Compress mp4 using FFMPEG

ffmpeg-compress-mp4

$ ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec mp2 output.mp4

ligantx experiment is the most efficient (tested on macOS), 700k for bitrate seems to be a good measure for maintaining quality while lowering file size:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -b:v 700k -acodec mp3 output.mp4

i'm gonna add some notes here

1. in the time of writing this (jan 2023) you don't need to specify h264 as the video codec in ffmpeg when the output is mp4 since that's the default codec
2. for audio it's better to specify the bitrate rather than the codec, 96Kb is good enough -b:a 96k
3. not all videos will look good with a video bitrate of 700kb it depends on the resolution, the original codec used and whether there's a lot of movement / particles

I'd recommend that you first let ffmpeg compress it automatically without any arguments ffmpeg -i input.ext output.mp4

• if the output is not enough then use 2/3 of the original video bitrate with -b:v and keep lowering until you reach a desired size
• you can lower the resolution with -vf scale=1280:720
• if you only want to save your video on your pc then use the new mp4 codec 265 -c:v libx265, it has better compression, and just ike 264, nearly lossless. the issue with this is that it's still not widely adapted and sites like discord can't play it

Commands using Linux with ffmpeg to shrinking big MP4 video file to smaller sizes

• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec mp2 out.mp4
• • 3.6 Gb to 556 Mb, great quality 🥇
• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -s 1280x720 -acodec copy -y output.mp4
• • 3.6 Gb to 62 Mb, quality "good enough"/acceptable 👍
• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -b:v 1000k -acodec mp3 output.mp4
• • 3.6 Gb to 30 Mb, very shitty quality 💩

good enough worked fine for me..To my "average human" eye, i coudlnt find any real difference with the original video compared side by side (original: 1gb to good enough: 296mb)

Edit: if you wanna go lower try changinng -b:v value e.g.: ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -b:v 700k -acodec mp3 output.mp4 and if you don't want sound try: ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -b:v 700k -an output.mp4

My experiment:

• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -b:v 1000k -an output.mp4
  32MB to 3.6MB
• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -b:v 200k -an output.mp4
  32MB to 742KB

thanks, it works.
using || -b:v 1000K || ---- from 2MB to 1MB mp4 file

./ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx265 -preset ultrafast -crf 28 -c:a aac -b:a 250k output.mp4

This is better for h265, it's fast and should reduce the file size by 50-70% if you want better video, change the ultrafast to fast or change the -crf to a lower number like 24

If you want to change from 4K to 1080P, add -s 1920x1080 after the -i input.mp4

./ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx265 -preset ultrafast -crf 28 -c:a aac -b:a 250k output.mp4

This is better for h265, it's fast and should reduce the file size by 50-70% if you want better video, change the ultrafast to fast or change the -crf to a lower number like 24

If you want to change from 4K to 1080P, add -s 1920x1080 after the -i input.mp4

This worked pretty well for me -- converted a 323 MB Zoom recording to a 81 MB file. without reducing resolution, is there anything more one can do to further shave off the file size?

Commands using Linux with ffmpeg to shrinking big MP4 video file to smaller sizes

• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec mp2 out.mp4
• • 3.6 Gb to 556 Mb, great quality 🥇
• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -s 1280x720 -acodec copy -y output.mp4
• • 3.6 Gb to 62 Mb, quality "good enough"/acceptable 👍
• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -b:v 1000k -acodec mp3 output.mp4
• • 3.6 Gb to 30 Mb, very shitty quality 💩

Thanks for sharing, really helpful!

None of these have done anything, but give me a 30-35% INCREASE in size. I'm still determined to find a solution but attempts to compress this video by ANY means results in similar results.....

@AD5GB as i said before here, it depends on what video you have, so you need to experiment a bit

Very good! Using it, reduced 86mb to 64mb. thank you all. I also summarized some other methods, I hope it can help everyone https://vidon.me/compress-mp4

Nice! It works! Thanks for sharing you. Also, use this DVD to MP4 Converter to compress your DVD contents.

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We have OnlyFans bots on Github now? Thanks my day is ruined

Thanks for sharing! I've used a programm before and the compressed videos always got pixelated, blurry, or blocky. This one works just fine. I've also found an article introducing people how to convert blu ray to MP4. It might be useful for anyone in need.

Nice work! Also, check out KeepVid for more amazing video-related tools.

Maybe these 2 articles can help you:
https://dvdfab.at/drm-m3u8-downloader/m3u8-to-mp4.htm
https://streamfab.de/mp4-downloader

Commands using Linux with ffmpeg to shrinking big MP4 video file to smaller sizes

• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec mp2 out.mp4
• • 3.6 Gb to 556 Mb, great quality 🥇
• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -s 1280x720 -acodec copy -y output.mp4
• • 3.6 Gb to 62 Mb, quality "good enough"/acceptable 👍
• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -b:v 1000k -acodec mp3 output.mp4
• • 3.6 Gb to 30 Mb, very shitty quality 💩

Thanks for sharing, really helpful!

do these commands work just the same way on windows 10?

Thanks for sharing. I found that StreamFab can help you convert Netflix to MP4, then you can play them on most devices. You can learn more by https://streamfab.com/ .

Great discussion !
By the way if you want some dvd processing tools, theses one are highly recommanded.
https://dvdfab.fr/uhd-copy.htm
https://dvdfab.fr/dvd-copy.htm

Read this article published by KeepStreams very helpful

After conversion, would you think about enhancing the video quality? Here an AI video enhancer software offers a turnkey solution.

Wouldn't it be much easier to use video compressor software? There are quite a few wonderful and high quality video compressors out there.

Wouldn't it be much easier to use video compressor software? There are quite a few wonderful and high quality video compressors out there.

ffmpeg is video compression software (among many other things), as far as I can tell the only difference is that you run it from a command line instead of a GUI, and it's free.

does anyone know why I do not get any audio when I use ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec mp2 output.mp4 or ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec mp3 output.mp4?

I found a solution that works with ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec copy output.mp4 but it does not solve the problem with the audio converting and I would really like to know what's the problem with the audio

tbh I got a pretty niet 650M file out of 2.7G

ffmpeg -i video.MOV -c:v h264 -c:a aac -strict -2 -pix_fmt yuv420p -q:v 0 video.mp4
I convert mov to mp4 and the result is good enough: 985 mb -> 358mb

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vcodec libx264 -crf 23 -preset medium -acodec aac -b:a 128k video-compressed.mp4
Next i want to compress it, got: 360 mb -> 302 mb

ll video*
-rw-r--r-- 1 kafin kafin 986M Apr 25 10:17 video.MOV
-rw-r--r-- 1 kafin kafin 360M Apr 25 10:29 video.mp4
-rw-r--r-- 1 kafin kafin 302M Apr 25 10:44 video-compressed.mp4

Great discussion ! By the way if you want some dvd processing tools, theses one are highly recommanded. https://dvdfab.fr/uhd-copy.htm https://dvdfab.fr/dvd-copy.htm

Free YouTube to Mp3 Converter Online: ytmp3.love

Wouldn't it be much easier to use video compressor software? There are quite a few wonderful and high quality video compressors out there.

ffmpeg is video compression software (among many other things), as far as I can tell the only difference is that you run it from a command line instead of a GUI, and it's free.

I think you replied to a bot lol

http://v-y2mate.com/
With the useful tool in converting videos from YouTube to MP3 forms

Here is the format using latest encoding algorithms h265 and mp3. It's around 15% better than h264.

• Good quality(reasonable)
  • ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -s 1280x720 -c:v libx265 -preset medium -acodec libmp3lame -y output.mp4
  • 2.45 GB 131MB
• For Best quality remove scaling paramater "-s"
  • ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx265 -preset medium -acodec libmp3lame -y output.mp4

Wouldn't it be much easier to use video compressor software? There are quite a few wonderful and high quality video compressors out there.

ffmpeg is video compression software (among many other things), as far as I can tell the only difference is that you run it from a command line instead of a GUI, and it's free.

Agreed. But for those who are not skillful in coding and programming, a software with simple GUI, especially when it's free, would be much easier to use.

Wouldn't it be much easier to use video compressor software? There are quite a few wonderful and high quality video compressors out there.

ffmpeg is video compression software (among many other things), as far as I can tell the only difference is that you run it from a command line instead of a GUI, and it's free.

Agreed. But for those who are not skillful in coding and programming, a software with simple GUI, especially when it's free, would be much easier to use.

But you will learn way more from using ffmpeg (which you would anyways with the GUI, just with extra steps, and probably some adware, or a paywall too).

Wouldn't it be much easier to use video compressor software? There are quite a few wonderful and high quality video compressors out there.

ffmpeg is video compression software (among many other things), as far as I can tell the only difference is that you run it from a command line instead of a GUI, and it's free.

Agreed. But for those who are not skillful in coding and programming, a software with simple GUI, especially when it's free, would be much easier to use.

But you will learn way more from using ffmpeg (which you would anyways with the GUI, just with extra steps, and probably some adware, or a paywall too).

Agreed, from the aspect of learning.