handbrake help or other way to shrink video size freeware

[videohelplover]

HI
my probleme is that handbrake does not shrink as much a video as I would like so i can go with my question about handbrake but if there is a freeware(not a 30 day free only) that can do a better job let me know.
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I have a 500 mb mp4 that was reduce to 250 mgapprox. With the same settings i got another mp4 and shrank it by 7 times.
It might be because the first was a yoga movie with mouvement and the other was a dog enclosure where a dog only sometimes moved.?

Still this 500 mb mp4 i would like to have it shrunk a lot. I want the same audio quality but the lines can be blurry a bit and vhs qualityis ok . i took print screen of my current setting let me know if there are some space gain to be made or if i push too much i wont gain much space for the quality I loose. well Il have to judge by the results but what can I try is more my question

[Alwyn]

If you're after more size-control, don't use "Constant Quality", use Average Bitrate.

If you know the bitrate of the original, just work out how much you want to reduce it by and plug that into the Average Bitrate box. Also try Multipass, although on some occasions here it's not worked.

Example: I have a 448MB MP4 coded at 48Mb/sec. I used 24Mb/sec in Handbrake to recode it and got a file of 185MB. Not exactly half but getting there.

Bitrate control gives you reasonably accurate adjustment of the file size without having to relate CRF to bitrate.

[meeshu]

Re-encode using h.265 (HEVC) encoder. This will produce a smaller mp4 file.

Even better, re-encode using h.266 (VVC) encoder. This will produce a much smaller mp4 file than HEVC and AVC encoders.

However, h.266 encoding is not (yet) widely used. Handbrake doesn't (yet) have the h.266 encoder, but ffmpeg does have the h.266 encoder.

Also, not many players (as yet) can play h.266 encoded mp4 files, but at least MPC-BE and MPC-HC players can play back VVC (h.266) encoded mp4 files.

[Sharc]

Keep in mind that the total file size is given by video+audio+subtitles+overhead. So for example halving the filesize of the video only will always end up in a new file size which is larger than half of the original total size.

[davexnet]

Vidcoder, a clone of Handbrake, allows you to specify a desired output size and does a two pass encode to create it.
Takes the size of the audio into account so hits the target pretty accurately.

[videohelplover]

Hi
Thanks
i played with the constant quality a bit and 37 was still good.

Am I right to think that going to hight number than 37 the quality decreases rapidly for not a lot of space saved? or is it more a linear relation kind of situation?

-also what is still watchable in fps? 10 What other parameters allow to save space apart from resolution limit?

[burt123]

Don't forget about Staxrip & my fave, RipBot264.

[johns0]

When encoding a video it depends on what type it is,with lots of action and movement you can only re-encode a certain amount till you get lots of artifacts,with slow playing videos you can reduce even more than action pictures,just encode a 5 minute video to see if it's ok.

[october262]

Hi
Thanks
i played with the constant quality a bit and 37 was still good.

Am I right to think that going to hight number than 37 the quality decreases rapidly for not a lot of space saved? or is it more a linear relation kind of situation?

-also what is still watchable in fps? 10 What other parameters allow to save space apart from resolution limit?

try using ffmpeg to compress your video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsIIJ83sjpc

[Alwyn]

Comparison between H264 and H265 at CRF 37 using Handbrake:


[Attachment 92439 - Click to enlarge]

[videohelplover]

Hi
Thanks
i played with the constant quality a bit and 37 was still good.

Am I right to think that going to hight number than 37 the quality decreases rapidly for not a lot of space saved? or is it more a linear relation kind of situation?

-also what is still watchable in fps? 10 What other parameters allow to save space apart from resolution limit?

try using ffmpeg to compress your video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsIIJ83sjpc

Hi i watched the youtube. the guy clicks so fast and weirdly do not show the result in video original vas compressed. Is there another youtuber that shows the way buy in more details ?

Aslo , concretely , what is a compressed video ? Can it be read like regular video or is it like a zip video you have to decompress before listening? thanks

it seems too good to be true to shrik 90 pourcent while maintaining quality since it seems like h266 does not even do this. Can you guys explain how realistic is the title of the video?

thanks

[johns0]

A compressed video is just a regular video that's been re-encoded to a smaller size.

[cholla]

I decided to see what I could do with ffmpeg.
I first tried some recommended calculations to determine the finished files size.
Since MiB was what was I wanted to use this is the formula:

Bitrate=Size(MiB) x 8388.608/duration(Seconds)

MB = MiB x 1.048576
MiB = MB ÷ 1.048576

250 ÷ 1.048576 = 238.4185791015625
238.4185791015625 x 8388.608 = 2000000
2000000 ÷ 2100 = 952.3809523809524

The video file ended up some smaller than 250Mib.
It is 187MiB . I do not know why.

This is the ffmpeg code:
If you have the at -aac it is considered the best aac.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -b:v 952.3809523809524k -c:a -aac_at_quality 0 -aac_at_mode vbr -b:a 320k output.mkv

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -b:v 952.3809523809524k -c:a libfdk_aac -b:a 320k output.mkv

If you do not have the libfdk_aac you can use the ffmpeg default.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -b:v 952.3809523809524k -c:a aac -b:a 320k output.mkv

If your audio track is small enough you can use

-c:a copy

for the audio.
The .AVI file I converted from had a PCM audio track that was 263MiB

Here is the finished video:

[Alwyn]

try using ffmpeg to compress your video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsIIJ83sjpc

I'm calling BS on this. That You Tuber is going from 259MB to 7MB. That's 2.7% of the original. There is no way on earth he won't lose quality.

In any case, why go through the pain of that (ridiculously fast) command-line setup when all he's doing is using H265 and a CRF of 28? Handbrake (or similar) will do that for you in a GUI.

it seems too good to be true to shrik 90 pourcent while maintaining quality since it seems like h266 does not even do this. Can you guys explain how realistic is the title of the video?

It's BS IMO.

Before, you said:

i played with the constant quality a bit and 37 was still good.

So, check the file sizes. How much smaller is your CRF37 video? In my CRF 37 test, my file went from 563MB to 70MB (~80% reduction). Obviously, the quality was reduced.

Whether the quality still OK is a subjective matter; only you can decide if CRF 37 is still good enough for you, in which case keep going up with the CRF (or down with the bitrate number) until you get to the point where you can no longer accept the reduced quality.

-also what is still watchable in fps? 10 What other parameters allow to save space apart from resolution limit?

This will drop the overall size but the video will become jerky. Once again, it's up to you to decide if the quality/jerkiness is acceptable or not. In Handbrake, on the video tab, change the FPS to 10 and try it.

[hello_hello]

-also what is still watchable in fps? 10 What other parameters allow to save space apart from resolution limit?

For x264, reducing the frame rate mightn't reduce the file size much for a given CRF value (if at all). My understanding is x264 is frame rate aware and increases or decreases the quality a little according to the frame rate (the logic being, the slower the frame rate the longer each frame displays, and artifacts might be easier to spot). I've de-interlaced PAL DVDs to 25fps in the past, and de-interlaced the same DVDs to 50fps, and after encoding both with x264 the file sizes weren't much different.

I assume x265 is the same, but I don't know for sure as I haven't tested it. I might try it sometime soon.... Encode a video at it's native frame rate, and then again at some other frame rate by slowing it down or speeding it up (not by dropping or adding frames). If x265 adjusts the quality according to the frame rate, the encodes should produce slightly different bitrates for the same CRF value, even though the same number of frames were encoded each time.

Edit: Here's the result of some quick frame rate vs bit rate test encodes. Each time the same 5000 frames were encoded (1080p), only at different frame rates, except for the last one where I dropped every second frame and only encoded half of them. They were all run with the same x265 settings (something similar to the Slow preset) and CRF 21.

25 fps
x265 [info]: frame I:     84, Avg QP:19.43  kb/s: 25911.70
x265 [info]: frame P:   1342, Avg QP:20.81  kb/s: 11177.70
x265 [info]: frame B:   3574, Avg QP:24.76  kb/s: 5237.69
x265 [info]: Weighted P-Frames: Y:2.1% UV:1.5%
encoded 5000 frames in 295.65s (16.91 fps), 7179.31 kb/s, Avg QP:23.61
file size: 171.2 MiB (179,505,268 bytes)

AssumeFPS(24000,1001) - Slowed to 23.976 fps
x265 [info]: frame I:     86, Avg QP:19.22  kb/s: 25028.63
x265 [info]: frame P:   1340, Avg QP:20.67  kb/s: 10925.31
x265 [info]: frame B:   3574, Avg QP:24.58  kb/s: 5153.51
x265 [info]: Weighted P-Frames: Y:2.1% UV:1.5%
encoded 5000 frames in 294.59s (16.97 fps), 7042.20 kb/s, Avg QP:23.44
file size: 175.1 MiB (183,596,563 bytes)

AssumeFPS(12500,1000) - Slowed to 12.5 fps (doubling the duration)
x265 [info]: frame I:     88, Avg QP:16.71  kb/s: 16329.16
x265 [info]: frame P:   1340, Avg QP:18.36  kb/s: 7646.19
x265 [info]: frame B:   3572, Avg QP:21.97  kb/s: 3828.43
x265 [info]: Weighted P-Frames: Y:2.1% UV:1.5%
encoded 5000 frames in 323.96s (15.43 fps), 5071.61 kb/s, Avg QP:20.91
file size: 241.9 MiB (253,602,663 bytes)

SelectEven() - Dropped every second frame for 12.5 fps (same duration as the 25fps source)
x265 [info]: frame I:     69, Avg QP:16.91  kb/s: 15902.04                      
x265 [info]: frame P:    750, Avg QP:18.95  kb/s: 7320.03 
x265 [info]: frame B:   1681, Avg QP:22.03  kb/s: 4391.75 
x265 [info]: Weighted P-Frames: Y:3.2% UV:3.1%
encoded 2500 frames in 179.26s (13.95 fps), 5587.91 kb/s, Avg QP:20.97
file size: 133.2 MiB (139,710,285 bytes)

So losing half the frames did reduce the file size for the same encoder settings, but obviously not by half, and I suspect the reduction may vary according to how much motion there is.

[Alwyn]

For H265, this is what I got (12 minute video):

50fps=63,073MB

25fps=59,597MB

10fps=53,365MB

[videohelplover]

In any case, why go through the pain of that (ridiculously fast) command-line setup when all he's doing is using H265 and a CRF of 28? Handbrake (or similar) will do that for you in a GUI.
.

makes sense . I just dont know enought about those ways to know if h265 and crf28 is all that is affected . ffmpeg could be doing other stuff. Coding i never did so i cant read it correctly.

[hello_hello]

Alwyn,
I tried it myself and added the results to my previous post (in case you don't notice I've edited it).
Cheers.

[videohelplover]

in handbrake it is written Constant quality they on the side RF. is it there way of stating this value is the crf?
So far from the little i undertand, frame per sec dont have big effect on size but crf does Correct?

[hello_hello]

in handbrake it is written Constant quality they on the side RF. is it there way of stating this value is the crf?
So far from the little i undertand, frame per sec dont have big effect on size but crf does Correct?

I don't use Handbrake, but I'm pretty sure it's RF option is the same thing as CRF for the rest of the world. If so, I don't know why they refer to it as RF instead of CRF, but RF = Rate Factor (I assume) and CRF = Constant Rate Factor. I'm pretty sure they're the same thing though.

Yes, RF (or CRF) has a big influence on bitrate and file size as it changes the target quality. The higher the RF value, the lower the quality and the smaller the file size. Keep in mind though, a given RF value will result in a different bitrate for each video as you're specifying the quality, and the bitrate will be whatever it needs to be to achieve that quality. Dependent on how hard the video is to compress (how much noise and motion it contains) the bitrates and file sizes can vary quite a lot from one video to the next.

Alternatively you can specify a bitrate so then you know exactly what it'll be, but when you specify a bitrate instead of an RF value you're controlling the file size so the quality becomes the unknown factor, and it'll probably vary quite a lot from one video to the next if the bitrates are the same.

If you want to specify a bitrate or file size though, try Vidcoder. I think someone suggested it earlier as Handbrake doesn't have a 2 pass encoding option. Handbrake will do Average Bitrate encoding where you specify a bitrate, but it's not the best method. When you use Average Bitrate encoding, the encoder has to keep guessing what the quality needs to be, so it'll constantly adjust the quality as it's encoding in order to (hopefully) output the correct bitrate and file size.

2 pass encoding also lets you specify a bitrate, but the encoder runs a 1st pass to analyses the video so it doesn't need to guess, then it runs a 2nd pass to do the actual encoding. If you want to specify a bitrate/file size, try Vidcoder's 2 pass encoding. It's an alternative GUI for encoding with Handbrake, so it's similar to the Handbrake GUI.