Ant Movie Catalog

Ant Movie Catalog is one more software (the other one is Ant Renamer) developed by Antoine Potten. Based on information from the official website, from 2011 the development continues with assistance from Mickaël Vanneufville.

As the name suggests the primary goal of this software is to allow users to organize their personal movie collections stored on DVD's, CD's and video tapes.

This is a free, open-source program (you can download the source code from the official website) that comes with support for multiple languages. There is an extensive feature set built over more than two decades of active development.

Here is a quick overview of key capabilities or its main features:

The software can save a database (your movie list) in proprietary format or export as XML document, capability to fetch movie data from well-known cinema databases (IMDB, DVDFR, Allociné, Culturalia and more). Export functionality includes HTML, CSV and additional formats. Image storage is possible (supported types: png, jpeg and gif) inside the database file or as links to external picture files. Statistical analysis with pie charts and graphs, also tree-view display for navigation. Complete feature documentation can be found on official software page - you can check the support page which also contain Ant Movie Catalog User Manual - https://www.antp.be/software/moviecatalog/support.

Alternatives: There are not many free alternatives and I wanted to recommend a single one which was free and open source - GCstar also cross-platform (running on Windows/Linux/macOS) but it appears that while I am writing this, the main developer Tian decided to close the site/wiki and forum due to some attacks. Other paid alternatives such as FileBot are not as powerful as Ant Movie Catalog and while I could argue that EMDB might be more user friendly, I think that Ant Movie Catalog will offer you more custom and advanced features.

Ant Movie Catalog Review

Important: There is a warning section on the official website which recommends you to "DO A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR CATALOG FILE" (.amc/.xml file) before you test a new version.

This software is designed exclusively for Windows® platform and it is distributed in two formats (same as Ant Renamer). One is installer package and another is portable edition. Getting and setting up this movie database manager is straightforward, novice users will find it simple: because of a clear program interface.

The interface, although it does look old, it is fully functional and has three primary sections that maintains simplicity.

On top area you find the essential buttons, directly below is the section where you enter movie details, on left panel you see your complete movie list. This represents the standard layout, remember that thumbnail view is available as alternative which some users prefer for browsing extensive movie libraries. Power users can take advantage of custom scripts available in Ant Movie Catalog forum area, look in - "Scripts" section.

Again: always make backup copies of your database. Like this, when you need to format or do fresh installation of operating system you will not loose the movie list stored in your database. Import of saved databases works in updated versions or following system reinstallation.

Taking into account the feature richness and development history (for more than two decades), I can say Ant Movie Catalog is the top choice in this category. I have not tested equivalent paid programs in this market segment, at minimum among other free, open-source alternatives, this software stands out as one of the best options.

Once again, a donation for the to development team would motivate continued work on future releases.

No release notes available