huge file size when export

[DESE900]

Ok so i use Premiere CS3 and when I want to export my video (one single audio track and one image as 'video', total of 5 - 6 minutes) i get a file size of 1.26 GB (!). The imported files have a total size of lower than 10MB. What I do is i export -> movie and choose AVI format. I've tried PAL & NTSC but there is only a slight difference in file size. How is it possible that this exported movie is so big?

[able123]

when you choose avi format you will see something called " settings" ...when you open that up what do you have selected for your settings ??

when you take a still image which is one little image...with a low byte count....and make it a "video" you are duplicating that little image many times...for example, at 30 frames per second, you are making thirty of those little images for every one second of video time.

If you then multiply 30 of those images (per second) by the total amount of time of the video you get a WAY bigger file size than what you put on the timeline....know what I mean ??

by using some "settings" on the avi file you may be able to "compress" the video a bit more than you currently are...but you will never get the same size file because you are making many frames ( still images) per second and all that adds up to a bigger file

[Jim_Simon]

How is it possible that this exported movie is so big?

The two factors which determine file size are program duration and bitrate.  The longer your program is, the larger the file will be.  That part is often not adjustable.

But the bitrate is.  Choosing Uncompressed will have the highest bitrate possible.  Choosing an MPEG variant (MPEG1, 2 or H.264) will allow you to lower the bitrate (and hence create a smaller file) while still achieving acceptable quality.

Check your export settings, and adjust as required.

[able123]

That's certainly true , that saving as an avi file will be larger than saving as a more compressed video.

The fact that you have one audio track and one still image ( which is small in byte count )...and what was stated earlier about the making of many "frames per second" from that one still image is in fact the reason you are seeing such a large size discrepancy. What Jim is saying about compression and bitrate is in this case a little bit of fine tuning with regard to the differences between types of compression and in general to your question has no real bearing on this in terms of the underlying reasons for such a BIG difference in your file size.

[Stan Jones]

I've never made a video using a single still, so I never thought about this:

See "Optimize Stills or Expand Stills" here:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/mediaencoder/cs/using/WS81733643-B4A6-45c5-ABD7-D5A90EB388FC.html

I wonder if this would reduce file size on such an avi export?

You couldn't apply any effects, etc.

[the_wine_snob]

Stanley,

IIRC, Optimize Stills was for use with AJA cards (or similar).

Hunt

[Stan Jones]

It's a standard export option.

Couldn't resist; did a quick test in CS4.  The option appears as an "Expand Stills" button in DV AVI export.  The default, however, appears to be not to expand.

"Expand Stills" checked: file size (a 58 second bit in a NTSC DV sequence with the still and 48kHz audio) is 11 Meg.  Not checked (i.e. Optimize Stills): 215 Meg.

[Jim_Simon]

Optimize Stills was for use with AJA cards (or similar).

It believe it was actually designed for use with Encore.  When one frame is identical to the previous, rather than encoding that second (or successive) frame, PP inserts a flag telling Encore that the following X number of frames are identical.  Encore can expand that to see a full length program.  Many non-Adobe programs, however, have had trouble with the flag, which is why the general recommendation to uncheck Optimize Stills arose.  External players and encoders would often miss the flag and play a shortened version of the program.

[the_wine_snob]

Thank you for the correction. Shows that my ability to "recall," is deficient...

To the OP - good luck,

Hunt

[DESE900]

Thanks all for posting.

My project settings have 'Optimize stills' checked on default under the Video Rendering tab.

File -> Export movie -> Settings:

File type: Microsoft DV Avi

Compressor: DV NTSC

30 fps

Aspect Ratio D1/DV NTSC 0.9, Recompress checked

Optimize stills checked

Audio SR : 44100 hz

What else could it be?

[Stan Jones]

Deselect optimize stills and try again.

[able123]

excellent going Stan !  60 meg will be much better than 1.2 gig, but still more than 10meg hehe...the question of 'WHY" has certainly been addressed, and also the followup of "now what ? "

ps  which now leads to ( maybe ) Jim's suggestion re: other formats to export

[ChrisInch]

Wow Stan. Thank you very much! This little post about de-selecting "Optimize Stills" took my rendering time down from 14+ hours to under 10 minutes. I had to abandon the 4 minute video render at about 3% when it was already taking up more than 5GB!! De-selecting "Optimize Stills" brought it to 500Mb.

[paulq73947763]

Uhhhh...... mines a little bit bigger than yours 92 GB when it's done.....