HD Video Converter Factory is the free edition of a commercial product for editing and converting videos from one format to another.

The program has a few “please upgrade” nag screens and some restrictions (720p resolution limit, some export formats aren’t available), but there are no time limits or watermarks and it’s all very usable.

HD Video Converter Factory accepts files via drag and drop. There’s an “Add Files” option if it’s more convenient, and in theory you can download videos from some popular sites, although this kept giving us network errors when we tried it.

Your source files can be individually tweaked, with options to trim movies, crop them, apply a few simple effects (brighter, darken, sharpen, some fun ones like “old film”), add subtitles and more.

A Merge button enables merging some or all the clips into your preferred order.

All the main video formats are supported

Our output files were set to be “auto” resolution (the same size as the original) and export as MOV, but you can specify another resolution and format if you prefer.

The free version supports all the major format, but some options in the dialog – H.265, for instance – aren’t available. Annoyingly, the program doesn’t clearly indicate which these are. You’ll only realise when you click one and are told “oops, can’t do that”, and have to click your way through a list of reasons why you should buy the full build.

When you’re ready to go, clicking “Run” starts the conversion process. In our tests this worked quickly, and there’s an “Open Folder” button to display the new videos when you’re done.

Upgrading to the commercial HD Video Converter Factory Pro gets you more output options, support for converting resolutions above 720p, simultaneous conversion of video and audio files, up to 50x conversion speed improvement, and more.

The price is nominally $49.95, but often discounted to half that. You can install in on up to 3 PCs and it gets you free lifetime upgrades.

HD Video Converter Factory is a free tool for Windows XP and later.