Sometimes you find yourself with a file in a format that no program on your PC supports. When this happens you usually have two options.
You can either purchase the program that opens the file or you can use a file conversion program to convert the file to a format that some program on your computer actually does support. It's a common problem especially among video, document, graphic, and audio files.
Below is a list of some of my favorite free, all purpose file conversion programs - both online and off.
1. YouConvertIt
© YouConvertIt
YouConvertIt is an online service that will convert most popular image, document, video, and audio file formats to other formats in that respective category.
I submitted a small GIF graphics file to YouConvertIt for conversion to JPG and was emailed only seconds later that it was complete and ready for download! I was very satisfied with the quality of the file conversion.
YouConvertIt is a free service with a file size limit of 300MB. YouConvertIt does not currently offer a higher tiered service.
2. Zamzar
© Zamzar
Zamzar is very similar to YouConvertIt. Zamzar converts most popular audio, document, image, video, archive, and CAD format files.
I uploaded a simple image to Zamzar for conversion from JPG to PNG and it worked great. The format conversion was as clear as I would expect if I had done it myself and the turnaround time was only around 5 minutes.
Zamzar is a free service with a file size limit of 100MB. Zamzar does also offer a higher tiered service for a monthly fee.
3. Media-Convert
Media-Convert is another free online service that offers file conversion services. Media-Convert offers a staggering number of file formats to convert between. Check out Media-Convert before you buy any program just to open a certain file format.
Media-Convert is a completely free service with a file size limit of 150MB.
