Best practices for rendering large files...?

[#1]

Just got done editing an hour of HD 4 (about 9 Gs) into 45 minutes. I now want to export so—best practices? Looks like Premiere is telling me the exported file (to be uploaded to YouTube) is gonna be around 3 Gs. Any was to compress it more w/out losing quality? And shorten the time it takes to export? Thanks for your expertise!

[#2]

Just got done editing an hour of HD 4 (about 9 Gs) into 45 minutes. I now want to export so—best practices? Looks like Premiere is telling me the exported file (to be uploaded to YouTube) is gonna be around 3 Gs. Any was to compress it more w/out losing quality? And shorten the time it takes to export? Thanks for your expertise!

[#3]

Lower the bitrate.

[#4]

I'm new to this program. Where / & how would I do this?

[#5]

HandBrake is a free program that reduces file size without sacrificing quality.

[#6]

Actually, regardless of which application you use, appropriate encoding settings are what yield high quality.

[#7]

There are bitrate controls (quality versus file size) whether you're in Handbrake, Premiere, or many other transcoding softwares.

[#8]

The YouTube presets for H264 are set based on what YouTube recommends.  

Use the one the best matches your Sequence Frame Size.

Premiere Pro > Export Media > H264 Format > YouTube presets