Compressing Video Files – What You Need to Know

Raw and uncompressed video files can be extremely large, and it isn’t uncommon for HD raw videos to require a few gigabytes for each minute. Needless to say managing files of such sizes isn’t easy, let alone transferring them or uploading them to online servers.

The first thing that you should know is that because uncompressed raw videos are so large – most of the video files that you encounter are probably already compressed in some form or other. However in some cases they may still be too large, and you may want to compress them further to make them more manageable.

If that is your goal, you should start by understanding how the video format affects its compression.

Codecs and Compression

The video codec is the part of its format that determines the compression that it uses – which is why it is important that you know more about it. Some of the more common codecs nowadays include MPEG-4, H.264, and H.265.

Newer codecs tend to have better compression rates than older codecs, and are able to deliver the same quality of video at much smaller file sizes. For example the H.265 codec can reduce the file size of a H.264 video by up to 50% in some cases.

Suffice to say, if your video is in an older codec – you could significantly compress its file size without affecting its quality by transcoding it to a newer codec instead. The one caveat however is that newer codecs are often more limited when it comes to compatibility, so you’ll need to ensure that the device you want to watch the video on supports the codec.

If your video is already encoded in a new codec this may not be an option – but there are other ways to compress videos as well.

Video Bitrate

The video bitrate is literally the amount of data that the video uses each second, and so the video file size is its bitrate multiplied by its duration. By reducing the bitrate you will be able to compress and directly reduce the file size, but at the same time its quality could deteriorate and compression artifacts may appear.

Different videos require different bitrates in order for the video quality to be unaffected, and it varies depending on the resolution and framerate. As an example you could refer to YouTube’s recommended upload settings so you know what to expect.

Assuming you’re willing to compromise the quality of the video slightly however, you can reduce the bitrate to lower than its recommended settings. In short you will want to balance out the video quality against the file size of the video, and find a compromise that satisfies you on both counts.

How to Compress Videos

To start compressing videos using either of the methods described above, you will need software that allows you to convert and transcode videos. Nowadays there are several tools that you can use that range from video converters to specialized video compressors. For example you could try Movavi Video Converter as a place to start.

Typically the first thing that you should do is identify the format (i.e. codec) that the video is using, and determine whether or not transcoding it to a newer codec with better compression is an option. If it isn’t, you can then try lowering the bitrate gradually while observing the affect it has on the video quality.

It should be noted that in some cases you may be able to reduce the file size of your videos through other means – such as by removing any unnecessary parts from the video. While technically that isn’t ‘compressing’ the video, it is an effective option that you should consider.

At the end of the day you should now know everything that you need to in order to compress your videos. All that remains is to try it out – and see how it works in practice.

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