Useful Software List

If you can't find what you are looking for here, please check the download pages on Doom9 and the software list in Quu's guide.

Essentials:

AMVapp - All the stuff you can't do without when using DVD footage

AdvancedAVS Pack - All the stuff you can't do without when filtering with AVIsynth.

Virtualdub - The best avi capture and compression program there is.

TMPGEnc - The best MPEG1 compressor there is, also very good at MPEG2 compression.

XviD - An excellent open-source mpeg4 codec.

AVIsynth - Awesome virtual avi manipulation program, contained in the AMVapp but also available from here.

Exact Audio Copy - The best tool for extracting audio from CDs

Smartripper - My favourite DVD ripping program.

DVDDecrypter - Another excellent DVD ripping program, more recently updated.

Other Useful Creation Tools:

LameMP3 - The best mp3 implementation around.

TooLAME - The best mp2 implementation around :)

BeSweet and the BeSweet GUI - Brilliant AC3/MP3/WAV decoder/encoder.

Audacity - Open source WAV editor.

CinemaCraft Encoder - Excellent but buggy and expensive MPEG1/2 encoder.

BitrateViewer - Handy tool for finding out information about DVD streams.

Ogg Vorbis - Superb audio compression tool, not recommended for amvs due to lack of coverage.

Playback Tools:

DivX5 - Not recommended as a compression codec, but handy for playback :)

ffdshow - excellent all-in-one movie decoder that handles every avi mpeg4 implementation you can think of

ZoomPlayer - feature-packed alternative to Windows Media Player

BSPlayer - another good media player alternative

AbsoluteDestiny - October 2002