How to reduce video file size?

Neil010

Posts: 37   +0
Hello Everybody, I have recently taken a 4 minute video clip from my camera, which is a 450 Mb .avi file. I have been able to reduce the size to about 165 Mb by converting it to a .mp4 file, without any significant loss of quality.

I want to upload the video to Facebook, but it would take forever to load. When I tried to convert it to .flv, it became a 5 Mb file. The only problem is that the quality is terrible. It is pixelated to the point where you can't see anything.

I want to reduce the size of the file, but at the same time have good quality. How will I do this? Does the file have to be compressed? Or is there another file type? Also, I have read that compressing will result in quite a bit of quality loss. However the method, is there any software for it? Please help.
 
Video compression

Keeping good quality and reducing file size is a problem, and it's said that 'Divx' is the best compromise. (Not used it here yet.)
I just had a look at the details for Facebook, and they convert video files to H.264 with AAC (MP4) audio. So the limit will be on the length of the video you send.
Worth checking on the maximum length of video they recommend.
They show a list of video formats they can accept, about 30, so that won't be a problem.
I use 'Format factory' very often, and you can alter the quality of your video, (choices are; high/med/low), and check if the quality is still ok, before you upload it, which may be all you need to do.
https://www.techspot.com/downloads/4826-format-factory.html
*Note that on the Facebook site, they do say that uploading video files can take a long time........

**This converter seems to handle most formats; http://www.mediacoderhq.com/index.htm
 
h.264/mp4 should give you the best quality for size (better than xvid/divx).

What I'd do is convert it to an mp4 with Handbrake and just do some trial and error on the bitrate. You can also select a target file size and let Handbrake guess on how to best do it.
 
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