Attempting to create a comprehensive list of free and open source tools will probably always remain ‘work in progress’ just for the sheer depth and breadth of the Internet. It’s hard to keep it up to date as there is a constant flow of new technology.  We tried to get started in VC Cafe’s Startup Resources page, sites like SourceForge and the Open Source Software Directory do a good job listing many of them, but this curated list from JISC is definitely a good addition. JISC Advance is a service, which provides advice, guidance and training to the UK’s Further and Higher Education community on creating digital media resources and leveraging them for teaching.

OTHER APPLICATIONS Webware Linux Mac Windows Website Open source Free Notes
CAD (Computer Aided Design) Google SketchUp Google SketchUp sketchup.google.com/ 3D modelling software. Integrates with Google Earth
cloud storage Dropbox www.dropbox.com
Mozy mozy.com
collaborative software Dimdim www.dimdim.com
Etherpad etherpad.org
ProjectPier www.projectpier.org
Google Docs docs.google.com
content management system Plone Plone Plone plone.org
Drupal Drupal Drupal drupal.org
digital repository management DSpace www.dspace.org
Fedora Fedora Fedora www.fedora-commons.org
Greenstone Greenstone Greenstone www.greenstone.org
eLearning development environment Xerte Xerte Xerte www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte
object identification and validation JHOVE hul.harvard.edu/jhove
DROID droid.sourceforge.net
RSS aggregator Brief Brief Brief brief.mozdev.org add-on for Firefox
screen capture Jing Jing www.techsmith.com/jing/
Camstudio camstudio.org/
Screen Toaster www.screentoaster.com
Screencast-o-Matic www.screencast-o-matic.com
Screenjelly www.screenjelly.com
Screenr screenr.com designed to work with Twitter
Talon www.aviary.com
screenwriting Celtx Celtx Celtx www.celtx.com
VLE eFront www.efrontlearning.net
Moodle Moodle Moodle moodle.org
web server XAMPP XAMPP XAMPP www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html easy-to-install version of Apache

CROSS-MEDIA Webware Linux Mac Windows Website Open source Free Notes
audio & video qualitative analysis Transana Transana www.transana.org
collections management system Omeka omeka.org
MOVING IMAGE Webware Linux Mac Windows Website Open source Free Notes
animation (2-D) Pencil Pencil Pencil www.pencil-animation.org for traditional hand-drawn animation
KToon www.ktoon.net
Synfig Synfig Synfig synfig.org vector-based
animation (3-D) Blender Blender Blender www.blender.org
DVD ripping Doom9 Doom9 Doom9 www.doom9.org repository for an enormous number of rippers, codecs, filters and much more
subtitling Aegisub Aegisub Aegisub www.aegisub.org
Gaupol Gaupol home.gna.org/gaupol
Miyu www.fluffalopefactory.com/miyu
Subtitle Editor home.gna.org/subtitleeditor
Subtitle Processor sourceforge.net/projects/subtitleproc
VisualSubSync www.visualsubsync.org
video capture and processing VirtualDub www.virtualdub.org
video distribution platform Kaltura www.kaltura.org includes editor and player
video editing Avidemux Avidemux Avidemux www.avidemux.org
Avitricks Classic www.bobyte.com/AviTricks for AVI files
Cinefx Cinefx Cinefx www.cinefx.org also visual effects; used to be known as Jahshaka
Cinelerra www.heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php also a compositor
Clesh www.clesh.com based on FORscene
Hyperengine-AV sourceforge.net/projects/hyperengine
Jaycut jaycut.com
LiVES LiVES LiVES lives.sourceforge.net also a performance and VJ app
Lumiera lumiera.org based on Cinelerra
Kdenlive Kdenlive kdenlive.org
Kino kinodv.org including FireWire capture from DV
Open Movie Editor www.openmovieeditor.org
VideoPad www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html
Windows Movie Maker www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx
ZS4 & Zwei-Stein ZS4 & Zwei-Stein ZS4 & Zwei-Stein www.zs4.net
video playing, converting, etc. Cineplay Cineplay Cineplay www.cinefx.org
MPEG Streamclip MPEG Streamclip www.squared5.com can also edit
Mplayer & Mencoder Mplayer & Mencoder Mplayer & Mencoder www.mplayerhq.hu
Prism Video Converter www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html
VLC Player VLC Player VLC Player videolan.org/vlc probably the best open source app in the world…
video transcoding Cinecode Cinecode Cinecode www.cinefx.org drag-and-drop utility to convert anything to Flash
HandBrake HandBrake HandBrake handbrake.fr
webcam recording Debut www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html
STILL IMAGE Webware Linux Mac Windows Website Open source Free Notes
image colour editing Toucan www.aviary.com
image compression Smush.it Smush.it Smush.it www.smushit.com lossless
image creation and editing
(see also our guide toFree Online Image Editors)		 DrPic www.drpic.com
FotoFlexer fotoflexer.com
GIMP GIMP GIMP www.gimp.org
ImageMagick ImageMagick ImageMagick www.imagemagick.org/script bitmap
Inkscape Inkscape Inkscape www.inkscape.org vector graphics, can be used for video titling
LunaPic www.lunapic.com
Phixr www.phixr.com
Phoenix www.aviary.com
Photoshop.com www.photoshop.com
Picnik www.picnik.com
PicResize www.picresize.com
Pixer.us www.pixer.us
Pixlr www.pixlr.com
Splashup www.splashup.com
Sumo Paint www.sumopaint.com
image effects editing Peacock www.aviary.com
image markup Falcon www.aviary.com
image vector editing Raven www.aviary.com
panorama creation AutoStitch cvlab.epfl.ch/~brown/autostitch/autostitch.html

For the full list, please go to JISC Open Source and Free Software Directory. Thanks to the ResourceShelf newsletter for continuously surfacing up interesting resources.

Follow me
Eze Vidra
Co Founder and Managing Partner at Remagine Ventures
Eze is managing partner of Remagine Ventures, a seed fund investing in ambitious founders at the intersection of tech, entertainment, gaming and commerce with a spotlight on Israel.

I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.

I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
Follow me
Latest posts by Eze Vidra (see all)

Published by Eze Vidra

Eze is managing partner of Remagine Ventures, a seed fund investing in ambitious founders at the intersection of tech, entertainment, gaming and commerce with a spotlight on Israel. I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups. I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.

Exit mobile version