AVI to (what?) for emailing a video

[johnsees]

Hello, folks.
I recorded a short video using a digital camera and wanted to email it to somebody, but the AVI file that the camera created is 18.8MB and it wouldn't email; apparently it needs to be much smaller. Is there a format I can convert to that would be small enough for email? (The email error message says less than about 15MB.)

Thanks

[Jim44]

Who's your ISP? I would think most ISP's now give you 25MB or so of storage for a "home page" - why not up load it and provide a link for download? (Sorry, but IMO, email is not for distributing such a large file).

But, back to your question, I've encoded a few DV-AVI files to either MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 to reduce their files size for subsequent downloading. I happen to use TMPGEnc Plus, but there are plenty of choices listed in the "Tools" section to the left <<<<<<.

You might also try WMV using Windows Movie Maker - I've only ever done this once (last week), but I seem to recall the WMV file was smaller than the input AVI.

My 2 cents,
Jim

[DarrellS]

What is the compression of your AVI? DV, DivX etc...

H264, Xvid, DivX and WMV are your best choices with WMV having the lowest quality but easiest to read. H264 and XviD offer the best quality per file size.

[Krispy Kritter]

As Jim44 pointed out, I would post it somewhere and share the link. Otherwise, just split the file into multiple parts (or half). Mail half, let them download it, and then mail the 2nd half.

[kevo777]

Jim44's suggestion is the best. I will add my $0.02 on format. Most likely the receiving end will have a Windows PC (unless you know otherwise) which makes WMV your best choice for compatibility, but worst on quality. Xvid and h264 are best on quality and file size but not as likely to be playable on the other end without additional downloading of codecs.

[johnsees]

Well, unfortunately, my ignorance about video files and formats is almost boundless! But Virtualdub tells me the compression is PCM (uncompressed). I guess that explains why a 22-second video was too big for email.

Jim44, Windows Movie Maker did the trick. My file went from 18.8MB to 2.3MB.

Thanks a lot, everybody.

[johnsees]

The video emailed just fine, but about the idea to post the video on a web site and let them download it, I'd like to know how to do that. I know how to upload files to a web site and create links from one page (or picture) to another, but I don't know how to enable someone to download the file. Could someone tell me how to do that, or is it too complicated to describe here?

Thanks a lot.

[45tripp]

the idea was actually to use a free file sharing site, like wiki upload.
upload send the link and let them figure out the rest

If you have your own site that's great. Link to the file the same way you link to another page.

[thecoalman]

but about the idea to post the video on a web site and let them download it, I'd like to know how to do that. I know how to upload files to a web site and create links from one page (or picture) to another, but I don't know how to enable someone to download the file. Could someone tell me how to do that, or is it too complicated to describe here?.

As mentioned your ISP probably provides some webspace, check out your plan. From their it depends on what they allow but most will allow you to upload via FTP which can be done right through your web browser or a FTP program. They may even have a web interface for doing this.

Once uploaded you only need to provide people with the link, usually something like http://www.yourisp.com/yourusername/yourfile.wmv

To create pages do a search for coffeecup, they make a free version of their html editor. HTML is just a text file, you just upload it to the same space.