Resolution download size

[AYDANN6ix9ine]

So if I recorded and edited and then downloaded my videos, would a 720p video be significantly smaller in size than a 1080p video. I only have 1TB of storage so trying to save.

[dalekphalm]

44 minutes ago, AYDANN6ix9ine said:

So if I recorded and edited and then downloaded my videos, would a 720p video be significantly smaller in size than a 1080p video. I only have 1TB of storage so trying to save.

Smaller, yes. Significantly so? Depends on many factors. Bitrate determines file size. Higher resolution videos need more bitrate to look better (otherwise they can actually look worse).

 

Why don't you create a short 1080p video, and also make a 720p version and simply compare the file sizes?

[Syntaxvgm]

Bitrate determines size. In most encoders, you can choose a constant quality target, or a constant bitrate. For footage archiving most kinds of video, I typically choose a constant bitrate so I can accurately estimate how much footage I can store in a certain space and just have it be automated. Say you had 1080p and 720p at the same bitrate- sizes are the same, but the 1080p version while being higher resolution will be lower quality- things in motion, a lot of color, all that will suffer and it depends on the codec really. But Choosing a lower resolution may may allow you to get video you're happier with at your target bitrate. Think of how different streaming sites have different quality at the same resolutions, or how 1080p blu ray looks better than netflix 4k (in my experience at least). For 720p 30fps, I find I can get about an hour a gig at about 2.2 Megabit/s a second. (megabit not byte)

For TV recordings, this looks quite good, but for games let's say it can suffer- this is where constant quality comes in if you don't want an exact bitrate it targets a quality level- after all a thing with less colors and less motion takes less data than lots of motion whatnot. I do some special things though and still use constant bitrate, and I'm actually able to get about a gig an hour at even 60fps for most games and still have pretty good quality archiving even with high motion colorful games. 

 

A gig an hour (base 10 not base 2, 1000 MB in a GB. Windows is GiB and your drive is not) allows you about 1000 hours a TB. 

That's 2.7 hours every day and you'd need to buy a single TB of storage per year! In fact, this makes 24/7 recording practical, which is why I targeted that. 

So you need to take handbrake or something, experiment, and once you find the settings that match your content the best, find a bitrate you think is optimal, or constant quality if you want.