Submitted by Fiona Beal

One of the great, offline, freeware tools that I have used on my Windows laptop for several years – since
2014 when I first heard about it – is the very popular Freemake software. Do you
know it? It consists of the Freemake Video Converter application and the The Freemake Video
downloader.  I have found both of these to be safe
and reliable free software, and have used them time and again very successfully.  You can obtain these from Freemake http://www.freemake.com/

Let’s take a look at these two applications in more detail:

The Freemake
video downloader

This software application downloads YouTube videos amongst other types of videos quickly and eaily. It is popular with over 83 million users. Its saves videos, playlists, channels in HD, MP4, MP3, AVI, 3GP, FLV, and more,

1. Download the software and install it

Once you have downloaded it from Freemake http://www.freemake.com/, and have installed it on your Windows laptop, and you open it for the first time, it will open with the interface as show.n below.

2. Click on Paste

Before clicking on Paste, find the URL of the video you want to download and copy it. All you do after that is click on Paste in the blue box of the Interface. The URL is automatically pasted and .  it then gives you the options shown below:

3. Click on Download

After you
have made your choice of options, you click on Download and the download starts to take place.  On my laptop it downloads to my Video folder.  It is all very quick and easy. 

Here is a short video (0.39 mins) showing these steps. As you watch it bear in mind the limitations of the latest update. 

The Freemake Video converter

This is a tool that I use often to change the format of one type of video to another.  I also use if for converting audio files  from one format to another.

1. Download the software and install it

Go to http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/ and download the Freemake Video Converter software.  I noticed today that when you want to download it , it immediately also gives you a link to download the Freemake YouTube MP3 converter.

2. Take note of the limitations resulting from the latest update

What I discovered today on a post about Freemake on the TechRadar site is that the latest update to Freemake Video Converter removed the ability to download and convert files from URLs without upgrading to a premium subscription. This isn’t immediately obvious from the interface, which still lists ‘Paste URL’ as an option in a blue box alongside the rest. The Freemake Video Converter interface is shown below.

3. Convert already downloaded video files from one format to another

However if you are just looking for a quick, free solution for converting one video format on your hard drive to another format, this software is GREAT and it offers a large amount of options.  It is just problematic, as far as I can see, downloading from URLs as a result of the latest updates. 

4. Convert audio files to different formats

You can also convert audio formats to other formats using this converter. Today I exported some of the audio files from the great note-taking app AudioNote on my iPad, and I found that these sound files exported as .CAD files. I couldn’t open them in Audacity but I could open and convert them to MP3s using Freemake Video Converter. 

Here is a short video (0.46 mins) showing these steps.

Why not try out this great freeware application. It really is worth downloading it to your Windows laptop. You’ll enjoy exploring the different options, many of which I haven’t mentioned in this post.