Free Online File Conversion Service

Are you tired of people sending you files you can’t read, like .pub (Publisher) or .docx (new Word)?  Well I’ve been working with a few free, online file converters that may help you out.   I started looking into these when my husband, Vince, sent me a .pub file that I needed to look at.  Being a Mac user I don’t have access to Publisher so I had to find another way to view it.  Enter Zamzar! Zamzar is a free, online file conversion application and it’s very simple to use.

4 Easy Steps

When you file is finished you will be emailed download instructions.  It really was easy and you don’t even need to sign up for an account.  With the free account you can convert up to 5 files at a time with a maximum file size of 100 MB each.

Sample of available file types

The cool thing about these conversion programs are that they can convert many file types, such as images, videos, documents/spreadsheets, music, and a few others.  There is a downside however, the return of the converted files is a bit slow.

If you check out Zamzar and you don’t like it, fear not.  There are several other programs that you may like more.  Check out Media Convert (good but with a cluttered interface), Media Converter (audio and video only), and YouConvertIt (doesn’t convert the new Office format, .docx).  I’m sure there’s more but these are the ones I’ve used.

So next time you are sent a file you can’t read consider trying one of these converter programs.  They’re not fast but they work.

Photostory movies and the Mac

As all you Photostory users may know your final Photostory movies (.wmv) won’t play on a Mac.  What you may not know is that these .wmv (Windows Media) files will also not play on an older version of Windows Media Player either. Photostory creates its movies using a special codec that will only play in Windows Media Player 10 or higher.  This can be a real problem if you are using them in a classroom.  Don’t worry however, all you need to do is convert them into another format that is more easily viewed my multiple platforms.  Try Media-Convert.com.  Media-Convert is a free, multi-platform, online file converter. Media-Convert will convert just about anything to just about anything.  You can convert audio, video, text documents, databases, and images just to name a few.  They have published a full list of the file conversion types on their website.

I have made a short Jing screencast of how to convert a file using Media-Convert.  Check it out at http://www.screencast.com/users/BenigniM/folders/Jing/media/e8525ed9-1600-4f6e-88f9-c8ac90e93140

Now go forth and produce photostories :)