UniversalConverter X

The all-in-one media tool for Windows — convert, compress, edit, download, record, and 25+ AI-powered tools, all running locally.

A free, open-source alternative to Wondershare UniConverter and similar paid suites. No subscriptions, no cloud processing, no telemetry.

Modules

• Converter — 1000+ formats via FFmpeg, ImageMagick, Pandoc, libvips, libjxl, libheif, Inkscape, Calibre, Assimp, Ghostscript, LibreOffice, resvg, Potrace.
• Compressor — preset profiles (web, email, archive) and quality slider, FFmpeg backend.
• Video Editor — trim, crop, rotate, upscale, filter, audio adjust, batch.
• Downloader — 1000+ sites: YouTube, Twitch, Kick, Rumble, Vimeo, X, Facebook, podcasts, direct URLs.
• Recorder — screen, webcam, system audio, microphone.
• Toolbox — 40+ specialized tools across Image, Video, AI, Audio, Documents, Disc, and Other categories.

Toolbox highlights

Architecture

UCX is a C# / .NET 10 / WinUI 3 shell that hosts the Converter natively and orchestrates specialized engines as sidecar processes. Each sidecar lives under tools/<name>/ and follows the NDJSON CLI contract documented in `tools/README.md`.

Sidecar engines (vendored as binaries land per phase): VideoCrush, ClipForge, StreamKeep, AlphaCut, VideoSubtitleRemover, LipSight, Vertigo, FrameSnap, GifStudio, HEICShift.

Features

• Right-Click Context Menu — convert files directly from Windows Explorer.
• Local Processing — all conversions happen on your machine. No telemetry.
• Progress Tracking — real-time progress with speed and ETA, NDJSON sidecar contract.
• Batch Conversion — convert and process multiple files at once.
• Modern UI — WinUI 3 with dark theme and Mica effects.
• CLI Support — full command-line interface for automation (ucx).

Supported Converters

Installation

Requirements

• Windows 10 21H2+ or Windows 11
• .NET 10 Runtime
• One or more converter tools (FFmpeg, ImageMagick, etc.)

Quick Start

1. Download the latest release
2. Run the installer
3. Install converter tools (or use ucx tools download)
4. Start converting!

CLI Usage

# Convert a single file
ucx convert video.mp4 -o mp3

# Convert multiple files
ucx convert *.png -o webp -q high

# List supported formats
ucx list formats

# Check installed tools
ucx tools check

# Show file info
ucx info document.pdf

Commands

Convert Options

-o, --output <FORMAT>     Output format (required)
-d, --directory <PATH>    Output directory
-q, --quality <LEVEL>     Quality: lowest, low, medium, high, highest, lossless
-f, --force               Overwrite existing files
-p, --parallel <COUNT>    Maximum parallel conversions
--converter <ID>          Force a specific converter
--hw-accel                Enable hardware acceleration

Project planning

• ROADMAP.md — active roadmap.
• COMPLETED.md — shipped feature summary.
• RESEARCH_REPORT.md — current research synthesis.
• docs/research/ — audit and state-of-repo evidence.
• docs/archive/ — archived phase roadmap and research artifacts.

Project Structure

UniversalConverterX/
├── src/
│   ├── UniversalConverterX.Core/          # Core conversion engine
│   │   ├── Interfaces/                    # Core interfaces
│   │   ├── Models/                        # Data models
│   │   ├── Converters/                    # 13 strategy implementations
│   │   ├── Services/                      # Orchestrator, ToolManager, ToolDownloader
│   │   ├── Configuration/                 # Options
│   │   └── Detection/                     # Magic bytes format detection
│   ├── UniversalConverterX.Console/       # CLI application
│   │   └── Commands/                      # CLI commands
│   ├── UniversalConverterX.UI/            # WinUI 3 application
│   │   ├── Views/                         # XAML views
│   │   ├── ViewModels/                    # MVVM ViewModels
│   │   └── Services/                      # UI services
│   └── UniversalConverterX.ShellExtension/ # Windows Explorer integration
├── tests/
│   └── UniversalConverterX.Core.Tests/    # Unit tests
├── installer/
│   ├── msix/                              # MSIX package manifest
│   └── wix/                               # WiX MSI installer
└── tools/
    └── bin/                               # CLI tool binaries

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK
• Windows 10 SDK (for UI project)
• Visual Studio or Build Tools with MSBuild and Windows App SDK build tools (required for the WinUI project)

Build

# Build the full Windows solution
.\build.ps1 -Target Build -Configuration Release

# Run the focused core test suite
.\build.ps1 -Target Test -Configuration Release

# CLI/core-only builds can still use dotnet directly
dotnet build src/UniversalConverterX.Console/UniversalConverterX.Console.csproj -c Release

Publish

# Publish CLI and WinUI output
.\build.ps1 -Target Publish -Configuration Release

Architecture

Strategy Pattern

Each converter tool implements IConverterStrategy:

public interface IConverterStrategy
{
    string Id { get; }
    string Name { get; }
    int Priority { get; }
    bool CanConvert(FileFormat source, FileFormat target);
    Task<ConversionResult> ConvertAsync(ConversionJob job, ...);
}

Orchestrator

The ConversionOrchestrator routes conversions to the best available strategy:

1. Detects input format (magic bytes + extension)
2. Finds converters supporting the conversion
3. Selects highest priority converter
4. Executes conversion with progress tracking

Configuration

Configuration is stored in %APPDATA%\UniversalConverterX\config.json:

{
  "ToolsBasePath": "C:\\Tools\\UniversalConverterX",
  "MaxConcurrentConversions": 4,
  "EnableHardwareAcceleration": true,
  "PreserveMetadata": true,
  "DefaultQuality": "High"
}

Installing Converter Tools

Windows (winget)

winget install Gyan.FFmpeg
winget install ImageMagick.ImageMagick
winget install JohnMacFarlane.Pandoc
winget install calibre.calibre
winget install TheDocumentFoundation.LibreOffice

Windows (Chocolatey)

choco install ffmpeg imagemagick pandoc calibre libreoffice

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Acknowledgments

• FFmpeg - Video/audio processing
• ImageMagick - Image processing
• Pandoc - Document conversion
• Calibre - E-book conversion
• LibreOffice - Office documents
• Inkscape - Vector graphics
• Ghostscript - PDF processing
• libvips - High-performance image processing
• libheif - HEIC/HEIF support
• libjxl - JPEG XL support
• resvg - SVG rendering
• Potrace - Raster to vector tracing
• Assimp - 3D model import