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HandBrake – An Open Source Video Transcoder

Handbrake is a free and open-source video converter tool. It is easy to use and can be installed on any Linux distribution.

Today I am going to review how to use HandBrake. HandBrake is a versatile DVD ripping & video conversion software that can rip any DVD faster than you can even imagine. Also, HandBrake is multi-platform, so you can use it in almost any kind of OS.   ​I am going to install it in Linux which is one of the most popular distros. So let us start.

How To Install Handbrake In Linux?

​Move ahead to the software center and search for HandBrake, here is what you will find.

Install Handbrake in Linux Mint
Install Handbrake in Linux Mint

​We require the second one i.e. HandBrake. The above package is a flatpak and does not rip DVDs. Install it, if the password is asked, enter it.

Handbrake flatpak
Handbrake flatpak

How To Use Handbrake?

​Launch Handbrake either from searching in the menu or command-line after installation. Launch it, here is what you will see.

HandBrake interface
HandBrake interface

​You can adjust the settings in what format you want to rip your DVDs or convert your videos. You can also choose the device, the type of device for which you want to convert your videos or DVDs. Select your device in the right pane named presets lists. Choose your device and choose a profile.

The format can be selected using the option named format in the middle of the dialog box. Now let us choose a DVD or a video for conversion using the option source at the topmost.

This is what you are most likely to see when using Ubuntu.

​Navigate to the place where you have stored your videos. You can also select your DVD using the option available below at Detected DVD Devices.

Select any file. For this tutorial, I will be converting a song video file for my android device.

This is what you will see after selecting your file.

Convert video
Convert video

​Now what you will see under the Summary tab is the information of the video. Changing your device in the presets pane will alter the size and resolution of the video. Leave all settings intact if you are a normal user and just want the conversion to be done. A pro user can move to every tab and change the settings as per his liking. You can also add subtitles or edit the tags of the video.

​If you are going to upload it to the web, use the web optimized option. Remember you can select only one option at a time either web-optimized or a specific device in the presets panel.

You can change the name of the file you want after conversion in the head destination and the place where the file to be saved. Change your chapters if you want.

After every tweak is done hit the start button above and wait for the conversion to be finished and enjoy watching your converted video or DVD. You can also add multiple videos and edit the queue using the head queue.

My Experience With HandBrake

​I was personally damned impressed by HandBrake as it is very fast and completed the job without any errors. Also, the multiple adjustment options made it awesome. It is also easily installable in other distros that are not based on Ubuntu by downloading the appropriate package from its website. I am easily able to use HandBrake without any difficulties. Also, I have most of my friends using HandBrake and that too without any problem on their respective platforms like Windows, OSX, and others.

Handbrake website
Handbrake website

Conclusion

I personally recommend HandBrake as it is really fast, stable and continuously developed. It has also a website where you can specifically download HandBrake for your distro if it is not available in your default distro repositories. I will also love to hear how you guys use HandBrake and what settings combination you all prefer. Let us know in the comment section below.

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1 Comments Text
  • I have only been able to install version 1.1.0 in Ubuntu, but want version 1.2 so I can use hardware (cuda) acceleration. Trying to install 1.2 brings up a security issue (won’t install). Any ideas?

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