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How to reduce movie file sizes without losing much quality?

Tim Drake
By Tim Drake
in Photography and Videography
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Posted

I literally just goggled it and came up with your exact question

http://blogs.it.ox.ac.uk/adamweblearn/2013/10/how-to-compress-large-video-files-without-losing-quality-using-handbrake/

Hope I could help!

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Tried that, looked like ass.

 

Also, didn't reduce file size enough.

 

EDIT: I exaggerated, it didn't look terrible but it lost too much quality for not much size so isn't really a valid option.

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mp4 and mkv are the better formats, for orther settings i would download some stolen movie and look at what it runs (you gotta do what you gotta do)  :lol: 

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mp4 and mkv are the better formats, for orther settings i would download some stolen movie and look at what it runs (you gotta do what you gotta do)  :lol: 

Those are containers, not actual codecs that contain the information.

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Tried that, looked like ass.

 

Also, didn't reduce file size enough.

 

EDIT: I exaggerated, it didn't look terrible but it lost too much quality for not much size so isn't really a valid option.

What do you want to compress? Something that you've downloaded via torrents? What size do you want?

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Take out credits and opening? 

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What do you want to compress? Something that you've downloaded via torrents? What size do you want?

 

Well sometimes, people haven't compressed the movies yet so I am stuck with a 2.5GB file. I am fine with up to 1.5GB.

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Those are containers, not actual codecs that contain the information.

You are right.

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Well sometimes, people haven't compressed the movies yet so I am stuck with a 2.5GB file. I am fine with up to 1.5GB.

They have, the uncompressed files were hundreds of gigabytes. A 2.5GB movie for example is heavily compressed. If they are at that size and you want them to 1.5GB, I would recommend not doing anything. Compressing them again when they're already that compressed would hurt the quality immensely. 

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They have, the uncompressed files were hundreds of gigabytes. A 2.5GB movie for example is heavily compressed. If they are at that size and you want them to 1.5GB, I would recommend not doing anything. Compressing them again when they're already that compressed would hurt the quality immensely. 

 

So basically, find the biggest file I can and then compress that one?

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So basically, find the biggest file I can and then compress that one?

Yes, exactly. The bigger the file you compress is the better it is going to look. I would recommend these settings for a 120 min movie:

 

Video codec: H.265 if you can play it back, don't know what you'll be watching it on (vlc is fine), if not, H.264.

Audio codec: AAC

Video bitrate: Try 1,5 Mbps and see if you like the size.

Audio bitrate: 128 Kbps

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Yes, exactly. The bigger the file you compress is the better it is going to look. I would recommend these settings for a 120 min movie:

 

Video codec: H.265 if you can play it back, don't know what you'll be watching it on (vlc is fine), if not, H.264.

Audio codec: AAC

Video bitrate: Try 1,5 Mbps and see if you like the size.

Audio bitrate: 128 Kbps

 

I use MPC-HC which is a lightweight version of VLC pretty much. Will try that out, thanks.

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Good idea, how would I do that through Handbrake?

use windows movie maker and cut it out :P 

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Take out credits and opening?

The file size of scrolling white text on black ground is negligible.

Using CRF is important it gives you 2pass quality while it is as fast as one pass but you lose the control over the bitrate a bit.

Video codec: H.265 if you can play it back, don't know what you'll be watching it on (vlc is fine), if not, H.264.

Which H265 would you choose?
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