qBittorrent is a fast. easy to use torrent client that uses as few of your PC's resources as possible for improved speeds.

Unlike most free clients, qBittorrent is completely open source, meaning there are no ads and you don't have to pay extra for extensions and add-ons. Anyone can develop their own new features and fix bugs, and you’ll benefit from regular updates.

If you’re fully immersed in the Google ecosystem, using Chrome makes perfect sense. It ties in with your Google account, allowing you to sync settings and bookmarks between computers – and even different devices thanks to mobile versions of the browser. Available for Mac, Windows and Linux, as well as iOS and Android, Chrome's cross-platform support gives it access to a large number of users, and it's little wonder that it proves so enduringly popular.

he current version of Chrome complies with more web standards than any other browser, and a frequent update cycle means that security issues and other bugs are knocked on the head quickly.

If you find that there's a feature missing from Chrome, or you like the idea of adding extra functions to websites you use frequently, you have the option of using extensions to do just that, and there's a huge selection available in the Chrome Web Store. If you like the idea of trying new tools first, there’s also a beta channel available that provides early access to new builds of the browser.

Chrome also does a superb job of managing tabs. As well as intelligently resizing tabs – and providing a pinning option for easy access – the browser also stores individual tabs in memory separately, so if one crashes, it shouldn't take the rest with it.

In terms of its basic look, Chrome offers few surprises. This is, after all, a piece of software designed to display web pages, and those web pages should be the focus of things rather than the browser itself. With this in mind, Chrome does a great job of fading into the background – it is beautifully minimalist.

There are few settings that you will need to concern yourself with on a day-to-day basis, but it's easy to change the default search engine, show or hide the bookmarks toolbar, and control the storage of browsing history and cookies. With support for multiple users, and even parental controls, Chrome is a browser for all the family, and the browser of the future.

If you're not worried by the privacy concerns associated with Google, this is the best web browser on the market.

Any Video Converter Free is an amazing downloading and conversion toolkit so comprehensive, it's hard to believe it's free. You can rip files from discs, download them from YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Dailymotion and more, apply filters and effects, then save or burn them to DVD in virtually any format.

Free YouTube Download isn’t quite as convenient as software that lets you search for videos without opening your web browser, but it’s straightforward, uncluttered, and very simple to use.

Unfortunately, Free YouTube Download has one major drawback: you can’t download videos longer than three minutes unless you pay for a premium subscription. This is currently discounted to a modest $9 (about £7, AU$12) annually, or US$19 (about £15, AU$25) for a lifetime, and includes all of DVDVideoSoft’s other media software, but  if you’re looking after the pennies then you’ll be better off with a tool like aTube Catcher.

Bear in mind that you should only download videos if you have the copyright holder’s permission. Here we’re using Free YouTube Download to make a handy archive of our own YouTube channel for posterity.

When you install Free YouTube Download, an addition icon labelled Free Studio will appear on your desktop. Don’t be alarmed – this isn’t an extra program that’s been sneakily installed without your permission, it’s just a link that gives you quick access to all the DVDVideoSoft applications you have installed. If you don’t want it, just delete it.

Provided your chosen video is short enough, you can take your pick from a variety of video format and quality settings, or you can choose to just download the audio if you prefer. This is a welcome touch; some desktop programs and most online video downloaders only let you save standard resolution MP4 files. 

You can queue multiple videos before saving them in a batch – just use the green 'Paste' button to add each URL before clicking 'Download'. 

Take a peek into the Options menu and you’ll find a surprisingly comprehensive list of settings. You can specify the output folder (it’s your Videos directory by default), set a naming convention, shut down your PC when it’s finished (ideal if you’re grabbing lots of files at once), and paste URLs from the clipboard automatically to save time.

Free YouTube Download is a great tool for grabbing and converting clips from the world’s biggest video hosting site, but the three-minute limit is a real shame. If you really like how the software looks and works, consider upgrading to the premium version now while the price is deeply discounted.

Free YouTube Download doesn't have many flaws – it's well designed, with an excellent choice of export options – but the time limit on downloaded videos is a major drawback.

aTube Catcher is one of a growing number of tools that download videos from the likes of YouTube, Dailymotion and Metacafe. While it's often easy to browse the web on your phone will you travel, there are times when there's no connection available. This is when it pays to have downloaded videos in advance.

The videos you download can be converted to a number of popular formats, suitable for playback on a variety of devices. So whether you're looking for the best possible quality to view on a high resolution monitor, or the emphasis is on smaller file size to fit on your smartphone, aTube Catcher can do the job for you.

There's also a screen recorder that can be used to capture video from your screen, and a disc burning option.

You might not expect it from what many people would not consider 'serious' software, but aTube Catcher includes an automatic updater that ensures you're always using the most recent, most secure, and most feature-packed version of the program.

For hardcore users, there is the option of batch processing files so you can download multiple videos at once. This is a somewhat hands-on task that requires the creation of a text files to tell the software what to do. It's a little inelegant and long-winded, but it works.

It's nice to see the option to not only convert videos between formats, but also to create VCDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs from the content you record or download.

As with many free tools these days, you need to take care when installing aTube Catcher to ensure that you aren't accidentally duped into also installing a browser toolbar. Thankfully, this is not selected by default, but it's worth keeping an eye out for.

After firing up the program, a neat splash screen provides an inviting introduction to what aTube Catcher has to offer. Rather than forcing you to hunt through endless menus to find what you're looking for, a series of clear buttons provide instant access so you can get to work without delay.

The initial interface is pleasingly unintimidating, and downloading videos from any of the supported sites – of which there are many – is a simple matter of copying and pasting the URL, choosing the format you'd like to save the video in, and clicking 'Download'. There are several formats to choose from, and in many cases there's a variety of preset resolutions to choose from.

Note that you should only download videos if you have the copyright owner's permission. YouTube's terms of service prohibit unauthorized downloading.

The screen recorder feature is very nice too, and can be used in a number of ways. You could use it to record whatever you're doing on your computer, but it is also possible to use to capture live streaming video that you would not otherwise be able to download. Just draw a selection box around the video you want and you're good to go.

Even if you don't download videos very often, this is a great piece of software to keep to hand for occasions when you do. Its built-in screen and sound recorders complete the package.

Freemake Video Downloader is much more than a simple YouTube downloader. It supports more than 500 audio and video formats, which helps explain why it has so many users (93 million and counting). 

Unlike some video downloaders, MP4 isn't your only option – WebM and 3GP are also available.

It's extremely convenient, able to grab and convert videos from any of the major video hosting sites, but sadly the latest release has one major flaw: you can no longer download videos longer than three minutes without upgrading to the Freemake Premium Pack.

VideoPad Video Editor is a beginner-friendly video editing package that makes an ideal replacement for the defunct Windows Movie Maker. In just a few minutes you’ll have mastered its well designed toolkit and be ready to start creating your own masterpiece ready to upload straight to YouTube or Facebook, or in a format optimized for any playback device.

Shotcut proves that a top-notch video editor doesn't have to cost a fortune. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and is totally free with no ads, bundled adware, or features hidden behind a paywall. 

If you’re looking for a free video editor that can replace Windows Movie Maker, Shotcut is a particularly good choice. This open source app contains all the tools you know and love from Microsoft’s classic video editing software, plus a raft of extras that bring it up bang up to date.

In just a few easy steps, you can use Shotcut cut your video footage to a specified length before converting it to a format of your choice. You can also edit your projects with a selection of filters and effects. 

Shotcut also includes a recording function lets you save and edit footage from your webcam, and it can handle streaming in HTTP, HLS, RTMP, RTSP, MMS and UDP formats.

Shotcut’s standard interface is smart, but sparse. Don’t be put off, though; clicking the buttons along the top bar (peak meter, properties, playlist and so on) adds modules to the display so you can configure it to your liking.

The process of importing video clips, audio and images is a familiar one. Just select your media files, then drag them to the timeline at the bottom of the screen. You can create multiple tracks for audio, video, and handy tools like snapping make it easy to join clips together neatly.

Splitting clips is as easy as positioning the playhead, then clicking a button. Trimming clips is a piece of cake too, and there are copy and paste tools for chopping and changing sections. The history timeline makes it easy to track changes, and undo any by simply tapping the Delete key.

Shotcut’s best feature, however, is its raft of video and audio filters, which are fully customizable and can be layered and combined in all sorts of interesting ways. Simply choose a filter and click the plus icon to apply it, then make adjustments using the simple system of checkboxes and sliders. It’s a brilliant system that makes even advanced effects simple to understand.

There’s no way to preview a filter before applying it, but removing an undesirable effect is so simple that this isn’t much of a hardship. Overall, Shotcut is very hard to fault, and its huge array of export formats is the icing on the cake. It would be nice to have optimized profiles for specific devices, but that’s really nit-picking. Shotcut is a remarkable video editor. Give it a try – there’s nothing to lose.

A remarkable free video editor that makes even advanced editing straightforward, Shotcut is a brilliant tool for novice videographers.

Professional-grade photo editing software that's free for home users.

The closest thing to Windows Movie Maker – fast, free and easy to use.

Advanced non-linear video editing made straightforward.

VSDC Free Video Editor is a feature-packed non-linear video editing suite that can compete with even expensive editing software. There are no extra programs bundled in the installer – just the occasional prompt to upgrade to the premium edition.

With VSDC Free Video Editor you can create video projects from a combination of video clips, still images and audio files, with a resolution of up to 1,980 x 1,080 (full HD) and a maximum frame rate of 30fps. There's also a built-in screen capture tool for recording video and taking still images from your desktop – ideal for software reviews and tutorials. VSDC Free Video Editor also offers an extensive range of video and audio filters, plus stylish transitions. 

You can export finished projects in a variety of formats, with handy ready-made profiles for popular devices. VSDC Free Video Editor also provides a way to burn your project onto DVD – a feature rarely available in free editing software.

Videos in VSDC Free Video Editor are made up of 'objects', which include video clips, images, audio files, sprites, animations and many other elements. You can layer these in various ways, including blending, overlaying, and masking. If you're interested in picture-in-picture or watermarking effects, this is an incredibly simple way to do it.

You can also add charts and text, which makes VSDC Free Video Editor a brilliant tool for creating presentations with much more impact than a standard slideshow. 

Each object you add can be edited, moved and cut independently – nothing is final until you export your finished project. The audio and video effects are well worth exploring. They include various Instagram-style filters, as well as special effects like fire, smoke and water – all of which are fully customizable.

If all that isn't enough, VSDC Free Video Editor receives regular updates that add even more features. The latest version is significantly faster than previous iterations, and includes a stabilization tool that's ideal for footage shot with a shaky smartphone. It also enables you to upload multiple files to YouTube (if a project has been split into multiple parts, for example), and there's a new smart export profile for Instagram.

The premium version of VSDC Video Editor is even faster thanks to integrated hardware acceleration, but this isn't available in the free program and you won't be able to export your project if it's enabled. To disable hardware acceleration in the free editor, select the cog icon in the top right, click 'Acceleration options' and uncheck the box marked ‘Use hardware acceleration for encoding video’. 

A brilliant free video suite for Windows. Edit and cut videos to a professional standard, and apply special filters and effects.

Professional-grade photo editing software that's free for home users.

The closest thing to Windows Movie Maker – fast, free and easy to use.

An amazing video editor that makes even advanced tasks straightforward.

Lightworks is a remarkably powerful video editor, packed with professional quality tools that will make your clips shine. It's fast, flexible, and once you get used to its unusual workflow you'll find it remarkably easy to use.

Whatever kind of project you have in mind, Lightworks can help you achieve it. If you simply want to trim a video to size, or combine several short sections of footage before uploading them to YouTube, Lightworks’ well designed timeline will help you get the job done in moments. Once you’re done, Lightworks has preset profiles so you can export your work in the right format for your chosen video-sharing site automatically.

Equally, if you’re working on your own short film and need an advanced tool for post-production, Lightworks is packed with everything you need to get your audio and visuals just right. Real-time effects and color correction help you achieve the perfect look, and complex rendering and encoding processes take place in the background so you can continue working while they complete.

As you might expect, it will take a little while to master Lightworks’ powerful toolkit. This is no mere Windows Movie Maker substitute, and its professional roots show in its interface, which borrows terms from the world of tape-based filmmaking.

You begin by creating a project and setting a frame rate for the finished video – probably 30fps or 60fps. You’re then ready to get to work. Lightworks lets you record video directly from cameras, and import existing clips (both audio and video). Once you have all your resources, you can start adding them to your timeline to create your first cut. It looks intimidating at first, but is surprisingly intuitive once you’ve spent some time experimenting.

Lightworks is packed with advanced realtime effects to help you perfect your video, including color correction, blurs and masks. There are dozens of preset effects, or you can create your own manually.

The professional edition of Lightworks was used to edit box office hits including Shutter Island, Pulp Fiction, The Departed, 28 Days Later and Mission Impossible. Now it's your turn.

Lightworks 14 adds lots of new fixes and features, including:

An amazing video editor that makes even advanced tasks straightforward.

The closest thing to Windows Movie Maker – fast, free and easy to use.

Advanced non-linear video editing made straightforward.

Lightworks is free for home users. The only restriction of the free license is that you can only export your finished videos in MP4 format, and you'll need to register for a free license code periodically (the software will give you instructions explaining how to do this).

For more export options, or to use the software commercially, you'll need to upgrade to Lightworks Pro.

Free video and audio suite GOM Player can handle just about any format you could name, and even supports 360-degree VR video. This not only lets you play online video from YouTube, but also interactive videos you've shot yourself. This might not have mass-appeal at the moment, but it's a video type that will only grow in popularity in the coming months and years.

GOM Player has a couple of very neat search tools built in. It supports subtitles – ideal for accessibility, or just watching videos without sound – and rather than hunting high and low on the interest, you can use the player's own search facility to track them down and add them to the video.

In a similar vein, should you find that you have a video in a format that GOM Player is unable to play by default, the problem will help you to find the necessary codec and get it installed.

GOM Player has a simple, clean interface, though this comes at the expense of accessibility. There are very few on–screen control besides the bare minimum playback buttons. If you want to do anything else, such as changing sound or video settings, you'll have to navigate its menu system. Some useful everyday tools – such as a the graphic equalizer – are present, but harder to find than they should be. This can cause frustration when you're first starting out, but it's worth persevering with the program. Once you get used to the way it works (and the learning curve really isn't all that steep), you can forgive it some slight peculiarities.

Like many other media players, GOM Player is skinnable. This means that if you don't like the way it looks by default, you can completely change it by applying a new theme. That said, these skins are purely cosmetic, so if you're not a fan of the menu system, changing the look won't help.

GOM Player supports all the most popular media file formats, and could easily become your main media player once you're used to its quirks. There's also a mobile app – GOM Remote – that lets you control the desktop software from the comfort of your sofa.

The installer is a bit of a sneaky one, though. The Express setup option installs potentially unwanted programs (including web browser plugin), and will change your default search engine and home page. It's off-putting and easy to miss unless you work through the installer slowly. Take time to read what's happening, and make sure to select the Custom Installation option (don't be put off by the fact that's labelled as Advanced) so you can opt out of unwanted extras.

A capable audio and video player that will serve you well in the years to come, GOM Player is let down by an interface that conceals some of its best features.

Free media player Winamp is a one stop shop for managing your music library. You can sync your music collection to an MP3 player or smartphone, and you can also stream it over the internet, allowing you to share your favourite tunes with your friends.

The music sharing functions don't end there. Winamp provides access to a huge number of online radio stations, and enables you to scan sites for downloadable MP3 files to add to your library.

Winamp is also ideal for ripping and converting music It can rip music from DRM-free CDs and encode music in the aacPlus, AAC and WMA formats, ready for burning to disc.

If that's not enough, you can extend Winamp even further with its catalog of free plugins, including downloads to help boost 3D sound, graphic equalizers, crossfading, and support for the lossless FLAC format.

Before making it your main media player, it's worth noting that Winamp is currently in a state of limbo; the latest release (5.666) was published in 2013, just before publisher AOL announced that it was terminating the project. However, the site was never taken down, and in 2014 the brand was acquired by Belgian music company Radionomy. It's unclear exactly what the future holds for the player, but its huge community of users are actively developing exceptional plugins to expand and improve it, so it never stands still.

Importing music to Winamp is easy – just select the appropriate directory when you first launch the player and everything will be cataloged automatically. There's also a built-in tool for importing existing iTunes playlists, and a third-party plugin to help you migrate from Windows Media Player.

Winamp comes with a small selection of skins to change its default appearance, and many more are available to download through the software's main menu. The standard look is busy but informative, with tabs for switching between your media library, the currently playing video (if applicable), colorful music visualizations, and a web browser designed to help you find and download media files from websites.

Winamp doesn't offer as many playback optimization tools as more modern media players like MusicBee, but all the essentials are covered.

There's no automatic tagging to help organize a sprawling music library, either. The auto-tag option is still visible under the View File Info menu option, but it requires a service called Gracenote that has terminated its contract with Winamp. If your songs are a mess, you'll need to use a third-party tool like Musicbrainz Picard to correct the tags, or do the job manually.

Winamp is still a great player, and its third-party plugin support is second to none, but its age is starting to show and today you'll be better served with a more modern tool like MusicBee or VLC Media Player.

VERDICT

Winamp is still a great media player, and has all the essential tools you need for managing and enjoying music and videos, but it now relies on third-party extensions to add features found as standard in more modern players.

Check This Too

Calling AIMP a music player would be doing it a disservice. As well as playing music, the program also acts as an audio organizer, making it easy to change MP3 tags and create playlists.

Playlists are an interesting feature here because as well as curating them by hand, you can also take advantage of the smart playlist option to create something to match a mood with less effort. On top of this, the program can be used to listen to streaming internet radio stations. AIMP can function as an alarm clock, audio converter and more.

In addition to the regular application, there's also a portable version that can be installed on a USB drive and easily moved from one computer to another.

That's extremely handy, but what's most impressive about AIMP is the level of control it gives you over your music – and not just in terms of organization. The DSP Manager includes an impressive 18-band graphic equalizer, and there's a range of sound effects that can be applied to music during playback.

You can also tinker with speed, tempo and pitch settings. The timed shutdown and alarm clock function are very welcome additions too, as is support for an almost unparalleled number of audio formats.

This all good media players, AIMP has a unique look - this is certainly not your typical Windows program. It looks almost like a blend between a Mac and Linux app, and while this might sound off-putting, it works.

Once you have music playing, chances are you won't want to sit and look at the program (but if you do, you can enjoy a selection of visualizations) and AIMP has an interesting way of minimizing out of view. Rather than disappearing into a taskbar button, the program window disappears completely and can be accessed through a tiny tab that appears at the left of the screen when the mouse is moved near to it. This can be a little confusing if you're used to Alt-tabbing through applications, as AIMP disappears from view and can only be access via the side-of-the-screen menu.

Because AIMP has something of a different look to other programs, you might feel that it would be confusing to use, but that idea quickly evaporates. Basic playback options and playlisting are easy to use, and the audio converter -- which handles a highly impressive number of formats -- is a breeze to get into. For diehard keyboard users, there are plenty of hotkeys and keyboard shortcuts to ensure that program control and navigation can be achieved without ever having to lift your fingers from the keys.

The latest version of AIMP comes with an MP3 encoder, resolves an error that sometimes occurred when opening files via the right-click context menu in Windows Explorer, and fixes several other minor bugs. For full details, see the official release notes.

Even if you're happy with your current media player, give AIMP a try - you're likely to fall in love with its intelligent design and raft of music-tweaking options.

VLC is a hugely popular free media player, and for good reason – it supports almost all file formats without the need to download additional codecs, can optimize video and audio playback for your chosen device, supports streaming, and can be extended almost infinitely with downloadable plugins. These not only add extra features to the player – they also enable integration with other programs and streaming services.

VLC Media Player supports MPEG and DivX streaming, and can play videos as they're downloading, letting you watch the beginning of a film and then decide whether it's worth downloading in full. You can also play ZIP files without having to unpack them individually. If a video is too quiet, you can manually increase the film's volume up to 200% after the download is finished.

VLC Media Player can also search for album covers. A playlist function allows for multiple films to play one after the other. This is particularly useful if you have downloaded a film in several parts or just want to watch several shorter videos.

VLC Media Player isn’t just an app. It’s a life-saver. Are you trying to open a video that’s in a format your Windows or Mac machine doesn’t support? VLC. Do you need to listen to music in a long-forgotten format but don’t have a player that supports anything but MP3 and AAC? VLC. Do you need a decent DVD player for Windows? VLC. Do you need… you get the idea. 

In an ideal world everything would just work when you wanted it to, but over the years we’ve evolved all kinds of competing formats for music and video - and different delivery mechanisms too, ranging from discs to downloads and streaming. VLC Media Player knows about all of them, and that means it’s our go-to app for any kind of media playback.

VLC Media Player has excellent tools for tweaking video and audio playback, it can play formats nobody’s mentioned for years, it’s blazingly fast and it does everything without spyware, ads or anything else unnecessary.

Factor in a whole bunch of interface skins and a big library of add-ons, and VLC Media Player is the Swiss Army Knife of digital media.

Its standard interface isn't as stylish as some media players, and doesn't make tagging as simple as some other tools (specifically MusicBee), but VLC is superb, and easily good good enough to become your main media player for both audio and video.

VLC offers everything you could need from a media player - comprehensive format support, streaming, downloading and much more besides.

MusicBee is a brilliant free music player and organizer to help you enjoy your music collection – no matter how huge and sprawling.

MusicBee searches your PC for music and enables you to add tracks from iTunes or Windows Media Player. Once everything has been added to your MusicBee library, the app's intelligent tagging system makes it easy to complete missing metadata using industry-standard formats, locate album art and find lyrics, which are displayed while a song plays.

MusicBee is designed to make the most of your PC's hardware, with support for high-end soundcards and 5.1 surround sound.

MusicBee also supports streaming, is compatible with Last.fm and SoundCloud, and is a great choice for enjoying your favorite podcasts.

Many free media players will happily tackle both video and audio, but MusicBee is designed specifically for managing your tunes – and it does a superb job, even if your collection is currently a mess of duplicates, missing metadata, and jumbled albums.

Importing your music library to MusicBee is easy, and if you currently use either iTunes or Windows Media Player there's a simple wizard to automate the process. The files will be indexed, but won't actually be moved unless you select that option manually.

Once that's done, you're ready to start tagging to complete missing metadata and get them all properly organized. MusicBee's automatic tagging system is superb, withr industry-standard templates for all kinds of audio files, but you can also dive in and edit tags manually.

Speaking of file formats, MusicBee can also convert audio files if you'd like to keep them consistent or encode them in a format suitable for other devices.

Playing music in MusicBee is a real joy; not only does it search for album artwork to display while you're listening, it also tracks down pictures of the artist  and song lyrics, which it rotates during playback.

MusicBee also makes the most of your audio hardware, including high-end soundcards and surround sound stetups. There are various playback options to explore as well, including the ability to eliminate breaks between tracks and normalize volume (a notorious problem with iTunes).

Support for streaming services and optional plugins round off this superb free music player, which has become a firm favorite for getting the most from our tracks. If you love music, you need MusicBee.

A comprehensive audio player and streamer that's perfect for cataloging and tagging even the biggest music libraries.