Penn State Learning Design Community Hub

Many times, we look for videos that would be good illustrations of a lesson, a concept, or just examples with other possibilities that we can share with students, faculty, staff, and colleagues. There are sites that have material available that can be used, but it isn’t always in the appropriate format compatible with PowerPoint, Softchalk, or ANGEL.

 A free site, Zamzar, supports conversion of files from links on the internet (URLs) as well as from your computer. Whether they are your personal files or files that are in the public domain, you can access the Zamzar website, enter either your file or the URL to a file on the web, select the formatting you need from a list and have Zamzar convert the file for you. When the conversion is complete, Zamzar will mail you the link to the converted file and you can download it to your computer.

 Zamzar supports the download and conversion of videos from a range of sharing websites. The following are websites that Zamzar can convert their video formats to the format you need: Youtube, Google Video, Revver, PutFile, Grouper, Blip.tv, TeacherTube, TinyPic,  Myspace, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Break.com, Apple Trailers, IFilm, GodTube, and SpikedHumor. 

I found it very easy to use and the turn around time is quick.  Since it is a free site, there is a limit on how many files you can submit in a 24 hour period.  But for people that do not have the software or the time to spend converting files, this is a viable solution.