Video Toolbox is a simple resource for online editing, but its strength lies in file conversion. It's a great way to quickly convert files from the internet to make them compatible with any program or device.
Overview of Video Toolbox:
Video Toolbox is an online editing tool that lets you make basic changes to your video footage. The Video Toolbox site has a simple user interface and supports a wide variety of file formats, making it a good resource for fast edits. Sign up for a free account to get access to features such as converting file formats, creating video mashups, or recording a vlog from your web camera.
Getting Started with Video Toolbox:
Signing up for Video Toolbox is easy - just provide a valid email address and create a password. Check your email for a verification message, follow the link, and you're ready to edit. Start out with the free account to get a feel for the website and your storage capacity needs. You can always upgrade your account for more space, starting at $8.99 a month.
Editing With Video Toolbox:
Once you have a user account, check out the items on the Main Menu. There you'll see your file manager, task manager, video recorder, settings, and glossary. To upload footage, go to the file manager. Here you'll be able to upload files from your computer, or download files from any of the websites that Video Toolbox supports. You can also record video straight from your web camera to edit with Video Toolbox to make a quick video blog, broadcast, or video journal. Video Toolbox uses Flash, so to record from your web camera you'll need to have a browser updated with the latest version. With the free account you'll have 600 MB of free storage, which will suffice as long as you are working with compressed footage, such as YouTube videos or short clips from your mobile device.
Once you've imported a video, you should see a drop-down menu labeled 'select action' right beneath your list of files. Here you can add subtitles, splice or crop a file, 'demux' or extract audio, video or subtitles from any video, add a watermark, or merge two files. Video Toolbox is a really good software to use if you need to carry out a simple edit to an entire video file, and don't want to open up a video editor.
With the list of edit operations included in the toolbox, you can prepare your files for easy sharing on the web. After you make the edit you need to make, you'll apply the edit and wait for Video Toolbox to generate your file. You can keep track of your file conversions in the task manager. Once your video is ready, Video Toolbox will provide a link for you to download the output file. You can also refer to the 'Recent Output Files' tab to see your recently edited files. You have 1400 MB of output file space, and your output files will be deleted after 24 hours.
To execute two different edits or conversions to the same video, you'll need to download the output file to your hard drive and re-upload it to your user profile. Multiple conversions may decrease the quality of your file, so it's best to stick to just one per video if you plan on sharing it online.
Converting Files With Video Toolbox:
Perhaps the most useful part of Video Toolbox is its file conversion software. You can use this software to convert files so that they play in a variety of media players and are compatible with Apple and Android mobile devices. Video Toolbox comes with a helpful glossary for figuring out which file format will suit your needs. More knowledgeable users will find the 'Advanced Mode' helpful for controlling the specific aspects of file conversion such as codec, resolution, bit rate, and frame rate.
All prices as of March 2012.
