Our daily pick of the best free software – a free video downloader and converter that does it all.
Free Studio describes itself as the world’s number one freeware suite. We suspect Google Docs and OpenOffice might have something to say about that, but it’s certainly a useful tool for downloading videos from YouTube.
Before we proceed, remember you should only download videos when you have the copyright holder’s permission. Unauthorized downloading is against YouTube’s terms of service.
Free Studio is simple, with four key sections. The main one, Download, enables you do specify the YouTube clip you want to use and how you want to download it — as an MP4 video or as an audio-only MP3 track.
That’s handy enough, but it’s the next button that makes Free Studio really useful: it’s the Convert section, which enables you to convert the video or audio files into other formats for use on devices such as tablets and smartphones.
Free Studio isn’ t just for YouTube. It works with Instagram, Dailymotion, Niconico and Coub, and promises to record audio and video from Skype too. You can also use it to upload to YouTube and to Facebook, which is useful if you want to share music you’ ve made or a gaming playthrough you’ ve created.
The developer is completely up front about how it makes money: the app is free to use and there’s no spyware to worry about, but it does bundle links to other websites, app installations and toolbars in the installer. Be careful what you click or don’ t click if that’s an issue for you.
