Exporting video with small file size best codec
by max sidorov
on
Oct 10, 2008 at 7:43:02 am
Im a super newb at this stuff and have tried to edumocate myself as much as possible and have tried exporting my video to a million combinations of the best codecs but the file size is super huge regardless.
My video:
50 minute quicktime video 640x480 thats 100 megs by itself.
All i did in premiere pro 2.0 is add some titles (2) and some mp3 music at the beginning and end (does that affect file size?) thats it. When i export my video i get like 3 gigs minimum for decent video quality(wtf) when the original video thats 100 megs is great by itself. Somehow when i export it, it becomes super gigantic and becomes worse quality.. i dont get that. I want to save the original video quality (which is better in the original, than when i try to export unless the size is ginormous like 10 gis or more). I have tried h246, 263 and 261(crappy), avi, quicktime, and about a million combination with other codecs and file size is still huge. Is there any way i can stay under 500 megs (my original vid is only 100!!!!) and have the same quality vid and sound?
Pls anyone if you know anything about exporting and codecs your help will be MUCH appreciated (i have been fiddling with codecs and different variation of exporting for about a week now, my cpu is poopy so i have to wait :(. Thank you in advance.
Max
Re: Exporting video with small file size best codec by Simon Bonner on Oct 10, 2008 at 2:47:31 pm
h.264 is the current codec of choice for high compression but decent quality. Install the newest quicktime to make use of it. But a 50min video is always going to be large. Your raw video is likely to be hugely compressed. All consumer cameras compress video heavily, or the amount of footage wouldn't fit on the disc. This is why renders might not look so good: you're compressing already compressed video, which is a recipe for poor quality.
The titles shouldn't increase file size so much. Your audio might be a problem though - if your video codec is compressed but your audio one isn't, a very large proportion of the final file size could be down to the audio.
Also, if you're planning on uploading the video to youtube or some other website, you might consider outputting to 320x240 instead.
Re: Exporting video with small file size best codec by max sidorov on Oct 10, 2008 at 6:58:30 pm
Thanks for your quick response Simon!
I will definitely fiddle around with audio compressors (can you suggest a good one?) and see if that gets the file size down. The video will be sold as part of a video course. Its 640x480 original and im going to stay with that, all i wanted was to keep the original quality. Anything else you may suggest? (like interlacing, audio settings etc.?)
Re: Exporting video with small file size best codec by Simon Bonner on Oct 10, 2008 at 7:48:04 pm
Hi Max,
If you're going to go h.264 (quicktime), it might be best to go with Apple AAC. Audio data rate 64 kbps, 16-bit, 44.1 khz mono should be fine for this form of delivery. I don't know if you have this much control over your render from Premiere, so it might be worthwhile purchasing Quicktime pro, which is only about $15-20. Output using a lossless codec like QT animation or photo-jpeg and then compress in QT itself.
You won't want to interlace the videos if they're for viewing on the web.
If you're selling the videos, you might want to consider opting for flv format as almost all computers have the flash player installed, but not every pc user will have Quicktime. Or you could just expressly state to your customers that they will need quicktime, and give them the link.
Re: Exporting video with small file size best codec by max sidorov on Oct 11, 2008 at 12:58:04 pm
Simon you are my hero, i just fiddled with with it and found that it was the audio that took so much space (it was uncompressed before, now i used uLaw, i heard that one is good, any suggestions?). I exported my video and it was below 100 megs, perfect! Do you know what the option "Fields" does? It has "Lower fields firs" "Upper fields first" "No fields," is that interlacing? I also left the checkbox "Optimize Stills" checked, hope that doesnt affect anything.
Re: Exporting video with small file size best codec by Simon Bonner on Oct 11, 2008 at 10:54:00 pm
Hi Max,
I'm afraid I'm no expert when it comes to audio codecs. I'd suggest using your ear as a guide: if it sounds good on a range of playback devices and isn't too large, then it's ok.
Upper vs. lower field first separation is indeed part of interlacing, though I'm also no great expert on this. I think I read somewhere that one is PAL and the other is NTSC, but don't quote me on this. If you're going progressive you shouldn't need either.
