Help reducing HD video file size

[Garrett]

What (user friendly) method/application do you guys use to reduce file sizes without sacrificing too much quality?

I'd prefer some automated tool instead of messing with handbrake/virtual dub etc, something that you can change aspect ratios & apply subtitles would also be useful.

Thanks.

 

[Asmo]

Avidemux will do that -

http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/download.html

It presumes you know what you're doing (there are online guides) but just be careful with the output selections on the left and you'll be okay - for example, if you have an mp4 that you want to reduce in size, make sure you set video output to x264, and muxer to mp4 (audio to 'copy' unless you also want to shrink that). When saving, don't forget to include ".mp4" at the end of the filename too.

Likewise if you had an mkv, make sure you choose mkv muxer (if you want it to remain an mkv file) and include the ".mkv" when naming the file.

The options for output size are under the video output tab, you can choose a fixed size (double-pass), and remember that this refers only to the video, the audio will be extra on top of that at the end.

You can get a full 1080p movie down to around 1.5gb without too much (noticeable) loss, depending on the content. If you reduce the resolution to 720p, you can go much smaller again. If it's a really clean image in the source, you can go surprisingly small, even as far as 500mb.

 

[Garrett]

Avidemux will do that -

http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/download.html


It presumes you know what you're doing (there are online guides) but just be careful with the output selections on the left and you'll be okay - for example, if you have an mp4 that you want to reduce in size, make sure you set video output to x264, and muxer to mp4 (audio to 'copy' unless you also want to shrink that). When saving, don't forget to include ".mp4" at the end of the filename too.


Likewise if you had an mkv, make sure you choose mkv muxer (if you want it to remain an mkv file) and include the ".mkv" when naming the file.


The options for output size are under the video output tab, you can choose a fixed size (double-pass), and remember that this refers only to the video, the audio will be extra on top of that at the end.


You can get a full 1080p movie down to around 1.5gb without too much (noticeable) loss, depending on the content. If you reduce the resolution to 720p, you can go much smaller again. If it's a really clean image in the source, you can go surprisingly small, even as far as 500mb.

Cheers, I'll give it a try..

 

[Askarus]

Don't know if those programs are good for you but those are the two I tried for video editing (just a short try).

The big one: http://cinelerra.org/

(Really big)

The small one: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kdenlive

(Nice and easy to use)

Don't know how good they compress but they seem to be pretty useful for video editing.

 

[b_o_b]

What's wrong with Handbrake? Very easy to use.  It has presets and if you're getting more experienced you can tweak settings, but you don't have to. 

 

[Wally]

What's wrong with Handbrake? Very easy to use.  It has presets and if you're getting more experienced you can tweak settings, but you don't have to. 

Agreed. Nothing wrong with Handbrake and its adaptive quality presets.

Perhaps we need a preset for "OpenPandora"

 

[ingoreis]

I use ever Pocketdivxencoder

You can compress,crop black lines easy and make your own Presets very easy

http://www.pocketdivxencoder.net/EN_index.htm