Video Compression

[sarahflhsmv]

Hello everyone! I am trying to compress an MP4 just a little bit more.  So far the settings I'm using when prepring for publish in Media Enoder are as follows:

Change Frame size to 1280x720 (then set video to frame size)

Export tab:

For Preset, choose High Quality 720p HD

Format, choose H.264

Change Bitrate setting to 2

If I try any lower settings the video qulity is too low. Is there anything else I can do? 

[mattchristensen]

@sarahflhsmv Yes, you can try using VBR 2-pass. This will take longer to encode, but can sometimes squeeze more visual quality into the lower bitrate.

[sarahflhsmv]

I'm not familiry with using VBR 2-Pass.  Do you have any more instructions? And I already have the bitrate at 2.  So would that mean to lower it to 1? I'm not sure how much that will reduce the file size. 

[mattchristensen]

The option I'm describing is just above the bitrate setting:

CBR: constant bitrate, which means every second of your video will use the same number of bits, no matter if the action in the scene requires more or less

VBR, 1 pass: this is the default and means the encoder will use the target bitrate you set, but may use a little more or less depending on the action in the scene

VRB, 2 pass: this option takes longer because the encoder "watches" through your video first to see where the complex parts are that require more bits and where the less complex parts are that require less. Then on the second pass through it will use what it saw in the first pass so it is more efficiently distributing the bits. At lower bitrates this can result in improvements to the visual quality compared to VBR 1 pass.