We live in a world in which, luckily or unfortunately, video files have a multitude of formats, codecs, resolutions and bitrates . In the same way, our smart TV, mobile phone, TV Box may not be able or have difficulties to reproduce any of these formats, and oh, surprise! Just the video we want to see is not supported by our multimedia device.
We may even be able to reproduce the video correctly, but it is too heavy to transmit over Wi-Fi or perhaps it takes up more space than desired on the hard drive. To solve any of these situations, the quickest and most practical thing is to use a tool to convert the video to another format .
The best free video converters for PC (Windows, Linux and Mac)
All of the converters listed below are free, and available for all major desktop operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Handbrake
Handbrake is one of my favorite video converters and I try to always have it installed on my PC. It is a free and cross-platform Open Source program (Windows, Mac and Linux) that is capable of converting videos to practically any format.
For each video we can adjust the resolution, the output format, add filters, change the FPS, tweak the video and audio codecs, add subtitles, convert several videos at the same time and much more. In short, a complete converter.
Download Handbrake from its official website
VSDC Free Video Converter
VSDC is a free video converter that is maintained through donations. It has an interface full of options from where we can choose the video format (DVD, AVI, MPEG, WMV and ASF, FLV and SWF, MOV, MP4 and M4V, RM and RMVB, 3GP, AMV and more) and tweak the quality with several presets to choose from.
It also includes a small editor and a disc burner, although the conversion tool works well enough to stand out on its own. Easy to use and very complete.
Download VSDC Free Video Converter from its official website
HD Video Converter Factory Free
This is the free version of Wonderfox’s HD Video Converter Factory Pro. It has a clean and clear interface, with several preset output formats (AVI, MP4, MKV, VOB, 3GP, etc.) and the possibility of choosing the format according to the device where we are going to play the video (Apple, Samsung, Asus , Sony, Xiaomi, etc.). In this way we make sure that we will not have problems watching the video.
It also has GPU acceleration to convert videos in less time and a section for quick resolution adjustments (HD, FullHD, 2K, 4K). The truth is that I have used this converter in the past and it has always given me very good results.
Download HD Video Converter Factory Free from its official website
Any Video Converter Freeware
Undoubtedly one of the most prominent free video converters for PC. It is available for Windows and Mac PCs, and allows us to convert both videos that we have stored on our hard drive and videos that are online. It supports over 100 input formats and offers hardware acceleration for NVIDIA NVENC, AMD AMF, and Intel QSV, as well as filters, effects, and various preset formats.
As we all know, downloading YouTube videos is against the platform’s use policies and infringes copyright rights. However, if it is a public domain video or we have the permission of the owner of the video, we can also download it with Any Video Converter to watch it offline in the format we want and without the need to consume bandwidth.
Download Any Video Converter Freeware from its official website
VLC
Did you know that the VLC video player also allows you to convert videos to other formats? You just have to enter “Media -> Convert”, add a file and click on the “Convert / Save” button.
The truth is that it does not offer as many configuration options as a specialized conversion tool, but for occasional uses it works wonders . You can see in more detail how to use the VLC converter in THIS POST . VLC is a free, open source program and is available on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS.
Download VLC from its official website
DivX Converter
The DivX Software team has a fairly complete free video converter that we can use to convert videos from AVI to MP4, from MKV to MP4, etc. It incorporates several preset profiles to create videos in DivX, H.2674 and HEVC, as well as several modifiable settings such as resolution, bit rate, etc.
The converter allows you to play with the output audio formats and the possibility of adding subtitles (SRT, ASS, SSA) if necessary. There is also a paid Pro version available with which we can convert the videos that we have stored in the cloud and the odd extra, although for most the free version will be more than enough. Available for Windows and Mac.
Note: Be careful when installing the program, since during the process they will try to “sneak in” some extra program that we don’t need. After that they will also try to insist that we buy the paid version every time we open the app. It is enough to ignore these messages, but the truth is that sometimes it can be a bit annoying.
Download DivX Converter from its official website
Prism Video Converter
This video converter for Windows has a free and a paid version, although the free version may be more than enough. Of course, it has its limitations and is that it “only” can convert videos to Full HD 1080p resolution.
If this is not a problem for you, here is a great tool with which we can make quick conversions , with support for more than 30 formats, including MPEG, MKV, MP4, MP3, MOV, and AVI, among others. It doesn’t have many configuration options, but it does have all the basics.
Download Prism from its official website
Free Video Converter
This utility developed by DVDVideoSoft is one of the most accessible video converters on the market. However, it has a big downside and that is that all the videos carry a watermark that only disappears when we upgrade to the premium paid version. It’s not a very intrusive brand, but there it is.
For the rest, it also does not offer many conversion options (MP4, AVI, MPEG, MP3 and a version optimized for iOS devices. It also allows you to change the video resolution and merge several videos into one), but it can be a good tool if you only We are looking for a simple conversion to share a video with friends and we do not want to mess with other more complex programs like Handbrake.
Download Free Video Converter from its official website
Freemake Video Converter
Freemake video converter is a free tool with support for more than 500 formats (MP4, AVI, MKV, WMV, MP3, DVD, 3GP, SWF, FLV, HD, MOV, RM, QT, Divx, Xvid, TS, MTS, among others and codecs H.264, H.265 (HEVC), MPEG4, AAC, AV1, etc.). Among its additional features, it also allows you to download online videos and convert them to the format you want, as well as the ability to edit and burn videos to DVD and create video presentations with images.
A good converter that however takes a long time when it comes to converting somewhat heavy videos. That is why it is recommended to use only with videos that are light or of short duration. It also has integrated advertising to try to convince us to buy some of its paid products, although this is not the worst. The biggest problem is the watermark that it adds to the videos, which is very aggressive.
Download Freemake Video Converter from its official website
iDealshare VideoGo
iDealshare VideoGo supports more than 80 input formats and 35 video output formats. Among its editing options we can cut the video, add subtitles, add watermarks, rotate, adjust the brightness and more.
The converter is available for both Windows and Mac, and has a free version and a paid version. The free version allows you to convert half of a video of 5 minutes or less, or the first 5 minutes of a longer video. It is not very practical, but for certain cases it may be enough. If we opt for the paid version, this usually has a price that normally is around 30 euros.
