Which Video Format gives the smallest file size ?


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Hi,

I want to record 6.00 Hrs of video everyday where it is mostly audio & very little video but video is there for entire 6 Hrs.

I want to use a Video recording software called " Debut " which gives me a choice of various file formats like wmv, avi, mp 4, mpg, mov, asf, flv & 3gp.

Which of these formats would give me small file size to save HDD space ?

Thanks

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Its kinda impossible to say everyone is going to suggest a different format, for me i pref avi's in general but the things that decide the size on ones computer are the settings you chose and also the codecs in use. You say little video is going to be about so is the video even required? is the sound for that matter? Both take extra space.

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Hi,

I want to record 6.00 Hrs of video everyday where it is mostly audio & very little video but video is there for entire 6 Hrs.

I want to use a Video recording software called " Debut " which gives me a choice of various file formats like wmv, avi, mp 4, mpg, mov, asf, flv & 3gp.

Which of these formats would give me small file size to save HDD space ?

Thanks

Any if it's super low quality but if it's going to be something like HD then your best bet is MP4

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Can you provide more information about what this is for? if video isn't important it might be worth looking into surveillance like software, have something recording the audio constantly if needed and only have the video recorded when something changes within its view that way rather than having low quality video you can get high quality video where it counts

there might even be a software package that just records audio + low quality video and bumps up the video quality when there are changes detected assuming if thats what you're after

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I would think compression would be more important than file type. If its compressing on the fly, I don't think its going to be going to be very small.

Variable Bit Rate (VBR) would be good for the video (when nothing happens the bit rate is lowered)

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Here is what I want to record.

It is a stock market chart that changes in price every millisecond so that is the video part.

Then a guy is interpreting & commenting on that chart as price on that chart & chart shape keeps changing & that is the audio part.

So I don't need High quality video or audio for that matter.

So now can you guys suggest first the Video recording software & then what format to use ?

After recording it, do I need to compress ? If yes how ? Using another software ? If so which one ?

Thank You all. You are great.

P.S. I also need help in choosing a monitor & I am posting that under a different thread so as not to confuse the whole topic.

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the biggest difference between the formats is: if you want to have a lower filesize you will need to sacrifice quality but if you want better quality the filesize will be bigger. different formats are better for certain scenarios.

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x264 video codec

aac audio codec

mp4 container cool.gif

+1, if you want high-quality but small size nonetheless, go for that.

On another note: If you had the ability to somehow (legally, if that is even possible in Windows, idk) obtain the ProRes codec, I'd use that, if size and quality and not so much compatibility is your concern.

This bumps HD videos to the size of SD videos and there is virtually (that means visibly) no loss of detail.

Glassed Silver:mac

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XVID/AVI is yesterday's format. It sucks for HD and it barely pulls of SD even without looking bad. You want H264+AAC with MP4 or MKV container. The only time I use AVI is with Camtasia, which can only write to AVI when it records for some odd reason... even then I write to a lossless codec and convert later, or to x264vfw which is H264 in an AVI container.

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The best idea really is to try the different codecs in 2 minutes recorded intervals with maybe some different settings then you can figure out which will give you the desired quailty & video size.

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  • 4 years later...

AVI or MKV. But the video codec will determine the video size. Regularly, H.264 and XviD, MPEG-2 will give smaller video size. And from time to time, when you edit your videos, if possible, you can reset their bitrate and frame rate. Frame rate usually ranges from 24 to 30. And DTS audio codec maybe will make smaller audio than AC3.

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