Zamzar

Over on the Aspac/Law blog, master of My-Tube Rey Leuterio has written about what he feels is the “most useful free web application in history.” Hyperbole? Perhaps. But it sure should rank up there.

It’s called Zamzar, a web service that does quick, easy, and (thus far) free conversion between a host of file formats. From the look of things it does just about every useful file format conversion one can think of for documents, images, music and video. This last category is particularly compelling as the site is able to take videos from Youtube as well as many other video-sharing sites and turn them into files that can be stored locally.

Upon learning this I couldn’t contain my inner geek and just had to try it out for myself. Having done so, it’s no exaggeration to say that using the site is as straightforward an experience as they come. In four easy steps, anyone can convert a file of their choosing into the specific format they need: upload the file (or enter the URL for Youtube-like videos), specify the desired file format, indicate your email address where a link to the converted file can be sent for you to download, and wait. When the file’s ready, you’ll receive an email that looks a little something like this (in my case, for an mp4 file of the Free Hugs video I posted a while back):

That’s all! Quick, easy and user-friendly, and not to mention at least five kinds of amazing, if not more.