chabu
join:2002-01-16
| Best Compressed Format for videos
Have a movie video file that is 700 MB. What format should I convert it to make it the smallest file? Need to send for online storage so that my friend can access and download it. Oof course he has to convert it back to a format so that he can view, but thats no problem. Also, it helps me with upload and download times and the limitations that ISPs have. |
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wings10
I Am Legend
Premium
join:2004-06-09
South Elgin, IL
clubs: 
edit:
July 12th, @11:12PM
| Divx? |
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Camelot One
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-21
Austin, TX
clubs:
 ·VoicePulse
| reply to chabu
The first question is 700Mb in what format? If you have a 700Mb xvid/divx avi file, making it any smaller without trashing the quality is going to be a pretty tough job. If it's a 700Mb uncompressed AVI (not sure why that would be, unless you created the content yourself) then xvid/divx is probably your best bet.
And then there are a lot of formats in between the two.
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Intel Q6600 @3400Mhz/GA-EP35-DS3P/2x 2048Mb G.Skill/Seagate 750.10/EVGA 8800GT's SLI/Silverstone 850W/Custom water cooler |
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chabu
join:2002-01-16 | reply to chabu
The present video format is avi |
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Camelot One
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-21
Austin, TX
clubs:
·VoicePulse
| AVI is just the container, not the format/compression. Grab a copy of media info here: »mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en/Download
It will tell you which codecs/compression the video is using. If it's something you downloaded, chances are very good it's already an xvid/divx, in which case your only real option to reduce file size would be to drop the quality.
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Intel Q6600 @3400Mhz/GA-EP35-DS3P/2x 2048Mb G.Skill/Seagate 750.10/EVGA 8800GT's SLI/Silverstone 850W/Custom water cooler |
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chabu
join:2002-01-16
| reply to chabu
So that I dont get flammed for not figuring out myself, I converted a 700MB avi video file into wmv, h264(MPEG-4) and flv formats to find out which would be the smallest file. The conversions were done with the same program and the results are:
Flv format - 1,068,499 KB
WMV FORMAT - 1,240,381 KB
H264(MPEG-4)-398,686 KB.
Any feedback? |
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Camelot One
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-21
Austin, TX
clubs: | Those numbers sound right, though for each format there are various quality settings that will effect the output size. |
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chabu
join:2002-01-16 | yes, you are correct, but with free programs avaiable, you can easily convert from one format to the other. The idea here is to find the smallest possible file size so that it can be upload/downloaded faster. |
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Camelot One
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-21
Austin, TX
clubs:
·VoicePulse
| h.264 or xvid are your best bets for smallest file size at any given quality. Just keep in mind that each has various quality settings that effect the compression, and thus the output size. You could use the same program to convert to each, but if the default settings are different, your output file size testing would be skewed.
I can compress a 2 hour- 6Gb mpeg2 DVD movie to xvid, and get a 200Mb file size. But it will look and sound like complete crap. Or I can use different quality/resolution/sound settings that result in a 700Mb file size (the standard for internet downloads) and it will look decent. At 1.5 to 2Gb or so and you can get true DVD quality.
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Intel Q6600 @3400Mhz/GA-EP35-DS3P/2x 2048Mb G.Skill/Seagate 750.10/EVGA 8800GT's SLI/Silverstone 850W/Custom water cooler |
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Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to chabu
is Zip an option? anyone with XP and later and unzip files. however most compressed video/audio formats based on mpeg dont seem to zip up well.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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punker
deleted by moderator
Premium
join:2004-06-21
Palmdale, CA
clubs:
·Time Warner VOIP
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| said by Kearnstd  :is Zip an option? anyone with XP and later and unzip files. however most compressed video/audio formats based on mpeg dont seem to zip up well. it will only save an few megabytes or less |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| reply to chabu
said by chabu :So that I dont get flammed for not figuring out myself, I converted a 700MB avi video file into wmv, h264(MPEG-4) and flv formats to find out which would be the smallest file. The conversions were done with the same program and the results are: Flv format - 1,068,499 KB WMV FORMAT - 1,240,381 KB H264(MPEG-4)-398,686 KB. Any feedback? Downside to H264 is it needs a decent processor to not skip during playback.
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When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee |
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chabu
join:2002-01-16 | reply to chabu
the intent is here is to make the file the smallest possible which can transmiited faster over the net and the receiver can change to whatever format he chooses to. |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by chabu :the intent is here is to make the file the smallest possible which can transmiited faster over the net and the receiver can change to whatever format he chooses to. Looks like the winner here is H264 although there will be a quality hit when converting amongst types.
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what about burning to a dvd and sending via snailmail?
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When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee |
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Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS | Further, how do you burn an FLV file in such a way that when replayed on a dvd player, it does not fill the whole screen?? IN other words quite blurred!! |
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chabu
join:2002-01-16 | you have to convert it back to either avi or dvd format...not a problem as there are online programs that do that for you (like zamzar etc) |
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