Large file sizes on iMovie for iOS?

[robertsharp]

Hello everyone,

I am seeking some advice on iMovie for the iPhone, and the best workflow for creating short video clips.

I take a locked of short video clips (mainly of my family!) And have a pretty steady workflow, using iMovie on the iPhone to put together short clips for export.

However, the files that results when I export at HD, seem very large. Four example, today I exported a 1:30s video at 720p and it was 120 Mb. This feels wrong, when I have seen feature films compressed to less than 1 GB (albeit probably not HD).

What is the codec used to compress videos with iMovie? Are there more efficient ways to save my videos?

Are there alternative compression techniques or codecs I could use once I have exported the video files to my hard drive?

I would be interested to hear what other people's workflows are like and recommendations for alternative apps or codecs or processes that keep a good HD quality at a lower disk space usage.

Or, are files of this size 'par for the course' when using HD?!

Thanks...

 

[simsaladimbamba]

120 MB for 90 seconds of 720p video seem a little bit excessive for H.264, but maybe the data rate is to high.
In order to find out, what may the codec and data rate is, you can use the following three applications to analyse a sample video file.

• VideoSpec (free)
• MediaInfo (free)
• Media Inspector (2.99 USD € in the Mac App Store (MAS))

When done, you can use the "Report" (VideoSpec) and "Export" (Media Inspector) button to export a report,
attachable to your next post via the

button.
In MediaInfo you have to go to the Menu Bar, select View > Text and copy the text via CMD+A > CMD+C and paste it via CMD+V into your next post.​

If you have done that, you can always use HandBrake for further compression to your liking.

 

[robertsharp]

Thanks! I'll try out all those you mention.