Microsoft adds incredible audio and video file conversion tools to PowerToys v0.89.0

As promised recently, Microsoft has released PowerToys v0.89.0 complete with new features. While there are no brand-new modules this time around, exiting utilities have been given amazing new capabilities, not least of which is Advanced Paste.

While you might think of copying and pasting as being related to text and images, the PowerToys development team has applied it to media files. What does this mean? It means the arrival of easy-to-use media transcoding so you can covert audio and video files into different formats. This PowerToys release also has exciting hints of what is to come.

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Each PowerToys release cycle has a particular focus -- sometimes adding features, sometimes fixing bugs, sometimes new modules. The description for PowerToys v0.89.0 proclaims that this time around the focus is "new features, stability, accessibility and automation". And it is that last word which is interesting; it signals something of a new branch of PowerToys development, and it will be extremely interesting to see what developers have planned here.

In addition to the media transcoding features added to Advanced Paste, PowerToys v0.89.0 has a lot of bug fixes and UI improvements.

If you already have PowerToys installed, you can use the built-in update option to grab the latest version. You can also download the installer for PowerToys v0.89.0 here.

The changelog looks like this:

General

• Fixed an issue where updating PowerToys on Windows 11 did not properly update context menu entries, impacting New+, PowerRename, Image Resizer, and File Locksmith.
• Updated .NET Packages from 9.0.1 to 9.0.2. Thanks @snickler for this.
• Enabled compatibility with VS17.3 and later, for C++23. Thanks @LNKLEO for this.

Advanced Paste

• Added media transcoding support to convert different video and audio file formats, improved UI layouts, refined clipboard handling, and integrated Semantic Kernel for smarter pasting. Thanks @snickler for your help!

FancyZones

• Fixed accessibility by improving the text for monitors, ensuring clearer naming and help text for screen readers.

Image Resizer

• Fixed issues with Width and Height fields in Image Resizer's Custom preset, ensuring empty values no longer cause errors, settings save correctly, and auto-scaling behaves as expected. Thanks @daverayment!
• Fixed accessibility by ensuring screen readers announce selected image dimensions in the combo-box for better navigation.

Monaco Preview

• Fixed open link in default browser rather than Microsoft Edge. Thanks @OldUser101!

Mouse Highlighter

• Fixed a highlight released on an Administrator window will start fading, instead of staying on the screen indefinitely until the mouse button is pressed again on an unelevated window.

Mouse Without Borders

• Fixed an issue in service mode where copy-paste and drag-drop file transfers didn’t work, ensuring seamless file operations.
• Enabled GPO for enable/disable for Mouse Without Borders in Service Mode. Thanks @htcfreek for review and comments!
• Fixed code maintainability by refactoring the oversized 'Common' class in Mouse Without Borders into smaller, focused classes for better structure and clarity. Thanks @mikeclayton and thanks @htcfreek for review!

PowerRename

• Supported negative value as Start value in regular expression, e.g. ${start=-1314}
• Enhanced RegEx help by adding $, ^, quantifiers, and common patterns for better usability. Thanks @PesBandi and thanks @htcfreek for review.

PowerToys Run

• Fixed crashes when loading thumbnails after the .NET 9 update by disabling CETCompat.
• Fixed PowerLauncher.exe blocking other MSI installers creating shortcuts. Thanks @OneBlue!
• Fixed Run’s dark mode detection to work reliably, preventing issues with incorrect theme detection and ensuring a smoother user experience. Thanks @daverayment!
• Fixed list separator handling in Calculator, allowing functions with multiple arguments to work correctly across different locales. For example pow(2;3) would be replaced with pow(2,3). Thanks @PesBandi and thanks @htcfreek for review!
• Fixed angle unit conversions in the PowerToys Run calculator, allowing quick conversions between radians, degrees, and gradians. Thanks @OldUser101!

Quick Accent

• Added ǎ, ǒ and ǔ to the IPA character set. Thanks @PesBandi!
• Added ` (backtick) and ~ (tilde) to the VK_OEM_5 character set. Thanks @xanatos!
• Added ς (final sigma) to the Greek character set. Thanks @IamSmeagol!

Settings

• Enabled GPO for the "run at startup" setting. Thanks @htcfreek for review and comments!
• Fixed accessibility issue by allowing screen readers to announce the group name for secondary links in Settings pages, instead of reading link descriptions without context.
• Fixed an issue where the Color Picker shortcut was not displaying correctly in the Dashboard.

Workspaces

• Fixed if a window was last placed on a disconnected monitor, it launches minimized and repositions within the main monitor's visible area when restored, instead of remaining off-screen and invisible.
• Fixed on ARM64 to correctly display icons for packaged apps by resolving path mismatches.

ZoomIt

• Fixed warning C4706 and related error C2220 during build. Thanks @xanatos!

Documentation

• Fixed runner-ipc.md doc on the broken link. Thanks @daverayment!
• Fixed the new plugin checklist by updating the target framework, removing duplicates, and improving statement organization. Thanks @hlaueriksson!
• Updated runner documentation to align with the latest code structure.

Development

• Stabilized pipeline on ARM64 and forked build.
• Added fuzz testing for HostUILib, added as part of pipeline for OneFuzz.
• Fixed and improved UI-Test automation framework, and added new test cases for the FancyZones and Hosts module.
• Optimized Logger function as AOT compatible, improving performance by 18%.
• Made Common.UI and Setting.UI to be AOT compatible.

Image credit: Musuc Alexandr / Dreamstime.com