Tech Tip Tuesday: Convert Video...or almost anything else.

Web Address: http://formatoz.com/index.html

When working with multimedia, one of the greatest challenges is similar to traveling in Europe.  In the United States when we go down to  the store to buy a new appliance we give almost no thought as to whether our new toaster is going to work with the electricity in our house.  The plugs were made standard a long time ago, and so was the voltage.  For years, more than many of us have been alive, electricity has been standardized in the United States.  Europe is different.  Most of Europe runs on the same voltage, but their plug shapes are or at least were different.

Multimedia files are a bit like European plugs.  All video files are video, all audio files are audio, but the plug to get them to run may be different.  Just like traveling in Europe means you have to carry adapters to use electrical devices designed for another area, using multimedia may require an adapter.

Format Factory is just such an adapter.  This multipurpose file converter will let you convert on video format to another, one audio format to another, even convert PDF documents to Word or the other way around.  It is a great general purpose tool for teachers, or students who need to get media into a format that will work.  For example, Microsoft PowerPoint will not play Quicktime movies directly in PowerPoint, but with Format Factory, you can convert the .mov files to .wmv files and PowerPoint will nicely play the Windows Media format.

Try out Format Factory for free.  If you like it then the developers appreciate Donations.