I use Ubuntu for almost all of my computing needs. But I came across a problem when I bought an Android phone recently. How to watch movies on my Android phone? My Android phone can play certain formats. I needed an app which can convert films for Android. I opened the Ubuntu Software Center, which I call USC, and found a couple of cool applications which can do the job with greater ease.

I will start with the one that I liked the most and the one which I in fact used to convert my first movie for Android. It's called Arista Transcoder.

You can install the app by visiting Applications > Ubuntu Software Center and search for Arista. Once installed you can find it under Applications > Sound & Video.

When you run the app, you will be greeted by this window. Here you can see three options

• Source
• Device
• Presets

Click on source to add the file that you want to transcode. If the file is saved on your computer just use the 'choose file' option and browse your file.

Once the file is selected, go to the Device option and choose the device you want to play the file on. In my case I was trancoding it for Android so I chose Android Phone. You can also select the codec available if you want. Most devices support H.264 so I will leave it untouched.

Now you are ready to transcode. Click on the option Add to queue or the + button, it will ask you to choose where you want to save the transcoded file. Choose a location and click on save.

Arista will start transcoding your file. Once the file is transcoded just drag and drop it into your Android phone :-)

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