Maximum Compression

Question

Level 3

504 points

Maximum Compression

I have a folder of video files from a project of mine that spans over 40GB. Needless to say its a burden on my hard drive space. But I do need those files from time to time. I was wondering is there ANYTHING out there that can compress this sucker into a significantly reduced size? I just need it on my mac so it doesnt have to be cross OS compatible.
Thanks!

..::Dual 2 GHz PowerMAC G5 + Powerbook G4 17::.. 20" Cinema/17" Studio Display, Mac OS X (10.4.7), RAM: [G5:] 1.5GB [G4:] 1.5GB {Software} Final Cut Studio, iWork/iLife

Posted on Aug 26, 2006 1:03 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 26, 2006 1:17 PM in response to Actingbiz1

Video files are already compressed via the codecs that were used to create them.
They can't be made any smaller unless you export them again using more compression or different codecs.
Get an external Firewire drive for the files and move them to it.

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Answer 2

Actingbiz1 Author

Level 3

504 points

Aug 26, 2006 1:19 PM in response to QuickTimeKirk

I mean compression as in .zip or .sitx or .tar.gz type compressions. Not codec compressions. and they are on an external drive... a 200GB one, with a remaining 10GB...thats why I need to free space up.

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Answer 3

Aug 26, 2006 1:35 PM in response to Actingbiz1

Archiving a .mov (or other QuickTime format) so that it is placed into a .zip, .sitx or .gz file will not decrease the file size of the encoded file.
You can't take data out of a QuickTime file format to reduce its file size. No algorithms exist to break it down or re-assemble it.
The same is true of other compression formats (.jpg and other image formats) except that the folks at Stuffit do seem to have a way with image formats and a new compression technique.

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