There is no need to be an expert in media codecs and video transcoding to convert your movies and other videos into files that your favorite smart phone, console, tablet, or web portal can play. Ashampoo Video Converter offers you one of the simplest video conversion tools, with support for the most common video codecs (up to 4K resolutions), audio file formats (both lossy and lossless), and with output presets for the most popular devices.
The entire conversion process takes but three simple (and predictable) steps – select the source video files, your favorite output format, and wait for the program to finish the conversion process. Apart from a slider in the main window cryptically labeled “Quality”, the option to merge all videos on the list into a single output file, and a simple (also slider-based) editing tool to perform simple color and lighting adjustments to the original videos, you won’t find any other settings or options to distract you from the program’s easy three-step conversion process.
By looking at the output formats list, it is clear that Ashampoo Video Converter is a device-centered tool. Actually, the list of video and audio codecs supported is not that long – AVI, WMV, MPG, MP4, and MKV on the video side, and a slightly longer list (MP3, FLAC, AAC, Ogg, OPUS, WMA, and WAV) on the audio side, which is strange for a “video converter”. Clearly, if simplicity of use is what you’re after, a wide collection of device-based presets is much more attractive (and probably more practical) than a list of codec acronyms that are unknown to the average potential user.
This high level of simplicity and the program’s lack of complex settings do not seem to compromise the overall output quality. The app has been set to produce the best quality possible regardless of the output profile selected by the user. The Quality slider will help you adjust the output resolution in an intuitive yet not-too-clear way. The video editor comes with sliders for brightness, contrast, gamma, sharpness, and saturation values, together with simple rotation and mirror controls. The great thing is that you can see the results (and compare them with the original image) in real time as the video selected is playing, which is the most intuitive and simple way of editing your videos.
You can convert as many videos as you wish in one single operation, but only to one of the formats or presets available. No multi-output conversion is supported, which, in these multi-device times can be a serious flaw for some potential users. Conversion speed is not another of its assets. The app tries to make use of your system’s multi-thread capabilities to convert simultaneously as many files as cores are available. However, instead of speeding up the process, it seems to just clog up your system’s overall performance.
Ashampoo Video Converter is simpler and more intuitive than many of its competitors. It also offers good-quality results, and even lets you apply some basic edits to the output image. For the proposed price tag, however, you can get similar results and a higher level of flexibility and customization in a number of similar tools, but if it is ease of use and straightforward conversion processes that you want to buy, this is surely a serious option to consider.
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