Shrinking iPhone movies in iMovie

[saturnotaku]

Well, my wife has finally filled up her iPhone to the max with pictures and videos of our toddler son. Now it's my job to shrink said videos down to size so the process can begin anew.

All of the movies were shot with the iPhone held vertically, and I want to keep that aspect the same while ensuring still-decent quality at a much smaller file size. What's the best way to do this with iMovie?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Why not use HandBrake and one of its presets? Also know, that those iPhone videos are already heavily compressed and further compression will introduce quality loss and not much file size shrinking.

iMovie will transcode your videos during import to an editable format and codec, thus the resulting files will be up to ten times bigger.

Why is there a need for all those videos to be stored on the iPhone?

 

[saturnotaku]

Also know, that those iPhone videos are already heavily compressed and further compression will introduce quality loss and not much file size shrinking.

I wouldn't call a :50 clip that weighs in at 130 MB "heavily compressed."

Why is there a need for all those videos to be stored on the iPhone?

Because my son likes to watch them, that's why.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I wouldn't call a :50 clip that weighs in at 130 MB "heavily compressed."

As I work with editable formats, where 1 minute of HD video can take 1 to 3 GB, I call it heavily compressed, but using HandBrake might get you 30 to 50 MB files for such short clips. iMovie is not the application to use for that.
You may also see shrinking file sizes via downscaling the 1080p video to 720p.

 

[Lunfai]

I wouldn't call a :50 clip that weighs in at 130 MB "heavily compressed."

Because my son likes to watch them, that's why.

Yes, use Handbrake, it'll work very well. Use a preset for iPod Touch make sure it's MP4/M4K.