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Format factory to make accelerated playback. How to convert video and audio - Format Factory. Combining audio and video

If you need to change the format of a file, most users turn to the Format Factory program for help. This is because this application has the widest, by the standards of converter programs, tools and a user-friendly interface. This article will explain in detail how to use Format Factory.

How to change the format

"Format Factory" is a well-known program for converting a huge number of formats. It can work with both video and audio files. So, let's move on directly to how to use the “Format Factory”.

As mentioned, the software interface is quite simple, however, due to the extensive tools regular user It may be difficult to use. From the description of the Format Factory program, it becomes clear that its main function is format conversion. Accordingly, it would be logical to start the “Format Factory” operating manual by using this option. So, to change the file format, you need to follow the following sequence of actions:

  1. Launch the application.
  2. All possible file extensions will be listed on the left side of the window that appears. You need to select the one into which you want to transcode any file on your computer. After this, left-click on the corresponding icon. Let's say we want to change ISO format at CSO in the “Format Factory”. How to use this opportunity? Just select the CSO format from the panel.
  3. A window will appear in which you need to directly add the file itself for conversion. To do this, click the “Add file” button.
  4. In the window that appears file manager In Explorer, open the folder with this file, in our case the ISO file, select it and click the Open button.
  5. In the “Destination folder” field, specify the directory where the modified file will be added.
  6. Click OK.
  7. In the main program window, click “Start”.

Immediately after this, the conversion process will start. Wait for it to finish, then open the previously selected folder. It will contain the modified file. This is how easy it is to change the extension of a file, but this is only the first stage of the guide on how to use Format Factory.

How to trim a video

In addition to simple conversion, you can also trim videos in the Format Factory program. This is very useful feature, since there is no need to install heavy video editors that have a huge number of all sorts of, essentially speaking, unnecessary functions. In addition, this action can be performed right at the time of conversion:

  1. Select the format you want to convert the video to. If you don't want to do this, then select the original one.
  2. In a new window, add an entry. Let us remind you that this is done by clicking the “Add file” button.
  3. Click on the "Clip" button.
  4. After this, a window will appear in which you can trim off the excess. To do this, in the Set Range section, enter the Start Time and End Time of the source entry. For convenience, you can view the recording itself directly in the same window.
  5. Click OK.

How to reduce video size

Although the description of the “Format Factory” does not indicate the ability to compress video, it is still present. By the way, this manipulation is performed relatively simply:

  1. As in previous cases, open the program, select the format to convert and add an entry.
  2. After adding an entry to the program, click the “Settings” button.
  3. In the window that appears, find the Bitrate line and select a value from the drop-down list opposite it. The lower it is, the less the output file will “weigh”. But it is worth considering that its quality will also decrease.

After completing the steps, all that remains is to click the “OK” button, select the folder to save the file and click the “OK” button again.

How to rotate a video

If you need to rotate the video in any way, then you need to do the following:

  1. Open the program, select the format you are going to convert the video to, add the source recording and click the “Settings” button.
  2. In the window that appears, scroll through the list of parameters to the very end.
  3. In the "Advanced" section, click on the "Rotate" drop-down list.
  4. Select which direction you want to rotate the image.
  5. You can also mirror it horizontally or vertically and even deinterlace it.

After that, you will need to apply the changes by clicking “OK”, specify the output folder and click “OK” to start the conversion.

How to cut audio track from video

In the conversion settings, you can remove the audio track from the video. This is done very simply:

  1. Select the source video format.
  2. Add a video from which you want to remove the sound.
  3. Click the Settings button.
  4. In the list of options, find the “Mute” option.
  5. In the drop-down list opposite, select “Yes”.

After this, as when using the options described above, all you have to do is apply the selected option, specify the directory in which the file will be placed, and click the “OK” button.

How to extract audio track from video

Have you found a video whose video sequence is not interesting to you, but the sound itself is important? Using Format Factory, you can easily extract MP3 from any video:

  1. Open the program.
  2. In the "Audio" section, select the audio format you want to output.
  3. Click "Add File" and select the video from which you want to extract music.
  4. Click the Clip button.
  5. Specify the fragment of the recording from which you want to extract sound.
  6. Specify the save folder and click OK.
  7. In the main application window, click on the “Start” button.

After this, the process of extracting the composition will begin. As a result, you will receive an audio file without video.

How to join two videos

You already know a lot about how to use Format Factory, but this is not the end of the program's capabilities. Let's consider another function of this converter - combining two different videos. Unlike previous manipulations, this action is not performed in the conversion settings window. Here's what you need to do:

  1. Launch the Format Factory application.
  2. In the “Video” section on the left sidebar, click on the “Merge Video” icon.
  3. In the window that appears, click the “Add file” button.
  4. In the file manager window that opens, go to the folder with the videos, select the files that you want to combine, and click the “Open” button.
  5. Now you need to specify the format to which they will be converted. Let us remind you that you can leave the original one if you wish. The selection occurs in the corresponding drop-down list at the top of the window.
  6. Just like in previous cases, you can set Extra options convertible record.
  7. After completing all preparations, click the “OK” button.

After this, all you have to do is click the “Start” button and wait for the conversion process to complete, which, depending on the size of the files, can take quite a long time. So we looked at the last, but not the last, function of the program in this article.

Conclusion

This is probably the end of this kind of guide on how to use Format Factory. Obviously, the program has a huge number of functions that are convenient and quite easy to use in practice. Note that the program supports 66 languages, including Russian. By following the above instructions, you can easily perform various manipulations with multimedia files.

This section contains answers to the most frequently asked questions, as well as various problems and their decisions.

Conversion

Sequencing:

  • Open the corresponding section (Audio, Video, Photo).
  • Select the format to which the file will be converted.
  • Click “Add file” and specify its location.
  • In the “Configure” menu, set the required values, if necessary.
  • Click “OK” and then start the process by clicking the “Start” button.

If you need to customize the program for yourself:

  • Open the video settings tab (for example, through the “All in AVI” item).
  • Select the desired item with the parameter. After clicking on the triangle from the drop-down list, you will be able to change it.
  • You will have access to settings: codec, size, bitrate, frequency, volume and others
  • After clicking “Ok” the settings will be saved.

Presets

The developers have provided the ability to work in a few clicks using presets. By switching to the profile tab, all parameters will be set depending on the selected preset.

Copying music from CD

To copy Audio CD music you need:

  • Go to the “Rom Device\DVD\CD\ISO” section.
  • Select "Audio CD to files".
  • Select drive letter.
  • Mark the required tracks.
  • Select the format to which the songs will be converted.
  • On the menu " Top quality» you can adjust the quality of audio files.
  • After setting, press “START”.

Saving task lists

The following operations must be performed:

  • Drag files onto the program interface.
  • Select the format to convert.
  • Adjust file quality.
  • Open the "Task" menu.
  • Select “Save Task List” and specify the location to save the list.

To load the task list, you must select “Load Task List” accordingly.

Combining audio and video

To combine an audio track and video recording you must:

  • Open the “Advanced” section.
  • Select "MUX".
  • In the menu that opens, add an audio file and video recording. To edit videos, you can use “Settings”.
  • Select the format and quality of the final video.
  • Click “OK” and “Start”.

Error 0x00000001 Format Factory. What to do?

Format Factory error 0x00000001 occurs as a result of an incorrectly selected target format. For example, if you choose to convert an MP3 file to the same format. To resolve this error, you must select a different final format.

Format Factory how to trim video?

To trim a video you need to:

  • Drag the required video file onto the work area of ​​the program interface.
  • In the window that appears, select the format, select the video quality level and click “OK”.
  • Right-click on the video and select “Settings”.
  • Use the slider or exact values ​​to set the “Start Time” and “End Time”.
  • Click "OK" and start converting.

Video conversion

Converting video files is done using simple sequential operations:

  • Select the video file you are going to work with and drag it onto the program interface.
  • Select the required format from the menu that appears. You can also select the audio format, thus cutting the audio track from the video.
  • Open the “Indicator” section and select the required quality level. You can either use templates or enter the values ​​yourself. The most important parameters are "Video size" and "Bitrate".
  • Click "OK". If necessary, change the destination folder and click OK.
  • To start converting the file, click the “Start” button.

Format factory illegal file name. How to fix?

This error is usually caused by the use of Cyrillic in the names of the folders in which the source file is located. To solve this problem, move your file to a folder with a name consisting of Latin letters or to the root of the disk.


Converting multimedia files with Format Factory

This program is a powerful converter of multimedia files of various formats. It has support for more than 60 languages ​​and can be installed on both Windows and Linux systems. What is especially important is that this applies software free of charge, but its capabilities are quite large. This converter itself is easy to use, but some points are better described in detail. So, let's try to figure out what capabilities Format Factory has. First you should install it on your computer.
After installing the program and launching it, the main menu appears in front of the user.

The purpose of the “Themes” and “Language” buttons is quite obvious. With their help, you can change the appearance and language of the program interface. But the “Help” button will allow you to go to the Format Factory developer website, check the availability new version or just look at the history of changes that were made to this version of this converter.
Now let's move on to the main functions of the program, that is, converting files. All file formats are listed on the left and divided into categories - video, audio, photo.
Mostly the most common multimedia file formats are presented here. So in the “Video” section you will definitely find the ability to convert files to avi, mp4, mkv, wmv. Total in the last this moment version of the program, this category contains 16 different formats. There are 12 of them in the “Audio” section, and 8 in the “Photo” section.
Let's try to convert one of the video files located on your computer. To do this, click on the icon of the format into which your file should be converted. A new window will appear in front of you. It will be quite easy to understand.

Here you select and add a suitable file, indicate its future parameters, as well as the location on your computer where it will be placed after the conversion is completed.
First of all, click the “Add File” button and select the video that you would like to convert. Once the file has been added, proceed to the configuration buttons. There are two of them, and each of them is responsible for what characteristics the file will have after conversion. The top button is responsible for features such as codecs, file resolution, frame, aspect ratio, etc.

The second (bottom) settings button is responsible for parameters such as recording length. It can be kept in full, or cut down to the size you need. You just need to specify the start and end time of the future video file. It is this fragment that will be cut from the sample. If you check the “Crop” box, you can crop the image around the edges.

After selecting all the settings, all that remains is to indicate the location on the computer where the new, converted file will be created. Then click the “OK” button, which returns you to the main menu again. Now it will look something like this.

The user just has to click the “Start” button and the conversion process will begin. Its duration will depend on various factors, but primarily on the file size.
In the case of audio files and photos, the sequence of user actions remains virtually unchanged. Of course, these processes have their own characteristics, for example, when setting settings (top button). They will be different for audio, video and photos. For images, the lower settings button will be absent, because in this case we are not talking about any range selection.

For those people who often use the same conversion option for a certain type of file, it is worth pointing out one option that will make their work easier. The fact is that choosing an extension for a future file, and then specifying all the settings for it again each time, can be somewhat tedious. To avoid all these difficulties, after you select certain settings for the file, click the “Save As” button in that window and enter a name for this profile. In the future, when you start the program, you will see the “All in Expert” icon.

Just click on it, and you won’t have to waste time once again specifying file parameters.

Now a few words about other functions of this program, which are located at the very bottom of the left panel. The “ROM device” column contains several options for converting CDs and DVD discs. Their contents can be saved on your computer in various audio or video file formats. At the same time, it is possible to create a disk image with an iso or cso extension. There are not so many settings for each of these actions, so there is no need to describe them in detail.

In the last, lowest column “Advanced”, there are functions such as combining audio and video files, as well as a multimedia file analyzer, which allows you to find out all their characteristics after a short check.

As you can see, Format Factory has enough wide possibilities for converting both individual multimedia files and entire DVD discs. The developers are gradually correcting errors that can sometimes be encountered when converting files to some of the formats. Therefore, we can expect that the potential of this program will only increase over time.
On

Hello everyone Today we will talk about such a program as Format Factory, or Format Factory, whichever you prefer. This program is so-so free converter video and audio formats, as well as pictures. Understands almost all formats, can prepare a file for use on mobile device. What does this mean? Well, that is, if you have an interesting movie and want to watch it on your smartphone, then the Format Factory program will help you prepare it for your smartphone: it will reduce the resolution and quality, due to which the weight of the film will decrease and it can be easily downloaded to your smartphone. And the lighter the film, the easier it is to play it on a smartphone, well, this is kind of in theory. The same can be done with music and with pictures...

In general, guys, this is some kind of format converter, how good it is, I don’t know, but today I’ll deal with this issue. I’ll just say this, I personally don’t use converters at all, somehow there’s no need, the most I’ve used is the converter that’s in the Aimp player, that seems to be all. I’m also glad that the Format Factory program supports the Russian language and is completely free

Well guys, let's get acquainted with her? This means you can download the Format Factory program from the official website (by the way, here it is pcfreetime.com/formatfactory/index.php?language=ru), which is what I did, now, well, that is, now I will install this program. I downloaded this file, well, with the name FFInstOnline.exe, here it is at the bottom in the Chrome browser, I right-clicked there and selected Open:


Then I got this window, this is the security of Windows, then I clicked on Run (you may not have this window):


And then the guys had a little joke, the fact is that it turns out that I downloaded not just an installer, but a web installer! Well, when I launched it, the program itself began downloading from the Internet, the firewall built into Windows told me about this, it gave the following message:


Well, as you already understood, I clicked on Allow access so that the program could download quietly.. The program itself then downloaded like this:


That is, there was such a window, there was a bar where it showed how much had already been downloaded, and there was also something like 1 Seeds, I’m certainly not sure, but what do you think this means? The thing is that the first thing that came to my mind was that this was a torrent... And it’s somehow strange, my Internet is very fast, but it wouldn’t download very quickly, so to speak.. So I think, maybe it would actually download like that say torrent technology? It’s very similar, however... Well, in general, then when everything has already downloaded, the program installer starts, here you can change the installation folder, but it’s better not to do it just like that, in general, I click the Install button here:


Well, then the installation began, this is how it will all happen:


Then, after about a few seconds, the installation will end, there will be one checkbox, it is needed so that after installation the Factory Format program will start, in general, I personally don’t uncheck this box, but click Close in the box:


So guys, that’s all, we installed the program, now it’s launched and this is what it looks like:


But is this a program? This is not a program, it’s a start window, so to speak, here they also want to install a program for you like Picosmos Tools, this is a program for processing images, well, like graphics editor. But personally, I was never able to make friends with him, but other users say that the program is very good. Well, guys, in this window, at the bottom there is a checkbox just about installing Picosmos Tools, if you don’t need this program, then uncheck this box, as you can see, I unchecked it

In general, I clicked OK, and... something blinked and that was it... It was as if the program had started and immediately closed. Maybe it’s a glitch, maybe not, I don’t know.. I then manually launched the program using the Format Factory shortcut on the desktop, after which this window of the program itself appeared:


Well, guys, I can tell you here, I immediately liked the appearance of the program, it seems to say that the program is not buggy and without jambs and in a word, it’s good! But is it? Now I’ll try to find out at least a little... So what we see here is that at the top of the program there are buttons, the main ones, so to speak. Well, there is a button here called Destination Folder, this is needed to open the folder where the result of the program will be placed, well, you understand. So I clicked this button and this window appeared to me:


Well, it’s clear that it’s empty, I haven’t done anything in the program yet. That is, once again, the Final folder button is only to open the folder where the result of the program will be and that’s it! By the way, a program with signs of intelligence, in short, it was installed by default on system disk C, but she placed the final folder on drive D, the folder itself is called FFOutput, these are the pies guys

Then there is the Settings button, well, I think this is already clear to you, this is where you can configure the program. I clicked this button and then this window appeared:


Well, there are no words at all! What am I talking about? And about the fact that everything here is done so stylishly and so, well, damn it, it’s somehow convenient or something, somehow competently, well, I hope you understand what I mean. The Settings tab was immediately opened in the window, that is, the very first tab, here you can change the Final folder folder, that is, the folder where the result of the work will be placed, so to speak. You can check the box so that the result is immediately in the original folder. You can also check the box so that the file name is more informative, well, it says the video resolution, format... Here are these checkboxes, look:


At the bottom of this tab there is also a checkbox Check for new version, well, I don’t know about me, but I don’t like the program to go online just to check if there is a new version... If you don’t like it either, then uncheck this box

So, now I opened the Font tab, well, what can I say, here you can change the font, so to speak, choose it for yourself, you can also change the color of the font and frame. But I don’t really understand what kind of frame it is, well, in general, here are these settings, look:


Now let’s go to the Advanced tab, to be honest, I don’t know what the options are here, and there are very few of them here, so I’ll skip this tab, I think that nothing needs to be changed here. Well, just in case, I’ll show you what it looks like, look:


So, then there is the Photos tab. So what is this all about, there are some two sliders here, and quality is written there, so what is this? Well, guys, what exactly these sliders are for, I don’t quite understand. But I think that the quality of the images during conversion is set here. In any case, if anything, there is nothing complicated here, here is this tab:


As you can see, there are two sliders here, namely JPG Quality and WebP Quality. Well, for the second, I can’t say anything, but for the first, I know that this is the jpeg format, a very popular format, probably the most popular image format. Well, here you set the quality, you already understood this, but how much to set? I don’t know how the quality is set in this program, but in my program that I use, well, it’s also a graphic editor, and so my jpeg quality is 80, as for me, this is the ideal ratio of quality and size. Well, these are the pies

This means I’m not showing you the rest of the tabs, and not because I don’t want to, no, there are simply settings not for the program itself, but for video formats. That is, on the remaining tabs you can customize the formats to suit your requirements, so to speak, but to be honest, I’m not particularly good at this, because as I already wrote, I rarely ever converted anything at all.. It only happened a couple of times, but I no longer I remember why I did this.. Look at what settings there are, or rather, what formats can be configured:

In order to have a good understanding of these formats, it is better to play around with the format settings, and so to speak, actually understand what is best for you. The funny thing is that all users have a different concept of quality, for example, I’m quite comfortable watching videos on YouTube in 1080 quality, but for some it’s not at all possible, because the quality is simply no good.. What a joke

Well, that’s it, we seem to have sorted out the settings, now let’s go to the program itself. So this is what I also understood, you have a part on the left where there are sort of tabs, here you can choose what exactly you want to do. Well, look, I selected the Photo tab and the following functions appeared to me:


Also, as I see, here you can work with ISO files, that is, with disk images. It’s certainly impressive, especially considering that the program is completely free. At the very bottom there is a Utilities tab, useful tools are collected here, see which ones:

So what else should I show you, well, in terms of the interface of the Format Factory program, look, at the top there is a Task button, if you click it, the following menu will appear:

As you can see, there are all sorts of buttons here, you can start a task, finish it, load it, and save it. Assignments, it’s kind of like a project, or am I wrong? Maybe.. By the way, there is also an option to minimize to tray, maybe this will be convenient for someone. Regarding the tray, by the way, there is an option in the settings. But in order to minimize the window to the tray, you need to click not on the cross, but on the regular minimize button! By the way, the program icon itself looks like this:


Here I chose a dark design, look how the program looks in this design:


Well guys, s appearance The Format Factory programs seem to have been sorted out, the program is normal, not buggy and all that. Well, now let's try to do the most important thing: convert the video. I have a trailer for a movie, an interesting movie about a UFO, but it’s not about that now, let’s try to convert it to another format. So I selected the Video tab on the left, now I have buttons here, what are they for? I made a window that fills the entire screen, and look, there are even more buttons:

Guys, I understand everything. It’s just crazy how convenient everything is done here! So here you go step-by-step instruction how to convert video in the Format Factory program, with the help of these instructions you can basically understand how to use this program in general! So it’s crazy how simple and convenient everything is! So, shall we begin? We have a movie trailer, right? That's right, now look, you have selected the Video tab, then you need to select the type of format you want to convert your video to. The format is selected using these buttons:


You can select any format that you need, but here I will select the first format, this is Mobile, after which I got this window:


Here you can also configure the format, select the resolution, well, configure something else here, I don’t even know what, but I think you can easily figure it out here, because everything is done here very conveniently. In general, we looked, configured, now click OK. Then you will see a window like this:


What can you do here? First of all, add a file, to do this, click the Add file button, it’s in the upper right corner, then select the file. I add a movie trailer, it’s on my desktop, so I select it:


After this, the selected file should appear here, see:


Now a few words about this window, or rather about the settings. This means that at the top you can click on the Settings button, this is to configure the format again, well, if necessary. You can also add more files to the list to convert several at once. At the bottom there is also an Add folder button, well, this is apparently in order to immediately add a folder with video files, by the way, when I clicked this button, this window appeared:


That is, here you can not only specify a folder, but also enable the Entire tree option (as if this is necessary so that all subfolders are also captured), you can also specify the files of the exact format you want to add. Well, what can I say here, really? I am again convinced that the Format Factory program is simply super, everything is done clearly, there are no mistakes and everything is convenient. Gentlemen, this is a good program. We return to the window, at the bottom of it there is also a checkbox Add a title, I checked this box:


Well, where the Final folder is, you can also choose where exactly the result will be saved, so to speak. Well, I’m not changing anything here, but by the way, when I clicked there, this is the menu that appeared:


Well, that seems to be all.. But no, here’s another thing, in this window, in the upper left part, there are buttons for managing the list of added video files, these buttons:

There you can delete a file or files, you can clear the list, you can play and you can show information about the file or files. As I understand it, for example, in order to apply some action to a file or files in the list, you first need to select them, well, in short, you understand

In general, I told you everything, now if you have looked at everything here and configured it, then click the OK button:

After that, your selected file for conversion will be added to the list of tasks, well, that’s what it’s called. Look, now I have like one task, here it is:


If you right-click on this task, you will see this menu:


Well, at the top, well, above the task, there are Stop and Start buttons, well, I think that you understand what they are for? This is to put the task into action, so to speak. In general, I think I’ve already done everything I need, so I click the Start button here:


Well, guys, the work has begun, look:


And when it was all over, this message appeared in the lower right corner of my screen:


In the Format Factory program itself, this is what was written:


Look carefully at what the size was, this is the one that comes first, well, the one that is 144 megs and what the size is, this is the one at the end, and there we have 21 megs, that is, you can see how decently the video was compressed by the Format Factory program!

Well, now, when I clicked on the Final folder button, well, the one in the upper left corner, a folder opened and there was a result, so to speak, well, that is, a movie trailer file in a new format, well, look for yourself:


Well, that is, I think that everything is clear to you, you can see for yourself that everything works very clearly, without glitches, everything here works quickly, there are no freezes, the buttons are conveniently located and all that. In short, the Format Factory program is good, what else can you say?

Well, guys, I think I told you everything? Now I will write some of my conclusions.

  1. The program is free and at the same time really high-quality and conveniently made; there are not so many such programs today.
  2. The program's interface, buttons, and all menus are made very convenient. There is no nonsense, but I admit honestly, as soon as I installed the program, I didn’t immediately understand what was what. But it was very easy to figure out!
  3. The program has a lot of settings, there are not many program settings themselves, but if you want to convert something, then in the process you will see that there are many small but useful options.
  4. I don’t even know what else to say guys, I didn’t check all the functions, of course, but I think that they all work fine there. This program can be included in the list of the best free programs, well, it seems so to me.

Well, these are my conclusions about this program. And now it’s time for the guys to show you how to remove it, just in case you don’t really like it, everything happens in life... So look, hold down the Win + R buttons, the Run window will appear, you write the following command there:


Then the Programs and Features window will open, it will contain a list of all installed programs, here you need to find FormatFactory 4.0.0.0 (you understand that there may be another version), then right-click on it and select Delete:


Then you will see a window like this, well, it asks you, do you really want to delete Factory Format? If you haven’t changed your mind, then click Yes here:

After this, a window will appear, well, it will show that deletion is in progress, this window hung for about two seconds, after which it disappeared

That's all guys, so you deleted the Format Factory program, but the program is of high quality and worthwhile, I think that I was able to show you this. By the way, after deleting the FFOutput folder on drive D, I still have it, well, this is just a note for you.

I was about to finish, but no, there was one thing that popped up... In short, sometimes I like to check if the program hasn’t left any garbage after I deleted it. Well, today I checked this too, opened the system drive C, where the search is, well, the field in the upper right corner, then there I wrote Format Factory and started waiting. Soon I saw that after the program there was some kind of temporary folder left, here it is:


Well, guys, I agree that it’s not particularly scary, well, one folder (by the way, there was one file inside it, FFSetupLatest.exe), you can clean your computer with CCleaner, well, I understand all that.. I’m just that kind of person , that I still check manually... Well, there is such a thing in me

I hope guys that everything was clear to you here, but if something is wrong, then I’m sorry... Good luck in life and may you be in a good mood

08.01.2017

And this is a very good idea - to develop a program that would directly describe the contents of any file, byte by byte. At the input it has any source code. The output is not only reproduction of the contents of this file, but this is also not necessary. The output, most importantly, is a byte-by-byte description of all content - it will be an excellent tool for analyzing the format and studying it.

It is not at all necessary, of course, that the file be converted from one format to another. Firstly, this is a narrower task. And secondly, it has already been largely solved, for example, by programs such as Format Factory, one of the best in its class, especially free to distribute.

Characteristics of Format Factory

The conversation about this tool becomes doubly more relevant in light of the news of recent days - the companies developing the MP3 format are giving up the rights to it, will no longer charge a tax for its use, will not support or modify it, in general, they will let it float freely. And this is about MP3, which for many years was considered the leader in PC audio. Any disk on any computer, one can say without exaggeration, contains hundreds of resources in this format.

Now the value of Format Factory is even greater, because conversion from MP3 to the recommended, more advanced AAC is one of the most frequently used features in Format Factory.

In addition, the factory knows the following audio formats (of course, it can convert from one to another): WMA, FLAC, MMF, AMR, M4A, M4R, OGG, MP2, WAV, WavPack.

Among the FF video formats used, and this is perhaps the more valuable type of conversion, at least more exciting: MP4 (the passion of all Apple product lovers), AVI (perhaps the most common video format), 3GP, MKV, WMV, MPG, VOB, FLV , SWF (Web Super Animation Format), MOV, GIF, RMVB, FLL, WebM.

But FF doesn't stop at multimedia formats. Many graphic ones are also subject to it. As a form at factory converter for graphics, the program knows: JPG (the most popular), PNG (a brilliant alternative to GIF), ICO, BMP, GIF, TIF, PCX (albeit outdated, but we can’t help but pay tribute to them), TGA, WebP .

Among other features of the described software we note:


We also note the environment in which this software was created:

  • developer company: Free Time;
  • target working operating system: Windows (but the popularity of the program is so great that it is necessary to expect the appearance of its versions for other systems);
  • availability of versions in 62 languages;
  • the first release took place on March 1, 2008;
  • version 4.1.0.0 was released on May 1, 2017;
  • nature of distribution: free;
  • developer website: pcfreetime.com.

We work in Format Factory

Here are the program settings:

  • distribution name (one file): FFSetup.exe;
  • distribution size: 46 MB;
  • installation location: C:\Program Files\FormatFactory\;
  • ability to launch: from the Main Menu and from the Desktop;
  • volume in installed version: 154 MB – 147 files – 12 folders;
  • executable file: formatfactory.exe.

Please note that the Picosmos Tools package is also included in the package. It can be downloaded separately or bundled with FormatFactory.

Even a novice user can easily figure out how to work in this program. Of course, there is a menu, but it is nominal in nature, there are the most general commands - exit, help.

All work is concentrated in the selection on the left of the conversion formats, which are collected in groups:

  1. Video – here the lines “Mobile” and “SWF” are of greatest interest.
  2. Audio – here we pay attention to “AAC”.
  3. Photo – here, among other things, Picosmos Tools are collected (if this application has not been installed previously, the installation procedure will begin by going to its download site).
  4. Documents - the program is not specifically designed for working with documents, but converting from pdf to html may be of interest to many.
  5. ROM/DVD/CD/ISO – here we convert DVD to Video, Audio CD to files, even ISO to CSO and vice versa, and in addition, Bluray disc to MKV.
  6. Utilities - these special tools are of particular interest; they allow you to combine two videos, audio, one video and one audio file into one; get detailed information about the file.

So, to the question of how to use the program, we answer:


Questions about how to convert video or how to use the format factory are, by and large, not relevant here at all - everything is done extremely simply and logically.

For example, if we want to combine two audio files into one, and take a piece from both from the middle (and who is interfering in this situation, first take 10 seconds (from the 20th to the 30th) from one and the same 10 from the other, get file, then take 10 seconds (from 90th to 100th) from the first and the same 10 from the second, get the file again, and in the end combine these two new received files - the field for creative editing is boundless, if only you could imagine) . For this:

  1. Go to “Utilities”.
  2. Select "Merge Audio".
  3. Select the file format in the window that opens - you can combine files of the same format.
  4. Select the files themselves - “Add file”.
  5. For each of the selected ones, select the merging range – “Set range”.
  6. And then, after exiting the settings window, start the process with the “Start” button. Note that if the transformation sometimes takes quite a long time, then merging is a fairly fast process, everything is done literally in 30-40 seconds (although, of course, everything also depends on the duration of the pieces being combined).

Format Factory is very useful tool for everyone who is interested in computer audio and video formats, who works with graphics at the transformation level. But it is of particular interest to those who are looking for creativity in their work, but find the techniques offered by commercial programs, for example, from Adobe, too complicated.

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