HandBrake is one of the best tools out there in terms of modifying videos that are locally stored on your hard drive. There's a nearly endless array of adjustments for you to tweak, from format to coding or audio tracks. If you need to convert any video you have stored into a specific format that's compatible with your PC, smartphone, iOS device, console or TV -- this is the right choice. Plus you can opt to extract and convert physical formats like DVDs or Blu-Ray discs.
With loads of pre-set formats available for almost any standard: Android, Apple, Playstation, Vimeo, YouTube, Windows, and Matroska, among others, this app is capable of reworking videos at up to 4K resolution and almost any aspect ratio you need. The only drawback is that outside of presets, you have to adjust everything manually in order to set up dimensions, codecs, apply cuts, modify subtitling, bitrate, etc.
Once you've made these changes you'll get a full preview of your video, and can watch as the final version of your file is fully rendered and saved at within the route you preselected. Handbrake is no doubt one of the best free tools in this field. Its main appeal is that it offers you a minimalist interface with a whole arsenal of possibilities without overcomplicating things like other editing suites do.
Frequent questions
How do I add subtitles in HandBrake?
To add subtitles in HandBrake, you will first need to open the video you want to play. Once opened, click on settings > subtitles > import. Select the subtitle document you want to sync and finally click on 'start decoding'.
What output codecs are supported in HandBrake?
HandBrake supports the most popular audio and video codecs, including those belonging to MP4 (mpeg4, H264, x264), MOV (DivX, WMV, Mpeg2), AVI (Divx, Xvid), MKV (DivX, Xvid, H264, x264, H265, HEVC) or FLV (VP6 and H264 variants) formats.
How much space does HandBrake take up?
HandBrake is a very lightweight tool that takes up less than 20 MB. It has no special requirements and does not download extra data, but you will need to have space to save the videos you edit.
5 reviews 
Comments
Anyone having trouble with the language here, on my end it's in German on Windows and macOSX version 1.4.0 and also the previous version. And I didn't have to set anything.
It says Italian language, but where? In the settings, I only see English and German... what a pity.
The website suggests that the program is available in German; however, HandBrake is not in German, and I couldn't find a setting for it. It's clearly stated on Google that HandBrake is in German, alon...See more
This program is great, it is the most powerful DVD ripper and video converter I have tried, it only supports MP4 and MKV. It is better to convert into MKV since this format works with the H.264 codec ...See more