Learn about HandBrake, an excellent utility for converting videos from any format to the destination types.
This article contains features, download instructions and a usage guide.
Table of Contents
HandBrake
In this age of social media, we all play around with videos, reels and, of course, the formats that come with it. So, if you are in a Linux platform or even in WIndows, you may use any other software to convert various videos for several platforms. But if you need a simple but feature-rich video converter that takes care of your all video formats from multiple sources, try HandBrake.
Features
HandBrake has a huge set of options that make it a unique tool. Firstly, the workflow is super easy. In fact, its just three steps:
- Select a video
- Choose a target format
- Convert
As you can see, if you are a novice user, it is super easy to work with this tool because the attributes of the target format (e.g. bit rate, dimensions) are based on the default preset.
Secondly, if you want advanced editing, such as adding subtitles from the subtitle files while converting, it is also possible using this tool.
In addition, you can also change the dimensions, flip the video, change resolutions, modify the aspect ratio, and crop. Moreover, a set of basic filter configurations such as Denoise and Sharpen can also be done.
Moreover, adding Chapters, tags and audio tracks to your video files is always easy.
Perhaps the vital feature of HandBrake is the availability of presets which cater to the modern needs of social media and streams. For example, the presets are aligned with streaming platforms and streaming devices such as:
- Discord
- GMail
- Vimeo
- Amazon Fire Stick
- Apple Devices
- Chromecast
- Playstation
- Roku
- Xbox
A pretty impressive list, isn’t it? Not only that, if you are a professional worker, it helps you define and create Queue for your conversions. The Queue feature allows you to batch convert multiple video files in your workflow.
Finally, you can convert to MPEG-4 (mp4), Matroska (mkv) and WebM formats.
Download and Installation
Downloading and installation of HandBrake is easy for any platform (Linux, Mac and Windows). The developers provide direct executables, which are free to download.
Since the primary target audience of this portal is Linux users, we will talk about the installation of HandBrake in Linux.
For Ubuntu, Linux Mint and all other distributions, the preferable method is Flatpak. You can set up Flatpak and then click the below button to install HandBrake:
For Windows, macOS installer visit this page.
One interesting feature is that you can use this application via the command line! That means you can further customize your workflow using the command line utility, which you can find here.
How to Use HandBrake to convert Videos? [Example]
Since you installed it, let’s see how you can convert a sample video with just three steps.
- Open HandBrake and click on the “Open Source” button at the top toolbar. Select your video file.
- Now, select the target file type from the Format dropdown. Make sure to check the destination folder (the default is Videos).
- Finally, click on the Start button at the top toolbar to convert a video using HandBrake.
You can find a nice display on the conversion progress at the bottom of the window.
The above steps are the most basic ones. If you want further control over the video, you can change the options and also choose from a vast list of presets I explained earlier.
FAQ
Yes, it is a free and open-source application, and you can download it for free.
Yes, you can easily install HandBrake in macOS, Windows 10, and Windows 11.
You can download HandBrake only from the official website https://handbrake.fr/ and no-other place.
Closing Notes
Handbrake is one of the professional-grade free and open-source video encoders available today. It is a time-tested application used by millions of users daily. I hope this guide helps you to learn about this fantastic tool and get you started with your video projects.
The demo video is used from Pexels – cottonbro
