You receive a file that you cannot open or that is not in the format you want. Don’t worry, you can convert almost all formats to and from any document, audio, video and image files out there. With a free online converter, you don’t even need to install any software. Some tools support more than a thousand different file formats.
Very often you convert files locally on the computer. You work in Microsoft Word to a report and you export the original docx file to the PDF format. Or with your photo editor you open a bmp image that you eventually save in the jpg format. This conversion goes so smoothly that you sometimes don’t even realize that you are converting. Converting files from one extension to another has become so easy. The story gets a little more complicated if you want to convert video or if you don’t have the right software to open the file. With an online solution, you don’t have to install anything and your computer is not overloaded. The heavy work is left to the processor of the server. We show some conversion houses of confidence. They are similar, yet each tool offers something different. So make sure to remember the one that best meets your needs.
Online-Convert
Online-Convert.com organizes the possible assignments into categories, such as Audio converter, Video converter, Image Converter. There are sections that we would not immediately think of, such as the Archive converter. With this you can, for example, convert a tar.gz archive to a zip file. And with the Web service converter you can optimize files for Twitter and Facebook, among others. You will also find links to a Chrome and Firefox add-on, so you can access this service directly in the browser.
You do not need to register to use Online-Convert. With each choice you can further refine the assignment. For example, we gave Online-Convert heic photo files to convert to png. In addition, the tool asks about the desired compression, whether optimization is needed (sharpening, noise reduction, color correction) and whether the resolution needs to be adjusted. You also get similar quality settings when converting audio or video. The service is free as long as you upload a maximum of 20 tasks per day with a maximum of 5 files per conversion order. That is quite a lot, but if you want more, you have to go for the paid version.
ConvertFiles
A simpler option that also exchanges a variety of input and output file formats is ConvertFiles. You browse to the file on your computer’s hard drive or enter the url and then select the output format you have in mind.
Usually the input format is recognized automatically after you upload the file. You can then indicate whether you want an email with a download link. You can also just wait for the conversion to complete.
This converter does accept fewer file formats than its predecessor. For example, our heic photo files are not supported. What makes this solution interesting are the targeted categories, such as Presentation Converter, eBook Converter and Drawing.
Beware!
With all online converters, your files are sent to an external server. Are your uploaded files safe with that? If we can believe the promise of the providers, the answer is yes. They all promise at high and low that your files will be deleted immediately after you download the output file. Or they are automatically deleted after 24 hours.
Of course, the existence of such an online converter depends on its reliability. If the tool can convince less users, the advertising revenue will also decrease. But personally, we would only use these services when it comes to files that others are allowed to see. Be especially careful if the website asks for your email address.
AnyConv
An online converter that also has a Dutch interface is www.anyconv.com. This tool is free, there is not even a paid version. AnyConv also has a conversion limit of sixty files per hour. The online converter can process files up to 50MB and offers just over three hundred combinations of output formats.
That is not much, but we still find sections here that we do not find in others. AnyConv can also convert the file formats of fonts, cad files and mesh files, for example. Cad files are mostly engineering drawings and mesh files are used to represent 3D models.
Convertio
With the years Convertio earned its spurs. Security sites give this tool a high reliability index. For example, Trust Pilot has given Convertio a score of 9.8 / 10 stars on its reliability index.
Convertio explains the security policy in detail itself. This allows you to manually delete your files from the server if you don’t trust the cleanup after 24 hours. The infrastructure of this service is set up in Germany and is therefore subject to European privacy legislation. Each conversion takes place in a secure (sandboxed) environment so that the Convertio team cannot access the files themselves. This allows you to quickly convert from the computer, Google Drive, Dropbox or a url. Interestingly, you can convert multiple files at once by the button Add more files. It is also possible to save the converted files in Dropbox or Google Drive. A download button appears every time to get the result, but you can also have a zip file compiled that brings all your conversions together.
Besides converting files, Convertio has an ocr section. It allows you to convert photos, scans or screenshots of text or tables into editable Word, PDF, Excel and TXT files. The online tool recognizes the language of the document itself, but for safety’s sake you can also manually indicate the language setting.
Is it a PDF document that you want to transform into a Word document? Then you can indicate which pages should and should not be read. The first ten pages of ocr conversion are free. After that, it costs $ 7.99 prepaid for the next hundred pages. By the way, you can also download a Chrome extension to control Convertio directly from the browser.
Zamzar
Zamzar has been running since 2006 and also complies with European GDPR legislation. Zamzar also supports more than 1,200 file conversion types for almost any need. There was a time when Zamzar asked for your email address before you could download the new file, now that is no longer the case.
You can check out the popular conversion types right on the main page if you want to be sure before you start. Then browse to your file or enter the url and choose the output format. The conversion is remarkably fast. It is even possible to convert multiple files. In that case, you can download them all in one compressed zip file. You can choose from images, documents, music, video, ebooks, compressed or preset video options.
With a paid account, you have an inbox in which all your converted files are stored. In that case, you can perform an unlimited number of conversions, you can convert large files between 200 MB and 2 GB (depending on the payment formula) and the download is up to five times faster.
FileZigZag
Also FileZigZag is a decent file converter that supports document, audio, video and archive file formats. It couldn’t get any easier. Visit the website, upload the files, choose the format and click the button Start converting. Then wait for the download button to appear to download the file.
You are allowed to perform up to ten free conversions per day and then you can process files up to 50 MB. If the conversion takes too long, you can be warned by email that the converted file is ready. You download the target file as a zip file. The conversion time depends on the file size and type of the target format you want, but it generally takes less than three minutes.
Malware
Only use trustworthy websites for conversion purposes. Not only do you entrust a file to an external server every time, a few minutes later you also download a new file on your computer in good faith. This exposes you to the risk of downloading viruses, Trojans to your computer and company server.
A recent bad example is Online Video Converter, whose Internet address we deliberately do not include. Here too you can download an add-on to convert YouTube videos from there. Anyone who accepts this will be saddled with an adware virus that is constantly plagued by advertisements.
Moreover, the law still holds that if something is too good to be true, it is usually not true. By this we mean that when a complex conversion process is fast and free, the quality is often low. We notice this, for example, with raster images that are converted to vector images. The accuracy of a vector image depends on the number of grab points. Bad file conversion software delivers sloppy results with few anchor points.
FreeFileConvert
FreeFileConvert supports no less than 8,700 conversion combinations. So if you have an unusual assignment, it is worthwhile to visit this address. It is possible to run up to five files at the same time, but keep in mind that they are of the same file type.
For example, when you upload a mov video, you will automatically see the possibilities of the video formats that FreeFileConvert can handle. This tool has a good converter to convert images to vector files and vice versa. By the way, the website also has an interesting blog about the different file formats.
