Handbrake question

[Luis Ortega]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is handbrake?
What does it do?
What is it used for?
Is it like Compressor where you can convert a PAL video into an NTSC video?
Can it convert one sort of audio file format into another such as wav or aif?

 

[McGiord]

I used it to convert video formats. For example convert a DVD to have a video format that is playable in my iPhone, Apple TV, etc.

Check the website, download it and play with it: IT'S FREE!

www.handbrake.fr

 

[macbookairman]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is handbrake?

HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

What does it do?
What is it used for?

Handbrake is used to put your DVD's (unencrypted) onto your computer. It can also be used as a video converter.

Handbrake can also rip encrypted DVD's onto your computer, though that requires the installation of a program called VLC. (Handbrake will then access some of the files in VLC to get through the encryption)

Is it like Compressor where you can convert a PAL video into an NTSC video?
Can it convert one sort of audio file format into another such as wav or aif?

Not sure about the compressor part....
I'm not sure about converting audio files either.

Check out this URL:
http://handbrake.fr/?article=details

EDIT: ugh. beaten! I spent wayyy too long creating my response.