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Compressing HD to smaller file
Hi everyone,
This is my first post so im a little nervous. I use this forum a lot so thank you retroactively.
I have a full HD file which is the Master copy of a music video I produced. I’m looking to compress it to a smaller file (its currently 34GB) while protecting the image quality as much as I can.
This is the above file info:
Format: libquicktime-1.1.1, 1920 × 1080, Millions
Data size: 34.98 GB
Data rate: 1197.17 mbits/s
Duration: 0:00:04:11.83
Size: 1920 x 1080 pixelsI tried Apple Pro-res (with Compressor on a MacBookPro) and this is what I got:
Format: Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), 1920 × 1080, Millions
24-bit Integer (Big Endian), Stereo (L R), 44.100 kHz
Data size: 5.51 GB
Data rate: 191.47 mbits/s
Duration: 0:00:04:07.20
Size: 1920 x 1080 pixelsI actually got a pretty good result but I lost some of the color details and the image contrast was effected.
Is there anything I can do to avoid these side-effects?
Also- will PC’s be able to read AppleProRes?
I’d appreciate a quick response,
Thank you!
Romi -
3 Replies
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Apple ProRes is available as a playback (decode) codec on Windows although it may be a separate install.
https://support.apple.com/downloads/Apple_ProRes_QuickTime_Decoder_1_0_for_WindowsIt’s not obvious to me what Quicktime codec your source file is but if you’re seeing color and contrast changes you could compensate using the processing filters in Compressor. You’d have to some short Before/After compression test comparisons though.
I’m not sure why you’re using 44.1kHz audio in your ProRes encode as you’d want 48kHz for video use.
I’m not sure why your duration is changing either.
I’m not sure what “full HD file” means beyond the frame size.
I’m not sure why you’re encoding to ProRes except maybe either make a smaller archive or a source for further editing (on a PC?). H.264 would make more sense for viewing only distribution.
I’m not sure why you’d specifically request “a quick response” on a holiday weekend since you don’t explain any urgency. -
thanks for your comments. I’ll try to compress using H.264 and see what happens. As for you last point about it being a holiday.. thats an oooops- I live in Israel and I/we dont celebrate Christmas so didnt take that into account.
Thanks for your help anyway,
Romi -
H.264 will allow you to go do a much lower data rate. Try around 7000kbps for 1920×1080 although it depends on the content of the source. Don’t forget to deinterlace. The most universal from of H.264 is with .mp4 extension as WMP12 on Windows 7 plays that natively as does Quicktime of course. Keep in mind that such a large frame size, high data rate file may require significant CPU/GPU resources so some laptops and weaker computers would have problems with it. Some would drop frame size to 1280×720 and a data rate in the 4-5000kbps range.
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