Video files get bigger and bigger, and nobody is surprised when YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo support 4K videos for everybody to watch and upload.

In addition to that, our cameras and mobile phones shoot more and more videos every day. Now, source video files can be from 10Mb to 10Gb for a minute of 1024p video! The most surprising part, though, is that the quality of the video can be almost the same.

Sounds familiar?

Sooner or later, you need to answer the question: how to have high-quality video and keep it as light as possible?

Here’s where video compression comes into play.

Whether you want to upload your videos online or keep your family video archive intact, learning how to compress a video is vital.

Nowadays, the question of how to compress a video is very important, whether you want to upload your videos online or keep your family video archive and not run out of space.

If you’re new to video editing, many of the existing parameters of video can be very confusing. Moreover, compressing videos can require some extra knowledge about video formats (if you don’t use Wave.video, which is optimized for people without any video editing experience).

In this article, you will find the basic vocabulary as well as everything else you need to know about video compression, video compressors, and 4 free tools to compress your videos for any goal you have.

Let’s start with vocabulary

Here’s a helpful vocabulary that will help you learn your way around the world of video compression.

What is video compression?

Basically, video compression is the process of making your videos smaller by packing and reducing your media data (audio, video, meta-data).

Here are just a few parameters that you can customize in your video compression software to achieve different levels of compression:

• FPS
• video dimension
• aspect ratio
• video bitrate
• audio bitrate

Technically, video compression can be of two types: lossy and lossless.

Lossy video compression

Lossy compression means that a compressed file will contain less data than the original one. It’s the most efficient way to compress your video files to a smaller size.

The downside: it can cause image quality loss. If you keep using this video compression type progressively, you’ll see more loss in quality (visible pixelation, motion distortion, etc.)

Example of a 6-minute video lossy compression with the same codec and container (.h264, .mp4) but with different data bitrate. Notice the visual loss of data but a smaller file size.

Lossless video compression

Just as it says on the tin, it’s a type of video compression that reduces metadata with no loss of data. In the end, you get video files of almost the same weight.

Unlike irreversible lossy compression, when you go with lossless video compression, the original data can be reconstructed from the compressed file.

It’s a good practice to keep the master versionMaster versionUncompressed version of your final video, usually weighs a lot of your video compressed with lossless compression.

When we speak about digital video files or so-called “video formats” that you can find in many articles, they consist of two parts: video data with codec info and a container.

Many containers can be compatible with different video codecs. That’s why sometimes your video file cannot be played on some computers until it has a suitable codec installed.

How to compress a video: best practices

For most cases, we recommend using one of the following popular codecs:

• H.264
• H.265 (HEVC – High-Efficiency Video Coding)
• Apple ProRes 422, 422LT

The full description and comparison of codecs you can find here.

The most popular containers to use:

• .mp4
• .mov (mostly using Apple codecs)
• .mkv (matroska)

Other formats have many limitations, the full list of containers you can find here.

Feel free to use 480p or 720p resolution and variable bitrate of up to 1Mb max for the following use cases: 

• if you need to email a video preview
• if you want to send a video via a messenger
• the idea of the video is more important than the quality

For other purposes it’s always a good idea to try different parameters, compare the quality and the file size to choose the best one for your needs.

Now that we understand different types of video compression, let’s move to the most important part: how to compress video files and which video compressor to choose.

4 free video compressors

Needless to say that almost all editing programs offer video compression functionality. However, I found these 4 video compression tools to be worth using.

Wave.video (online)

Wave.video is an online platform, so you won’t need to download software to your computer. Thanks to Wave.video’s online video editor, you can easily upload your video and change its format, resolution, and quality within a few clicks.

Here’s how to do that:

1. Sign up to Wave.video, upload your video file, and open it in the editor
2. If needed, edit your video (you can add text, music, resize video, etc.) and then head to the publish button on the top right
3. Choose a new resolution, quality, and video format for your video and hit the “Render” button

WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe (for Windows and macOS)

WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe is a great option if you want to compress video files with the best possible quality reserved. The secret is its advanced video compression algorithm.

Here’s how you can compress MP4 and other formatted videos with WinX:

1. Select the video you’d like to compress.
2. Choose an output format with a more efficient codec.
3. Adjust compression settings.
4. Click the RUN button.

Quicktime (for Mac and Windows)

If you are a Mac user, this program is pre-installed on your laptop. It offers only a few video compression options but it gets the results done.

Apple is not sure whether the exact resolution and data rate of an exported movie depends on the original file.

Here’s how you can compress your video in Quicktime:

1. Open a video file you want to compress
2. Go to File > Export As > Option you like
3. If you’ve chosen 1080p, try to tick “Use HEVC” option (it’s a compression using codec .h265) for better results.

Quick explanation of the “Export As” options:

• 4K: QuickTime movie using H.264 or HEVC (H.265), up to 3840 x 2160 resolution.
• 1080p: QuickTime movie using H.264 or HEVC (H.265), up to 1920 x 1080 resolution.
• 720p: QuickTime movie using H.264, up to 1280 x 720 resolution.
• 480p: QuickTime movie using H.264, up to 640 x 480 resolution.

VLC (multiplatform)

VLC is a free player with a built-in compressor inside. Comparing to Quicktime, there are many more video compression options to choose from.

Here’s how you can proceed with this video compressor:

1. Open File > Convert / Stream
2. Open Media
3. Choose profile for compression
4. Choose destination > Go

Handbrake (Mac, Windows, Linux)

Handbrake is cool compressing software from France, open-sourced and free on any platform.

Here’s how to compress a video using Handbrake:

1. Choose the video file you want to compress
2. Choose a compressing preset
3. Click the “Start” button

Good to know:

If you want to upload your videos online and achieve the best quality, please respect the encoding settings of the platform. For instance, here are the specs from YouTube:

• Container: MP4
• Codecs: H.264, AAC for Audio
• Resolution and aspect ratio: 16:9
• Frame rate: Content should be encoded and uploaded in the same frame rate it was recorded. Common frame rates include: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, 60 frames per second
• Bitrate: Variable bitrate

Conclusion

Now you know that compressing video files is not rocket science. Using this knowledge and highlighted video compressors, you can convert video files from one format to another with different compression levels depending on your goals.

What are your favorite formats, codecs, and software for compressing videos? Share in the comments below!