Have you ever wanted to search for and download your favourite videos without using your browser? Free FLV Converter lets you automatically access sites such as YouTube, DailyMotion, Google and Metacafé without opening anything else.

You can search by keyword and preview each video found in the rather basic interface and also download them in FLV format. After that, you can convert the files to AVI, IPod, IPhone, 3GP or PSP format. It also works vice versa and if the files in question are already in FLV format, it can convert to DivX, Xvid, MPEG, DVD and AVI with automatic HTML embed links. This means you can paste them into your website or blog to share instantly with the world. If you don't require these functions, the program interface still provides a convenient search platform because you can browse and watch videos at the same time. With just one click, you can download the video you are previewing. For ease of use, it allows you to create a download list of videos you want to save. Once it's complete, you can just leave the program to download the videos whilst you get on with something else although unfortunately, it still doesn't support batch downloading.

A very useful application for those who are not content with only having videos on the Internet but also want them on their hard drive but don't want to visit each video content site seperately.

Download Free FLV Converter 5.6 in Softonic

Convert your video files into Flash FLV format using the FLV Hosting Encoder. FLV is a "Flash Live Video" file. It is a format that is designed for web playback, offering high rates of compression The Flash Player browser plugin can play an FLV, but the FLV must be either embedded in or linked to a SWF. That means, you can't just put the actual FLV on an HTML page. You can however reference the FLV file using action script and SWF

Download FLV Encoder 3.6.0.0 in Softonic

Finally you can convert your PowerPoint presentation into Flash file so to have the benefits of both formats. Microsoft's popular slideshow tool makes it quick and easy to to create attractive, animated presentations; whereas Flash offers all the benefits of a universal format which can be viewed on any computer and any browser as well as a potentially much smaller file size.

Firstly, you do need to register before you can convert any presentations, but the process will take just a minute. The program integrates perfectly with Microsoft PowerPoint. Put simply, when you have created the PPT presentation, press the 'Quick Publish' or the 'Publish' button, where you can select some options, and that's all you have to do. iSpring also includes a feature which allows you to insert Flash movies into PowerPoint presentations. It's a pity that there is not an option to set the compression rates for specific elements (certain images, sounds, etc.) - as that would make it possible to decide exactly where you want to compromise on quality.

It is also interesting that you can publish your Flash file online, allowing you to access all your presentations wherever you are. After pressing the 'Publish' button, select 'SlideBoom' as destination of your file and type the account details. You can sign up for a free account from the menu as well, and the process is fairly easy and quick.

iSpring lets you easily create your PPT presentations and convert them into a Flash file to share with your co-workers and friends. You can also publish and store them online thanks to a free hosting service.

Download iSpring Free 3.5.1.2363 in Softonic

Have you ever felt the desire to be like any of your idols or, even better, become one of them?

FotoMorph now gives you the opportunity to turn into any famous person by applying a morphing effect to your photos. As you may have already seen on movies, morphing gradually converts a source photo into the target photo by creating intermediate images (frames) based on highlighted transition points.

With FotoMorph the whole process is really easy. The program features a tabbed interface with different areas where you can select the photos you'll be working with (Images), mark the transition points (Control) and preview the final result (Play).

The most important step in the process is selecting transition points: the more you have, the more accurate your morphing will be. FotoMorph lets you add points to both the source and target photos simultaneously, and though it's a bit confusing at first, it ends up being a really good method.

FotoMorph also enables you to tweak other elements in the transition, such as the frame rate, the play time and whether you want to add a text overlay or not. Once you're done, FotoMorph can save your morphing effect in a variety of formats, including Flash movie (SWF), GIF animation, AVI movie, standalone EXE or even screensaver.

FotoMorph lets you create stunning photo morphing effects in just a few easy steps: no designing skills or technical knowledge required!

Download FotoMorph 4.5.4 in Softonic

With so many Flash video sites out there, it's important to have a way t convert your videos to something more conventional or editable such as AVI.

Flash2Video supports the conversion of Macromedia Flash SWF files to AVI and can then compress them to DIV and XVID if you have the codecs installed. The developers claim it "has the fastest conversion speed in the world" which is definitely exagerating a bit but it is remarkably quick. The program supports a range of diemnsions and resolutions and so it doesn't matter what size your video is although larger file sizes take slightly longer. You can line up videos for conversion at your leisure so the best thing to do is just make a conversion list and leave it running while you are away from your PC. One excellent feature is the ability to preview your videos as they upload - so you can check whether your conversions are being carried out successfully. The image and sound quality is generally excellent for converted videos and the interface is very user friendly. If you get stuck at any stage, the program also has an extensive and well annotated help file.

Easy to use and lightening fast, Flash2Video is a powerful converter although it would be nice if it supported more output formats.

Download Flash2Video 5.36 in Softonic

Flash Video Studio is a very easy and powerful tool to convert most video files into Macromedia Flash SWF and FLV.

Choose to publish a movie with or without a navigation control and apply some video effects such as emboss, motion blur, brightness/contrast, etc. to your video and previews it instantly without any rendering process.

Flash Video Studio shows the estimated bandwidth and the file size which enables you to adjust the quality settings that suits your target bandwidth and file size in an easy and efficient way or if you prefer you can simply choose from the list of common settings such as: Dial up 56.6k, ISDN, ADSL, etc.

Flash Video Studio allows you to select a range within a video timeline to publish, so you dont need other software to cut and trim your video files.

Download Flash Video Studio 2.2 in Softonic

PSP owners will be glad to know there's a program with which they can handle all their video conversion needs.

This program is ImTOO PSP Video Converter, a video conversion tool that's been specifically designed to convert video files to PSP-friendly formats. Well, the truth is that the target format is only on (MP4), but you have several different profiles to choose from, depending on size, resolution, quality and other parameters. What's more, you can configure these parameters to your liking and thus create new, customized profiles. As for source formats, you can use pretty much any, including AVI, MPEG, DVD, VCD, Flash and a lot more.

ImTOO PSP Video Converter includes a preview window to have a look at the video before converting it, though I think it would be nicer if it resembled a real PSP. The program includes a built-in PSP video manager that lets you handle video content on your device in a more comfortable way.

With ImTOO PSP Video Converter you can easily convert videos to carry them around in your PSP.

Download ImTOO PSP Video Converter 3.1.53.0429b in Softonic

There's so much Flash video out there, especially on sites such as YouTube, that a converter which can change the format of the videos you are watching is always useful.

Maybe you need to change it for storage purposes or maybe you need to change it so that you can edit the footage. Whatever your needs, Sothink Video Encoder for Adobe Flash is a professional piece of software that converts videos to Flash supporting all the most popular formats including AVI, MPEG, and WMV. The program focuses on converting AVI/MPEG video to Flash video (FLV) in high quality, in the least time. But even better than that, it also provides advanced video editing functions such as video cropping and trimming which is unusual for a program of this kind. Usually you only get a converter but here you are getting the complete package which is useful because Flash is not usually a very suitable format to edit in. However, the editor is very basic allowing you only to perform very basic cropping. It does however automatically generate thumbnail images for each file you convert and in addition, creates a self-opening Flash player which means you can send it on to friends or colleagues without them having to have a Flash player installed. If you're going to embed it in a webpage, it also generates HTML pages to embed them in which you can then upload much more easily and quickly than normal.

Fast and with very high quality output, Softhink Video Converter for Adobe Flash is one of the best Flash converters out there.

Download Sothink Video Encoder for Adobe Flash 2.3 Build 70926 in Softonic

With so many movies on the net now in Flash format - including all those on YouTube - it's useful to have a program that can extract all the various elements that go into it for your own editing or storage purposes.

First of all, it's useful to distinguish between SWF and FLV. Basically, SWF is a native file which means it's a Flash object (i.e. a video/game or application) which is written natively in Flash and meant to be viewed or interacted with in a Flash player. FLV is quite simply a flash video player which means the buttons, progress bar, volume control and so on are all natively built in Flash but the video itself may have originated from any number of formats. The only way to extract the SWF files is with a decompiler such as this one - and a darn good job it does too. The interface is extremely user-friendly that even if you don't really understand the difference between the two formats but definitely need to extract a few elements, it takes you through it simply and quickly. The recovered files can then be opened and edited in Flash 6, 7 or 8 and for serious editors, 9-slice scaling and text analysis is also supported. Note that to capture the files, this program includes SWF Catcher which can save any Flash movies that you are viewing in Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Fast, easy to use and very effective, Sothink SWF Decompiler is an excellent and professional feeling solution for Flash editors.

Download Sothink SWF Decompiler 4.1 Build 80421 in Softonic

Videora Converter claims to convert all your videos to play on your iPod without requiring any “technical know-how” on your part. The program’s process in itself is simple: search and select the desired file, click ’Convert’ and there you have it, ready to play on your iPod.

Despite its simplicity, Videora Converter suffers from a number of shortcomings. For one, the interface, particularly the main window, is riddled with horrible flashing pop-up ads. This makes using the wizard a fairly tedious process and one that you should skip altogether. We were also surprised by the very haphazard video settings. For the video format, you have a choice between “old” or “new”; for the video size “ipod” or “tv”, with no explanation as to what Videora considers the “tv” size to be. Setting quality levels for audio and video continues in the same foggy way: basic, medium, high or best are the only choices you're offered.

The quickest way to convert is under the Current Conversion tab. This interface is probably easier to use than the wizard. Select your file, the device you wish to convert it for and the profile you want to use. Videora has more than two-dozen preset encoded video formats to choose from. While you should find what you want in that list, it would have been good to let users tweak the settings according to their requirements. In terms of your video file library, Videora keeps your created output files in folders, divided according to the devices and video formats. You can also automatically add the converted files to iTunes.

If not for the bewildering interface and extremely vague video settings, Videora Converter could actually have been a very simple iPod converter. In the future, let’s hope Videora makes the wizard actually user friendly and gets rid of all the pop-ups.

Download Videora iPod Converter 3.06 in Softonic

Print2Flash lets you easily convert any printable document (e.g. Microsoft Word, or Excel, or PowerPoint document) to a Macromedia Flash file (SWF). This file can be shared with users who don’t have the software that created the original document (for example, Microsoft Word).

You can view such files with Macromedia Flash Player that is available across a number of operating systems. And these files can be easily published on the Web as well for fast and easy access to them from anywhere across the globe

Download Print2Flash 2.7.2 in Softonic

SWF Toolbox permits you to convert SWF files (Macromedia Flash) in to a diverse selection of other formats: independant executable files, animated GIFs, AVI videos or a series of images in JPG, GIF or BMP format taken from each frame within the Flash movie.

The tool will also let you add your own personal title for the executable, a presentation window, a trial run-out date that you decide, your own icon, etc.

Download SWF Toolbox 3.5.19.275 in Softonic

SWF (short for Shockwave Flash) is a proprietary file format for multimedia and especially vector graphics. It is intended to be small enough for publication on the web and it is also often used for creating animated display graphics and menus for DVD movies, and television commercials. Unfortunately you can't just right-click and download this type of file. If you want to save them to your PC’s desktop or your mobile device, you need to find a way to save and convert them to a video file compatible with your favourite video playback software. Bare in mind that after the conversion process the output file's size will be much bigger, e.g. it’ll be more than 20 times bigger in a swf to mp4 conversion.

Magic swf2avi 2008 should simplify these operations, by checking the cache of your web-browser (IE, Opera or Firefox) and displaying all the swf files that your browser has saved while browsing. Sometimes website developers set meta tags which restrict SWF caching and in that case Magic swf2avi will hot help you in any way.

It’s a pity the application doesn’t provide you with an automatic tool to download SWF files, so sometimes you’ll need to use an additional program like Orbit Downloader. Magic swf2avi 2008 can convert SWF files in 38 formats, enough for nearly every device you might have, from MP3 player to mobile phones.

When the program manages to find swf files in your browser's cache, the whole process can be fairly quick. Unfortunately many videos are released in FLV format and not SWF and the program cannot convert them.

Download Magic Swf2Avi 5.0.8.408 in Softonic

Have you ever needed to deconstruct a Flash file for design or analysis purposes? If so, Flash Decompiler Trillix allows you to do exactly that by extracting all resources from an SWF (Flash) file. It lets you store sounds, images, videos, shapes, frames, morphs, fonts, texts, buttons, sprites and ActionScripts from any SWF file directly to your hard drive.

This is useful if you want to decompile Flash movies, convert SWF elements into multiple formats and edit SWF movies (i.e add dynamic texts, hyperlinks etc.) without using dedicated Flash video editing software. The extraction process is quick and easy - simply choose the format you want to export the elements of SWF into, select the destination folder and in a few seconds you will get all the chosen objects extracted and saved. Flash Decompiler performs complete conversion of SWF files into FLA, making the file editable in native Flash environment.

One unique feature of this program is that is allows you to view and search ActionScripts within a Flash movie. Once found, you can also copy them directly from the interface. This is extremely useful as it enables you to study how SWF files are structured and learn a few Flash tricks. This is an essential tool for anyone interested in Flash design and development.

Download Flash Decompiler Trillix 3.1.0.570 in Softonic

I've always used MS Word for my word processing needs but if you don't have Office installed, then it's not exactly a cheap option.

AbiWord can read and write all standard industry docs ranging from open source efforts such as those created in OpenOffice to those created in professional apps such as Microsoft Word. This is the portable version which means you can put it on a USB stick and take it pretty much anywhere. It also features support for WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages etc. Although the editing options can't compare with Word, I do like the fact that this is a very light word processor that doesn't take up much more processing power than even MS Text. This makes it especially suitable for those working on slower machines who haven't got a decent word processor installed. What's also nice is that AbiWord is fully customisable with several different plugins to extend its capabilities. These can vary from format converters, document importers and thesauruses to image importers and a text format managers.

This may be basic but it's generally a very impressive word processing app that has everything you need to edit simple documents.

Download AbiWord Portable 2.6.2 in Softonic

Lots of videos these days (e.g. those you'll find on Google Video or YouTube) are encoded in Flash Video format. The problem is that not all media players support the format, so you'll need to get yourself a third-party app to convert it for you.

Pazera Free FLV to AVI Converter is one such utility and as the name suggest it allows you to transform a Flash Video file into an AVI. The program also lets you convert your FLV video to an MPEG if you so desire.

The program's user interface isn't exactly a visual delight and despite the fact that there isn't an icon in sight, it's pretty functional and you should be able to find your way around pretty easily. All you really need to do is load the FLV file or files that you need to convert using the 'Add Files' button, then click convert. The conversion process seems to be reliable and quick (though obviously this depends on the size of the file).

There are plenty of advanced options to tinker around with if you know what you're doing. For instance, you can adjust the audio and video codecs used, set the resolution or change the bitrate (only for AVI). You can even crop the video on all sides if you want.

If you want a no-frills solution for converting FLV files, the Pazera software is an able piece of software.

Download Pazera Free FLV to AVI Converter 1.1 in Softonic

Flash files are increasingly the currency of video on the internet - if you use YouTube or regularly download from a video portal, chances are the format will be in Flash.

If you've therefore got a ton of files to manage and rename, it can take forever. But imagine if all your renaming needs could be done automatically. Flash Renamer is just the tool for you allowing you to banish your Flash renaming blues and rename batches of Flash files in a matter of seconds. Simply transform them from what were previously arbitrary and unreadable file names into something much more meaningful in a matter of seconds. The program supports drag and drop so you can simply drag files into the interface and have their names converted within a matter of minutes if not seconds. The program is absolutely jam packed with features and allows you o customise name changing to the highest degree from adding strings at specific positions to tagging Flash videos with metadata.

For any serious Flash video downloader, this is an essential piece of kit that will help you manage your Flash files if you're loathe to convert them to anything else.

Download Flash Renamer 6.01 in Softonic

Who says you absolutely need Photoshop when editing images? PhotoLine is just another example that solid alternatives photo editing tools do exist.

The application loads very fast compared to Photoshop, and offers a very similar interface, with most of your tools placed on the left. You'll get access to a wide range of layers, effects and filters from the menu bar and various viewing modes. The program also lets you easily create HDR images and offers full masking support.

Photoline includes a web tab, from which you can create animations, buttons or images. In 'web export' you'll be able to add last second touches and actions such as converting to grey or brightening shadows.

A solid image editor needs to be able to save to many formats, which PhotoLine does. You can choose from over 20 different types including Macintosh icon and AVI.

To be honest though, we'd have to say that PhotoLine compares best with Photoshop Elements, simply because it doesn't have as many features as the complete Photoshop.

In all though, PhotoLine remains an excellent image editing application with many tools and effects to get the most out of your pictures.

Download PhotoLine 14.11 in Softonic

Camtasia Studio is a complete application suite to record, edit and share your videos online, on CD or with a portable player. This highly-acclaimed program allows you to create screencasts or video tutorials, and can also be used to prepare presentations. Let’s get a run-down of all the things you can do with Camtasia Studio.

Thanks to the Camtasia Recorder, you can record and save screen captures or webcam broadcasts. We enjoyed playing around with it, adjusting the region size, highlighting cursor movement and setting elements such as time stamps and captions. Depending on what you need to record, you can also choose to hide or show the cursor and disable audio recording.

The production studio is the central piece of the application, from where you’ll be doing your editing. Drag and drop your recorded videos onto the timeline at the bottom of the interface. Camtasia embeds a player in the studio interface and you can constantly replay your production. From the menu on the left side you can choose from a selection of 18 different transitions, many call-outs (effectively bubbles to insert text into your video) or captions. The Zoom-n-Pan feature can be used to focus in on one part of the video in particular and teachers can use the Flash Quiz Survey feature to prepare multiple choice tests for their students. Camtasia Studio also includes an audio editor to simply record a voiceover directly to your video or tweak the audio in your production. Use Menu Maker and Theater to create full table of contents and credits pages.

Once you’re happy with your editing and have everything in place, you can go on to produce. Camtasia will guide you through what codecs to choose or what format to set according to your output, whether for the web, for CD, DVD or a portable player. The output format will also depend on whether your video only consists of slides and screen recordings or if you also have digital footage. Camtasia lets you choose among the industry standards like AVI, Quicktime, Real Media or Windows Media. You’ll be able to batch produce your videos and select smooth scaling to lessen quality loss while resizing videos. Production preview is a great feature to take a quick look at your video and correct mistakes before actually producing it. Finally, Camtasia integrates with Screencast.com, meaning you can post your best videos online and share them with others.

Apart from being a full video suite for your PC, it would be a mistake not to talk about the user-friendly aspect of Camtasia Studio. The program offers a number of tutorials, many of them in video format, to explain the different actions you can undertake. The process from recording to editing and producing is well structured and Camtasia Studio will guide you, even suggesting things such as the output format. Whether you’re out to make screencasts or need a friendly and complete tool to prepare presentations, Camtasia Studio is the application of choice.

Download Camtasia Studio 5.0.2 in Softonic

Amaze FLV Downloader is an easy-to-use tool to help you download flash videos (FLV) at high speed, mainly from sites such as YouTube.

You can download multiple FLVs at one time or you can download them one by one. The user-friendly interface also includes a function to monitor the clipboard which basically allows you to drag websites from the browser into the program for downloading. The program simply requires you to click "Save Videos" to begin downloading the video(s) that you've selected.

It runs in the background - in the system tray - and always prompts you whether you want to save a video while you are watching one either on YouTube or another site with FLV videos. The key is that it saves you time and bandwidth because it saves the videos as they are playing in your browser rather than saving them separately. If you don't want to use the mouse, you can also configure hotkeys to trigger the download. You've also go the option of converting the FLV files to AVI as soon as they are downloaded although this takes up a lot of disk space.

Configure this program to start with Windows, and you'll find you've got a very easy to use video downloader to make sure you never lose another YouTube clip.

Download Amaze FLV Downloader 1.1.43.00 in Softonic