Compressing video for Youtube

[TheLaserdisc]

I am doing LPs on youtube and one of my series, the episodes are just huge. I record and upload in 720p. I have tried h.264 compression, but it only shaves off so much, not even half the size. I have seen HD files on not so savory sites that are full length movies and are less than 1 gig, and I cant get less than 2 for a video the same length, even with H264.

Can someone recommend software to help deal with my large file sizes so my videos will upload faster?

[hech54]

What do you mean by "LP"?

[manono]

I have seen HD files on not so savory sites that are full length movies and are less than 1 gig

So are your movies after YouTube gets through reencoding them. Is there a point here? I upload full movies to YouTube myself and they start off as x264 with AC3 audio and are in the 1.2-1.7GB range. You can bet they're a whole lot smaller than that after YouTube gets done with them.

If your sizes are too large, then lower the resolution (mine are relatively high quality (CRF=18) 640x480) and forget about 720p. Or lower the quality. But the lower the quality you upload to them, the lower the quality it'll be after they finish with it.

I have tried h.264 compression, but it only shaves off so much, not even half the size.

On the face of it that statement makes no sense at all. Lower the bitrate or raise the CRF (depending on how you encode) and you can make them as small as you like. Of course, they may not look so good. And they'll look worse on YouTube.

[jagabo]

Lower the bitrate or lower the CRF (depending on how you encode) and you can make them as small as you like.

He meant to say "or raise the CRF". Higher CRF --> smaller file and lower quality.

[manono]

Lower the bitrate or lower the CRF (depending on how you encode) and you can make them as small as you like.

He meant to say "or raise the CRF". Higher CRF --> smaller file and lower quality.

Right, thanks. I guess I should change it in the post too.