I stopped paying for video converter apps the day I found this.
Every "video converter" in the app store with ads and a $5 unlock is a worse version of a free tool that has existed for 20 years.
It's called HandBrake.
The paid apps wrap an open-source engine, slap a watermark on it, and charge you to remove it. HandBrake is the actual thing, with nothing held back.
- Convert any video to MP4, MKV, or WebM
- Newest codecs included: AV1, H.265, H.264, VP9
- Hardware encoding on Nvidia, Intel, and AMD for speed
- Presets for every device, from old phones to 4K TVs
- Subtitles, chapters, cropping, frame rate, audio tracks, all editable
- Batch queue to process dozens of files at once
It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and everything runs locally. Nothing gets uploaded. No watermark. No unlock. No subscription.
The latest version shipped in March 2026 with even better AV1 support, so it's still actively built, not abandoned.
The best video converter was free this whole time. The paid ones were just hiding it from you.
100% free and open source.
handbrake.fr/