VirtualDub 1.10.0 Experimental

With the popularity of video-enabled

smartphones and inexpensive camcorders,

and with most notebooks

having Web cams, there are some users

who make more video files than they

do word processing files. And whereas

word processor files are generally stored

in two or three different formats, there

are almost too many video file formats

to count. Different Web sites or editing

software calls for different file types.

A lot of commercial video-editing

and converting software is either way

underpowered or way expensive, but

VirtualDub is super-powerful and totally

free, although it isn’t without setup pain.

Originally created to capture and convert

“Sailor Moon” episodes (no kidding),

VirtualDub has become the standard in

Windows open-source video capture,

editing, and conversion software. By

default, it only works with AVI files, but by

downloading a codec pack (we recommend

the free K-Lite Codec Pack) and copying

a DirectShow Input Driver into a folder,

VirtualDub is able to read and write almost

any video file you throw at it.

Most users employ VirtualDub for

applying filters to a video and re-encoding

it. For example, if you’ve ever recorded a

video when holding your phone sideways,

there’s a rotate filter to orient the image

correctly. Other filters can sharpen or blur,

change color tints, crop or resize, add a logo,

and so forth. Basic editing and joining lets

you remove segments of video or merge

multiple segments, though the GUI isn’t

nearly as slick as any retail package you’ve

seen. For basic jobs, it works well enough.

Video capture works with analog, digital,

and FireWire devices, and you can apply

filter effects immediately.

VirtualDub is popular enough to have

spun off a few forked versions, but the latest experimental version usually has a
similar feature set to the forks. However,
don’t let the “experimental” title fool you.
We’ve never had a problem with it.

Article From Computer Power User Magazine