Best Compression Settings with Least File Size?

Discussion in 'Digital Video' started by chiguimania, Jan 6, 2009.

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  1. chiguimania, Jan 6, 2009

    chiguimania macrumors member

    chiguimania

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    Dec 29, 2008
    #1
    Hi,
    I have an iMovie project which has about 10 min. and I want it to be the lowest file size but I also want it not to be with a crappy quality. Which is the best compression setting with that matter? The best results I could find are when I compress the file to a .mov and with MPEG-4 compression, that lowers the file size a lot compared to other compression settings. I have seen AVI files about 1 hour that have at least 300-400 mb...
     
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  2. -DH, Jan 6, 2009

    -DH macrumors 65816

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    #2
    The first step in determining how to proceed is knowing what your delivery format will be. Is the video going to be for DVD? For the web? For iPod? For cell phone? For Apple TV? For viewing on your computer?

    Once you let us know the delivery method, someone here can probably provide the best way(s) for you to get there.

    -DH
     
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  3. chiguimania, Jan 6, 2009

    chiguimania thread starter macrumors member

    chiguimania

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    #3
    Ok,
    The video is for Youtube but I also want it in high quality so that one can enable the ''watch in high quality" option. And, the video is widescreen. I want it to be good quality but also the least file size posible.
     
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  4. MrLatte23, Jan 6, 2009

    MrLatte23 macrumors regular

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    #4
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  5. huntercr, Jan 6, 2009

    huntercr macrumors 65816

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    #5
    Yes, all that advice will work with quicktime's export options for H.264. Since iMovie users don't have and way to dynamically preview what they quality settings, bitrate, and quality settings will do for a particular video, I suggest taking several 30 second samples from different parts of your video ( if it's long ) and encode them and tweak the bitrates until it looks good to you.

    Of course, don't starve your bitrate unnecessarily since you're uploading to Youtube. If you can fit it in the file size limit, go for it.
    If you were hosting your own video, I'd suggest all sorts of bandwidth other saving methods.
     
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  6. chiguimania, Jan 6, 2009

    chiguimania thread starter macrumors member

    chiguimania

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    Dec 29, 2008
    #6
    That's exactly what I was searching for, especially for Youtube HD; thanks! ;)
     
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