No matter if you make your own videos or just watch them online, videos are almost everywhere: on news and entertaining websites, streaming platforms, social networks and so on. Although they are in abundance, it’s hardly possible to view video files on multiple devices without problems.The best solution to ensure a seamless experience when playing videos is using video converters. They make life much easier by changing video files into different formats and allowing you to play any video on your favourite gadgets.

In this post, we reveal the advantages and disadvantages of using online video converters and desktop video converters and what they have to offer.

Why you need a video converter

Although videos are usually available online and can be viewed any time and from any device, there are some reasons why you need a video converter, whether it be an online converter or a desktop application:

• Watching videos on all devices: some mobile phones, especially older ones, can not handle all videos and codecs. If you want to view your videos on all your devices, you may need to convert them to a universally supported format.
• Sharing videos on social media: exchanging funny videos on social media is nice, but some platforms support only certain formats. If you want to make you video files suitable for all popular social networks, you need a video converter.
• Basic video editing: changing the file size as well as the screen size for some purposes is simple, but sometimes you will have to go even more in depth changing the frame rate, bit rate, audio quality and other parameters with a video converter.

The pros and cons of online video converters

Online video converters are used to change video file formats on the Internet. Let’s take a look at some evident pluses they have:

• Free: most online video converters offer free conversion of all video files and some basic features are available without registration.
• Simple: online video converters are usually simple-to-use tools that don’t require any installation. You don’t need to read any special tutorials or guidelines to start using them.
• Powerful: online video converters support multiple formats, so you can choose the most suitable format and resolution for your video file.
• Convenient: most online video converters allow you to share the converted files directly with a friend/colleague by email or on social networks.

While there are a lot of benefits of online video converters that you can take advantage of, there are also some disadvantages:

• Internet connection required: online video converters require a fast and reliable Internet connection. If you don’t have access to the Internet or your connection is weak and may be cut off abruptly, no video conversion is possible.
• Slow video conversion: online video conversion may take a lot of time. If your Internet connection is slow, that can become an endless torture.
• Short storage period: usually the converted files are only stored for a short time on the servers. If you forget to download the converted file, you will have to start again.
• File size limit: online video converters set a file size limit for free users that makes video conversion a difficult task. Even the registered users can’t convert large-sized video files.
• Reduced set of features: online video converters usually offer a reduced set of features, so you can’t use custom settings to create specific video files.

The strengths and weaknesses of desktop video converters

Desktop video converters are a traditional solution when it comes to video conversion. This software comes with a lot of features and easy-to-follow guides. You do not need to be a pro to use it. As long as you have it installed on your computer, the rest will be easy. As usual, there are numerous advantages and disadvantages of using desktop video converters. Let’s start with reviewing the following pluses:

• No Internet connection required: desktop video converters don’t require a constant Internet connection to operate. You can easily work with video files offline.
• Rich functionality: desktop video converters have all the features you need to process your videos and support all popular formats, so you don’t need to worry about the compatibility of your video files.
• Flexible adjustment: desktop video converters allow you to adjust different video output settings like resolution, video bitrate, frame rate as well as audio settings such as audio bitrate, channels, sample rate, etc.
• Possibility to process large files: desktop video converters are excellent at converting large-sized video files. With a wide range of settings, you are able to tailor large video files to the best quality possible

Now it’s time to add a spoon of tar in a barrel of honey. As any software, desktop video converters have some shortcomings:

• Freemium approach: desktop video converters have a lot of useful features, but some of them are not available for free. If you need to use some sophisticated options to tailor your videos, you will have to pay a certain sum of money.
• Difficult to operate: because of the availability of many features and settings, some users may find desktop video converters really difficult to get familiar with. You have to study tons of documentation before your get your work done.
• High requirements: desktop video converters require powerful hardware. If you want to process big-sized video files and get high-quality output videos, you need a modern PC with good performance.

What is better for the average user

Despite the obvious advantages, online video converters are not the most suitable solution for the average user in most situations. They are perfect when you need to convert small video files on the go. However, when you deal with large-sized video files that require a lot of settings to be applied, using a desktop video converter seems to be the best choice. Desktop software is more flexible and powerful, offers more features and can be used to achieve the highest output quality possible.

AVS Video Converter, one of the best free video converters for you

AVS Video Converter, a free software application for video conversion and editing, is an ideal choice for you if you are looking for a powerful and reliable tool to process your video files offline. It has all the advantages offered by other desktop video converters and even outperforms the competitors in some aspects. Let’s learn why you need to opt for AVS Video Converter for personal use:

• AVS Video Converter is free. You don’t need to pay for converting video files.
• AVS Video Converter is designed forprocessing all key video formats including AVI, MP4, WMV, Blu-ray, 3GP, DVD, VOB, MPEG, H.263/H.264 codecs, DVR-MS, MKV, FLV, etc. The full list of supported formats is available on the official website.
• AVS Video Converter supports hardware acceleration for fast video decoding by means of video cards.
• The built-in presets make it possible to convert videos for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Samsung, Android tablets, Sony PSP, etc.
• The availability of the command line mode helps you to automate routine work by applying ready conversion templates. With this mode, you can convert as many video files as you want.
• AVS Video Converter offers the possibility to upload videos to your website, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Dropbox, Flickr, MySpace and other popular platforms.          
• The AVS Free Video Converter interface is multilingual. It supports English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Korean, Portuguese, Polish, Danish and Russian.
• AVS Video Converter comes with all the necessary documentation that helps new users to easily get familiar with its features and operation procedure.

You can find out more about AVS Video Converter and its functionality in this article. Download AVS Video Converter now and convert videos to any popular formats for all purposes and devices:

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. Your feedback is always appreciated!