I have been shooting videos for years, and storage space has always been my biggest headache for me.
The previous month, I had 80GB of footage of a weekend trip that would not be uploaded anywhere. That was when I finally made myself sit down to work out compression. What was new to me was that it is possible to reduce the original size of the videos in several ways without much notice.
Why Compressing Videos Matters
My phone shoots 4K. It sounds good until you have to store a three-minute video that is 1.5GB in size. I exceeded twice last year through vacation videos alone on cloud space. Email will not take more than 25MB and most of the messaging applications will squash your videos to an unviewable size.
I began squeezing it all out and then I shared. The videos are now actually being viewed by my family as they do not take a long time to be loaded. The process of uploading to the social sites was faster, not so much time spent on waiting to see a slow progress bar. The actual wake-up call was when I had to send a work presentation. The original file was 400MB. It was 45MB after compression and there was no noticeable loss of quality. My colleague opened it the moment he saw it. It is at this time that I had to make compression a part of my regular routine.
Key Factors That Affect Video Quality
The largest difference in file size is resolution. I shoot most things in 1080p unless I am in particular need of 4K. The majority of the population is watching videos via their phones and 1080p displays visually almost exactly like 4K on a small screen.
Bitrate confused me at first. Consider it to be like water in a pipe, the higher the bit rate the more data per second it carries and thus better quality however, it is larger in size. Approximately 5 Mbps is suitable with normal clips. Action scenes require higher than 8 Mbps so that it does not appear blocky.
Another win that is easy to achieve is frame rate. I would shoot at 60fps because I felt that this was professional. Mostly, 30fps is sufficient. Reducing frame rate by half automatically reduces file size by half. No one who is watching my travel vlogs has complained.
Codec is simply the language that your video speaks. H.264 is compatible with nearly all tablets and Smart TVs, laptops, and phones. H.265 is smaller, however, not all devices will play it. I use H.264 in case I want to share anything with everybody.
Recommended Formats and Tools
MP4 became my default format. It is compatible with nearly all the devices and platforms. MOV was my preferred format because that is what is produced by my iPhone, but my friend on Windows was unable to view them without additional software.
I tried various compression tools. Desktop software provided control quickly, however, required learning and could be in demand of a strong GPU. However, if you want to skip the learning curve, click here to compress videos straight from your browser without any setup.
With mobile apps, it is convenient when one is travelling. The App Store has some applications that can handle videos on your phone. I also used one at the airport to compress a clip in order to fit before my flight to upload it on slower WiFi.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
I once ruined videos by compressing already compressed files. Every time you compress you lose bits of information that do not come back. I have since maintained my original files and only compress copies.
The bit rate should not be set too low which forms ugly square blocks. I found out this on the video of my nephew, on his birthday. Faces were blocky and fuzzy. Before sending it to family, I needed to do the compression again but at a higher bitrate.
Mistakes of aspect ratio are disgraceful. I once had shots of everybody stretched out due to a mistake in selecting the size of output. I always look at the preview before exporting.
Audio is easy to forget. I compressed a concert clip once and the sound came out thin and harsh. These days I use AAC at a reasonable bitrate so music and voices stay clear.
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Steps to Compress Your Videos
I first determine where the video is going to be. In the case of social media, I would target 1080p and 30fps. In some cases I use 720p to send the quick clips to friends. I maintain 4K just in case of projects that I am still editing.
For compression, I use Clideo in my browser. My routine:
- Open the compress video tool. They also have an App Store version and Android app for working on the go
- Drag drop the file to upload.
- Choose MP4 to be used as output.
- Select your resolution, whether it is 1080p or 720p.
- Select the compression force.
- Begin the compression, and wait.
- Check quality and audio by watching the preview.
- Only download it when it looks and sounds good.
The preview step is time-saving. I recently compressed a clip hiking and saw that there were visible streaks in the sky. I went up to the level of quality, ran it again, and the problem vanished.
Key Takeaways
When it comes to compression, it is a confusing matter at the beginning, but very soon, it turns into the order of things. I consider my original files as master copies and store them in a separate drive. In that manner I will always be able to come up with a better quality version in the future.
My last video is one which I check on the devices used by real people. What appears sharp on a large screen may fail to appear on a phone.
What is effective with a slow travel vlog would not be effective with fast gaming clip. Various videos require varying settings. The fundamentals remain unchanged, select a reasonable resolution, don’t compress the bitrate too much, preview before you export and tools that do the heavy lifting.
