FLV

With FLV in use as a popular format for streaming videos, not having a player capable of working with these files is problematic for many Mac users. 4Media FLV to MP4 Converter for Mac allows users to convert these files into more common types, albeit with a fairly high price tag for its limited functionality.

We tested the free trial version of 4Media FLV to MP4 Converter; those who want to convert more than three minutes of video will need to pay $29.99. 4Media FLV to MP4 Converter for Mac downloads quickly and installs well. It also has good … Read more

Video-hosting sites like YouTube are also a great source of free tunes. Even if the audio quality isn't usually the best, at least you can hear the song you're searching for, maybe with a video of a turntable spinning the vinyl original. You can save the YouTube vid, but to play the tune on your MP3 player or add it to your MP3 collection, you'll need to extract the audio. That's easy to do, though: Just convert Flash videos saved from YouTube and other sites into MP3s. Generally speaking, you have two choices: 1) an all-in-one … Read more

Total Video Player is a free media player that can play most of the video and audio files most people need to be able to play, as well as CDs and DVDs. It's compact and doesn't require extra codecs, though if there's a type of file you need to play and TVP doesn't play it, you're better off with one of the open source players that can play any file type. What TVP has to offer over those others is simplicity: It's easy to set up and use, though it's not stripped-down or … Read more

Total Video Converter is a program for converting and ripping videos to formats that are supported by a number of common electronic devices like the iPhone.

The overall design and features of this program are simple and easy to navigate. The main features are all accessible from the main window, and Total Video Converter also gives you quick and easy instructions on startup. The conversion time will be different for each task that you do, depending on the file size as well as format, but it handles most of the popular formats, including mp4, 3gp, xvid, divx mpeg4 avi, amr … Read more

If you'd like to download and save videos from YouTube but don't care for some of the more versatile (read: "complex") video tools out there, 1-Click YouTube Downloader might be what you're looking for. As the name suggests, it can download videos with a single click, more or less; certainly with less effort than any similar tool we've tried. While it's a bit thin on options, that's in keeping with its keep-it-simple mission statement; nevertheless, it does cover the basics. Naturally, 1-Click YouTube Downloader is freeware: After all, YouTube is free, too!… Read more

Digital video is a wonderful thing -- until it's not. With so many different file formats out there, you're bound to run into one that either doesn't work with your media player or is otherwise unsuitable for your purposes. Fortunately, there are plenty of programs out there that convert digital video from one format to another. Prism Video File Converter Free is an easy-to-use program that lets you convert video between a variety of popular formats. We weren't crazy about the other stuff it installed, but the program itself was a winner.

Prism Video File Converter … Read more

DVDVideoSoft's Free Video to Flash Converter has one purpose, two file types, four quality levels, and many uses. Its single mission is to convert various video files into one of two file types for posting online. It converts most common video formats into Flash (FLV) and Shockwave Flash (SWF) files you can post on your Web site or blog. When it's done, it plays a preview of your converted video in your browser. For SWF files, Free Video to Flash Converter also generates all the HTML code and documents you need, too.

Free Video to Flash Converter has … Read more

There are plenty of programs out there that can download your favorite videos from YouTube and other video sites, but the average media player can't play the FLV format that such videos come in. FLV.com FLV Player is a basic program that lets you view FLV files, as well as several other video formats--in theory, anyway. If you want to watch FLV files, the program is fine, but with other supposedly supported formats we didn't have much luck.

The program's interface is pretty bare bones, with just a few buttons across the top for opening files … Read more

YouTube Grabber & Accelerator is a free YouTube downloader that actually works well, even in Windows 7. It's also a download accelerator that speeds downloads by simultaneously combining multiple threads as they're downloaded and displays useful data while it's doing it.

Downloading Flash videos from YouTube and other video sharing sites with YouTube Grabber & Accelerator is as easy as copying and pasting a URL. We browsed to YouTube and selected some short animation. We copied the page's URL from our browser's address bar into YouTube Grabber and clicked Start. A compact download dialog opened … Read more