HandBrake's default settings and most of the official Presets use a constant quality encoding method. This makes your new video look consistent from start to finish. Always use constant quality unless you have a specific reason not to.
You can use the default setting for the Preset you selected, or adjust the quality control higher or lower depending on your tastes. Increasing quality will make your new video take up more space on your computer or playback device, whereas reducing quality will typically make your new video take up less space.
Using the quality control
Load your video file. A file browser window should have automatically opened for you to select your source video file (or DVD). If not, click the Open Source button. Select the file.
Most of HandBrake's official Presets use the x264 or x265 video encoders with a Constant Rate Factor, sometimes abbreviated CRF or simply RF. A lower RF number produces higher quality video, and a higher RF number produces lower quality video.
Compressing your video Click Open Source and choose a file to compress with Handbrake. Set the Format to MP4. Set the Dimensions (typically 1920x1080). After compression the file size was down to 4.40 MB. The compressed video format is MP4 as it is the most supported video format on the web. Depending on your original video file, following the instructions in the tutorial, the file size may still be reduced if your video file is already MP4 format. Download and install Handbrake if you do not. Compressing Files File compression is used to reduce the file size of one or more files. Usually the file is reduced by at least 25%. Choosing a Compression Program edTPA and LiveText recommend using Handbrake to compress video files. HandBrake is available for both the PC and the Mac. HandBrake can be downloaded at. HandBrake is a free and open-source transcoder for digital video files, originally developed in 2003 by Eric Petit to make ripping a film from a DVD to a data storage device easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions. In this guide, we'll have a look at how we can use HandBrake to compress video files having a large size.
You can think of the RF control in HandBrake as a quality control. To increase video quality, adjust the control toward the right. To reduce video quality, adjust the control toward the left.
Begin by making small adjustments. Plus or minus 1-2 RF is usually noticeable.
Recommended quality settings
Recommended settings for x264 and x265 encoders:
- RF 18-22 for 480p/576p Standard Definition1
- RF 19-23 for 720p High Definition2
- RF 20-24 for 1080p Full High Definition3
- RF 22-28 for 2160p 4K Ultra High Definition4
Raising quality minus 1-2 RF may produce better results when encoding animated Sources (anime, cartoons). Lower quality settings may be used to produce smaller files. Drastically lower settings may show significant loss of detail.
Using higher than recommended quality settings can lead to extremely large files that may not be compatible with your devices. When in doubt, stick to the recommended range or use the default setting for the Preset you selected.
Display size and viewing distance
Imperfections tend to be more noticeable at larger display sizes and closer viewing distances. This is especially true for lower resolution videos (less than 720p), which are typically scaled or 'blown up' to fill your display, magnifying even minor imperfections in quality.
You may wish to slightly increase quality for viewing on larger displays (50 inches / 125 cm diagonal or greater), or where viewing from closer than average distances5. Reduced quality may be acceptable for viewing on smaller screens or where storage space is limited, e.g. mobile devices.
Next steps
SD video has a resolution of 720x480 or fewer pixels (720x576 for PAL). DVDs, small web videos, and most analog sources are SD.↩
720p HD video has a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. With three times the resolution of SD, and about half that of 1080p HD, 720p HD is commonly used by consumer video cameras, web videos, and broadcast TV sports.↩
1080p HD video has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels—twice the resolution of 720p and six times the resolution of 480p. 1080p HD video is commonly used by mobile phones and tablets, consumer and professional video cameras, and Blu-ray.↩
2160p UHD video has a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels and is four times the resolution of 1080p. 4K video is used by high-end mobile phones and tablets, consumer and professional video cameras, and 4K Blu-ray.↩
Learn more about optimum viewing distances for high definition TV displays.↩
Large video files are slow to upload and download. How to run app from xcode on iphone. One of the most popular tools that can significantly shrink the file size without losing quality is Handbrake. It is popular due to three reasons:
- It can convert video from nearly any format, e.g. .wmv – Windows Media Video File, .avi – Audio Video Interleave File, .m4v, .mov, etc.
- It is free and Open Source
- It works on Windows, Mac and Linux
This tutorial illustrates how to compress a video file for the web on a Windows machine. The sample file I used to compress was called WL-Video.wmv and its original size was 39.0 MB. After compression the file size was down to 4.40 MB. The compressed video format is MP4 as it is the most supported video format on the web. Depending on your original video file, following the instructions in the tutorial, the file size may still be reduced if your video file is already MP4 format.
Download and install Handbrake if you do not have it
- Download Handbrake at http://www.handbrake.fr
- Double click the downloaded file to install Handbrake by following the instructions on screen.
You can think of the RF control in HandBrake as a quality control. To increase video quality, adjust the control toward the right. To reduce video quality, adjust the control toward the left.
Begin by making small adjustments. Plus or minus 1-2 RF is usually noticeable.
Recommended quality settings
Recommended settings for x264 and x265 encoders:
- RF 18-22 for 480p/576p Standard Definition1
- RF 19-23 for 720p High Definition2
- RF 20-24 for 1080p Full High Definition3
- RF 22-28 for 2160p 4K Ultra High Definition4
Raising quality minus 1-2 RF may produce better results when encoding animated Sources (anime, cartoons). Lower quality settings may be used to produce smaller files. Drastically lower settings may show significant loss of detail.
Using higher than recommended quality settings can lead to extremely large files that may not be compatible with your devices. When in doubt, stick to the recommended range or use the default setting for the Preset you selected.
Display size and viewing distance
Imperfections tend to be more noticeable at larger display sizes and closer viewing distances. This is especially true for lower resolution videos (less than 720p), which are typically scaled or 'blown up' to fill your display, magnifying even minor imperfections in quality.
You may wish to slightly increase quality for viewing on larger displays (50 inches / 125 cm diagonal or greater), or where viewing from closer than average distances5. Reduced quality may be acceptable for viewing on smaller screens or where storage space is limited, e.g. mobile devices.
Next steps
SD video has a resolution of 720x480 or fewer pixels (720x576 for PAL). DVDs, small web videos, and most analog sources are SD.↩
720p HD video has a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. With three times the resolution of SD, and about half that of 1080p HD, 720p HD is commonly used by consumer video cameras, web videos, and broadcast TV sports.↩
1080p HD video has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels—twice the resolution of 720p and six times the resolution of 480p. 1080p HD video is commonly used by mobile phones and tablets, consumer and professional video cameras, and Blu-ray.↩
2160p UHD video has a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels and is four times the resolution of 1080p. 4K video is used by high-end mobile phones and tablets, consumer and professional video cameras, and 4K Blu-ray.↩
Learn more about optimum viewing distances for high definition TV displays.↩
Large video files are slow to upload and download. How to run app from xcode on iphone. One of the most popular tools that can significantly shrink the file size without losing quality is Handbrake. It is popular due to three reasons:
- It can convert video from nearly any format, e.g. .wmv – Windows Media Video File, .avi – Audio Video Interleave File, .m4v, .mov, etc.
- It is free and Open Source
- It works on Windows, Mac and Linux
This tutorial illustrates how to compress a video file for the web on a Windows machine. The sample file I used to compress was called WL-Video.wmv and its original size was 39.0 MB. After compression the file size was down to 4.40 MB. The compressed video format is MP4 as it is the most supported video format on the web. Depending on your original video file, following the instructions in the tutorial, the file size may still be reduced if your video file is already MP4 format.
Download and install Handbrake if you do not have it
- Download Handbrake at http://www.handbrake.fr
- Double click the downloaded file to install Handbrake by following the instructions on screen.
Compress videos
3. Launch Handbrake. Do not be put off by all the buttons and options available – you usually only need to use a few of them.
4. Click Source > Open File to select the video you want to compress. In this tutorial, I select WL_Video.wmv and then click Open. You can see the original size was 39MB.
5. In Handbrake, under Destination you can decide where the compressed file is saved by clicking Browse. By default, it is saved in the same folder where the original file is. You can change to other location if necessary. You are required to provide a name for the compressed file.
6. For Output Settings, choose Mp4 if it is not selected and select Web Optimized.
7. Click on Video and make sure that H.264(X264) is selected.
8. Click Start to compress the video. The green Startbutton will become red Stopbutton until the compression is complete. When it is back to green. You are ready to view the compressed video. The original video file was reduced from 39.0MB to 4.40MB. The compressing process for this small file took around 20 seconds. If it is a very large file, it can take much longer to compress.
Note:
This tutorial aims to introduce the basic features in Handbrake.
Compress A Video File Online
Handbrake has many more features which allow you to change the level of compression (e.g. setting average bit rate (kbps). In addition, you can easily optimise a video for different devices including ipod, TV or Android tablet. If you would like to learn more about videos and advanced features in Handbrake, here is a complete Handbrake guide: https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/HandBrakeGuide.
