virtually no configuration. Please note that AnyVideo Converter HD does not convert .vob files and .m4v files with DRM, as required by law.

AnyVideo Converter HD is am extremely powerful and user friendly conversion tools for all your iPhone, iPod, iPad and other mobile or console needs.

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FLV Crunch for Mac is based on the ffmpegX engine and converts your video files with ease from multiple formats to FLV which you can play on your iPhone or iPod. FLV Crunch supports conversion to and from most major formats including MPG, AVI, MP4, WMV and 3GP. Although the interface is very basic and retro looking, it is quite powerful and feature packed.

To use it, select the files you want to convert from the Menu. From there, you can select the output format and then click Start to convert. If you want, you can make changes to the frame rate (the number of frames per second), the bit rate (speed of data transfer) and resolution before you convert. There's also some useful presets for iPods, VGA, and higher definition conversions depending on what you're using the conversion for. If a conversion doesn't work, an Error Log helps you find out what went wrong - very useful if you're batch processing which FLV Crunch also supports.

FLV Crunch for Mac is a straightforward, free and powerful converter to convert media files between multiple formats on your Mac.

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iTube Grabber also instantly converts from standard FLV formats used by sites such as YouTube to several formats of your choosing such as iPod, iPhone, MP4, MPEG and even Matroska. iTube Grabber works within its own interface so all the browsing you do of video sites is done within it. When you find a video you want to download, just click the red camera button (which confusingly looks like a webcam rather than a download button) and downloading will commence.

If you've selected a conversion format to convert to in preferences, conversion takes place on-the-fly so that your video is ready for use in the format you want immediately. I like the way you can even configure the resolution you want and even the quality of the download. One downside is that there's no status indicator in the dock icon to tell you how far a download has progressed if you leave the application. Some users have also reported several instability issues in this beta version.

The developer says that iTube Grabber won't be free when it's finally released so grab this free version while you can and enjoy!

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The idea behind Adapter is simple: convert media to work with almost any device you may have. It's an ambitious aim but Adapter supports a remarkable number of formats including conversions for games consoles such as PS3, Xbox and Wii. Adapter even downloads and converts videos from YouTube.

Adapter is very simple and easy to use. It is divided into three basic sections: video, audio and image. In each section, simply add the file you want to convert. Alternatively, you can just add a link to a YouTube video

Adapter features some powerful advanced options too such as the possibility to configure the definition, compression and codecs used. You can also preview how the files will be before starting the conversion, using the in-built player.

Adapter takes care of all your conversion needs no matter what format or device you use.

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This open source program allows you to rip music from CDs and convert the music to any of 20 different formats. You should also normally find the right codec for the format you're looking for. The multi windowed interface is a bit of a turnoff to me and a little contrary to what you usually see in applications these days but in a way it separates all the elements of Max clearly.

Max is easy to use and performs all operations very well. The quality of files after conversion is generally very good. The ripper works through tracks quickly and you can use cdparanoia to recover damaged audio files.

The main draw back to the program would be the fairly complicated tagging system. Max works with MusicBrainz to recover track information from the internet, but you won't necessary find all your looking for.

If you're looking for a complete audio solution to rip cds and convert the tracks to another format, then Max is an excellent free solution.

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Evom ticks all of the above boxes and will even upload your conversions directly to YouTube. Once you install Evom, there's a short wait while it downloads all the necessary codecs it needs to perform conversions. Once this is done, you're ready to go. You can either drag and drop video files into Evom for conversion or go to the 'File' menu and open them from there.

You're then presented with five options - convert to a format suitable for iTunes, iPod, AppleTV, YouTube, or just saving in a folder on your Mac. Select the one you want and off you go - it really couldn't be easier! The YouTube feature is especially interesting because it allows you to enter your YouTube account details and then upload the converted files automatically to the site. You can enter upload details - such as video title, description and category in Evom although you can't enter any tags or location as yet.

There's very little to fault with Evom, except the fact that it may have been nicer to have seen a few other formats added to the list and the entering of tags and gotagging for YouTube. Overall however, it's a superb free conversion app.

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X Lossless Decoder is a three-in-one tool i.e. a decoder, converter and a player for audio files in all of these formats namely, FLAC, APE, WV, TTA and Apple Lossless. It will also play AIFF, WAV and MP3 files. Once you've finished creating your lossless audio file, you can use X Lossless Decoder to convert it to something more universally acceptable such as MP3. Just remember to go into the Preferences and change the file output format from the default of "WAV" to "MP3".

X Lossless Decoder provides support for CUE sheet which can extract and split files. For the technicians out there, X Lossless Decoder uses not a front-end decoder but a library to decode so no intermediate files are generated. The lack of a GUI is a bit strange but when encoding from a CD, select "File" and "Open Audio CD" and you'll see your track listing. It would be better if X Lossless Decoder launched automatically when detecting a CD but it's no major drawback.

X Lossless Decoder is an efficient and highly flexible decoder allowing you to turn all the major lossless audio formats into MP3 and more.

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It's is a comprehensive video converter that lets you convert video files between several different formats very easily. Video Monkey provides presets for all of Apple's most popular devices including iPhone, iPod and Apple TV. Other standards it converts to are DV, DVD, Tivo and all the major video formats including AVI, MP4 and Quicktime formats. The interface allows you to drag and drop multiple videos in for conversion and adjust the bitrate, frame size, frame rate and audio quality before you convert.

These kind of tools tend to be all very similar although I liked the fact that in Video Monkey you can get an idea of the output size before it makes the conversion (although it's only approximate). You can also preview files and you're kept updated on the progress of the conversion with a progress bar. You can also pause encoding which is useful for long conversions and you last settings are always saved.

There is little to fault with Video Monkey. It could do with supporting a wider range of formats such as DivX and Xvid but for most people's converting needs, it's more than enough.

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To the untrained ear, it's hard to distinguish the difference between a FLAC file and an MP3 although musicians and editors certainly will notice. The principle is same as how a ZIP file works but FLAC offers superior compression and quality because FLAC is designed specifically for audio.

MacFLAC is simply a graphical frontend for FLAC which has been developed using Applescript Studio. MacFLAC is a Graphical User Interface that can be used to encode, decode, and generate fingerprints for FLAC files. Firstly, note that the binaries only work on Power PC Macs so as yet, there are no binaries for Intel Macs. MacFLAC makes it incredibly easy to convert to FLAC because you just have to drag and drop files into the interface. You can choose to decode and encode and use a sliding bar to configure the compression (from fastest to smallest) and the output directory.

Fast and easy to use, MacFLAC is a great user friendly app for those that need to compress audio files without losing any quality at all.

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iExtractMP3 is an application that breaks the mold and does exactly what you want i.e. extract MP3 audio from FLV files on the Mac. The first thing to note is that the developer site is completely in Japanese so if you have any problems, don't expect any support (unless you speak Japanese!). However, the fact is that iExtractMP3 is such a simple application that you shouldn't have any problems.

There's not much too it - simply drag the FLV files you want to convert into the main window of iExtractMP3, click Extract, and the app extracts the audio track to your hard drive. You can define the folder that you want to save to although as soon as your conversion is done, iExtractMP3 will ask you if you want to go straight to it. Apart from that, the only other option is to add a VBR Header to files which doesn't seem to make much difference anyway. It's not clear how long the files can be that you want to convert but there doesn't immediately appear to be any limitations.

Free, extremely simple and very fast to convert, iExtractMP3 is all you need to extract those audio tracks from your YouTube and other flash files.

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xACT stands for X Audio Compression Toolkit. It is based on a simple GUI written in AppleScript Studio and supports everything from FLAC to, Md5Sum. It can be not only be used for compression, but also for cutting and joining files such as SHN, FLAC, WAV and AIFF. You can even edit meta data in FLAC tags one by one or or in batches. Apart from compress, you can also obviously decompress between various lossless audio formats.

To process a file, simply drag it to the xACT icon in the Dock. Be warned however that xACT is quite a technical application with absolutely no help file. There doesn't seem to be any developer site either so beyond simple compression and decompression, you may have problems with it.

xACT is a very powerful audio compressor and decompressor but it can be a little difficult to work-out without any kind of user guide.

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