9 Essential (and Free) OS X Mac Audio/video Apps

If you're an aspiring filmmaker or musician, or just someone who wants to have a digital copy of their DVDs on their computer, the Mac platform is an excellent choice, replete with media tools such as iTunes, iMovie, and iDVD. However you might find that out of the box, your Mac can't do all the things you want it to--things like view or convert open-source video formats such as .OGG and Theora, or Windows Media files. Sure, you can watch your DVDs with DVD Player, but good luck trying to take a screenshot or copy the file to your hard drive. What if you want to convert your music to a file format that iTunes doesn't support, or format your iTunes files so that they show up properly? Look no farther than the following free apps. Got a problem? These apps can handle it. There's information, as well as handy system compatibility information so you know if your IBM processor-based Mac or old OS X version will cut it. Read on!

Video/audio conversion tools

*FFmpegX
**System requirements: OS 10.2+ (Universal). / License: Shareware / Download: [link]
Many videophiles might be familiar with FFmpeg, a cross-platform and uniquely powerful tool to convert nearly any video format into another. Hower FFmpeg has its problems: chief among them is it runs from the command line, requiring some complicated commands and a knowledge of the OS X Terminal to run. In short, not user friendly. Enter FFmpegX, an OS X-only implementation which adds a graphical user interface that makes it easy to convert troublesome formats into more manageable ones, or vice-versa. The program is shareware, which means that the authors request a $15 fee if you like it. Trust me, if you want to pony up the cash it's well worth it.

*iSquint
System requirements: OS 10.3.9+ (Universal) / License: Freeware [unsupported] / Download: [link]
iSquint is discontinued, its author ceasing development in October 2008, which means it might become outdated. In the meantime, though, it's the easiest way to rapidly convert great-looking video into formats made for the iPod and iPhone. The best feature of iSquint is its ease of use; quality settings are judged by a single slider, and everything is automatic (custom features are hidden, but accessible if you want them). It's faster than many expensive programs, converting at roughly real time. The best feature? It can convert the FLV files you can grab from Youtube using Safari's activity window (more on that here) turning those files into iPod-ready entertainment.

*Handbrake
System requirements: OS 10.5+ (Intel or PPC) / License: Freeware / Download: [link]
Ok, so all the above allow you to convert video or audio you've already got on your computer. But what about those DVDs? Alas, with your out-of-the-box Mac you would be out of luck. Enter Handbrake, a multimedia video transcoder that shines for DVDs. It can read the VIDEO_TS folder on almost any DVD and offers a host of ready-made compatible formats for iPods, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, to name a couple, and boasts an endless array of settings you can tweak to your heart's content to produce the final video.

*Max
System requirements: OS 10.4+ (Universal) / License: Freeware / Download: [link]
iTunes can produce a host of audio formats, but if you're looking at higher quality options you only have two choices: AIFF files or Apple's proprietary Apple Lossless formats. Both are excellent lossless files for getting the most out of your music, but if you want to expand your options you need Max, an app for creating high-quality music from discs and files. Among the formats Max can produce that iTunes can't handle includes OGG Vorbis and the lossless open-source FLAC. Best of all Max is an excellent way to grab CD information and produce playlists for iTunes or other media jukebox programs.

Video/audio playback

*VLC
System requirements: OS 10.1+ (various releases for all flavors of OS X) / License: Freeware / Download: [link]
Quicktime often doesn't cut it in terms of playing back audio. That's where VLC comes in. Whether its OGG, DivX or Theora files--or you just want to convert and stream music and movies--VLC can do a lot. While it's not the most user-friendly program out there, it's a very powerful tool.

*Perian
System requirements: OS 10.4.7+ / License: Freeware / Download: [link]
Perian markets itself as the "swiss army knife of Quicktime components", and it's hardly a beer-brave boast. Perian enhances Quicktime's capabilities, allowing Apple's program to handle popular formats such as AVI, FLV, DivX, 3ivx, and MKV among many, many others. If you want a passive and unobtrusive way to expand your media viewing options without having to deal with a separate program, Perian is your ticket. Don't leave home without it!

Multimedia viewing, handling, etc.

*Parsley is Atomically Delicious
System requirements: OS 10.4+ (Universal) / License: Freeware / Download: [link]
Anyone who's tried to add their own movies and television shows to iTunes knows that the program doesn't like to categorize everything into the proper windows unless it was explicitly downloaded from the iTunes store. The cause has to do with metadata associated with the file. You can fix that with a command-line program called Atomic Parsley, but why bother with archaic text commands when you can get a slim and fast GUI option, called Parsley is Atomically Delicious? PAD allows you to edit the title, show, season, episode, year, et al fields that normally aren't available and append that info to one or more files at once. It's quick, fast, and goes a long way to organizing your iTunes media library. Essential for the neat freaks among us.

*Transmission
System requirements: OS 10.5 (Universal) / License: Freeware / Download: [link]
Torrents are a method of distributing file information and sharing it with others. This peer-to-peer method of file sharing is often faster than downloading directly from a single server. Mac OS X doesn't ship with a built-in torrent manager, but Transmission is the best OS X torrent client, hands-down. It allows a large amount of flexibility in handling your torrents, including limiting download or upload speeds on a single or global level, or stopping seeding files to others automatically after a certain download/upload ratio has been reached. It's clean, fast, attractive and powerful (oh, and free, duh.)

*FFView
System requirements: OS 10.3+ / License: Freeware / Download: [link]
The popular method of sharing electronic copies of comics and graphic novels is with .cbr files (Comic Book RAR archive). The RAR stands for Roshal Archive, a proprietary file format that isn't automatically supported on Macs. To open RARs, you need a free app like The Unarchiver (link); to open and navigate CBRs, you need a good comic book reader. The recommendation is for FFView, a powerful CBR reader that allows full-screen and thumbnail modes, customizeable page sequencing, and a host of other features including the magnifying glass which allows you to appreciate fine details. A runner-up is Jomic (link) which has comparable features.