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Best way to convert a 17 GB .mov file down to a 1.5GB-2GB size mp4 file?
Is doing this in FCP viable?
If so, how can you gage how big the final file will be?
I just attempted this in Streamclip but the file is still 10GB.
Any help appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Scott -
3 Replies
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You can certainly get it down to 1.5-2GB, but it isn’t going to look the same.
Given a specific length you can calculate what bitrate you can use to hit your 2GB target. ( https://www.3ivx.com/support/calculator/index.html )
Once you know the bitrate you can do some sample conversions of a little bit of the footage (pick the most motion/fastest action portion) to see what it will look like. For this kind of file size reduction you may need to reduce your frame size to retain a satisfactory result.
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Hey Scott,
What is the intended use for the output?
Intrigued to know what your Streamclip settings were. Assume you used H264 codec or a variant. What other settings are you using?Some programs (like older versions of Handbrake, unsure about Streamclip) have a “target size” feature you could try. But like Jeff said, good to use the calculator to get an idea of the ballpark bit rate you’ll need to aim for then do some test conversions.
Depending on your source footage, eg: if you have lots of talking head or static footage, variable bit rate may help reduce size. If it’s mainly fast motion though, constant bitrate will be a safer bet to achieve the desired file size.
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To say that your original file is 17GB means no much.
It could be a 1 and a half hour of DV stuff, or it could be few minutes of 10b Uncompressd HD.
Whatever you are dealing with, to convert 17GB in 1.5GB you have to low the data rate around 11 times and the codec to get that compression keeping good quality is H264.
Give some more info on your footage and what is the compressed copy for, and we will try to give you more precise data to get it done.
rafael
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