Open Source and Free Software Directory

 

The following tables comprise a selective guide to various free and open source software tools for a variety of digital media applications.

 

This is an attempt to provide a first port of call for those looking for free and/or open source applications on the Internet. There is a bewildering array of such software and, as a result, we cannot hope to make this directory comprehensive. In addition, the almost daily changes in existing applications and the constant arrival of new ones means that the accuracy of information in these tables can't be guaranteed.

 

What this directory can provide is an easy way into the maze of applications on the Internet and a useful list of some of the most popular tools available.  A quick glance at the tasks in the left hand column will immediately lead to one or more appropriate applications along with information about what machines it or they will work on. We hope to provide evaluations of some of these applications in the near future as well as keeping the directory as up-to-date as we can.

 

If a more exhaustive search for applications is desired, there are a number of places to look.  Aside from the inevitable Google search, many tools can be found by checking the SourceForge website and the Open Source Software Directory.

Notes

• Webware applications are also known as cloud applications or online applications. They are tools which do not require the downloading of software to your computer. Instead, a browser is used to access the site on the Internet where the tool is used. There is some information available from an event at the University of Bristol.  Also see our advice documents on free online image editors, free online audio editors and free online screencasting tools.
  
• Note that 'free' does not mean 'open source'. Often, free applications are stripped-down versions of commercial applications and, as such, may not provide all of the functionality you are expecting.
  

AUDIO	Webware	Linux	Mac	Windows	Website	Open source	Free	Notes
audio editing		Audacity	Audacity	Audacity	audacity.sourceforge.net
	Audio Expert				www.audioexpert.com
		SoX	SoX	SoX	sox.sourceforge.net
		Traverso DAW	Traverso DAW	Traverso DAW	traverso-daw.org
		WaveSurfer	WaveSurfer	WaveSurfer	www.speech.kth.se/wavesurfer
		Ardour	Ardour		www.ardour.org
		LMMS		LMMS	lmms.sourceforge.net			Linux MultiMedia Studio
		Ecasound	Ecasound		www.eca.cx/ecasound
		Snd			ccrma.stanford.edu/software/snd
		Jokosher		Jokosher	www.jokosher.org
		MusE			muse-sequencer.org
		Qtractor			qtractor.sourceforge.net
		ReZound			rezound.sourceforge.net
		Rosegarden			www.rosegardenmusic.com
		Sweep			www.metadecks.org/software/sweep
			WavePad	WavePad	www.nch.com.au
	Myna				www.aviary.com
file conversion			Switch		www.nch.com.au/switch
music creation	Roc				www.aviary.com

 

STILL IMAGE	Webware	Linux	Mac	Windows	Website	Open source	Free	Notes
image colour editing	Toucan				www.aviary.com
image compression		Smush.it	Smush.it	Smush.it	www.smushit.com			lossless
image creation and editing (see also our guide to Free Online Image Editors)	DrPic				www.drpic.com
	FotoFlexer				fotoflexer.com
		GIMP	GIMP	GIMP	www.gimp.org
		ImageMagick	ImageMagick	ImageMagick	www.imagemagick.org/script			bitmap
		Inkscape	Inkscape	Inkscape	www.inkscape.org			vector graphics, can be used for video titling
	LunaPic				www.lunapic.com
	Phixr				www.phixr.com
	Phoenix				www.aviary.com
	Photoshop.com				www.photoshop.com
	Picnik				www.picnik.com
	PicResize				www.picresize.com
	Pixer.us				www.pixer.us
	Pixlr				www.pixlr.com
	Splashup				www.splashup.com
	Sumo Paint				www.sumopaint.com
image effects editing	Peacock				www.aviary.com
image markup	Falcon				www.aviary.com
image vector editing	Raven				www.aviary.com
panorama creation				AutoStitch	cvlab.epfl.ch/~brown/autostitch/autostitch.html

 

MOVING IMAGE	Webware	Linux	Mac	Windows	Website	Open source	Free	Notes
animation (2-D)		Pencil	Pencil	Pencil	www.pencil-animation.org			for traditional hand-drawn animation
		KToon			www.ktoon.net
		Synfig	Synfig	Synfig	synfig.org			vector-based
animation (3-D)		Blender	Blender	Blender	www.blender.org
DVD ripping		Doom9	Doom9	Doom9	www.doom9.org			repository for an enormous number of rippers, codecs, filters and much more
subtitling		Aegisub	Aegisub	Aegisub	www.aegisub.org
		Gaupol		Gaupol	home.gna.org/gaupol
			Miyu		www.fluffalopefactory.com/miyu
		Subtitle Editor			home.gna.org/subtitleeditor
				Subtitle Processor	sourceforge.net/projects/subtitleproc
				VisualSubSync	www.visualsubsync.org
video capture and processing				VirtualDub	www.virtualdub.org
video distribution platform		Kaltura			www.kaltura.org			includes editor and player
video editing		Avidemux	Avidemux	Avidemux	www.avidemux.org
		Avitricks Classic			www.bobyte.com/AviTricks			for AVI files
		Cinefx	Cinefx	Cinefx	www.cinefx.org			also visual effects; used to be known as Jahshaka
		Cinelerra			www.heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php			also a compositor
	Clesh				www.clesh.com			based on FORscene
			Hyperengine-AV		sourceforge.net/projects/hyperengine
	Jaycut				jaycut.com
		LiVES	LiVES	LiVES	lives.sourceforge.net			also a performance and VJ app
		Lumiera			lumiera.org			based on Cinelerra
		Kdenlive	Kdenlive		kdenlive.org
		Kino			kinodv.org			including FireWire capture from DV
		Open Movie Editor			www.openmovieeditor.org
				VideoPad	www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html
				Windows Movie Maker	www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx
		ZS4 & Zwei-Stein	ZS4 & Zwei-Stein	ZS4 & Zwei-Stein	www.zs4.net
video playing, converting, etc.		Cineplay	Cineplay	Cineplay	www.cinefx.org
			MPEG Streamclip	MPEG Streamclip	www.squared5.com			can also edit
		Mplayer & Mencoder	Mplayer & Mencoder	Mplayer & Mencoder	www.mplayerhq.hu
				Prism Video Converter	www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html
		VLC Player	VLC Player	VLC Player	videolan.org/vlc			probably the best open source app in the world…
video transcoding		Cinecode	Cinecode	Cinecode	www.cinefx.org			drag-and-drop utility to convert anything to Flash
		HandBrake	HandBrake	HandBrake	handbrake.fr
webcam recording				Debut	www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html

 

CROSS-MEDIA	Webware	Linux	Mac	Windows	Website	Open source	Free	Notes
audio & video qualitative analysis			Transana	Transana	www.transana.org
collections management system		Omeka			omeka.org

 

OTHER APPLICATIONS	Webware	Linux	Mac	Windows	Website	Open source	Free	Notes
CAD (Computer Aided Design)			Google SketchUp	Google SketchUp	sketchup.google.com/			3D modelling software. Integrates with Google Earth
cloud storage	Dropbox				www.dropbox.com
	Mozy				mozy.com
collaborative software				Dimdim	www.dimdim.com
		Etherpad			etherpad.org
		ProjectPier			www.projectpier.org
	Google Docs				docs.google.com
content management system		Plone	Plone	Plone	plone.org
		Drupal	Drupal	Drupal	drupal.org
digital repository management	DSpace				www.dspace.org
		Fedora	Fedora	Fedora	www.fedora-commons.org
		Greenstone	Greenstone	Greenstone	www.greenstone.org
eLearning development environment		Xerte	Xerte	Xerte	www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte
object identification and validation		JHOVE			hul.harvard.edu/jhove
		DROID			droid.sourceforge.net
RSS aggregator		Brief	Brief	Brief	brief.mozdev.org			add-on for Firefox
screen capture			Jing	Jing	www.techsmith.com/jing/
		Camstudio			camstudio.org/
	Screen Toaster				www.screentoaster.com
	Screencast-o-Matic				www.screencast-o-matic.com
	Screenjelly				www.screenjelly.com
	Screenr				screenr.com			designed to work with Twitter
	Talon				www.aviary.com
screenwriting		Celtx	Celtx	Celtx	www.celtx.com
VLE		eFront			www.efrontlearning.net
		Moodle	Moodle	Moodle	moodle.org
web server		XAMPP	XAMPP	XAMPP	www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html			easy-to-install version of Apache

 

 

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