compressing movies

[Lee]

My pleasure, hope it helps.

The 2 best methods to reduce a file size, but still have it clear to view are:

1 - As Ironside says, reduce the size it will show on your screen i.e. if its showing in a 400x300 pixels window, it will be much more hefty than a 200x150 window. The best way i understand this (i like to simplify things) is that if i painted 2 pictures one each at the sizes above, i would need more paint for the larger one, so therefore in computing terms it will be a bigger file.

2 - Cut the film, to only show the very important parts, it is more appealing to download and watch and is far smaller.

[Gryff]

The best method for compressing a file is simply using a good codec and having experience.

A good video encoder is like a dog who talks...rare. ( Yes I admit it, I watched some blackadder a day or two ago :p )

All the information is out there if you have google, I recommend reading doom9s encoding guides for general reference and using x264 as your codec of choice, you will get sick sick compression if you it correctly ( 300-400meg file per hour of video at good quality ).

You need to use a lot of trial and error also.

Divx is one of the easier codecs to use and a good guide can be found here:

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/gknot-main3.htm

x264 ( a free implementation of the H.264 codec spec that many digital TV chans are swapping to ) is probably the best out there for size/quality at a free price, but is a little tougher to get running with and doing good quality encodes.