There are several shareware and freeware applications that allow you to convert
between codecs and video formats - one such tool is Stoik's amazing free
product - Stoik Video
Converter.
You'll find Stoik Video Converter listed under the free downloads
section on the Stoik website.
Open Stoik Video Converter - the application as you can see
has an easy, single screen interface (see screenshot).
Let's go through all the options:
Input File: Browse to and choose the input video file. Stoik Video
Converter can open AVI (including DV AVI), MPEG, DAT (Video CD) and WMV (WindowsMedia)
files.
Output File: Choose the name and location of your output video file.
Output File Type: You can save the output as AVI and WMV videos.
Rendering Options: If you check the option that says 'Keep input file
parameters' Stoik Video Converter will retain the input video file properties
like video size and frame rate.
If you want to change these options, remove the check next to this option
and you'll find that the Video and Audio buttons are no longer grayed out.
Clip Splitting Mode: Since we are only converting codecs and formats
in this tutorial, I've chosen the 'Don't split video to clip sequence' option.
Compression Options: You'll find two drop down selection boxes here
where you can choose any of the video and audio codecs installed on your
system.
If you need to distribute your video, or include it in a presentation that
has to be distributed, choose a common video codec like Cinepak or Intel
Indeo (see screenshot above).
Similarly, choose a common audio codec like Microsoft ADPCM. Click Start.
Stoik Video Converter starts saving the new video output file
with a new codec and format applied (see screenshot).
Stoik Video Converter does so much more than what you learnt in
this basic tutorial -for instance, you can split videos to a file
sequence. You can also resize videos.
