encoding

WAV MP3 Converter offers many more possibilities than its simple descriptive name implies. With an incredibly easy-to-use layout and impressive list of conversion options, this is a great program that does more than expected.

The program's interface is impressively easy to navigate. Its commands are thinned down to the essentials and are intuitive to manage. The program's name implies this is simply a program for converting WAV files to MP3s, but fortunately it does more. Instead of a simple file converter, it turned out to be a highly flexible program that provides a slew of unexpected video and … Read more

Aglare MP3 AAC AC3 AMR Converter is a simple program that allows users to convert audio files to a variety of different formats. Although there was nothing about the program that particularly impressed us, we found it to be easy to use and effective.

The program's interface is basic, with all of its features contained on a single screen. Users simply choose the file or files they want to convert, select the output format from among seven options, optionally select the desired quality of the output, and click Convert. The program quickly converts files and saves them to the … Read more

With the advent of high-definition video, many people are finding that programs like Windows Media Player just aren't good enough anymore. HD video demands a player that can do it justice, and DivX 7 for Windows handles this task formidably.

DiVX 7 for Windows is actually a whole suite of utilities, including a player, converter, codec, Web player, and DirectShows filter. We put each of the applications through its paces and found them all to be intuitive and well designed. The player is specially designed to maximize the appearance and audio of high-definition video, and the converter allows users … Read more

Aglare All to MP3 AAC AC3 AMR Converter is a simple program that allows users to convert audio and video files to a variety of different audio formats. Although there was nothing about the program that particularly impressed us, we found it to be easy to use and effective.

The program's interface is basic, with all of its features contained on a single screen. Users simply choose the file or files they want to convert, select the output format from among five options, optionally select the desired quality of the output, and click Convert. The program quickly converts files … Read more

Muziic claims to offer users an enormous library of free music and videos within one simple program. While this is partially true, the program is actually just a glorified YouTube player, though a very nice one.

The program's layout is incredibly easy to understand and navigate, with a professional design and intuitive command icons. When you first open Muziic, you encounter a fancy interface that works a lot like YouTube. You can search for music--or any topic, for that matter--and watch the rundown of results on a small screen. This, its most important element, was unfortunately its weakest and … Read more

CHM Decoder takes the unpopular CHM file type, commonly used for Help files, and easily converts it to the more readable HTML. The program's simplicity is its biggest benefit, as it allows users of all skill levels to operate it.

The program's interface was simple for us to grasp; its major functions were divided into three tabs. Oddly, this program designed to convert Help files didn't contain one of its own. The three-step process was very intuitive, requiring us to locate the CHM file in question, select a destination for it, and simply convert it. We tested … Read more

SubEthaEdit is a full-featured text editor and live collaboration platform with many specialized tools for software developers. Its streamlined interface focuses on speedy workflow--whether you're working solo or in tandem--and several users can edit a single document simultaneously using a simple, Bonjour-based system that lets you effectively drag and drop fellow collaborators into (and out of) docs, without any cumbersome setup.

SubEthaEdit also puts a premium on customization, with detailed choices in its preferences, good interoperability with most third-party apps you're likely to be using (like FTP clients and IDEs), and support for AppleScript and multiple coding languages (… Read more

Making simple crop edits to videos of all formats shouldn't be tricky business, but most tools out there either do way too much or are so belabored with ads that no one knows what evil lurks within their code.

Open source on the GNU license, Avidemux for Windows and Mac is a breath of fresh air. Cropping a video is as simple as highlighting a section to remove and then hitting the Delete key. Re-encoding a video is equally painless: select the output format from the drop-down list, save the file, and you're good to go. When choosing … Read more

Re-encoding videos is a necessary evil of sharing things on the Web and getting them on your portable devices. If your computer is more than two years old, the chances are that the encoding process takes far longer than you have patience for. The good news is that if you've got a high-speed connection, you can use Hey!Watch, a new Web-based video encoding service that's both free (sort of) and pretty speedy if you've got a good connection.

You can upload nearly any type of video file to Hey!Watch's dashboard. A small progress bar … Read more