Post by Tornado on May 22, 2012 8:05:15 GMT -5
I made a list of programs for Windows (most of them are free) that help you to edit various multimedia files without re-encoding and losing quality:
PICTURES:
jpegcrop: for cropping the JPEG files.
XnView: the option JPEG lossless transformations (crop, rotate, flip). Also it's the best picture viewer.
Note: For PNGs, TIFs and BMPs you can use any picture editor as long you save it in a lossless format (recommended PNG). Also if you edit a lot a JPEG I recommend you to save it as PNG.
AUDIO:
MP3Tag: add tags and covers
MP3Gain: raise or lower the volume without editing the original file
MP3Direct Cut: cut or join MP3 files. For joining the files must have the same parameters.
VIDEO:
Boilsoft Video Splitter: split almost any video file without losing quality. Very good.
DVDFab: extract any part from a DVD, or make a DVD without the annoying intros or without menu. You can extract a very specific chapter from a DVD. Also you can select a specific audio track (e.g. LPCM or AC-3, or both). Basically you can edit existing DVDs to fit your needs. Everything without losing the original quality.
TMPGEnc DVD Author 3: very good to make DVDs. If the imported files are already DVD format, they will not be re-encoded.
Avidemux: edit a lot of video files (split, crop, join, fix A/V sync problems). You must select Copy for both audio and video.
VirtualDub: edit AVI files (split, crop, join, fix A/V sync problems). You must select Direct stream for both audio and video.
VLC Media Player: good for FLV files downloaded from Youtube. Use Convert/Save, add a file, select Video H.264+AAC, select Keep Original Video Track & Keep Original Audio Track and save it as mp4 file. Also with Convert/Save you can convert rare video or audio formats to more common formats (e.g. from Real Video to MP4).
DVD Patcher: you can fix the aspect ratio of MPEG-2 files (incl. VOB files from DVDs) without re-encoding. Be careful with settings and make a backup first. Select also Patch Entire File.
MPEG2Cut: cut MPEG-2 files lossless. Easy to use but primitive.
DGMPGDec: first it joins various parts of a video (for example the VOBs of a DVD). Then you can delete the parts that you don't like. Then you can extract the joined video and audio files in separate files. Very good if you want to extract the audio stream from a DVD in one file. Also you can mux (combine) the video and audio files in a big MPEG-2 file with TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5 (again lossless).
Total Video Converter: lossless extract or mux audio and video streams from a file.
YAMB: various operations for MP4 files.
MKVmerge: create or edit MKV files. You can create an MKV file by adding already existing video files. You can add chapters, correct A/V sync problems and sometimes aspect ratio problems. Basically you can make a MP4 file with chapters like a DVD, but without a menu (very good for concerts).
MKVextractGUI: extract streams from MKV files. It can be anything that a MKV file can contains (video, audio, subtitles etc).
Essential programs: XnView, MP3Tag, MP3Gain, MP3DirectCut, Boilsoft Video Splitter, DVDFab, VLC Media Player, TMPGEnc DVD Author 3, MKVmerge.
Note: most of these programs have more features than the already mentioned ones.
PICTURES:
jpegcrop: for cropping the JPEG files.
XnView: the option JPEG lossless transformations (crop, rotate, flip). Also it's the best picture viewer.
Note: For PNGs, TIFs and BMPs you can use any picture editor as long you save it in a lossless format (recommended PNG). Also if you edit a lot a JPEG I recommend you to save it as PNG.
AUDIO:
MP3Tag: add tags and covers
MP3Gain: raise or lower the volume without editing the original file
MP3Direct Cut: cut or join MP3 files. For joining the files must have the same parameters.
VIDEO:
Boilsoft Video Splitter: split almost any video file without losing quality. Very good.
DVDFab: extract any part from a DVD, or make a DVD without the annoying intros or without menu. You can extract a very specific chapter from a DVD. Also you can select a specific audio track (e.g. LPCM or AC-3, or both). Basically you can edit existing DVDs to fit your needs. Everything without losing the original quality.
TMPGEnc DVD Author 3: very good to make DVDs. If the imported files are already DVD format, they will not be re-encoded.
Avidemux: edit a lot of video files (split, crop, join, fix A/V sync problems). You must select Copy for both audio and video.
VirtualDub: edit AVI files (split, crop, join, fix A/V sync problems). You must select Direct stream for both audio and video.
VLC Media Player: good for FLV files downloaded from Youtube. Use Convert/Save, add a file, select Video H.264+AAC, select Keep Original Video Track & Keep Original Audio Track and save it as mp4 file. Also with Convert/Save you can convert rare video or audio formats to more common formats (e.g. from Real Video to MP4).
DVD Patcher: you can fix the aspect ratio of MPEG-2 files (incl. VOB files from DVDs) without re-encoding. Be careful with settings and make a backup first. Select also Patch Entire File.
MPEG2Cut: cut MPEG-2 files lossless. Easy to use but primitive.
DGMPGDec: first it joins various parts of a video (for example the VOBs of a DVD). Then you can delete the parts that you don't like. Then you can extract the joined video and audio files in separate files. Very good if you want to extract the audio stream from a DVD in one file. Also you can mux (combine) the video and audio files in a big MPEG-2 file with TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5 (again lossless).
Total Video Converter: lossless extract or mux audio and video streams from a file.
YAMB: various operations for MP4 files.
MKVmerge: create or edit MKV files. You can create an MKV file by adding already existing video files. You can add chapters, correct A/V sync problems and sometimes aspect ratio problems. Basically you can make a MP4 file with chapters like a DVD, but without a menu (very good for concerts).
MKVextractGUI: extract streams from MKV files. It can be anything that a MKV file can contains (video, audio, subtitles etc).
Essential programs: XnView, MP3Tag, MP3Gain, MP3DirectCut, Boilsoft Video Splitter, DVDFab, VLC Media Player, TMPGEnc DVD Author 3, MKVmerge.
Note: most of these programs have more features than the already mentioned ones.