Hi, 

I recently noticed that a lot video files out there are not well compressed, resulting in unnecessary large file sizes.

Does anyone else here care about that? After going through my collection, I could reduces file sizes up to 1/4 of the original size without loosing quality.

A 50 GB part of my collection was reduced to 20 GB.

I've been considering this - what settings do you re-compress to / what software do you use?

(January 4, 2023, 11:22 am)gmcace777 I've been considering this - what settings do you re-compress to / what software do you use?

H.265/HEVC is the latest broadly supported video codec and is about 20% more efficient than H.264.  This is a solid move for most of your collection.

AV1 is the Next Big Thing, boasting potentially 30% greater efficiency than H.265, but hardware/software support for it is still catching up.  You can probably use it but you might experience some growing pains (longer encode times, tricky compatibility with playback).

My best suggestion is to pick one of your favorite 1080p videos (and a 4K video if you have one), get Handbrake, and queue up a few different presets on each video.  Then when the encodes are done just pick the one that is the best compromise between quality and size, then dial in some manual adjustments if you see fit. Do this with each codec (HEVC and AV1). Handbrake just added software AV1 support.

I am using Avidemux (cut, merge, encode) or Handbrake (encode). Handbrake is a bit complicated for beginners.
Higher resolutions are resized. Useless parts are cut. Dont waste your time wit low quality input.

You need a basic understanding about the terms "constant bitrate", average bitrate", single pass" and "multi pass" encoding.

As been mentioned, h.265 and AV1 are the newest codec. But for compatibility I am using still the usual h.264 codec.

Usual presets for ecoding and bitrate are set for cinematic videos with a lot of movement. The videos here on the forum have way less movement (in terms of video compression). Thats the part where lower bitrate and 2-pass encoding can save you a lot of file size.

I got good results with follwong settings

- 1440p / 60 fps: 6000 - 7000 kbit
- 1440p / 30/25fps: 3000 - 3500 kbit
- 1080p 60 fps: Bitrate 4000 - 5000 kbit
- 1080p / 30/25 fps: 2500 - 3000 kbit
- 720p / 30/25 fps: 1800 - 2200 kbit
- Audio always 128 kbit aac

Handbrake is my go to for encoding videos.