Video Converter by SweetPacks 1.0.0.1

SweetPacks’ Video Converter is a simple and straightforward utility that performs fast and reliable batch video conversions between the most popular video codecs. These include Flash-based video files (FLV and SWF), MPEG-based files (MP4 and MPG), AVI and GIF. Besides, you can use this utility as an audio extraction tool, which will save your video’s soundtrack as a high-quality MP3 file.

The program’s interface is nice to look at and very intuitive. It offers you the possibility of loading any number of files in any of the supported video formats, either on a one-by-one basis or by selecting folders containing any of the supported video files. This batch conversion capability, however, has its limitations. Regrettably, all the files on the conversion list can only be converted into one and the same output format, which you can select from the drop-down list provided. Here you will also notice that some of these formats are listed with tiny comments regarding the default settings that will be used during the conversion process. This is so because the program comes with no settings for you to tweak and mess about with. Thus, audio file extraction will always produce 192 Kbps MP3 files, AVI files will always be compressed to DivX, while pure MPEG files will be compressed using Ogg Theora. Other formats, however, come in different flavors – MP4 files will be treated differently according to the device you will be using to view them (a PSP console or an iPhone), and VCD MPEG-2 files are available for both PAL and NTSC specs.

This lack of flexibility, together with the somehow strange mixture of codecs and their default conversion settings, may give potential users a negative impression, but, being a free tool, I believe this program can do more good than bad. Though limited, the settings attached to each video and audio codec are enough to produce the medium-to-high quality output. Add this to its batch conversion capabilities, its fast conversion engine, and its unbeatable cost-benefit ratio, and you will end up with a free video converter worth having installed in your system.