Whats a good video converter to downsize video sizes

[openbox1980]

I lots lots of videos on the hard drive that I would love to downsize in size to get more storage.
I am trying to find a good one that can downsize the size but wont regrade the video quality much.

I will try both paid and free versions, I dont mind.

 

[Regeneration]

There is no global software for such thing. Each video needs to be re-encoded separately according to container, resolution, color mode, and FPS.

You can try using XMedia Recode with the HEVC codec. I think you should just get 2-4TB HDD for extra storage for cheap.

 

[Arkz]

AviDemux.

 

[sam_86314]

Handbrake is the standard FOSS solution. Transcode them to H265.

 

[Ociya Syndor]

Handbrake is the standard FOSS solution. Transcode them to H265.

yep

 

[lexluthermiester]

I lots lots of videos on the hard drive that I would love to downsize in size to get more storage.
I am trying to find a good one that can downsize the size but wont regrade the video quality much.

I will try both paid and free versions, I dont mind.

You can try using XMedia Recode with the HEVC codec.

This. It's an excellent converter. Lots of fine-grained options. It benefits from NVidia GPU's and lots of fast CPU cores. IF you have a 6core CPU and a at least a GTX960, It'll encode video's in a snappy fashion.

@openbox1980
I use XMediaRecode frequently and can walk you through how to get the best results from it.

Another good one is FormatFactory. It's easy to use and has a lot of good features too!

 

[sam_86314]

This. It's an excellent converter. Lots of fine-grained options. It benefits from NVidia GPU's and lots of fast CPU cores. IF you have a 6core CPU and a at least a GTX960, It'll encode video's in a snappy fashion.

I'll also note that Handbrake supports GPU-accelerated transcoding on AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel GPUs.

 

[openbox1980]

Handbrake is the standard FOSS solution. Transcode them to H265.

x264 or x265

 

[sam_86314]

x264 or x265

x265 for better file sizes.

 

[mclaren85]

While I agree the suggestions above, I always use prism video converter from nch

 

[openbox1980]

x265 for better file sizes.

of crap, i started with x264. Restarting in 265.

 

[lexluthermiester]

x264 or x265

X264 for quality.
X265 for better compression and smaller file sizes.

 

[sam_86314]

Here's an old video that compares H.264 and H.265 in terms of quality and file sizes.

This was the video that sold me on using H.265 for my YouTube videos.

 

[Shou Miko]

If you want to be advanced and get more than what the gui version of Handbrake can do, try the cli version.

I tested a bit with x265, aac audio for low size file but still fine quality.

I will try to post med command line when I get home from work in about 6 and a half hours if anyone wants the command line.

 

[DavidS]

I lots lots of videos on the hard drive that I would love to downsize in size to get more storage.
I am trying to find a good one that can downsize the size but wont regrade the video quality much.

I will try both paid and free versions, I dont mind.

There is no such thing as a video compressor because almost all common video formats already use highly compressed codecs such as H264, which is commonly used in MP4 and MKVs.
The only way to shrink a video file is to reduce its quality or remove some extra tracks, such as audio in other languages, if it contains them.
You can reduce the resolution to 720p, but first I recommend installing MediaInfo software to see the actual Bitrate of your video, then divide it by 2 in a calculator and use it as the constant Bitrate in any encoder software.
I say divide Bitrate by 2 because if you get half the resolution (720p instead of 1080p), you'll only need half the video Bitrate. This way, you can reduce the size of the file significantly.
Just keep an eye out for KBs or MBs in Bitrate; if Bitrate is in MB but your encoder software only accepts KB, you'll need to convert MB to KB before dividing.
As encoder software, I recommend Avidemux or Handbrake, but if you want something easier to use, Format Factory is also an option, but be aware that it includes bundles that you must be careful not to agree to install.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The only way to shrink a video file is to reduce its quality or remove some extra tracks, such as audio in other languages, if it contains them.

Nonsense. The codec used is absolutely one of the ways to reduce file size as some codecs are more efficient than others and some can compress better than others. On that point you are incorrect. Quality is a somewhat subjective perspective.

 

[Arkz]

There is no such thing as a video compressor because almost all common video formats already use highly compressed codecs such as H264, which is commonly used in MP4 and MKVs.
The only way to shrink a video file is to reduce its quality or remove some extra tracks, such as audio in other languages, if it contains them.
You can reduce the resolution to 720p, but first I recommend installing MediaInfo software to see the actual Bitrate of your video, then divide it by 2 in a calculator and use it as the constant Bitrate in any encoder software.
I say divide Bitrate by 2 because if you get half the resolution (720p instead of 1080p), you'll only need half the video Bitrate. This way, you can reduce the size of the file significantly.
Just keep an eye out for KBs or MBs in Bitrate; if Bitrate is in MB but your encoder software only accepts KB, you'll need to convert MB to KB before dividing.
As encoder software, I recommend Avidemux or Handbrake, but if you want something easier to use, Format Factory is also an option, but be aware that it includes bundles that you must be careful not to agree to install.

Something encoded in X264/H264 AVC could be re-encoded into X265/H265 HEVC at about half the bitrate and still look about the same.

 

[Shou Miko]

Something encoded in X264/H264 AVC could be re-encoded into X265/H265 HEVC at about half the bitrate and still look about the same.

That's true so and so said.

Honestly if you aiming at lets say 1080p or 4K even when doing a re-encode and want smaller size X265 does a good job at low bitrate and still keep the quality fine.

I know that from even the HDR content I have.

 

[shovenose]

When I had a huge Plex server converting or replacing my h264 files to h265 saved me a ton of space. Like HALF. And quality was comparable IMO.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Something encoded in X264/H264 AVC could be re-encoded into X265/H265 HEVC at about half the bitrate and still look about the same.

That's true so and so said.

No, they're right. It's not quite half, but it's not far from half. File size can be reduced by 40%ish if done right without any noticeable loss in image quality

 

[Shou Miko]

No, they're right. It's not quite half, but it's not far from half. File size can be reduced by 40%ish if done right without any noticeable loss in image quality

A lot of my 4K HDR material is down to 5-8GB normally there are some bigger then that but than the source is also bigger than 25GB give or take.

 

[docnorth]

You could try any video converter, that’s the name of the application. It’s free, but it stresses the CPU more than cinebench.

 

[lexluthermiester]

You could try any video converter, that’s the name of the application. It’s free, but it stresses the CPU more than cinebench.

That's one is OK. It does not have many fine-grained controls and option like other converters do though. But if you want an easy to use and understand experience Any Video Converter is useful.

 

[defaultluser]

X264 for quality.
X265 for better compression and smaller file sizes.

don't forget .mkvs with stereo down-mix for better compatibility with various TV playback options

And further, just use the automatic target quality level to choose the best bit-rates ( i use 19 or 20 for most movies). Also, for animation on bluray , you can likely drop the resolutions down to 720p.

 

[Snotspat]

I don't know what kind of videos you're talking about.

If its the kind you kind find via torrents, it would be best to redownload them in a better format. x265/hevc is the best.

You can re-encode your videofiles with Handbrake to x265, and save some space as the codec uses a more efficient method. However, it'll likely be worse than the source file in quality.

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The reason I am replying is because I was playing with something else called Topaz Labs video enhance AI ( topazlabs.com ). What it claims to do is to use AI to enhance the quality of videos, for example upscaling, or stabilizing an image.

I played a bit with it myself, in order to produce 4k videos out of 1080p source (for F1 streams). Which it well, did. Its good at recognising jagged edges and the sort.

I figured that if you're going from x264 to x265, perhaps you could use the build in AI to lessen the loss of quality. Or perhaps, even improve it. On the latter, I don't know. Obviously it can improve home videos with obvious problems, like lack of stabilization, but whether it can produce a better result than just Handbrake when doing a straight conversion is a good question.

Its free to try, but adds a visible watermark to every thing. So you can use it for test purposes without paying, but you'll have to purchase it for anything serious.

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I really wonder, with harddrives being extremely cheap. Why don't you just purchase more storage?

Unless it's homevideos, then the only sensible thing seems to be to just purchase more storage, or redownload the videos in the format you want.