Ashampoo Movie Shrink & Burn

Note: The application is no longer supported by its developer. Users are advised to download/purchase Ashampoo Video Converter instead.

Ashampoo Movie Shrink & Burn is designed to help you convert movies and burn them to a CD or DVD. You can use it to convert holiday video and burn them to a disc in order to send them to your friends. But you can also extract movies from a DVD and convert them for mobile devices such as PDA's or mobile phones.

The program features a wizard-like interface that guides you through all the steps that are required. For instance, if you want to create a movie for your mobile device you need to select the file format, the screen size and the source before starting the conversion process.

The program does not allow you to make further changes to the conversion settings which can be frustrating for advanced users. The application is designed to convert your movie files with minimum user implication.

The only setting that you can adjust is the maximum size of the output file. The target file can be automatically split into multiple parts if it exceeds a certain file size that you can adjust. This function is useful when you are converting big video files or when you need to publish the movie to a website.

You can convert movies for popular websites such as YouTube or DailyMotion with just a few clicks. The program automatically warns you when the output file exceeds the website upload limit and splits the output file.

When you want to burn the video to a CD or DVD the program lets you select the disc type, and the video format (NTSC or PAL) before burning the file. For video DVD's you can also choose between 4:3 or 16:9 screen format. During the file processing the program displays a progress bar and the remaining time.

The conversion speed is decent and the program does not use a lot of resources. It converted a five-minute VOB file into an AVI movie and burned it to a CD in about four minutes using an insignificant part of the computer's memory. The CPU load was between 50 and 80 percent but the impact on the computer performance was not noticeable.

Ashampoo Movie Shrink & Burn can deal with converting and burning video files with minimum effort. The video quality of the video is good and you do not have to manually configure the encoders. The program will prompt you to install a toolbar that it is not required but you can decline during the installation.