Can I make a AVI file smaller?

[baebbe]

I have an avi file. It is currently 181MB. Is there any way to make it smaller, without losing too much quality? I have VirtualDub installed.

PS: Any way to get it down to 100MB?

Thanks in advance! Help is much appreciated

[jagabo]

file size = bitrate * running time

[baebbe]

Ok, I guess you need the information? So here's what the properties window tells me:
running time: 5mins 29sec
Bitrate: 64 kBit/s
File size: 181 MB (190.498.476 Bytes)

Or did I totally not understand you just now??

[redwudz]

He's telling you if you reduce the bitrate, it will reduce the filesize. Going from 181MB to 100MB, you would reduce the bitrate by about half. You can use a bitrate calculator to find the the exact amount. Or use the forumula jagabo posted. You may not like the quality at that bitrate, though.

You can drop the audio bitrate also and leave a little more bitrate for the video. Or lower the framerate, or the framesize. Or use a codec that can give higher compression and smaller filesizes. With that short of video, you can expirement with quite a few options.

Bitrate calculators: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/bitrate-calculators

And baebbe, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks,
Moderator redwudz

[baebbe]

aaah, ok... Now I got it. Thanks.
But if it reduces the quality that drastically, I might just live with this size...
Thanks a lot though

[jagabo]

A 5.5 minute video in 180 MB can probably be reduced in size without effecting quality too much. The question is what do you plan to do with the video. Some containers and codecs are more flexible than others.

If you need to play the video on a regular DVD player you have to use MPEG2 with specific frame sizes and frame rates. You probably won't be able to reduce the size without effecting quality.

If you have a Divx/DVD player you can use the Divx or Xvid codec in an AVI container. You can probably reduce the file size to half and still have decent quality.

If you only need to play the video on computer you have the most flexibility and can reduce the file size by quite a bit (say, h.264 in an MP4 container) and still have a watchable video.

[baebbe]

I wanted to upload it to a site similar to youtube. they only allow videos up to 100mb. I usually split the files which usually gives them a run time of somewhere between 1 and 3 mins. Which sucks. I've seen files on there with a run time of 30 mins and more and was wondering how they do it without losing the quality.
So I don't need to play them on any player or anything. Supported file types are mpg, avi, mpeg, wmv, 3gp, mp4, mov, asf, flv. Are avis generally bigger than, say, 3gp's?

Oh, and sorry about the subject title! I'll definitely remember it

[Baldrick]

I would use autogk or avirecomp and reconvert to smaller avi xvid with mp3. Just load the file and set output file size and convert.

You could do the same in virtualdub but you must calculate the bitrate to get the desired output file size.