Why is my exported file size so big?

[siteminderUX]

Hi

I am no expert but do understand codecs, bitrates, formats etc. and usually have pretty good results when exporting footage. However, today I was editing a webinar which is basically screenshots and voice over. The source file (.mp4) is about 40MB but when exporting the file size jumps to 3+GB when using .h264 codec and matching the source file.

After many attempts and tests the minimum export size I could get while retaining the source quality was about 600MB which is more then x10 times the imported source.

Why does it happen? it's only a static 10/fps progressive footage.

Thanks

Mic

[John T Smith]

My only GUESS is that your source file is highly compressed and your export is to a codec that does not have the same compression

Buy a dry, flat sponge (highly compressed) and add water to create a less compressed version

[Meg The Dog]

1) Post a screen shot of your Sequence Settings

2) Post a screen shot of the Export Panel Settings Summary, like this sample:

MtD

[siteminderUX]

Thanks guys. here are the screenshots. As you can see the original file (sequence) is a screen grab which is not a typical video file and I couldn't match it's format when exporting. The best I could do was to reduce it's bitrate but even that too almost 30 minutes to render even though most of the screens are static images.

Thanks

[somatica]

Hello! I'm having the same problem! I have a 500MB .mp4 that I brought into Premiere to edit (just a few ripple edits). Export as H.264, HD 1080p 29.97 and the file blows up — estimated file size 6G! The video is only 29 minutes long — it's a webinar recording I just want to post online. My screen looks like the shots above.

[excited_Genie16B8]

File size = bitrate x duration.

If you need a smaller file, you'll need to lower the bitrate or make it shorter (or both).

[somatica]

Thanks, Jim! I'll check that out too.

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

Your source footage is 29.851 fps (screencapture footage?)

Your sequence is 10 fps?

and the final export is 25 fps.

That is a mess.

You should keep everything the same if possible.

What is the purpose of the final export.

Post a screenshot of the mp4 in MediaInfo in treeview here on the forum

[somatica]

Thank you Ann! Much appreciated.

[thenaikan]

I know this is an old thread but I am seeing the same results, namely a 500 mb webinar video turns into a 2 gb file no matter what I set it at in the export panel. The only workaround for this for me is to use another program like Shotcut to import the Premiere Pro exported video and then reduce in size using that app.  It's really unfortunate that a program so expensive as Premeier Pro can't export to a file format that is comparable in file size to the original.

[R Neil Haugen]

If you included the information on the original file from say the Tree view of MediaInfo, and your export settings in Premiere, and the MediaInfo Tree view of that export, we could make actually useful comments. Also ... Premiere can do all sorts of things if you know to go in and actually, like, set the many options so it will do what you want.

With a caveat for this one. Starting with say screen-capture media, which is normally extremely compressed, editing it, and wanting to get back the that extremely condensed version ... that's possible. But ... you of course have to accept potential issues.

Accepting the above, we all need to learn the format/codec settings for various needs, that's a normal part of editing. Including for extreme compression, where H.264/265 are probably what you will need.

And the presets offered are trying to maintain quality. Forget that, you're demanding compress the heck out of it. So you only start with a preset, then you have to go into the settings to take control yourself.

H.265(HEVC) is probably what you want for format, HEVC/265 is more highly compressed and typically better quality than H.264. Use a preset for the frame-size of your export.

Then go down into the Video tab, Level setting rather than say 5.1, drop that to about 4. Now go down to the settings for CBR/VBR, and select VBR (variable bitrate, only 'keeps' the bits per frame needed) ... and drop to say 12 max for 1920x1080, and maybe 20 max for UHD.

You will have dramatically lowered file sizes.

Neil

[thenaikan]

So you're saying that GoToWebinar has a more advanced video compression method than the world's leading video editing software?  If Premiere cannot, at the very least, match what GTW uses for compression then there is no point in using it.

GTW can get a 1080p video running at 30fps literally 4 to 6 times smaller than Premiere with no perceptible loss of quality.

I followed several different YT/Adobe videos on how to compress the crap out of videos for file size and not one single method got even close to what GTW can do.  Like I said, I couldn't get my 500mb webinar any smaller than 2gb - I then import it into Shortcut and that gets it down to 900mb.

Premiere is perfect for people that don't care about file size, but for us part-time/occasional editors it's not a viable option.

[R Neil Haugen]

So you're saying that GoToWebinar has a more advanced video compression method than the world's leading video editing software? If Premiere cannot, at the very least, match what GTW uses for compression then there is no point in using it.

No, I didn't say anything remotely resembling the above. Plus ... you didn't answer a single question, so it's pretty hard to provide any direct answer.

What's the compression schema used in GTW? And Shortcut?

Neil

[jonh29648731]

I have this very same problem and was following your tips above.

My original file was 116.5 MB. The smallest I was able to get it using H.264 and reducing the size was 1.1 GB. Used your tips about switching to HEVC/265 and lowering the level, VBR, etc. Got it down to 209.5 MB at full size (1920x1080), which is a whole lot better than over a Gig with a smaller viewing area.

Thanks for the help!

[thenaikan]

My orig file was 500mb and I can't it get it any smaller than 1.43gb using the same method.

[ChrisLeicester]

I'm having exactly the same problem. I recorded a webinar using Zoom, which created an 85Mb MP4 file. It's basically a Powerpoint presentation of about 70 minutes, with a voiceover. When I chose H.264 and high bitrate, the exported file was over 5Gb. I then tried again, this time selecting MPEG4 and medium bitrate - this time, the file was smaller than the original but the video was so blurry it was unusable. I notice that the Export Settings window actually gives a preview of what the output will look like, and even the higher 3GPP 352x288 H.263 gives results that are too blurry, even though the file size is larger than the original.

The Zoom MP4 is pretty good, and not at all blurry, and the voice quality is fine. All I'm trying to is trim out the beginning and ending of the Zoom MP4, but Adobe Premier doesn't seem to be able to do that and yield a file of a comparible size. This is very disappointing - surely if Zoom are able to produce MP4s of decent quality and a sensible size, Adobe are capable of the same?

Can anyone recommend a program that will do the trick, please?

[HeyTay]

I had some luck with my own webinar editing project today. I can't guarantee this will work for you, but maybe it is worth a try. Even though Premiere estimated that the size would be huge, it only exported a little bit bigger than the original video. The original video was 32mb and the new export was 36mb.

These are the only settings that I changed for export.

Under Export Settings

Format: H.264

Preset: Custom

Under Video Bit Rate Settings

Bitrate Encoding: VBR 2 Pass

Target Bitrate [Mbps]: 8

Max Bitrate [Mbps]: 50

[R Neil Haugen]

Chris,

Using a frame size of 352x688 is so small it wouldn't be sharp on most phones!

Use the same frame-size as the sequence ... and try the H.265 settings, adjusting things in the Video tab and see what you get.

Neil

[ChrisLeicester]

Thanks, Neil -

That makes sense, and explains it! However, nothing I did got playing with other settings got it down below 2Gb. I tried a utility from BeeCut (which got it down to about 130Mb on my trial version) but which isn't cheap (and having shelled out for Adobe Creative Cloud, I didn't fancy having to buy yet more software). In the end, I used Prism from NCH Software, which got it down to 182Mb - bigger than BeeCut, but free.

In future, I think I'll just have to remember to press the "record" button at exactly the right time on Zoom so I don't need to trim the video. I am surprised that Zoom seems to be able to produce good-quality MP4s that are low in size, and yet Adobe (who are a very well-established company in this field) can't come close.

[R Neil Haugen]

Chris,

Try starting with the low-adaptive bitate.

Then go down into the Video tab and set to VBR 1-Pass, and maybe target about 8.

Next click the Advanced Settings "Key frame distance" and set to 90.

See what your export is.

Neil

[ChrisLeicester]

Thanks, Neil -

That certainly helped! I wasn't sure what you meant by low adaptive bitrate to start with, but then realised that appears if I select H.264 rather than MPEG4. Doing what you suggested got it down to 500Mb, which is an improvement (but still six times bigger than the original before I trimmed it!) - but I'll keep playing around and see if I can make it more manageable.

Thanks again for your help.

Chris.

[R Neil Haugen]

You also need to understand that the specialized camera chip that mangles the camera data to compress it that highly ... is a very specialized chip. It is hardware-built to do a very set bit of compression knowing exactly what the incoming data will be.

And I do mean, mangles the data. That data has most of it's bits tossed ... you have at best a quarter of the color data that the camera captured in the file the camera writes to the card.

If you try to recompress to that size, you are throwing out more data.

Do this once, you might not notice.

Do it again, you've got ... schlock.

Neil

[ChrisLeicester]

I take the point, but BeeCut and Prism did a reasonable job and produced smaller files than Adobe. I suppose what I don't understand is that all I want to do is trim an mp4 so that it results in a subset of the current file, and it seems counterintuitive that a file that just has bits snipped out should be so much bigger than the original.

[R Neil Haugen]

Some programs can just 'clip' segements from a long-GOP file, so there's no re-encoding. Of course ... you can mostly only do that at the i-frame points ... which can be up to 30 or more frames away from any point you might set as your in/out points.

Premiere creates a new file ... completely different process.

Neil

[HeyTay]

Can you name a free or affordable program that simply cuts the original video so we don't get that recompression from Adobe Premier? It's a little irritating to have such huge exports with simple cut edits for webinars haha