Trying To Decrease .avi & Quicktime Files Size To Upload To You Tube

[GOBOGIE]

Hi my name is Cory and I'm PT by trade, hence I know very little about the whole video computer thingie I'm trying to upload some videos of my new puppy onto you tube but the videos as too big. I want to see if there is a free program that will shrink .avi's and quicktime formats. I've done a search and must admit that I didn't understand most of what I read eventhough I found some related stuff to my question.

I don't care too much about supurb quality or anything like that... this is just for fun and will only be viewed by a college buddy who wants to see some videos of my puppy (English Bulldog).

The easier the program the better!

Thank you in advance!

Cory
Niles, MI

[rumplestiltskin]

MPEG Streamclip will do this for you.

[Scorpion King]

YouTube will except QuickTime but I think they recommends Divx or Xvid with 320x240 framesize and MP-3 audio.

Reconverting an already converted video is not always that good an idea. I would start with the source file (assuming it to be of high quality) then going for the proper output from there.

A little more info may help us give you a better idea what to do. Like what file size you shooting for and what is the file type and size now of the original.

Good luck.

[GOBOGIE]

A little more info may help us give you a better idea what to do. Like what file size you shooting for and what is the file type and size now of the original.

Good luck.

Well the files are .avi and quicktime format. You tube needs the file to be 100megs or less. The files are anywhere between 130mgs to 240 mgs. So basically I just want to shrink them to at least 100mgs to upload them.

[rumplestiltskin]

100MB is really quite large (from the perspective of the person who will be viewing the video). I'll repeat: MPEG Streamclip is about the easiest way to do this.

[Scorpion King]

I think what youtube does is recompress the files to a much smaller size. I think that is why they recommend the 320x240 framesize making it unnecessary for them to resize which may further lower the quality level. Trying to retain as much quality as possible is why I recommended to not recompress an already compressed version of the original captured file, but start again with the original and process a file with the proper framesize, bitrate, codec, and final file size, to get an upload file of the highest quality possible. It's going to loose quality when they get done with it I think.

But anyway, to shrink the AVI file I would use VirtualDub and either recompress with a lower bitrate or cut out a enough footage to get the file size down. About a 25% reduction is what you need for that 130MB file. Of course the 240MB file will need about 60% cut somewhere. Why a smaller framesize like 320x240 is recommended because it will still look pretty good with lowered bitrates.

The MOV file is another matter. I don't work with that format enough to know much about it. lol

Good luck.