Compression Question

ExtremeSleuth

ExtremeSleuth

Veteran
Hey guys. I just exported my film only to find out its 128MBs. What are the best audio/video settings to use, and still get it to the 50MB limit?

Thanks!
 
Ready...here we go:

You may want to sticky this for others, if you find it useful: (Thank you Brandon Rice and Jack Daniel Stanley and Blaine for the info)



Compression setting for exact 50mb limit:

Render an uncompressed AVI or Quicktime file from NLE (800 x whatever your aspect ratio is if you can...SD 16x9 works too).

Import into Quicktime Pro

Click Export:
Make frame size 800 x whatever your ratio is:

Set compressor to h.264

Set bit rate to restrict to 850 or 980 kbits

One pass.

Set Audio to AAC at 48hz 98 kbps Stereo.

There you have it! Good luck!
1213305378.jpg
 
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msconce said:
Set Audio to Apple Losless or AAC at 32hz normal quality Mono.
Click to expand...

32 Hz!! Mono!!!! I know that most people on this forum are much more visually oriented than sonically, but if you have an actual sound guy working on your short that's a bit of a slap in the face isn't it?
 
Brad S. said:
32 Hz!! Mono!!!! I know that most people on this forum are much more visually oriented than sonically, but if you have an actual sound guy working on your short that's a bit of a slap in the face isn't it?
Click to expand...
I'd say so! Where the Heart Lies was H.264 960x408, data rate 986 kbits/s, ACC 48kHz Stereo. That gave us a file size of 45.29 MB.
 
Blaine said:
I'd say so! Where the Heart Lies was H.264 960x408, data rate 986 kbits/s, ACC 48kHz Stereo. That gave us a file size of 45.29 MB.
Click to expand...

How in the world did you do that?????? Was Where the Heart Lies exactly 6 minutes?

I am going to run those setting right now, and I will tell you what size it comes out to.

Compressing now. I hope your settings work. I would love to have that sound quality.
 
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Well, for one thing we used Compressor to do the compression. You can look at any of the films in the last fest (in QT) and check out the inspector to basically see what settings were used.

Where the Heart Lies was 5:58
 
Blaine said:
Well, for one thing we used Compressor to do the compression. You can look at any of the films in the last fest (in QT) and check out the inspector to basically see what settings were used.

Where the Heart Lies was 5:58
Click to expand...

Compressor only works for mac right?
 
I understand the file size limits of the festival and believe me I sympathize. My question is does the audio have to be so restricted? I know this will come across as heresy on this forum, but is having a little less picture quality such a horrible thing? I promise that if the audio is given the time and care that it needs, the story and picture will look better.

I'm not trying to personally attack you, Matt, so I apologize if it comes across that way. It just seems that a lot of filmmakers are so quick to throw away audio components for the sake of the picture.

Also, stereo audio is a lot more than just panning things around. For example, backgrounds that are recorded in stereo lose all sense of space when they are summed to mono. Not to mention that there could be all sorts of phasing issues. A lot of sound design stuff sounds plain wimpy if played in mono. A stereo mix that is summed to mono will generally sound a bit mushy, the dialog may not be as clear, the music may be too dominating, etc. If a mix is conceived to be mono from inception, then I have absolutely no problem with a mono mix. Because this is an online festival and most people will be watching on their computers, maybe mixing in mono is the way to go.

And your file size reference for audio is a bit off. I just emailed a 48khz stereo MP3 at 160kbit/second that has a RT of 6:08.47 and it was 7.2 MB. So audio doesn't have to be that big in file size.

Okay that's the end of my rant.
 
I think you should have as much audio quality as possible. With Blaine's settings, I just found some sweet mb sizes. Check out the grab earlier.
 
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How large is everybody's uncompressed AVI file?

Mine is something like 30gb and for some reason Vegas quits rendering at 3.99gb every time.
 
Vegas always did that to me. Is it because you have a FAT32 drive hooked up or just a vegas thing? My uncompressed was 29 gb, and I pulled a scaled down 800 wide version into quicktime which was (7 ish gb) This is all out of premiere pro CS3


OH, I am running a test as I type on Premiere Pro CS3 tests to h.264
 
Helferc said:
mine is 6:02 anyone have any good compression tips for standard definition in Premiere CS3
Click to expand...

I just tried 80 percent quality h.264, 800 width, 24p, bit rate 900, audio Apple Lossless 48khz The file size was 65mb out of Premiere. Trying again now.
 
msconce said:
Vegas always did that to me. Is it because you have a FAT32 drive hooked up or just a vegas thing? My uncompressed was 29 gb, and I pulled a scaled down 800 wide version into quicktime which was (7 ish gb) This is all out of premiere pro CS3


OH, I am running a test as I type on Premiere Pro CS3 tests to h.264
Click to expand...

I'm just exporting normally from Vegas. Not sure why it cuts at 4gb every time. This is for every single clip.
 
Helferc said:
mine is 6:02 anyone have any good compression tips for standard definition in Premiere CS3
Click to expand...

try this...I am not saying it is the best but it might get you closer to the target out of premiere.

Media encoder in PP CS3
h.264
70 percent quality
720 width
650 bit rate
24p
Apple Lossless audio 44 mono or 32 stereo.

This should get you around 50mb out of premiere. Experiment after those settings to get exactly desired results.
 
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