Any Video Converter Freeware 3.21

Overview

Any Video Converter, as the name suggests, is a video converter that is supposedly an all – in – one solution to your video conversion needs. Is it actually able to do as it claims? Let’s find out in this review.

Installation

Installation is quick and smooth, with nothing out of the ordinary going on. The installation program does try to bundle in an unrelated iTunes plugin, but you can easily opt out of this. Just remember to choose to do so in the relevant installation screen. Any Windows OS from XP onwards is supported, so this shouldn’t be an issue. No additional downloads are required to make the software work correctly.

Interface

At first glance the interface isn’t too pleasing. It doesn’t adhere to the Windows style at all, and will stand out completely when the program is open. Everything from the window colour to the fonts being used are different from the standard Windows style. However the interface is not complicated. It’s quite simple to add a video to the queue and convert it using the prominent, labelled buttons. Something that is well designed is the profile selection drop down box. This consists of a categorized, collapsible list of formats you can convert your video to. Having a video player and a list of conversion settings built into the basic interface is good too, but can be confusing for newer users. Overall, a decent interface that could have been better, but isn’t bad.

Pros

A nice feature that is well integrated is the ability to download videos from MetaCafe. Once you provide the video URL, the software will download it for you without any hassle, and it will be added to the conversion queue. This was tested using a MetaCafe video, and it worked without any hitches. The list of formats that it supports conversion to is quite long. It converts to a wide array of video formats, probably more than an average user will ever need. AVI using the DivX codec, MP4, MKV, Flash Videos and DVD video are all supported. It’s even capable of converting a video to an audio file, in a MP3, WMA or even Ogg Vorbis format. The strongest point of this video converter is the number of options it supports. Looking through the option menus, you’ll find several options that will help customize everything to your exact needs. Everything ranging from the quality of videos downloaded from MetaCafe, to subtitle settings, to deinterlacing settings can be set manually. You even have the option of shutting down your computer automatically once conversion is completed. The video player even allows for some basic video editing, such as trimming and cropping the video you’re converting. Thus, this nifty program does a great job when it comes to features and flexibility. Conversion speed in general was found to be excellent. The resulting video quality was as good as any other video conversion software, which is great considering this is freeware.

Cons

One major disadvantage was the lack of customized formats for portable devices, such as iPhone or PSP or other popular video formats. You just get one “Mobile Phone” profile whose settings you need to alter manually. This can be quite difficult to do, because you need to know what exactly your device is capable of playing. Moreover, if you get these settings wrong, your converted video probably won’t even play on your portable device, thus making the whole conversion process pointless. It’s worth noting that this issue is fixed in the Professional version of the software. Apart from this one major caveat, there isn’t much to complain about.

Alternatives

A popular alternative video converter is Acala 3GP Movies Free, which is best suited for Mobile Phone video conversion. Oxelon Media Converter is another one to look at, which pretty closely rivals Any Video Converter in terms of features.

Conclusion

Any Video Converter Freeware is a very good video conversion tool, as long as you don’t mind a slightly mediocre interface, and don’t need to convert too many videos to a mobile format. The built in online video downloader and simple editing tools work really well, and make it a solid all in one solution.