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What is the best way to shrink m4v files even further?

O

oxband

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 10, 2009
333
4
I have a ton of files I need transcribed, and I'm sharing them with our transcriber via Dropbox. Right now, the files are m4v files. I want to shrink them further. I try using MPEGstreamclip but too often the file size gets even larger! The quality of the video isnt a big issue since it's people transcribing audio. I looked into making them AVI files, but even then, I'm not sure what file type to make them. Once you choose AVI, MPEG asks you to then pick a type of compression codec and there are a million options.

So...suggested settings vis Hanbrake or MPEGStreamclip for shrinking these small files even further?
 
oxband said:
I have a ton of files I need transcribed, and I'm sharing them with our transcriber via Dropbox. Right now, the files are m4v files. I want to shrink them further. I try using MPEGstreamclip but too often the file size gets even larger! The quality of the video isnt a big issue since it's people transcribing audio. I looked into making them AVI files, but even then, I'm not sure what file type to make them. Once you choose AVI, MPEG asks you to then pick a type of compression codec and there are a million options.

So...suggested settings vis Hanbrake or MPEGStreamclip for shrinking these small files even further?
Click to expand...

I'd probably try opening in Final Cut Pro X and see if you can export as a lower res. At least it'll give you an estimated size of how big the exported file would be so may be worth trying that.

Do you definitely need the video? If not, easiest thing would be just to drag them into LPX/FCPX and export as audio only.
 
I'd like to keep the video cause it'll make it easier for the transcribers and cause I burned the timecode into the video which I want in the transcription. None of the FCP X exports were small enough. As is, I exported from FCP X in the m4v file after making a compression setting in Compressor.....but I wanna shrink it even further if I can.
 
Instead of trying to transcode the video, just extract the audio as a separate file. There are tutorials online. I know VLC will do it. handbrake might. iTunes might. And you can search the App Store too.
 
chabig said:
Instead of trying to transcode the video, just extract the audio as a separate file. There are tutorials online. I know VLC will do it. handbrake might. iTunes might. And you can search the App Store too.
Click to expand...
How would that help the OP, when he wants to keep the video, too?
 
DeltaMac said:
How would that help the OP, when he wants to keep the video, too?
Click to expand...
I posted my recommendation before his second post appeared. Since he wants to keep the video I would just leave everything as is. Transcoding is very time consuming.
 
Yep...
SO, @oxband -
Your videos don't need much quality. Compressing them may not be worth the time to do it.
Maybe another solution is for your transcriber to delete the videos from your dropbox, when the transcription is complete.
Or, if you don't want the transcriber to delete files, there may be some way to mark a video that is no longer needed.
And you can replace videos as dropbox space and time permits. Or, pay for more space on dropbox :D
 
It wont take time to compress them more cause I can do a batch in MPEGStreamclip. I just need to figure out what settings to shrink already small files.
 
I think you're chasing your tail. Those files are already probably compressed as much as they can be.
 
There's gotta be a way to make them smaller I'm sure. Right now they are 640x360. I can make that smaller. But I wonder what codec and compression will make it even smaller.
 
Doubtful. It's all about bitrate. What's the bitrate you get after compression?
 
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