I’ve written about the VLC Media Player before. See A Better Replacement for Windows Media Player and Apple Quick Time. I swear by it and I’m not alone. Many video producers consider it their primary video viewer.
On the surface it is a straightforward video player, but it has many other capabilities. Such as it’s ability to convert video files. And it does a pretty good job. It may not be as powerful as Handbrake, but chances are you already have VLC (or you should) and the price is right- free!
Here’s how to convert a video file with VLC:
1. Go to Media, then click “Convert / Save.”
2. Under File / File Selection, click “Add”
3. Find the file you want to convert
4. Then at the bottom of the page, click “Convert / Save.”
5. On the next page under Profile choose the file type you want to covert to.
6. Name the file and choose a Destination.
7. Click “Start.”
WOW! This is awesome. I didn’t realize that VLC did all this. We get a lot of calls to our video production company asking if we can convert video files and I usually direct them to Google and the barrage of different programs on there. I know exactly where I will direct them from now on. Thanks Hal!
Glad you like it, Joe. I would charge those customers, not only is it as little more cash flow, but often one small job leads to others. You get to know someone who needs video services.
Thank you for this valuable information. I had no idea VLC was this powerful. This will help me greatly with my current situation. But there is a little problem when converting a video to mp4 it doesn’t keep the audio. Any thoughts on what else I could check to fix this. I used to convert video with Acethinker Video Converter, never had that problem.
Are you transcoding from Windows Media?
According to the wiki “VLC HowTo/Transcode from Windows Media format”
https://wiki.videolan.org/Transcode_WM_to_Mov_or_MP4/
At the time of this writing, VLC can’t transcode from the “MS Audio” codec. Yes, that’s “MS” as in “Micro$oft”.
But if you are coming from another format, it should work.