# Looking for a good .avi to .mpg converter **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142 "2007-10-18T05:12:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chrismoody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Chrismoody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chrismoody)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/1 "2007-10-18T05:12:40Z")
The only one I found so far is Any Video Converter 2.0 And it is slow. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/2 "2007-10-18T05:25:39Z")
[QUOTE=Chrismoody] The only one I found so far is Any Video Converter 2.0 And it is slow. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance. [/QUOTE] One of, if not The Best, and free. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/3 "2007-10-18T05:43:13Z")
Sometimes slow is all that’s possible. It can take as much as four times as long as the original file length to convert formats. TMPGEnc is definitely the best, as Eleusis says, there is no other application on this planet that makes better quality mpeg files. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/4 "2007-10-18T06:50:55Z")
Yeah, converting video formats is slow almost by definition. It’s highly CPU intensive… my 2.6ghz 1.2gb ram laptop just converted a 4 minute Three Stooges clip to MPG in 4 minutes. If you want speed and aren’t much concerned with anything but compatibility, then don’t tweak anything. Changing the framerate or resolution will add time exponentially. ETA: Of course most reasons I can see for needing to move to MPG also require specific framerates and resolutions. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/5 "2007-10-18T06:51:31Z")
[QUOTE=Eleusis] One of, if not The Best, and free. [/QUOTE] It’s a free trial, isn’t it? I use [BBMPEG](http://members.cox.net/beyeler/bbmpeg.html) - which is free, and works fine. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/6 "2007-10-18T06:54:37Z")
No, it’s free free. ETA: Apparently MP2 functionality for 30 days. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/7 "2007-10-18T06:59:33Z")
That’s what I thought - MPEG2 is what you need if you’re authoring DVDs - which is why I had to switch to BBMPEG. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/8 "2007-10-18T07:04:55Z")
Yeah… that sucks. IIRC it didn’t have that restriction in the past. Anyway, finish your boat. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/9 "2007-10-18T07:14:43Z")
Ah, the boat. Looks doubtful it will get back in the water this year now… ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/10 "2007-10-18T07:23:14Z")
Nasty hijack here… sorry **Chrismoody** , but screw the water! Fill in the little voids at the ends of the kerfs! Arrghhh! It’s like a season cliffhanger! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/11 "2007-10-18T07:57:19Z")
I’ve done that… I’ll post an update tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-avi-to-mpg-converter/423142/12 "2007-10-18T14:25:00Z")
I found [THIS](http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html) nifty converter a little while back. It basically converts almost anything to almost anything else. It’s absolutely free. I haven’t used it much so I don’t know how the quality is. Anyone have any experience with it? ETA: There are a few programs on that site, the encoder is called SUPER.