6. A Brief Look at Web-Based Tools

If your video only requires conversion to a different format or a minimal amount of editing, there are Web-based tools available that can do the job at no charge.

Mux

One of these free services is Mux, which accepts video in a wide range of formats, from both Websites and as uploads from your hard drive. It can convert video based on hardware device, including iPhone / iPod, Windows Media (for Microsoft’s Zune player) and DivX (for DivX-enabled set-top DVD players).

Mux can also convert based on a desired format. The available formats include 3GPP Mobile, DivX, AVI, Flash Video, PSP MPEG-4, MPEG-4, MPEG-4 (H.264), MPEG 1/2, MP4 Mobile, OGG Theora, QuickTime and Windows Media. Audio-only conversion is available in the AMR (Mobile Audio) and MP3 formats.

When using Mux, there are some limitations to keep in mind. Mux restricts the size of uploads to 30 MB, which in many cases won’t be enough to upload a 10 to 30 second video taken with a point-and-shoot camera. Also, there are no options available when choosing a format. For example, you can’t set the bit rate for your new file, and if you choose a format with multiple codec options (such as QuickTime), you can’t select which codec you’d like to use (in my test upload, Mux chose MPEG-4 for the QuickTime codec, which is definitely one of the better choices).

Mux also makes available an API (Application Programming Interface) for developers who would like to create their own Mux-based applications.

Media Convert

Media Convert is a service similar to what Mux offers. The formats it accepts include AVI, DV, Flash (FLV), Flash (SWF), MOV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4, OGG and WMV.

Media Convert enables some user control of the conversion process. You can set the bit rate for both audio and video, which is a very important feature. You can also perform minor editing such as resizing, audio resynchronization, volume adjustment and trimming the beginning or ending from a video.

Media Convert exports in many file formats, including AVI, Flash (FLV), Flash (SWF), MOV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4, OGG and WMV. Presets are available for exporting to devices including the Apple iPhone/iPod, Microsoft Zune, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and Sony PSP. Plus, there are two generic Mobile Phone presets available.

Media Convert allows for uploads of up to 150 MB. Although this will still exclude many point-and-shoot camera videos, it’s a fairly generous file size allowance. Note that when using either Mux or Media Convert, your video could get stuck in a queue before it is processed.

Both sites can notify you when your video is ready by email.

Some Notes for YouTube Users

Media Convert’s ability to export in the FLV format may be particularly useful for those uploading video to YouTube (and perhaps other “tube” sites as well). Some YouTube users claim that when uploading a video that’s already in the FLV format, YouTube skips its usual video-conversion process. In theory at least, this would allow you to upload a high-quality FLV file, instead of letting YouTube’s FLV converter heartlessly stomp on your video and destroy its quality.

Also, both Mux and Media Convert can grab video from YouTube and convert it to a more acceptable format for downloading. Of course, once YouTube has converted a video to its FLV format, quite a bit of quality has already been lost. But in some cases, you can force YouTube to provide its “Higher Quality” version of your file to Mux or Media Convert, instead of settling for YouTube “Normal Quality” standard. By adding “&fmt=18” to the end of your video’s URL, YouTube will automatically make available the Higher Quality file (if one is available) instead of the usual “Normal Quality” file.

Example: Instead of the URL “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMArxQZjPjM” Use the URL “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMArxQZjPjM&fmt=18”

I don’t know for how long this YouTube mini-hack will continue working, so you might want to try it quickly. It won’t give you true high-quality video, but there is a definite difference versus standard YouTube video. I did send YouTube an extensive email asking for information about its compression process, but as you might have guessed, YouTube isn’t sharing that information, at least not yet.