Southampton-based Zamzar allows you to have files converted between various formats online, without the need to download software. I have often found myself spending hours looking for software which will allow me to convert videos between various formats, and even after you find one they are often just limited demos. While software like MediaCoder handle most media, it is a little technical. Zamzar offers simple and free online file conversion.

Zamzar works through selecting a file from your hard disk and then selecting the desired format of it. You also must type in your email address, and after the file has been uploaded and converted it will be emailed to you. This is extremely simple, as you don’t have to spend hours messing on with codecs and soforth. Zamzar does have more uses than media, it also converts more formats, like documents to PDFs. The site supports dozens of formats.

The obvious downsides of this service is that when you are converting media files, you must upload them (which by the way I believe is done through Ajax), which may take some time. Also, the service only supports files up to 100MB big (which i expect is to keep processor use down).

Tags: zamzar, conversion, file conversion, media, web2.0, web 2.0, web2, web 2