Each file on your computer can have different formats, and not all of them can be managed with the programs in our possession. That's why it may be necessary to convert a file from one format to another, targeting very popular formats that are easily manageable from any PC or any device.In this article we will see together all programs and applications to be used to convert any type of file into different formats.
Using a software program installed on your PC is preferable because, usually, there are more options and so you don't need to worry about privacy issues when uploading files online.
Convert video files (including DVDs and online videos)
To "rip" a DVD to a smaller video file to keep it on your PC or to watch it on your smartphone, a great program is Handbrake, definitely the best program to use for the purpose.
You load the video file or the optical disc, choose one of the predefined profiles (you can also customize them) and start the conversion.
In this regard we can read the guide how to convert Video, from Divx to DVD and from DVD to Divx or MP4.
As an alternative to Handbrake we can use the program Freemake video converter, which is one of the best for converting video on PC, easy to use and able to transform a video file into the most popular formats such as MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, WebM.
The predefined profiles allow you to create videos suitable for iPad, Android, Smart TV, console and other multimedia devices.
Convert audio files
Audacity is by far the best program to convert audio files from one format to another, even if it is not very easy to use.
This program is great for transforming CDs into MP3 or other formats such as flac, Ogg and Wma, just load the file to convert or use a CD as an audio source, then export the project in the desired audio format.
As much simpler programs to use we find automatic conversion tools such as Freemake audio converter, very good to use for beginners.
To convert audio files without using programs we can upload the file to the site average, an online audio conversion service.
To set your favorite song as your mobile ringtone you can use Audiko, a web application to create ringtones from MP3 files.
Convert ebook
To convert an Ebook into the most used standard format, Epub or other formats, the only program to use is caliber, the best for reading Ebook on PC which also provides conversion capability of the various uploaded ebooks.
Just open the ebook within the program and use your voice Convert books to get the ebooks in the desired format (very useful for example on Kindles, which support few e-book formats and we must therefore convert them).
Also worth noting in this section Flipsnack, a web app to convert PDF documents into a digital book to browse.
Convert Office and PDF documents
We have recently seen all the ways to convert a file created with MS Office programs to PDF; one of the best programs is definitely Doxillion Document Converter Software.
To be able to convert documents, simply load the files to be converted into the program, choose the target format and click on Convert, so as to have the documents in the desired format.
If we are interested in carrying out the opposite conversion, even if not always with satisfactory results, we can read our guide on how to transform PDF into editable Word documents.
Another category of programs useful for document conversion are OCR programs, for converting scanned sheets into files for editing.
The program is also excellent and worth mentioning Cometdocs, a cloud document manager, which implements a new PDF conversion menu when you right-click on a document.
Convert images
To convert a photo from one format to another you can use IrfanView, great program that allows you to convert image files even in batches, that is many in a single operation.
To use the conversion tool of this program we will have to click on Fillet -> Batch Conversion / Rename, select the files to convert, choose the final format and proceed with the conversion.
Alternatively we can use websites for convert PDF to JPG images quickly and easily, or use other websites for transform video into GIF images in a simple and fast way.
Speaking of photos and images, we must also point out Convert Icons, a website capable of converting any image into icons for use on Windows or Mac.
Convert web pages
If we want to convert the sites we visit to PDF to be able to read them offline, we can use the sites recommended in the guide save web pages to PDF to achieve the desired result, in particular using online tools such as PDFmyURL o Web2PDF.
Another site that we can use for the purpose is Favefilters, able to turn a blog into a newspaper in PDF format to download and read anywhere.
Universal tools for converting files of all types
Instead of using a different program for each type of file or for each category of formats, we can also focus on all-in-one programs, which allow you to convert video files, images, audio, documents and so on in just a few clicks.One of the best programs to convert all multimedia, video, audio and image files is definitely Format Factory, powerful, free and very popular.
Just load the files to convert and choose, in the left column, the type of file to convert to, so as to be able to obtain the desired result whatever our conversion needs.
As an alternative we can use websites that support the conversion of practically any file format; the best universal converter sites are Zamzar, convertfiles E Youconvertit, which work for free without having to register an account, where you just need to upload the file and choose the desired format.
In addition to PDFs, the ZamZar site allows you to convert any file to your chosen formatbe it an audio, video, image or text document.
A very powerful free program that works as a universal converter è Adapter which has a whole host of tools to convert audio, video and images. For videos, the converter can convert to formats such as Animated GIF, Apple, General, Sony, Tablet, Nintendo, Microsoft and Mobile Phones. For audio conversion you can create a file in MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless Audio, Waveform Audio, iPhone Ringtone, OGG Vorbis, Waveform, Dolby Digital AC-3 and Matroska Audio. As an image converter, the converter works with formats such as JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP.
If you have problems with a file format, we recommend that you read the guide on how find the program to open an unknown and unrecognized file.
