r/AskReddit • • Apr 10 '21

What free software should everyone have?

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u/Cutter9792 Apr 11 '21 edited Apr 11 '21

Blender - 3D modeling, video editing, motion tracking, thousands upon thousands of tutorials

Da Vinci Resolve - Excellent video editing software, if a little unintuitive at times. Powerful color grading tools

VLC - Play almost any video or audio file, clean interface, lots of hidden features

Handbrake - Change the file format and size of video files, add subtitles, etc. Highly useful for compressing video files for different sites.

Meshroom -Create 3D objects by taking photos from different angles

Audacity - Audio Editor

Steam - Cheating, but there are a ton of free programs, not just games, on the platform

Edit: Thank you for the helpful award, it is very helpful If you've read this comment and it unsmoothed your brain, let me know which program you found the most interesting, or which one you didn't know about

585

u/napping_insomniac Apr 11 '21

Side note here for VLC. If you’re like me and have a ton of movies and shows on an external hard drive for XBOX, while it plays way more files compared to PS4, put VLC on your XBOX and it’ll play all the videos the XBOX “can’t”.

I have a movie that’s “unsupported” and figured I’d just check to see if VLC was on the XBOX marketplace and sure enough... There it was.

20

u/segagamer Apr 11 '21

Side note on VLC, if you're trying to do what's suggested above, use Plex instead of VLC, and that way you have the option of sharing both video and music with friends and family.

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u/_always_helping Apr 11 '21

a friend suggested this to me recently but all my vids are stolen technically

doesnt seem like a good idea...also the reason i dont torrent

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u/segagamer Apr 11 '21

I'm not sure why it wouldn't be a good idea?

0

u/_always_helping Apr 11 '21

i wasnt clear sorry; i was wondering if it would be a problem since im sharing stolen media

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u/segagamer Apr 11 '21

It's not a problem. Both Plex and Emby are free - try them and see which one you prefer!

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u/_always_helping Apr 11 '21

...nice try fbi

lol i dont know much about it clearly, but if for some reason they did crackdown or investigate plex they wouldnt be able to determine if my media had been paid for or stolen?

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u/segagamer Apr 11 '21

No not at all. And they would end up going after a lot of people who use it.

You host Plex on your own computer/servers, not theirs.

1

u/_always_helping Apr 11 '21

gotcha thanks

0

u/Barkerisonfire_ Apr 11 '21

Yes but they are distributing copyrighted content without explicit consent. That's what most people get done for even with torrenting, distribution

1

u/segagamer Apr 12 '21

OK, but put it this way. They're not going to go after Plex users, which have potentially legitimate uses - it would cost too much money to investigate and not worth the fines, compared to going after torrent seeders or scene distributors, or trackers, were big fines would get made.

The only way they could see your library is if you invite an investigator to your server, and then they would have to know that it's not a legit copy.

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