Convert Between Several File Formats on Linux with FF Multi Converter

FF Multi Converter is an application that allows you to convert video, audio, image and document files between several file formats. Its backend was built using ffmpeg for audio and video files, ImageMagick for images and unoconv for documents.

To follow this tutorial, you need to install it on your computer. If you’re on Ubuntu (or Ubuntu-based distros), you can install FF Multi Converter using the stable PPA. Just enter the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ffmulticonverter/stable sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install ffmulticonverter

Arch Linux users can install the application via the AUR. For other Linux distributions, you can visit FF Multiconverter’s download page for instructions.

Once you have it installed, you may launch the application. It will try to show you any missing dependencies in the status bar. Without these dependencies, you may not be able to convert to some formats, so you need to satisfy all the dependencies before it will work satisfactorily.

For example, it detected that I did not have unoconv installed, so I had to install it before I could convert document files.

Once all the dependencies are satisfied, you may proceed with the rest of the tutorial.

I will give two examples of how to use FF Multi Converter to give you an idea of how much can be achieved with this application.

Convert Video to Audio

A good use case for this is to convert a music video to audio.

1. Simply select the “Audio/Video” tab, click the “Add” button on the top right corner and select as many videos as you want to convert.
2. Select the file format you want to convert to from the list. I chose “M4A,” but you can choose your preferred audio format.
3. Choose the output folder for the converted file, or you can tick the checkbox at the bottom if you want the new file to be saved in the same directory as the input file.

The default settings seem to work just fine, so I’ll just leave it like that. You can experiment with changing the options to suit your particular needs. Finally, hit the “Convert” button.

A popup window will appear for you to monitor the conversion process. Once the conversion is completed, it will show you a success message. You can then navigate to your chosen output directory to view the file.

2. Convert Microsoft Word (DOC) to PDF

The process of converting between document formats is very similar to what was described above.

1. Select the “Documents” tab and click the “Add” button to select the documents you want to convert.
2. The file formats of the input and output files. In this case, it’s “DOC to PDF.”
3. Choose the output folder for the converted file, and then hit the “Convert” button.

The file conversion should begin, and within a few moments (depending on the size of the document you want to convert) you should have the output file in the specified directory.

Conclusion

I hope this short tutorial has opened your eyes to how useful FF Multi Converter can be for converting between several file formats. Let us know your thoughts about the application in the comments below.

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Ayo Isaiah is a freelance writer from Lagos who loves everything technology with a particular interest in open-source software. Follow him on Twitter.

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