Announcements – The Zamzar Blog

New on the API – import & export files

by The Zamzar TeamDecember 12, 2016

You can now use the Zamzar file conversion API to import files for conversion from Amazon S3, HTTP / HTTPS URLs and FTP / SFTP servers. You can also export converted files back out again too.

transfers-overview

This opens up some interesting possibilities:

Convert files that aren’t on your servers
Import files from one location and export elsewhere
Grab files from password-protected URLs / FTP servers
Use AWS credentials for access to Amazon S3

To test this out, first make sure you are signed up for a an API account, then check out our docs on:

For example, here’s one single cURL command which will grab the Twitter logo, convert it from PNG to JPG and upload the JPG file to a public Amazon S3 bucket:

curl https://api.zamzar.com/v1/jobs -u GiVUYsF4A8ssq93FR48H: \
-X POST \
-d "source_file=https://developers.zamzar.com/assets/app/img/social-twitter.png" \
-d "target_format=jpg" \
-d "export_url=s3://zamzar-public/"

We’d love to hear your feedback on these features – please let us know what you think! We’re also here to work with you on any issues you hit getting up and running, so do get in touch.

Happy Converting!
The Zamzar Team.

Use Zamzar to convert files from your Desktop !

by The Zamzar TeamJuly 18, 2016 Leave a comment

We’re excited to announce that we just launched three new applications which allow you to convert files right on your desktop !

Dropbox Converter – Convert files to various formats directly within your Dropbox account.
Hot Folders – Monitor folders on your desktop & automatically convert files to other formats.
Zamzar Bash – Convert files directly from the command line.

Using the Zamzar API

These apps all build on top of our powerful file conversion API which allows you to bake file conversion into your application using a tiny amount of code and a simple REST API. Our API supports the conversion of 100’s of formats and is cloud-based to scale with your needs, whether you’re converting 1 file or 100,000.

We have made the source code for all these applications publicly available, so you can grab it, and build your own apps and tools on top of it (for both commercial and personal use).

Thanks to Michael Walsh and Joe Anderson for their efforts in developing the code for the Dropbox Converter and Hot Folders respectively, building on their initial efforts at our York University Hack Day.

Happy (desktop) converting,
The Zamzar Team.

Convert MIDI and MID files to MP3, AAC, WAV and more

by The Zamzar TeamFebruary 24, 2015 1 Comment

Release your audio files ! Zamzar now has the ability to convert MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) files into a variety of of other audio formats, including MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC and more.

MIDI files are popular with musicians and recording engineers since they provide a standardized template for saving musical arrangements (or sequences) into a common file format which can be played back across a variety of different computing environments. The MIDI specification holds that the file itself doesn’t contain any actual music, rather it comprises a set of instructions which describe how the audio has been arranged, including the notation, pitch, and velocity as well as control signals for volume, vibrato and audio panning. Since MIDI files don’t contain the audio itself, the quality of its playback depends entirely on the quality of the device being used to playback the file (and the audio samples from that device). This means that audio quality can vary greatly depending on the system setup being used.

Sometimes MIDI files use the MID file extension – These files are exactly the same format as a MIDI file but use a three letter file extension, normally because they were created on a computer system limited to three character file extentsions (for example MS DOS).

Zamzar now offers the ability to convert these files into audio formats which will guarantee that the sound you hear will be replicated on a friend or colleagues computer.

You can use Zamzar to perform all of the following conversions online for both MIDI and MID files:

aac – Advanced Audio Coding File
ac3 – AC3 Audio File
flac – Free Lossless Audio Codec
m4a – Compressed video file
m4r – iPhone Ringtone File
mp3 – Compressed audio file
mp4 – MPEG-4 Video File
ogg – Ogg Vorbis Compressed Audio File
wav – Windows audio file
wma – Windows Media Audio

Go convert your MIDI files !

Happy converting,
The Zamzar Team.

Announcing the file conversion API

by The Zamzar TeamJanuary 26, 2015 Leave a comment

We’re delighted to officially announce our brand new file conversion API which allows you to integrate file conversions into your apps and projects using a simple REST-based API – check it out now at https://developers.zamzar.com.

1,100+ conversions !

The API is launching today with support for 1,100+ different conversions, so whether you need to convert documents such as WordPerfect or MS Publisher into PDFs, videos into animated GIFs or PSD’s into JPG’s we can help. Check out the full list of formats at https://developers.zamzar.com/formats – we support documents, images, videos, audio, eBooks, compressed & CAD files.

Simple to use

We have designed the API to be simple to use with comprehensive documentation, code samples and support direct from the development team so that you can get up and running quickly – perform complex file conversions in just a few lines of code.

Try it now ! Just copy and paste this code to get a list of all available API formats:

curl https://api.zamzar.com/v1/formats -u GiVUYsF4A8ssq93FR48H:

Production ready

Our services are cloud-based so we can meet your conversion demands, whether you are converting 1 file or 10,000.

The API can scale with your needs, so if your app or website needs a huge burst of file conversions we can handle it, seamlessly.

Free to test

Get up and running in minutes by signing up for a free API account (no payment needed), and start converting files immediately.

You can use your test account to convert files for free whilst you are evaluating the API.

Happy Developing !
The Zamzar Team.

Convert AIFF / AIF files to MP3, WAV, AAC and more – online and free

by The Zamzar TeamOctober 13, 2014 Leave a comment

The Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is an Apple Mac OSX audio file format, usually denoted by files using either the AIFF or AIF file extension. You can now use Zamzar to convert AIFF or AIF files into a variety of other audio formats using our online conversion tool.

AIFF files tend to be much larger in size than compressed audio files such as MP3, because it is an uncompressed and lossless audio format. This can be useful for preserving audio quality and allowing more rapid streaming of audio files from disk to applications, but filesizes can grow to be large, very quickly. The format tends to appear most often on Mac OSX systems.

If you need to convert an AIFF or AIF file Zamzar now supports conversion to all of the following formats:

aac – Advanced Audio Coding File
ac3 – AC3 Audio File
flac – Free Lossless Audio Codec
m4a – Compressed video file
m4r – iPhone Ringtone File
mp3 – Compressed audio file
mp4 – MPEG-4 Video File
ogg – Ogg Vorbis Compressed Audio File
wav – Windows audio file
wma – Windows Media Audio

AIFF – A potted history

commodore-amiga-a500 The AIFF format has a long (and somewhat glorious) history.

Originally developed by Apple Computers in 1988 for the Mac OSX operating system, it was based on the Interchange File Format (IFF) developed by Electronic Arts, which was designed to ease the transfer of data between software produced by different companies. IFF files were widely used on Commodore Amiga systems, most notably for various graphic formats.

According to the official AIFF specification document the new AIFF format was “… the result of several meetings held with music developers over a period of ten months in 1987-88” – back in the days of an unusually collaborative Apple Computing 🙂

Happy converting,
The Zamzar Team.

[Amiga image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/quagmirez31/4046472613]

Free your emails – Convert EML and MSG files to PDF, DOC, HTML and more

by The Zamzar TeamOctober 3, 2014October 13, 2014 Leave a comment

Don’t leave your old emails locked up ! Zamzar now has the ability to convert email files from the popular “EML” and “MSG” file formats into PDF, DOC, TXT, HTML and other formats.

Files which have an .eml extension are email messages which have been created by email clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird or Eudora. Files with a .msg extension are email messages which have been exported from Microsoft Outlook into a proprietary binary format, which can make them difficult to read if you don’t have the software to open them. You can read more technical details about the MSG format here.

We now offer the ability to convert these files into formats which are easier to share with friends and colleagues, such as PDFs. You can use Zamzar to perform all of the following conversions online for EML files:

doc – Microsoft Word Document
html – Hypertext Markup Language
html4 – Hypertext Markup Language
html5 – Hypertext Markup Language/li>
jpg – JPEG compliant image
pdf – Portable Document Format
rtf – Rich Text Format
tiff – Tagged image file format
txt – Text Document

You can convert MSG files to all the same formats:

doc – Microsoft Word Document
html – Hypertext Markup Language
html4 – Hypertext Markup Language
html5 – Hypertext Markup Language
jpg – JPEG compliant image
pdf – Portable Document Format
rtf – Rich Text Format
tiff – Tagged image file format
txt – Text Document

Go liberate that email !

Happy converting,
The Zamzar Team.

Convert CR2 files to JPG, PNG, TIFF, PDF and more

by The Zamzar TeamJuly 29, 2014 Leave a comment

A Canon RAW Image (.cr2) file is the go-to file-type for avid photographers using Canon digital cameras. You can now use Zamzar to convert your .cr2 files to other image formats.

If you’ve just splashed out on a brand-new digital camera, have rented one for an important event, or have been emailed files containing the images of your special occasion, it can be frustrating to realise you don’t have the correct image-editing software to open and view your images.

At Zamzar we now offer support for converting .cr2 files into a range of popular image formats, such as tiff, png, jpg and pdf. There’s no need to download any additional software; you can simply convert your files for free online, quicker than you can get everyone to say “cheese!”

The .cr2 format is a RAW image format that stores data taken directly from a camera’s sensor. This file type offers the best quality-to-size ratio, and allows for detailed post-processing of an image. It also avoids the image quality loss that can occur with other more common file formats like .jpg and .png. However, with .cr2 files the image isn’t readily viewable, meaning that specific software is needed in order to view and edit the pictures. This is fine if your camera came with a RAW software package, but not so simple if you’ve purchased your camera second-hand, have borrowed or rented one, or have been sent photos in the .cr2 format by a friend. If this is the case, simply use Zamzar to convert your .cr2 files to any or all of the following formats:

bmp – Windows bitmap
gif – Compuserve graphics interchange
jpg – JPEG compliant image
pcx – Paintbrush Bitmap Image
pdf – Portable Document Format
png – Portable Network Graphic
tga – Truevision Targa Graphic
tiff – Tagged image file format
wbmp – Wireless Bitmap File Format
webp – Lossily compressed image file

If you’re a budding photographer wanting to progress beyond simple point-and-shoot cameras, cameras that save images in RAW format are a great choice, allowing you to experiment freely and edit images later. If you’re confused by all your camera’s different picture styles and filtering options, or find you keep forgetting to select the correct options for that all-important shot, simply save your photographs as .cr2 files. That way, you can relax in the knowledge that you can edit your images later and correct any issues at that point – something that’s often not possible with images saved as .jpg files.

With Zamzar’s free online file-conversion tool, there’s no need to purchase or download specialist image-editing software for .cr2 files. Anyone with access to a camera that saves images in RAW format can view, share and print their photos.

Happy snapping !
The Zamzar Team.