any way to shrink large quicktime files?

[ero87]

Hi,

I've been working with some videos that i recorded, edited with iMovie, and exported into quicktime (full quality). The problem is, a 17-minute movie with minimal editing (just some titles) is 1.16 GB!!! Is there any program that somehow compresses these files while maintaining quality? does everyone have this problem?

Thanks!

 

[MisterMe]

Hi,

I've been working with some videos that i recorded, edited with iMovie, and exported into quicktime (full quality). The problem is, a 17-minute movie with minimal editing (just some titles) is 1.16 GB!!! Is there any program that somehow compresses these files while maintaining quality? does everyone have this problem?

Thanks!

Be sure that your .mov files are saved as H.264. This is the default format of QuickTime 7.

 

[ero87]

Be sure that your .mov files are saved as H.264. This is the default format of QuickTime 7.

how do i do that? and would that reduce the size?

i would think that iMovie would automically export it in the right format, no?

 

[Erendiox]

how do i do that? and would that reduce the size?

i would think that iMovie would automically export it in the right format, no?

That's just the thing. iMovie is probably exporting in a 100% lossless format. Probably raw DV. This guarantees that all the information from the original footage is there, but the file sizes are gargantuan. 12gb/hour. If you compress to H.264, you're looking at a very minimal, and probably unnoticeable, quality loss to get that down to a fraction of the file size. You're going to need to take that big movie file and open it with quicktime. Then, re-export it in H.264. Make sure the final H.264 version looks good and the file size is good. Then you can trash the bigger file if you like.

 

[VanNess]

how do i do that? and would that reduce the size?

i would think that iMovie would automically export it in the right format, no?

Correct. In iMovie, select Share and the Share item from the menu list. Then select Quicktime and from the pop-up menu you can choose one of the preprogrammed settings or select expert and choose your own compression settings and sizes for both video and audio.

More here.

 

[ero87]

this is what i see when trying to re-export the quicktime file:

Which one is H.264?!

 

[dazboardrider]

I Use Mpeg Stream Clip.

Its a free Program you can find it here

It does all sort of things, you can change the file format and also file size, pretty easy to use too. It also comes in handy if you ever run into a file you dont have the right codec for.

 

[VanNess]

this is what i see when trying to re-export the quicktime file:

Which one is H.264?!

Here's a list showing the default settings for iMovie's export options. If they won't do, choose expert, then Quicktime Movie and press the options button. You can then select h.264 and dial in any size and compression, but if you don't know what you're doing it's probably best to stick with iMovie's programmed settings