Compress Videos for YouTube Without Losing Quality.
Let’s say you want to quickly upload a video to YouTube, but the file size is too large, or you have a video format (like .mkv) that your media player can’t play, or just say, for any other reason that you want to compress the video, don’t cutting corners in quality.
I had a similar problem a few months ago. Apparently, every Saturday I upload a video to my YouTube channel that weighs in at about 500-600MB for about a 5 minute video.
Now it can take up to 5-6 hours to download a video of this size with my existing Internet connection. But since I am often late on schedule, the only way to download them faster is to compress. But without compromising on quality. So what’s the solution?
I have tried many other video compressors before, but they always resulted in lower video quality. But the handbrake is an exception.
Handbrake is a popular open source video compression software. But what sets it apart from the rest is that it is free, has a simple GUI (unlike FFmpeg), and compresses videos without losing quality.
But how can you reduce the file size without losing quality? Well the answer is, the encoding is better. Imagine how we can get a 2 hour HD movie that is less than 700MB in size. The handbrake does the same.
The job is very simple. Download handbrake (11 MB) from here and install on your computer (available for Mac. Linux, Windows). Then choose the source video and destination for the new compressed video and click “Start”
The hand brake will start to work wonders. You don’t even need to change any parameter. It is best to use the default settings. However, if you want to know more (such as changing resolution, bit rate, etc.), watch this video.
Observation
I often use the handbrake for many of my YouTube videos. I have always compared the quality at different resolutions, including the TV, and found no difference.
Here are some of the compress results I get from the handbrake on both Windows and Mac.
# 1 This video (recording my desktop screen) was originally 550MB and after compression it was 50MB.
# 2 Another video (mostly recorded from a camcorder) was originally 720 MB and was only compressed to 120 MB with the handbrake.
# 3 I also compressed the standard TV show and animated movie using the same default settings. And the results were unexpected. The file size was larger after compression.
Output
Handbrake is a good tool for compressing raw video or whatever you get from your video editor. It can grind up to 90 percent of its weight without compromising on quality. However, for already compressed videos (like movies and TV shows), this won’t work.