ContextConvert Pro 3.0

Overview

With ContextConvert Pro, converting media files from one format to another couldn’t be easier! Unlike other converters, where you have to open the program, import the files you want to convert and select output file format, with ContextConvert Pro you just have to right-click on the files and select the format you wish to convert them to from the program’s context menu. This can save you a lot of time and effort, especially when conversion tasks appear all the time.

Installation

Launching the installer will begin the extraction process of the main files, which will then continue with the main installation procedure. It consists of only a few steps and won’t trouble you at all, since the instructions are clear and there are no advanced settings. The setup package is clean from malware and other additional software.

The program works correctly under Windows 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP, Vista and 7.

Interface

ContextConvert Pro doesn’t have an interface. It is used only via the context menu like this: you right-click on a file (or group of files) and from the context menu go to “Convert Image/Audio/Video File(s) to…”. The sub-menu that will appear has all the supported conversion formats, so click on the desired one and let the conversion process take place.

Fortunately when the program is running you can see its icon on the system tray. Right-clicking on it and selecting “Configure” will open the configuration window, which has 4 tabs (General, Audio, Video, Image) and various settings.

Pros

The program’s main advantage is that you can convert your files directly from the context menu. When you select the desired output file format, a window will pop up asking you where to save your file (unless you enable the setting that saves all output files to a preset directory) and then a smaller window will appear displaying the conversion status. When the task is complete, the conversion window will close and you can find the converted file in the directory you specified.

If you are a more advanced user and like to mess with settings, you can do so from the configuration dialog. It has general settings and settings regarding each kind of file (image, audio, video).

ContextConvert supports many image file types (BMP, GIF, ICO, IFF, JPG, PCX, PNG, PSD, TIF, etc.) but only a few video file types (AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and WMV) and audio file types (WAV, OGG, WMA, and MP3).

Cons

It has many bugs and crashes often in Windows 7. Unfortunately it was designed for older systems and isn’t updated to fix issues that appear in newer systems and to add support for more video and audio file types.

Alternatives

Popular media converters are SUPER © (free), HandBrake (free), Freemake Video Converter (free), Format Factory (free) and XMedia Recode (free).

Conclusion

It’s a unique tool and with a bit more attention, it could become a popular convert utility.