Shrink Video File Size

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Ranked #99 in How-To, #1,262 overall

Tips for Making a Big Video File Small

Sure the web video revolution is in full swing but there's one area that seems to get neglected and that's the HUGE size of video files on your computer.

Perhaps you learned this when you tried to load a file on Google or YouTube and discovered it couldn't be accepted due to it's bloated file size.

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As a 'thank you' I'll show you where to get free software that converts FROM any video type TO any video type, complete with resizing, watermarking, audio extraction.

It' called SUPER and you can this miraculous application to convert and resize your video files. No obligation, no email or registration. I'm not affiliated with this software.

YouTube suggests your final video be:

  • MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format
  • 320x240 resolution
  • MP3 audio
  • 30 frames per second

You can take nearly any type of digital video file and shrink it to meet those specifications by using SUPER.

If you're creating your own videos from scratch, here are a few post-production tips from our friend "Spot" from his Vegas Editing Workshop book (my summary).

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Cuts vs Dissolves: Transitions 

Dissolves are a transition effect in which one shot slowly fades out while the next shot fades in - also known as a crossfade.

A dissolve differs from a fade in that a video can ONLY fade from black to full video (Fade In or Fade Up) or TO black (Fade out or Fade To Black). That's how they taught us in film school!

Why avoid using them? If you've read my previous blog post on the subject you'll remember that the encoding process makes note of CHANGES from frame to frame.

So if you have a 30 second video shot from a moving car every part of every frame is moving (changing) and this will create a huge and difficult to stream file.

If on the other hand you have 30 seconds of a shoulders-up close up of a person sitting still & speaking against a neutral background (a.k.a. a "Talking Head") very little changes from frame to frame and will make for a substantially smaller file that the moving car example.

De-saturate 

Video can contain millions of colors, but each of these colors bloats the file size. If your editing software allows it use a de-saturation filter to remove some color information. Remember, web video is still very low quality - will removing some color make that much of a difference in the viewing experience? It WILL make a difference in the file size.

Help shrinking video file sizes 

Links to video software, sites & our other web properties

Free Software to Shrink Video Size
This free software can convert from (nearly) any type of media file to any OTHER type of file. It can also shrink the file size AND display size.
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The author's channel of off beat music & video programming

Back to Mono 

Unless you are specifically mixing for stereo switching from stereo to mono will cut the size of your audio information in HALF.

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Reduce the frame rate 

Television in the US is broadcast at 30 frames per second (29.97 to be more exact). In most situations you can render to 15 fps or even as low as 5 if you're streaming something still and graphically heavy such as a PowerPoint presentation.

Again, cutting the frame rate in half will cut the size of the video information in half. Experiment to see what is acceptable to your audience.

Render your video to proper delivery size 

The dimension of a digital video frame at full pixel size can be as big as 720 pixels wide (1080 for hi definition). YouTube will show your video at 320×240 so there's no reason to render your files at any larger scale. Hint: don't do this until the VERY LAST step. Keep everything at the highest possible resolution until your final render.

In my next or upcoming post I'll be looking at specific things you can do to your audio stream to help make for a better video

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by PhillyVideoGuy

I'm a 20-year broadcasting veteran AND online content & marketing pro.

These are exciting days for folks who can bring old technologies (like d... (more)

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