I have written about the creation of FLV (Flash Video) with freeware/open-source software before. But I’ve made the mistake to talk about to many different aspects of the FLV: the encoder, the offline flv-player and the web flv-player.
This will be corrected in this post, so after reading this you will know:
- Which programs you can use to encode FLV but don’t have to pay for.
- Which program I would use.
- And why I would use this program
I know of these freeware/open-source projects you can use to encode FLV:
- Riva FLV Encoder
- Digitalgroover FLV Encoder
- Super
- Mediacoder
I’ve been testing them on a couple points.
And the winner is: Riva FLV Encoder!
But it was a close race with number 2: Digitalgroover FLV Encoder
Both of these programs are very easy to use: they can do only one thing: create FLV, which makes them very powerful and useful.
Riva FLV Encoder wins because it can save presets (settings), has some documentation and runs immediately on my home computer. Digitalgroover FLV Encoder could win with the next round (version) if: it runs on my home computer (it works fine on my computer at work…) and save/load presets (settings) in XML.
The other programs can be used to encode more than one at a time (batch) but both don’t write FLV1.1 (no MetaData) so you will need to update this with Buraks FLVMDI (FLV MetaData Injector) which also has the capability to batch.
The combination of complex interface, possibility to encode more than only FLV and no MetaData, makes Super and Mediacoder more programs for professionals.
7 replies on “How can I make FLV with freeware / opensource software”
[…] May 1st, 2006 Update #5: I’ve split this post in a couple specified post about this subject: How can I make FLV with freeware / opensource software Why do I need MetaData? The best offline FLV player (not written yet) […]
Hoi Matthijs,
ik zie dat je onwijs veel verstand hebt van de flv encoder. Ik heb er een probleembje mee. Heb een .mov bestand maar kan hem niet conventeren. Wel als ik de audio uitzet maar daar heb ik niet zoveel aan. Weet jij misschien wat het kan zijn?
Groetjes Melanie
Hi Melanie,
Sorry voor de late reactie: ik kende dit probleem niet.
Het lijkt een mac probleem te zijn:
Het heeft te maken met muxed MPEG: met muxed files zijn de video en audio tracks “samengesmolten” en daardoor krijg je alleen beeld en geen geluid als je deze converteerd naar flv.
Oplossing is dus om het origineel eerst te converteren naar …. (iets dat niet “ge-muxed” is) en dat dan weer te converteren naar flv.
I need to make a product presentation, and want to make it in flash, need free software for making it
If you want to make something in Flash you need to buy that.
There is no (free) alternative to Flash.
If you want to make a presentation, Flash isn’t the only program you can use.
– a presentation made in a movie
– slide show animation
– flip board
– etc
Why oh why oh why are you not honest…
NONE OF THESE PROGRAMS ARE FREE!!!! READ MY LIPS FREE!!!!
WHY DID YOU WASTE MY TIME READING YOUR WEBSITE SAYING YOU HAVE LINKS TO FREE SOFTWARE THAT ISN’T FREE?????!!!!!
Sorry you didn’t find what you needed.
It’s a post I wrote in 2006; perhaps it’s not that up-to-date as it was back then.
Oh and not all the links are working anymore… I missed that; thanks for pointing that out to me!
Digitalgroover FLV Encoder seems to have disappeared … my bad!
Media coder seems to have moved, but it’s still free: http://www.mediacoderhq.com
Back then I worked on a PC, so it’s written more towards PC then towards MAC (which is my OS of choice right now).
Super AND Riva FLV Encoder are still free.
So thank you for the time you took to read my blog AND comment on it.
I hope my reply (and your comment) will help the next visitor of my blog!