Did you know that the world watches a total of 1 billion hours’ worth of videos each day on YouTube? But the size of videos are too big. So making video smaller is most important for all.
With video becoming the primary media used by people for entertainment, you want to store as many as you can in your computer’s hard drive.
But most videos hog your disk space, meaning it will fill your hard drive fast. If you aren’t careful, you’ll end up wasting space when shrinking video files is an option.
How to Make Video Smaller?
Don’t feel disappointed, there are a few workarounds!
With this guide, you’ll learn how to make video files smaller. Read on and find out how to save more disk space and accommodate by making video smaller for your entertainment. Check these out making video smaller.
1. VLC: The Most Popular Open-source Video Player
VLC is one of the most popular open-source video players out there, with over 2 billion downloads across different platforms in the world. That’s why it’s not surprising that it’s widely used for making video smaller.
To do this, download the app and install it for make video smaller.
Look for the Media option on the toolbar and click on it. On the ensuing dropdown menu, click the Convert/Save option. This opens a new window where you’ll see various options.
How to Edit Video Using VLC?
Among these, click on the Add button and pick the video file you want to convert. The best part is that you can pick multiple files for batch make video smaller. Click on Convert/Save and pick the conversion type appropriate under the Profile dropdown.
VLC won’t display the file size estimate, meaning you must guess the conversion level to apply. But it will have recommendations based on the video type you want. For example, if you’re uploading it to YouTube, pick the Video for YouTube HD option.
After finishing, click Save. Click on Browse to specify where the file gets saved. Once done, hit start to make video smaller, which can take a while if the file is large.
2. Shortcut
Shortcut isn’t as popular as VLC since it’s more an editor than a viewer. But it gives lots of options to make video smaller. Once you download and install the program, use the Open File button to open your desired video.
Click on the Export button in the top-right corner to start converting. On the ensuing window, you’ll have a huge options list. For general use, pick the H.264 Baseline profile since the format will decrease your video file size without too much hit in quality.
How to Edit Video Using Shortcut?
You can also adjust the video file size by tweaking either the Resolution or Aspect Ratio options. Regardless, Shortcut won’t adjust the option automatically. What it means is if you adjust the horizontal resolution, you must manually find the proper vertical counterpart to avoid pinching.
Picking a lower-quality output automatically adjusts the resolution. If you pick the HDV (hdv_720_25p) option, the resolution decreases if the original version was in 1080p. But going smaller than preset resolutions means you must manually calculate the right dimensions.
3. QuickTime Player
If you’re a Mac user, Apple’s default media player has some options to make video smaller. Open the app from the Applications folder. After that open your video by clicking File and Open File consecutively.
How to Edit Video Using QuickTime Player?
To make the video smaller, click Export As from the File menu. QuickTime has a smaller range of options compared to other applications. It can only convert videos by resolution, like 4K, 1080p, 720p, and 480p.
If your video has 1080p resolution, pick either 720p or 480p. Export the file after you’re done tweaking. This will reduce the size of your file without lowering its quality too much.
Do you need help on how to convert MOV to MP4? If so read the linked article and learn how to make video smaller.
4. HandBrake
This is an open-source video transcoder enabling you to modify a video’s resolution, bit rate, codec, frame rate, and more. This gives you an option to decrease the size of the video without losing its quality. It supports various video formats like MP4, MOV, WMV, etc.
After downloading and installing HandBrake, launch it and click Source then Open File to pick your desired video. To pick the location and file name of the compressed file, click Browse.
Look at the Output Settings and pick the right file format and select Web Optimized. After that, click the Video tab and pick H.264 (X264) on the Video Codec field. Click Start to making video smaller and wait until it concludes.
5. VideoSmaller
This is a web-based service that allows you to making video smaller by decrease your video size without downloading or paying for anything. Visit their website, upload your desired video, and adjust some options. The first among these is to pick a low compression level.
After that, pick your video scale to find the right balance between quality and file size. Finally, you have the option to remove all sound from the video. This saves a lot of space, but it’s only viable if you’re okay with getting rid of the sound.
6. Clipchamp
Another web-based service, Clipchamp is a paid service that gives more options to making video smaller. It allows you to making video smaller, upload large videos, and process multiple videos at once. Its free tier isn’t that great if you hate video watermarks.
This option is only great if you’re using it often. It has a $9 per month subscription fee, which can be worth your money. But for longer subscriptions, the $99 per year option is your best bet.
7. iMovie
This movie editing tool comes with most Mac devices. With this application, you have the means of compressing your video file. Upon opening it, click the Projects button, pick the big + button, and select Movie from the options.
After that, open the folder containing your desired video file and drag it into the top-left frame. Drag it onto the timeline and click the File menu. Pick the Share option and select File, opening a window where you can pick a lower resolution for your file.
After that, continue with the next steps until the making video smaller conversion concludes.
Learn Making Video Smaller Today!
These are methods on how to make video files smaller. Use them to save more disk space while maintaining quality. Now you can keep more videos with you as you travel, on your phone or tablet!
Did this guide help? If so, keep tabs on our blog for more technology tips.
