MemoryProject

Q: Does Final Cut Pro have good compressing capabilities?

Hi There,

 

I'm working with a non-profit organization in a capacity that involves making several small videos (10 minutes in length) that are largely the same, but each have a personalized intro for the specific audience. I need to make about 140 of these videos. In doing so I already have the 140 personalized intros created in imovie and then made the other, longer, portion of the video in imovie as well. However when I stitch the two clips together the result is a video file in the 800MB size range. We are hoping for something a lot smaller, perhaps 200-300MB. What are our best options for compressing these files without sacrificing any quality? Basically we're looking for a type of software similar to whatever Vimeo uses...Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Final Cut Pro X, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Mar 16, 2016 9:09 AM

Close

Q: Does Final Cut Pro have good compressing capabilities?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Mar 16, 2016 9:36 AM in response to MemoryProject
    Level 7 (21,770 points)
    Quicktime
    Mar 16, 2016 9:36 AM in response to MemoryProject

    FCP X has a very good variety of compression options.

     

    Your target size, however, is fairly aggressive and may require involvement of a compression application – depending on your video frame size and rate.

     

    To get to a 200 MB size for 10 minutes requires compression with a data rate of about 2.5 Mb per second. That may produce acceptable quality at 540 and 720 sizes in H.264, but is probably stretching it too far for 1080. However, FCP's default data rates are somewhat higher than that – around 7 Mb per second for 720P.


    If you absolutely need to meet those targets, I suggest that you invest $50 in Compressor, which can output files with that rate. Alternatively, try MPEG Streamclip, which is free. Both apps can batch process.

     

    Good luck.

     

    Russ

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Mar 16, 2016 9:38 AM in response to MemoryProject
    Level 6 (18,658 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 16, 2016 9:38 AM in response to MemoryProject

    iMovie should do everything you need.

     

    When you Share you can elect to have it encoded for Vimeo/YouTube and have it automatically uploaded.

     

    If you prefer to do it manually (much better!) you can select the output resolution and also the amount of compression.

     

    The Medium and Low settings should use a lower bit rate resulting in smaller file sizes.

     

    Note that there will be an inevitable but hopefully, small reduction in quality.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 16.32.26.png

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Mar 16, 2016 9:54 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 6 (18,658 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 16, 2016 9:54 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    With the resolution set to 1280x720 and the quality set to Low you should get a file size of around 300MB for a ten minute movie.

     

    Reducing the resolution to 960x540 will give a 200MB file.

     

    Using 854x480 will give around 150MB. This size should be perfectly acceptable.

     

    It won't take you long to test each setting and see whether they meet your needs or not.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 16.51.12.png

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Mar 16, 2016 11:48 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 6 (18,658 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 16, 2016 11:48 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    I forgot to mention that you can select any bit rate you wish by choosing the Custom Quality option and moving the slider.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 18.43.25.png