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Utilities
Audio
video transcoders
What are the best combined audio & video transcoders?
14
Options
Considered
87
User
Recs.
Nov 29, 2023
Last
Updated
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14
Options
Considered
Best combined audio & video transcoders
Price
Platforms
File Size
88
ffmpeg
-
Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD
-
82
HandBrake
-
-
-
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FormatFactory
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Windows
46M
--
VLC
-
Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, ChromeOS, AppleTV
-
--
GStreamer
-
-
-
See Full List
88
ffmpeg
My Rec
ommendation
for
ffmpeg
My Recommendation for
ffmpeg
All
9
Pros
7
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
Works on Linux, OS X and Windows.
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Top
Con
•••
Steep learning curve
Unless you use a front-end (that has reduced functionality), ffmpeg might be intimidating at first.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD
Top
Pro
•••
Powerful
In addition to having great flexibility over demuxer, decoder, processer, encoder, muxer choice and settings, ffmpeg can crop, stream, merge audio and video from different sources and perform many other tasks.
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Top
Pro
•••
Multiple graphical front-ends
There are multiple GUI implementations of ffmpeg for ease of use. Among the most commonly used WinFF (Windows, Linux), Avanti (Windows) and Miro (cross-platform) are worth taking a look at.
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Top
Pro
•••
Free and open source
Licensed under LGPL.
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Top
Pro
•••
Screen capture
You can use ffmpeg to record your desktop along with audio.
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Top
Pro
•••
Extensive list of formats supported
Among the more common formats ffmpeg can handle are h.264, HEVC(h.265), mp3, AAC, mpeg-4, wmv3, ProRes, QuickTime, SWF, Speex, FLAC, VP9 and many more. To get a full list in terminal type: ffmpeg-formats
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Top
Pro
•••
Excellent streaming support
Because ffmpeg allows transcoding on the fly and supports multiple streaming protocols such as rtmp, rtsp, http, ftp, hls, you can use it to stream to services such as twitch.tv or set up your own streaming solution. You can use both local realtime recordings or another stream as a source, transcode it if necessary, and output it to a different stream. ffmpeg -i rtmp://server/live/originalStream -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -vpre slow -f flv rtmp://server/live/h264Stream
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Get it
here
Recommend
31
82
HandBrake
My Rec
ommendation
for
HandBrake
My Recommendation for
HandBrake
All
16
Experiences
1
Pros
11
Cons
4
Top
Pro
•••
Great, easy to use presets
There are presets for everything, so you don't have to delve deep in to advanced features if you don't want or need to. And in most cases you won't have to because the presets are great.
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Top
Con
•••
Supports only two containers
You can output only .mp4 and .mkv.
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Peter J. Mello's Experience
For 90% of my transcoding tasks, Handbrake is my tool. While it has many limitations not found in ffmpeg, the presets are most often exactly what I needed in the first place, and the built-in preview feature saves me from ever having to repeat a rendering task because of a poor estimation of the final quality.
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Top
Pro
•••
Advanced features
Although HandBrake is pretty straightforward to use, you can adjust pretty much any aspect of your conversion if necessary. For example, when transcoding video you have the option of adjusting between constant and variable framerate, adjusting average bitrate and constant quality, having 2-pass encoding or not, as well as tinkering with encoder specific options, and many, many, many more options.
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Top
Con
•••
There is no way to preserve menus and special features
Menus and special features will typically not be included in the output from a handbrake encode. Third party software would need to be used.
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Top
Pro
•••
Fast
Since version 0.9.9. HandBrake has been very fast.
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Top
Con
•••
no linux support for hw acceleration
I know that it is not as high quality, but transcoding terabytes of 1080p videos to h265 without hw support isn't realistic and wont be for a long time
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Top
Pro
•••
Wide range of formats and multiple media types supported
HandBrake can handle DVDs, Blu-Rays, .mp4, .mkv, H.264(x264), MPEG-4, MPEG-2, AAC, MP3, FLAC, AC3, Vorbis, AC-3, DTS and DTS-HD among others.
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Top
Con
•••
Not for 1:1 archiving or true backup use
Most uses of Handbrake are lossy, lossless is possible but it usually entails crazy huge file sizes.
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Top
Pro
•••
Often works when dumping archiving disc to hard drive methods do not
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Top
Pro
•••
Free and open source
HandBrake is licensed under GPL.
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Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
HandBrake works on Windows, Linux and OS X.
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Top
Pro
•••
Lightweight
It is designed to convert, no added bloat.
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Top
Pro
•••
Good metadata support
HandBrake can pull, use and edit metadata.
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Top
Pro
•••
Command Line Interface option
There's HandBrakeCLI if you wish to use HandBrake frome a terminal.
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Top
Pro
•••
Encoding options are comprehensive but easy to use up front
The GUI makes it easy to encode by providing profiles and a simple GUI, but offers extensive encoding options for people willing to learn and spend time experimenting.
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here
Recommend
15
1
--
FormatFactory
My Rec
ommendation
for
FormatFactory
My Recommendation for
FormatFactory
All
6
Pros
5
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to use GUI
Uncluttered, intuitive interface.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows
File Size:
46M
Top
Pro
•••
Good variety of formats and media types supported
In addition to DVDs, BluRays, CDs and disk images, FormatFactory can handle mp4, 3gp, mpg, avi, wmv, flv, swf, mp3, wma, amr, ogg, aac, wav, jpg, bmp, png, tif, ico, gif and tga.
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Top
Pro
•••
Free
Proprietary code that you can use in whatever way you want, even for commerce.
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports batch converting
You can convert multiple files at a time.
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Top
Pro
•••
Lightweight
It is designed to convert, no added bloat.
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Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
7
--
VLC
My Rec
ommendation
for
VLC
My Recommendation for
VLC
All
11
Experiences
1
Pros
5
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
Windows, Linux and OS X versions of VLC are available.
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Top
Con
•••
Not really meant to be a music player
VLC is made to be a video player. Therefore, it won't carry out actions such as managing your music library.
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Yanis's Experience
VLC, always !
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, ChromeOS, AppleTV
Top
Pro
•••
Very versatile and easy to use
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Top
Con
•••
VLC was not the best tool for streaming non-stop TV signal.
It would crash down every 4~9 hours in many streaming case at Windows system.
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Top
Pro
•••
Can play every format video available (as of 2017)
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Top
Con
•••
Limited batch support
If you want to convert more than one file at a time, you have to use either the command line interface or resort to script writing at which point there is software that does it better.
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Top
Pro
•••
Free and open source
Licensed under LGPL.
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Top
Con
•••
Discards metadata
VLC does not keep original metadata when converting files.
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Top
Pro
•••
It's also a versatile media player
VLC can play practically any audio or video file you ask it to and if you're not looking for a dedicated heavy-duty transcoder, but just something that can do it once in a while, you can avoid installing a separate tool by using VLC.
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Get it
here
Recommend
8
1
--
GStreamer
My Rec
ommendation
for
GStreamer
My Recommendation for
GStreamer
All
6
Pros
6
Top
Pro
•••
Powerful
In addition to having great flexibility over demuxer, decoder, processer, encoder, muxer choice and settings, GStreamer can clip, crop, stream, extract frames, merge audio and video from different sources and perform many other tasks.
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Top
Pro
•••
Extendable
You can dynamically load plugins and implement different libraries to extend functionality.
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Top
Pro
•••
Excellent debugger
GStreamer can give you detailed information about the pipeline and each individual process it's running.
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Top
Pro
•••
Excellent variety of formats
Among the more common formats GStreamer can handle are h.264, HEVC(h.265), mp3, AAC, mpeg-4, wmv3, ProRes, QuickTime, SWF, Speex, FLAC, VP9 and it can also be extended with other libraries to support different formats.
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Top
Pro
•••
Free and open-source
Licensed under LGPL.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
Available on Windows, OS X, and Linux.
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Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
8
1
--
Shutter Encoder
My Rec
ommendation
for
Shutter Encoder
My Recommendation for
Shutter Encoder
All
4
Pros
3
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Free and open-source
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac
Top
Pro
•••
Powerful Cropping Support
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Subtitle Embedding
See More
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
1
--
XMedia Recode
My Rec
ommendation
for
XMedia Recode
My Recommendation for
XMedia Recode
All
5
Experiences
1
Pros
4
Top
Pro
•••
Filters
Crop, resolution, denoise, blur, sharpness, rotate, smart blur, etc. loudness normalization, volume correction, etc.
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TruthfulSharraItu's Experience
whole and multiple functions. very logical edit order. added more functions and being optimal with frequently updating.
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Top
Pro
•••
Bitrate control modes
VBR, 2-pass VBR, CQP, ICQ/LA-ICQ, etc.
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Top
Pro
•••
Hardware acceleration
Intel Quick Sync, NVENC/cuda, AMD.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Many codec types
H264, HEVC, VP9, AV1, etc. AAC, HE-AAC, HE-AAC V2, opus, vorbis, flac, ape, etc.
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Hide
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Get it
here
Recommend
4
--
libav
My Rec
ommendation
for
libav
My Recommendation for
libav
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
3
--
MediaCoder
My Rec
ommendation
for
MediaCoder
My Recommendation for
MediaCoder
Hide
Free
Recommend
2
--
Axiom
My Rec
ommendation
for
Axiom
My Recommendation for
Axiom
All
1
Specs
Specs
Platforms:
Windows
Technology:
C#
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
1
--
Vidcoder
My Rec
ommendation
for
Vidcoder
My Recommendation for
Vidcoder
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
1
--
Hybrid
My Rec
ommendation
for
Hybrid
My Recommendation for
Hybrid
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
1
--
Selene
My Rec
ommendation
for
Selene
My Recommendation for
Selene
All
2
Experiences
1
Pros
1
Top
Pro
•••
Works like a charm
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Rafael Linux User's Experience
Easy UI but powerfull
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Hide
free
Recommend
1
--
TEncoder
My Rec
ommendation
for
TEncoder
My Recommendation for
TEncoder
All
1
Experiences
1
FearlessRaetTawy's Experience
easy batchprocessing
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Hide
FREE
Recommend
1
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