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As far as I can tell, what you're missing is the massive ease-of-use and approachability, especially for non-technical users, of a web-based graphical "convert

As far as I can tell, what you're missing is the massive ease-of-use and approachability, especially for non-technical users, of a web-based graphical "convert X to Y" interface vs. facing command line ffmpeg, which they probably haven't heard of.

graemep 2y ago
There are already GUIs for ffmeg and most image editing applications can save in multiple formats so its still not clear to me what this adds
- titaphraz 2y ago
  It's not clear to me why that's a problem?
- barbs 2y ago
  I feel this is easier than those solutions in a lot of cases - mainly because you don't need to install anything. Just open website, drag and drop a file, pick target format, done.
  - graemep 2y ago
    Which is only true if you are not interested in the “self-hostable” part and you installing an app is a significant difficulty. Once an app is installed locally it is more convenient to use - that is why it is so common for apps to replicate (or just wrap) websites. If you are not interested in the self-hostable part there are lots of online converters.
    - barbs 2y ago
      Right, but those online ones are also usually covered in ads, don't run locally, and run the risk of infecting the output with malware.
- FusionX 2y ago
  It's a web service that can be used on any device without installation. Think in terms of usability for old, non-technical folks.
nonrandomstring 2y ago
All of that. A couple more thoughts. As a project it brings together energy to a task/configuration: namely that of making sure all those disparate command-line tools or bits of lib code are brought together for the specific purpose of serving file translations from some spot in a transactional fashion. So that's some value. Why on the front page? That question might also have a non-technical answer. What's going on in news and events? Who's been setting up file translators and then "Dude I have over 4,000 soundfiles, pictures, address-books..." ... "Whoah? Like. howdy manage that one?" ... "People just submitted it. Zuck fucks"

graemep 2y ago

There are already GUIs for ffmeg and most image editing applications can save in multiple formats so its still not clear to me what this adds

titaphraz 2y ago
It's not clear to me why that's a problem?
barbs 2y ago
I feel this is easier than those solutions in a lot of cases - mainly because you don't need to install anything. Just open website, drag and drop a file, pick target format, done.
- graemep 2y ago
  Which is only true if you are not interested in the “self-hostable” part and you installing an app is a significant difficulty. Once an app is installed locally it is more convenient to use - that is why it is so common for apps to replicate (or just wrap) websites. If you are not interested in the self-hostable part there are lots of online converters.
  - barbs 2y ago
    Right, but those online ones are also usually covered in ads, don't run locally, and run the risk of infecting the output with malware.
FusionX 2y ago
It's a web service that can be used on any device without installation. Think in terms of usability for old, non-technical folks.

nonrandomstring 2y ago

All of that. A couple more thoughts. As a project it brings together energy to a task/configuration: namely that of making sure all those disparate command-line tools or bits of lib code are brought together for the specific purpose of serving file translations from some spot in a transactional fashion. So that's some value. Why on the front page? That question might also have a non-technical answer. What's going on in news and events? Who's been setting up file translators and then "Dude I have over 4,000 soundfiles, pictures, address-books..." ... "Whoah? Like. howdy manage that one?" ... "People just submitted it. Zuck fucks"