If you have video files in different formats on your hard drive you need to convert them to formats playable on devices like iPhone, Android Phone and Computer. Meet EasyBrake freeware portable video converter which uses HandBrake engine to convert video files from input formats like 3GP, AVI, FLV, M2t, M2Ts, MKV, Mp4, QT, W4V etc. to MKV or MP4 output format.
Download the program zip file, extract its contents to a folder and run EasyBrake executable, the program with intuitive interface offers icons at the center of program window to open files and convert them.
By opening Settings panel (which opens on right-side of window when you click icon top right side corner of program window) you can able to change output conversion format to most used MP4 format where MKV is selected by default.
EasyBrake offers various profiles to choose from normal profile, High profile, iPhone, iPod, iPod touch, Android, if you want to convert video to play on iPhone you can choose iPhone profile and then convert video file to MP4 or MKV to play on that device. By choosing custom profile you can able to set video bitrate and audio bitrate to your liking. EasyBrake supports Audio codecs AAC, AC3 and MP3.
Converting video is quick and easy, click on center icon to open file and select the file and click open where Command window appears showing encoding progress, once completed it will close and you won’t get any message when conversion is completed, you need to navigate to directory where you selected file from to see the output file and try to play in media player.
You can open conversion list (click on icon located at bottom of window) to open a file, set the parameters and click + sign to add to the list and click open and convert button at the center to complete the conversion.
There’s a free program called ‘XMedia Recode’ that I use and I frankly think is one of the best multimedia converter software out there.
XMedia Recode is like the dbpoweramp of video; it can convert between 50 different formats and from disc media as well (even .vob files if you can believe that), it actually trumps dbpoweramp because not only does it allow you to encode between video formats, it also allows you to encode audio from both audio formats and video formats, whereas dbpoweramp can only do that latter two, not video to video, as a final nail in the confine for dbpoweramp, XMedia Recode also supports many of the audio formats supported by that dbpoweramp encoder (all the format codecs come package within XMedia Recode sparing you the need of downloading them individually a la dbpoweramp), costomisation level of how you want the audio to be encoded is broader too.
Even if you’re not too savvy when it comes to all the parameters that pertain to encoding multimedia video/audio containers, XMedia Recode allows you to encode 1:1 quality ‘essentially’ (at least in terms of file size and perceptive quality*) and it does so in only a few seconds for even larger files** (it will take longer when not encode 1:1 or encoding from disc media). Having some understanding of the conventions used in video is a real necessity when you want to tailor a video specifically to the way you want it.
There is a portable version too, the only crutch to XMedia Recode that I can think of is that it still can’t do subtitle embeddment.
In regards to EasyBrake, I think that it’s a great piece of software , I don’t like how the developers of HandBrake seem to keep stripping functionality out of it.
* Some formats store and compress data more efficiently than others, encoding into a more economic format than the original but yet maintaining the same file size as the original, is just wasteful, some formats are virtually the same though.
** to encode a 1:1 copy from one format to another simply drag and drop the video you want to convert into the software > Select the format you want to convert to in the format tab section (of all place) > click the video tab and check the ‘copy video box’ at bottom (you won’t see it if your screen is smaller than 1240×1024) > click the audio tab and select copy audio in the ‘modus’ drop-down menu > click the jobs tab, click the green plus sign at the top to import the file then click the ‘encode’ button at the top and in a few second the file will be converted.
@XenoSilvano
Thanks for all information, will look into XMedia Recode later.
@Venkat – Sure thing d(^-^ )
Thank you for enlightening us with the information you put into Techdows
(This is a great site I come here at least once a day)
Sorry for having written such a long comment, I couldn’t help myself.
This is another excellent resource comparing video converters: http://www.real.com/resources/compare-video-converter-features It explains the different types of converters available and helps point out important features to be looking for when shopping around.