How To Reduce Video File Size?

[nanogirl21]

I have some .mp4 movies that are 2-4GB. I am trying to reduce the file size by at least in half without dropping serious quality. A little is okay, but I don’t want to watch a crappy dark blurry movie. I watch the movies on my 13-inch Macbook. However, I would like to keep them in the .mp4 format. I do have the handbreak, but it takes forever and usually crashes/freeze after a few moments. I don’t mind downloading another program to do this. Can y’all recommend a program and what settings to use. Thanks.

 

[MSastre]

Try Compressor or MPEG Streamclip.

 

[pwhitehead]

I have some .mp4 movies that are 2-4GB. I am trying to reduce the file size by at least in half without dropping serious quality. A little is okay, but I don’t want to watch a crappy dark blurry movie. I watch the movies on my 13-inch Macbook. However, I would like to keep them in the .mp4 format. I do have the handbreak, but it takes forever and usually crashes/freeze after a few moments. I don’t mind downloading another program to do this. Can y’all recommend a program and what settings to use. Thanks.

What I normally do is... I export at the highest compression I want, but lower the bit rate down. Bit rate is found in Apple Compressor and you would lower the quality down in Adobe Media Encoder.

 

[nanogirl21]

What I normally do is... I export at the highest compression I want, but lower the bit rate down. Bit rate is found in Apple Compressor and you would lower the quality down in Adobe Media Encoder.

What compression size and bit rate do you use for your movies?

 

[Marszczak]

Use handbrake software. Some presets are nice and you have got manual control over settings as well.
Usually I'm using handbrake for PS3 so it is a 4.1 high profile with 720p res as I have got 42" TV set and not benefit from 1080p when sitting on the couch 3meters away.

 

[kohlson]

What compression size and bit rate do you use for your movies?

For DVD, I use from 1200-2500 Kbps. For BD, triple that. For me, I am always balancing size and quality. If I owned S3, I wouldn't care about size. But I don't, so I do. Handbrake and Compressor (and others) do a great job at optimizing all the various controls to balance quality and size.

 

[nanogirl21]

For DVD, I use from 1200-2500 Kbps. For BD, triple that. For me, I am always balancing size and quality. If I owned S3, I wouldn't care about size. But I don't, so I do. Handbrake and Compressor (and others) do a great job at optimizing all the various controls to balance quality and size.

Thanks I have been playing around with Apple Compressor. Is the kbps the only thing that you change in the settings? seems like I'm getting a bigger file instead of a smaller one. I am using a custom setting so the files remain in mp4. thanks.

 

[phrehdd]

Chances are your MP4 files are already quite compressed. A typical DVD might be 3.5-4gig with just the video and audio English. A Blue Ray may be 17-24 gigs if just video and highest English audio stream (DTS-Master as example).

So you are starting out with a very compressed file most likely and then you want to compress it yet again. Each time, you are giving up something. This is what I would suggest -

Start with Handbrake and go to any Handbrake forums, and pose your question there. As well, experiment with both films that have dark sequences and high action sequences. Let those help you choose for best settings (and final size). As for me, I would rather not compress and just get a decent size external hard drive. In my case I have a couple of 1 tb 2.5 external drives that go with my Mac laptop.