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License Free Software
Freeware & software gems. The perfect tools for the job.

This website lists the best license free alternatives to commercial software. There's no good reason to be paying for the often bloated software suites available through your local software peddler. There's a wealth of excellent free software to be found - if you know where to look. That's where we come in! All license free software has been carefully selected and re-evaluated throughout the years, based on our experience and opinion.

Multimedia

Multimedia

Rich media seems to be everywhere these days,
with new tools appearing
constantly...

Most of us associate multimedia with entertainment and we want to enjoy our movies and music with zero hassle. It just has to "work" and preferrably be quick about it too. Our video player should play anything at the best possible quality. Image viewers should offer intuitive interfaces and load big images quickly.

1

Best Video Player
KM Player

  • All the necessary codecs are built within the multimedia replay, KMP. Thereby, the video can be played without any additional codecs. KMP supports internal/external codecs. The internal codec is processed within KMP rendering a faster and a safer action.The current internal codec supports for all the codecs already found in ffdshow. Additionally, it can also partially hold up for MPEG1/2, which could not be normally supported by ffdshow.
  • The audio codecs AC3, DTS, MPEG1, 2, AAC, WMA 7, 8, OGG are supplied. In utilization of internal audio codec, the matrix function/normalizer is addionally provided. Furthermore, AC3/DTS S/PDIF passthrough fuction is automatically supplied in creating a high quality home theater experience. This means that a high quality home theater environment is provided with only KMP.For those who do not utilize the internal codec, even though the external codec is supplemented, there is no need to register the system alike to the general program. 
  • The current total codec packs and the players create numerous problems by compulsorily installing codecs on the system. However, KMP is different. It does not harm the system. This means that the installation and the removal of KMP do not affect the system. Depending on the decoder of the external codec, it is possible to set up an individual decoder if required. Furthermore, either the establishment of priorities for filtering or restrictions on its use is supported.
  • Support for Winamp, RealMedia, QuickTime
  • KMP doesn't include ads and is totally free. It provides an enhanced function in comparison to other internal autoreplay codecs and most of the multimedia files can be ran without any supplementary installation of codec independent from the computer settings.
  • It's possible to create a new dimension by utilizing the KMP especially for those who has difficulties in installing codecs, who owns a low version of computer, and who looks forward to an enhanced video entourage.
  • Supports low-end systems.
2

Best Audio Player
Foobar2000

Runner-up:
Jaangle

foobar2000 is an advanced freeware audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats.

  • Supported audio formats: MP3, MP4, AAC, CD Audio, WMA, Vorbis, FLAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, Musepack, Speex, AU, SND... and more with additional components.
  • Gapless playback.
  • Full unicode support.
  • Easily customizable user interface layout.
  • Advanced tagging capabilities.
  • Support for ripping Audio CDs as well as transcoding all supported audio formats using the Converter component.
  • Full ReplayGain support.
  • Customizable keyboard shortcuts.
  • Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player.
3

Best Image Viewer
XnView

Runner-up:
IrfanView
  • Import about 400 graphic file formats
  • Export about 50 graphic file formats
  • Multipage TIFF, Animated GIF, Animated ICO support
  • Image IPTC, EXIF metadata support
  • EXIF auto rotation support
  • IPTC editing
  • Resize, rotate, crop support
  • Lossless rotate & crop (jpeg) support
  • Adjust brightness, contrast...
  • Auto levels, contrast
  • Modify number of colors
  • Apply filters (blur, average, emboss, ...)
  • Apply effects (lens, wave, ...)
  • Fullscreen mode
  • Slide show with effects
  • Batch convert, batch rename
  • Create WEB page easily
  • Screen capture
  • Create contact Sheet
  • Create or edit Multi-page file (TIFF, DCX, LDF)
  • TWAIN & WIA support (Windows only)
  • Print support (Windows only)
  • Drag & Drop support (Windows only)
  • Compare image side by side
  • Filmstrip layout
  • 44 languages support (Windows only)
  • And many many other things...
  • No Adware, No Spyware
4

Best Video Editor
Avidemux

Runner-up:
Virtual Dub

Avidemux is a free open-source program designed for multi-purpose video editing and processing, which can be used on almost all known operating systems and computer platforms. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and powerful scripting capabilities.

5

Best Online Video Recorder
CamStudio

Runner-up:
Jing

The most effective streaming video recorders are actually applications that record the pixels on your screen as they move. So they're completely unhampered by video codecs, recording security measures and the like. Most of them allow you to record a region of your screen or follow your mouse cursor around as you record (auto-pan feature).

Frontrunners are FrontCam, Screen Rec, Wink, Jing and CamStudio, with these last two taking the cake.

CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs).

Here are just a few ways you can use this software:

  • You can use it to create demonstration videos for any software program
  • Or how about creating a set of videos answering your most frequently asked questions?
  • You can create video tutorials for school or college class
  • You can use it to record a recurring problem with your computer so you can show technical support people
  • You can use it to create video-based information products you can sell
  • You can even use it to record new tricks and techniques you discover on your favourite software program, before you forget them
6

Best Video Converter
iWisoft Free Video Converter

Runner-up:
Format Factory

iWisoft Free Video Converter can fast convert videos between all popular formats like AVI, MPEG, WMV, DivX, XviD, MP4, H.264/AVC, AVCHD, FLV, MKV, RM, MOV, 3GP, and audio MP3, WMA, WAV, RA, M4A, AAC, AC3, OGG. Directly convert video for playback on your PSP, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, PS3, Xbox, Zune, Creative Zen, Archos and other digital multimedia devices.

The video converter also has powerful video editing functions including crop, trim, merge, adding watermark and special effects.

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Best Tool Resources

Tools Listing
Or what did you expect? ;-)
www.toolslisting.com
List of Lists
This one's been around for a long time, but has been kept perfectly up to date and is one of the most comprehensive resources out there.
www.thedatalist.com
Pricelessware
The communities from the alt.comp.freeware newsgroups compile a new list of "the best of the best" every year. Started in 2000, I've been following it ever since and it became one of my all-time favorite resources.
www.pricelesswarehome.com
No Nags
The folks at Nonags put together a large collection of 32-bit Windows software that has no disabled features, nags, time limits, or any other tricks. I usually check this one if the others come up empty.
www.nonags.com