The 10 Best Free Video Converters for Windows

Whether you are a content creator on the Internet producing your own videos or someone who is watching other people’s work, you would agree that videos have become the hottest mode of communication on the web. With that being said, accessing and watching videos with varying file formats on multiple devices isn’t very convenient. It’s rather daunting and laborious, I daresay. However, this is when video converters enter the picture, if you can forgive the pun.

Video converters make life easier for content creators and consumers alike, as they allow the users to change video file formats to their preferred choice. This makes it possible for you to stream videos on whichever app or device you want. The application and use of the top video converters are not limited to conversion as they help video editing. For example, you may want to edit a video, but your editor fails to recognize the current file format. So, you will need a powerful video converter to get you the applicable format first.

With a decent video converter, you will be able to select file formats for both the input and output, convert videos to audio files, and use some compelling features, including batch processing, resolution and bitrate settings, codec, etc. The two main methods that video converters employ in their mechanisms are transcoding (compressing the video) and another one that works without touching the video at all.

There are also ready-made visual effects that you can apply to your videos to give them a unique and personal feel. Furthermore, you can rotate, trim, crop, and perform all basic editing tasks using a powerful video converter. When exporting, there are options to select tailor-made profiles for various devices.

10 Best Video Converters for Windows [Free]

All this sounds great, but getting your hands on a free converter that matches all your needs can be hard. This is why we have collated the 10 best video converters for you to choose from. Let’s get into it!

1. Freemake Video Converter

Freemake Video Converter

Having produced several powerful yet easy-to-use video converters, Freemake has built up quite a reputation for itself. Another strong point of their software products is that they have made them totally free of cost, welcoming users of all technical ability levels. They have made sure to continue their excellent track record with Freemake Video Converter. Packed with numerous powerful tools and impressive features, Freemake Video Converter gets the top spot in our recommendations list, and as you will shortly see, for a good reason.

In addition to its extensive file format support, Freemake Video Converter allows its users to swiftly download and convert videos from social media platforms, such as YouTube. So, not only can you convert video files from your system, but you can also work with media available on the internet. All owed to Freemake Video Converter for broadening the horizons for what converter programs can do!

Now, let us dive into some features you will be getting in Freemake Video Converter. Many basic and easy-to-use video editing tools allow you to add subtitles to your content, trim and remove undesirable footage, convert from DVDs, and the other way around. All of your daily conversion and editing needs will be thoroughly covered by Freemake Video Converter. Some file formats you can work with include but aren’t limited to MP4, MPG, AVI, and WMG. You can burn CDs and DVDs using this converter, export videos for smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and many more cool features.

Now, you must be wondering, what’s the catch? With all this good, there has got to be some bad. And, there is some if you can really call it that. A minor inconvenience that users have reported is that in the beginning, once you install Freemake Video Converter, some features will not be available until you activate them. For example, you will not be able to convert YouTube videos for the first three days of use. After the three days have passed, you will get a free gift – a web pack, which you can then use to unlock specific features. So, a little bit of waiting must be done before you can fully use all the sterling features Freemake Video Converter has to offer. Honestly, that is not anything too offensive, in my opinion, as it makes up for it in great proportion with other cool features.

2. Any Video Converter

Any Video Converter

Accepted by many to be the best video converting application in the game, Any Video Converter has established itself to be a total powerhouse among its kind. It does not bombard its users with overwhelming amounts of information and options either, as everything is well-organized and perfectly situated in the interface. Any Video Converter is easy to use and learn, features great conversion capabilities, and comes packed with an arsenal of impressive visual effects and filters!

The massive conversion toolkit AVC offers make the fact that it is totally free totally unbelievable. Let us jump into a comprehensive discussion of the tools it has to offer. You will be able to download video content from Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and more common platforms. You can rip and burn CDs and DVDs in practically any file format you can think of. In the meantime, you also get many filters and effects to experiment with and use to make your videos presentable. Furthermore, you can perform simple conversions within a few seconds and with great ease, download and convert videos in batches, etc.

Any Video Editor speaks for itself, and we are struggling to find a downside to getting it. Perhaps you ought to give it a run yourself and see how you like it!

3. Free Video Converter

Free Video Converter

DVDVideoSoft has time and again delivered amazing free media programs and has continued this tradition with Free Video Converter. This converter application has a lot to offer in terms of features if you can get over the intellectually lazy name.

Free Video Converter comes with an uncluttered and clean interface appealing to the eye and accessible to casual users. The batch converting feature allows users to convert several videos with great ease, and you get to tweak their quality settings in the meantime. There is also an option to merge clips into one file as they are converted. Pretty handy, to be fair. Free Video Converter falls short of output format options compared to the aforementioned converter software, but they usually suffice for casual use. These options include AVI, MPEG, MP4, MP3, and a nice optimized one for iOS systems. There is no such limit on the input file formats, though. The user is also able to rip audio from video files and save it as an MP3.

Now, there are some downsides to the Free Video Converter. One big one is annoying ads that pollute the working environment. Secondly, the limit on output options. These things make the experience feel like a huge trial version of the software rather than the full thing. But all things considered, not to forget its accessibility to beginners, I believe it is a good fit for most amateur users. One last thing that must be mentioned is that it puts a watermark on your videos, which isn’t too intrusive for the most part.

4. Prism Video Converter

Prism Video Converter

Prism Video Converter is a solid choice for users that are looking to edit and convert videos. If you find yourself looking to make changes to the video clip you want to convert, then Prism Video Converter is the way to go.

The interface Prism Video Converter brings to the table is not exactly built for beginner users, but it has an easy learning curve. So, with good practice, you can learn the ins and outs of the software fairly quickly. Prism Video Converter has support for all standard video file formats and has many device-specific export options, such as for tablets and smartphones. Some more features that Prism offers basic video editing options like cropping, rotating, contrast and brightness adjustment, visual effects and filters, watermarks, text overlays, and many more essentials.

All this sounds brilliant, but there is a slight limitation to it. The free version of Prism Video Converter includes all the listed converting options and tools, but the massive video editing toolkit is only available for a few days. The converting features, once again, are totally free to use.

5. Handbrake

Handbrake Video Converter

Handbrake, the open-source video converting software, was seemingly taking its last breaths all the way back in 2006, as its original creator had abandoned it and left. However, that did not happen as some ambitious and determined software developers made sure to revive and regularly update it for years to come.

Let me tell you that they have made quite the comeback. The video converter now features some of the best comprehensive packages for converting and ripping videos on many common devices like smart TVs, iPhones, tablets, etc. The interface is put together dashingly well, as all the buttons and tabs for advanced features are placed in a very traditional and familiar way. Using Handbrake, you can adjust the frame rate, apply advanced filters, or use built-in presets if you want a quick and simple edit. Some file formats supported in Handbrake include MP4, MKV, and more, all made possible through transcoding.

Handbrake started as a Mac-only product, but now it is available for all platforms. So, if you are someone who works cross-platform often, then definitely give this converter a try.

6. VideoProc Video Converter

VideoProc Video Converter

VideoProc is another exceptionally powerful video converter that often goes unnoticed in the tech world. This converter allows the user to convert to and from many file formats, and its accessibility makes it a special favorite among beginners.

This video converter is compatible with more than 10,000 websites, including Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and Vimeo. You can use VideoProc to download 8K videos and audio files capped by 320kbps. When converting, its transcoding magic shines and makes sure the output quality is unscathed. Furthermore, there are more than 20 file formats you can export files to, such as FLAC, MP4, MP3, M4a, and many more. Several editing tools let you crop, rotate, add subtitles, and apply effects to your video. All in all, it is a great conversion solution.

7. DivX Video Converter

DivX Video Converter

DivX Video Converter comes with numerous beneficial input and output options and editing tools that allow users to tweak the videos they are converting.

Upon importing files, you can get them from your local hard drive, Blu-ray disks, Google Drive, or even DropBox. So, users can access remotely located data with great ease. Output from the DivX Video Converter is highly customizable, in addition to there being several predefined options. You can alter the bit rate and aspect ratio, fiddle with the resolution, and use other editing possibilities.

8. Format Factory

Format Factory

Format Factory is a great multi-purpose video and audio converter that comes with an assortment of useful editing tools that you can use to perfect your clips.

In addition to impressive conversion capabilities, you can crop, split, clip, join, and de-logo videos as well. You can also download clips directly from websites. Format Factory extends support for various file formats, such as MP3, MP4, 3GP, BMP, OGG, MPG, and many more. iPod and iPhone’s multimedia and formats are also supported.

9. Stellar Converter

Stellar Video Converter

Stellar Converter allows you to edit and polish your clips in addition to just converting clips to a comprehensive list of file formats.

Using Stellar Converter, you can apply special visual effects on your videos to give them a unique and personal look, replace the audio track on a video file, add subtitles or watermarks, create GIFs out of videos, and convert mass loads of clips with batch conversion. Furthermore, Stellar Converter has support for cameras, smartphones, MP3 players, and so on.

10. Hamster

Hamster Video Converter

Hamster is a decent video converter to end our recommendations list on. Let me tell you why.

One of the rarer features among video converters is present in Hamster, which lets you preview the video before processing it. There are no annoying ads, and you can export for a bunch of platforms like iPhone, iPod, iPad, PSP, PS3, Xbox, Apple TV, and many more.

Conclusion

We have discussed the 10 best free video converters, their features, and why they belong on a list like this. Hopefully, you will have found the right choice for yourself after this read! Lastly, if you have any other options in mind, make sure to tell us about them in the comment section below.