AmberNoTech

Q: How to make big .mov file smaller???

How can I convert a 113GB .mov file into a less than 500MB .mov file without losing much quality? What application is best? And what is the easiest way to do it? I have final cut 7.0.3 but I am a technophobe...

PowerMac

Posted on Oct 22, 2012 12:38 PM

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Q: How to make big .mov file smaller???

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  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Oct 22, 2012 1:05 PM in response to AmberNoTech
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    Oct 22, 2012 1:05 PM in response to AmberNoTech

    AmberNoTech wrote:

     

    How can I convert a 113GB .mov file into a less than 500MB .mov file without losing much quality?

     

    That's a lot of compression (226:1). And the short answer is you can, but can't, without losing a lot of quality.

     

    What is the length and format of your movie…frame size, frame rate, and codec?

     

    Russ

  • by AmberNoTech,

    AmberNoTech AmberNoTech Oct 22, 2012 1:09 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 22, 2012 1:09 PM in response to Russ H

    I know it's a big step down in quality, that's ok.. How do I find what the frame size, rate and codec are?? I'm terrible at technical stuff..

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Oct 22, 2012 1:14 PM in response to AmberNoTech
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    Oct 22, 2012 1:14 PM in response to AmberNoTech

    Open it in Quick Time Player and hit command i. If you take a screen shot (command shft 4) of the inspector window and post it, that would be best.

     

    Russ

  • by AmberNoTech,

    AmberNoTech AmberNoTech Oct 22, 2012 1:22 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 22, 2012 1:22 PM in response to Russ H

    Screen Shot 2012-10-22 at 1.20.32 PM.png

  • by Shane Ross,

    Shane Ross Shane Ross Oct 22, 2012 1:41 PM in response to AmberNoTech
    Level 8 (42,999 points)
    Oct 22, 2012 1:41 PM in response to AmberNoTech

    Uh oh.  You named it FINAL. Now you've cursed yourself.  Changes will come for you like a hoard of zombies!

  • by Russ H,Helpful

    Russ H Russ H Oct 22, 2012 2:31 PM in response to AmberNoTech
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    Oct 22, 2012 2:31 PM in response to AmberNoTech

    Interesting; you have more leeway for this than I would have guessed without seeing your file properties. Your Pro Res HQ, small frame size means you can lose a lot of visual information without taking a perceptual quality hit. (Now if you need to blow it up very much, be prepared to see a bit.)

     

    If you're not familiar with Compressor, take a bit of time to read the first two chapters in the user manual. It's well written and gives a clear introduction to Compressor's terms and workflow.

     

    You'll want to make an h.264 file. In Compressor, go to the Settings window>Format> Quick Time category> H.264  and drag that preset to the job in the Batch window. Drag your Pro Res HQ file to the source well (which is empty in this screen shot).

     

    Screen shot 2012-10-22 at 5.21.19 PM.png

    In the Inspector, open the encoder click on the Settings and next to Video.

     

    Screen shot 2012-10-22 at 5.21.40 PM.png

    In the Compression dialogue box enter 1000 kbps.

     

    Screen shot 2012-10-22 at 5.22.09 PM.png

    If my math is decent, you should get a file <500 GB and it should look pretty good. Adjust the bit rate as necessary.

     

    Russ

  • by AmberNoTech,

    AmberNoTech AmberNoTech Oct 24, 2012 1:32 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 24, 2012 1:32 PM in response to Russ H

    Great, thank you so much!!

  • by El flaco 2,

    El flaco 2 El flaco 2 Sep 7, 2016 7:06 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    Sep 7, 2016 7:06 PM in response to Russ H

    Excuse me can you please make a video of this showing us how to install this "compressor" application you're talking about? I do a gaming channel and the files are way to big to upload. Please help me out!

  • by Shane Ross,

    Shane Ross Shane Ross Sep 8, 2016 10:03 AM in response to El flaco 2
    Level 8 (42,999 points)
    Sep 8, 2016 10:03 AM in response to El flaco 2

    Compressor ships with FCP 7. It's on the installer. Run the installer and you'll see it. If your OS version is later than 10.9, then Compressor 3.5, the one that ships with FCP 7, will no longer function...you'll have to buy the stand-alone Compressor 4. And that is in the App Store.