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FCPX drastically increasing video file size
Hi all!
I’m running into a problem on Final Cut Pro — I was asked to take a single MP4 video, that is 758.5 MB, and cut out the first four minutes. That’s all, no transitions, no edits, no color corrections, nothing.
And then I got to export the (now shorter) MP4, and the file is now 5.54 Gigs?
Why is FCP expanding my videos like this? Changing the codec/resolution is not helping, the file still will not go down to the original size, or even anything close to it. The smallest I can get is 2.5 gigs and I need an acceptable resolution, so that won’t work.
How to I get Final Cut Pro to maintain the file size?
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8 Replies
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Honestly this sounds like you don’t fully understand how to setup the profile of a timeline or export. These numbers suggest that what you are actually exporting must be encoded as ProRes, even if it has the file extension of MP4,.
You should get “MediaInfo” a great free app for examining any media file to learn exactly what it is and how it was made.
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I’m not sure why the math isn’t more obvious to people.
It’s very simple. Lowering the data rate lowers the file size. Depending on the codec though it will lower the quality. How visible that is depends on the content, frame size, and frame rate.
Apple Compressor gives you control over the data rate so you’d export to that or create a preset and use in FCP.
This thinking is more or less applicable to many things.
My car is traveling too many miles. Lower the speed.
I’m gaining weight. Lower your caloric intake.
Lower the Mbps (Kbps or Gbps or however you’re measuring). File too fat. Eat less bits.
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I agree with the previous replies. I suggest you use Shutter Encoder (it’s free & excellent) to edit the front end without re-encoding. It has a simple edit interface built-in.
shutterencoder.com
Shutter Encoder - Encoder|Converter video FREE PC|Mac
Open source software without any restriction - converter all formats video|audio|image professionals codecs and standards - Windows|OS X|Linux.
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Hi,
Do you have Compressor on your computer? If so, you can create different quality versions for export, add them as a destination in Final Cut Pro, and use them inside Final Cut Pro when you export. Otherwise, you just export an H264 mov file and export again using some third-party converters.
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I’ll check out media info, thanks for the suggestion!
However it is NOT encoded as ProRes, that I’m sure of, which is part of the reason I was so confused.
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I understand the math, and yes lowering the data rate does lower the file size, but for some reason this particular video is still like three times as large as it was before. I can’t lower it anymore and it’s still huge. It is NOT encoded in ProRes, is there something obvious that I’m missing?
For context I normally do a lot of SFX/FX in my work so working with very large Final Cut files is normal for me. This is one of the first times I’ve had to do something so simple and it still resulted in this massive file size.
I will give apple compressor another try though, thank you for the suggestion!
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Compressor should be your friend here. Try outputting a ProRes version and then encode that as H264 in Compressor. (And I’m curious how large the ProRes file itself is!)
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If it’s still larger, you need to lower the data rate more.
If the issue is quality it’s possible the codec that was used to compress the original was very efficient. Perhaps they reduced the number of Key Frames (keyframes are larger than P and especially B frames) but you’re not talking about quality but size. So your response is either incomplete or doesn’t make sense. If it’s still larger then make the data rate still lower. If you run into a quality issue (you haven’t mentioned), you need to look at other encoder settings.
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