Optimal bitrate for 1080p 30fps. Alternative h.264 encoding options. Displaying youtube pure white in browsers

Making quality videos these days high resolution HD Ready and FullHD or even 4K formats are digital DSLR cameras, newfangled GoPro gadgets and smartphones. But each video shot in FullHD takes up an indecent amount of space on your device, not to mention 4K, which eats up 16GB of memory on the iPhone 6s in 35 minutes. When space on the memory card or internal memory device runs out, each of us experiences that feeling of disappointment from the memory size of our device that we involuntarily think about the minimum card bigger size or even a new device that can at least minimally compress the footage. It’s good if you have a computer with a large disk capacity to create a video archive. But even this volume will end sooner or later.

I propose to consider how to compress a video file without compromising quality. And to do this, you need to understand that there is a strict balance between video size and quality:

• correct video converter settings will preserve video quality and reduce its size;
• incorrect settings will reduce the video quality, but will not reduce its size.

Read on to learn how to reduce the size of your captured video without losing quality.

How much disk space does HD Ready, Full HD, 4K video take up?

Video Performance modern devices reached very serious heights. And already shooting in Full HD with a frequency of 30 frames/second is standard and necessary requirement for any digital camera. All flagship smartphones can shoot in Full HD, with almost no inferior image quality to DSLR cameras.

And how much space is required for different video formats for video shooting? No one will tell you exact indicators, I will give some approximate data that you can rely on when choosing a recording device and video format.

On average, 1 minute of video takes:

• When shooting in HD Readry (720p) at a speed of 30 frames/second - 60 MB;
• When shooting Full HD (1080p) at 30 frames/second - 130 MB;
• When shooting Full HD (1080p) at 60 frames/second - 200 MB;
• When shooting 4K (UHD) at 30 frames/second - 375 MB.

The difference between HD, UHD, 4K and 8K video formats plays a decisive role in determining recording volumes. But there are other parameters on which the size of the video file depends: audio parameters, bitrate, aspect ratio, color resolution and others.

I would not recommend reducing video on smartphones unless absolutely necessary, because no smartphone can save optimal quality video and compress the video file as much as possible. For the video reduction process, there are optimal computer solutions that cope with this task with a bang. Today I will look at one of these tools, which very simply and quickly allows you to reduce the size of a video file without sacrificing quality.

Download HandBrake - free video converter

Video converter Handbrake is one of the most useful cross-platform media converters. It is completely free and provides equally powerful functionality on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Handbrake

The Handbrake video converter has a bunch of parameters for setting up almost any video and audio component, but figuring it out won’t be too difficult, although you still need to have minimal knowledge of video conversion. All settings are grouped into tabs and sections. Unfortunately, there is no support for Russian localization, and it is not needed to understand the parameters that can be configured.

Prepare the video file you want to reduce by copying it to your computer. Launch Handbrake and open the prepared file.

Selecting presets

If you are not familiar with the video conversion process or are too lazy to delve into the program settings, then the developers have provided the most optimal settings(presets) to reduce video files for various devices. Each preset represents customized audio and video settings for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and other devices.

Select the desired preset and the program will automatically select optimal parameters for the output file with optimal size and quality.

In addition, if suddenly this is not enough for you and you want to fine-tune this or that parameter, then after tuning you can save your preset, which you can then use many more times.

Setting Audio settings

Before moving on to the main video parameter, let's first configure the audio. To do this, go to the tab Audio in Handbrake. If you are not a video converter, you will be surprised how much space audio channels take up in the captured video file.

But, as a rule, high quality sound in the video is only needed if you filmed a concert of your favorite band or musical competition their children. For other videos where human speech or music isn't a priority, here's what we'll do:

• Check how much there is audio tracks. I recommend leaving only one, and the one that usually comes first. Delete the remaining tracks except the first.
• It is recommended to choose AAC (CoreAudio) or MP3 for the codec used. These codecs will allow you to reduce the size of the audio track as much as possible with minimal losses, which is not bad enough for most cases. In fact, even for concerts or other similar videos where sound is important, you can choose one of these compression formats, but try to set a higher audio bitrate.
• For bitrate, select 160, which is usually the default for most videos. Choose a higher bitrate (256 or 320) if you are converting video with audio priority.

For the above example of audio settings, the second track can be deleted immediately; we don’t need it.

Choosing the best codec and container for Video

Ideally, when you shoot a video, you should always set maximum settings video recording of the device you are using. Only the maximum of a video camera will allow you to get highest quality video, which can then be compressed without losing almost any quality. The basis of video reduction is to use the most efficient codec and video container possible.

What is a codec? Basically, a codec is a way to encode or decode video for storage or playback, respectively. The codec turns the video file into a stream of information understandable to the video player.

What is container file format? A file format in which a codec stores streaming video and audio data. Various formats files are needed so that different devices and players can use the same limited list of formats, i.e. the same format must be played in different players.

Go to the tab Video and select H.264 as preferred codec . This is the most efficient and popular video codec high definition and allows you to compress video almost twice, which is comparable in efficiency to MPEG-4 when compressing video. In addition, today it is supported by most devices, from the player in Windows 10 to the TV with SmartTV.

More new codec, which compresses video files even better H.265, not yet supported by all devices. If you want to compress a video file as efficiently as possible without losing quality, then select H.265 in the settings. But after the compression process is completed, I advise you to check the output video file on the device for which the video was intended.

Reducing Video Resolution

It’s good when your phone can shoot video in 4K format, and the purchased TV or monitor plays video in the 4K monitor format. But most people have HD Ready or Full HD technology, which is actually not that bad. After all main secret The video quality is not the huge resolution, but the video bitrate.

Of course, resolution significantly affects the video size, but video quality (bitrate) affects it no less. In addition, the viewing distance between the viewer and the TV also affects the quality of the video and the intended size, for example; TV screen technology.

Here is a list of the most commonly used resolutions modern devices playback:

• 2160p (3840×2160)
• 1440p (2560×1440)
• 1080p (1920×1080)
• 720p (1280×720)
• 480р (854 × 480)
• 360p (640×360)
• 240p (426×240)

As a general rule, to ensure a smaller file size, check the original video resolution and select one or two levels lower. In Handbrake, the resolution settings are located on the Picture. Here you can independently specify the required resolution for the output video file.

In addition, after specifying the resolution, you can press the button preview Preview and evaluate video quality before compression.

If you plan to upload your videos to YouTube, then the resolution can be set to 4K. On - up to 720p, on

about a weekend bike trip antishock, The further YouTube goes, the more it degrades the quality. In principle, I have observed this before (since after uploading the original author’s video, they always compress it according to their standards). But now I decided to check it out and was horrified. It turned out that today YouTube compresses Full HD (i.e. video with a resolution of 1920x1080) video to a bitrate of slightly more than 4 Mb/s, and not with the modern h.265/HEVC codec, but with the trivial h.264 high L4.0.

This is very little and leads to blurring small parts on dynamic scenes. Look for yourself, here are 2 screenshots of my film, in which on the left is my source (its bitrate is 20 Mb/s), and on the right is the same frame after YouTube compression.

The sound also deteriorates - its bitrate drops to 125 Kb/s (from the original 320 Kb/s). It’s interesting to remember that at the beginning YouTube compressed Full HD to a bitrate of 16 Mb/s, several years ago it recommended 8 Mb/s, and today it has reached 4 Mb/s. If they don’t switch from h.264 to h.265 soon, they’ll have to forget it.

Since I am offended by the fact that after compressing Vanya’s video, his arms and fingers turned into some kind of shovels, and Natella and Ira against the background of the forest turned into blurry spots against the background of “jelly,” I also posted the film on the video hosting site io.ua .

Here the quality is noticeably higher, because... transcoding is performed by their server in an advanced “two-pass” mode with a bitrate of slightly more than 6 Mb/s (h.264 constrained baseline L3.1). But The fly in the ointment here is the double slowdown of the server. Firstly, the recoding itself does not take tens of minutes, as on YouTube, but almost a day. And secondly, the upload speed of the video stream during peak hours is so limited that video playback is accompanied by best case scenario periodic slowdown, and sometimes even freezing for a few seconds (the solution - first downloading the file to your PC - is not always acceptable).

To complete the picture, I tried another popular video hosting site Vimeo.com. It turned out here 2 restrictions are critical: firstly, on free account maximum resolution is 1280x720p, and anything larger is converted down. And secondly, uploads of no more than 500 MB per week are allowed (and my original 7-minute file takes 1 GB, i.e. 2 times more). so here we also give up (or switch to paid tariff plans without the noted restrictions, but with payment from 5 to 17 USD per month).

Another video hosting video.mail.ru compressed my Full HD source even more than YouTube, to a bitrate of 3 Mb/s(h.264 high L4.0). It is logical that here the blurring of dynamic moments turned out to be even greater than in YouTube.

Way out today I see in cloud hosting video on Google Drive or in the cloud-mailru. It is not compressed and is available in original quality immediately after downloading. True, if you have a slow Internet, then it is better to first download the file to your PC/tablet/smartphone, otherwise “stuttering” is again possible.

Thank you all for your feedback!

If you decide to broadcast live, you need to prepare for it in advance. Find out outgoing throughput your Internet connection and select the settings under which the broadcast will go smoothly. You can check the download speed using special online services.

If you create a broadcast in the Broadcast Control Panel or in the "Start Broadcast" section, the system will automatically determine what settings are specified in the video encoder.

If you schedule a broadcast in the “All Broadcasts” section, you can independently specify the resolution and frame rate. Another option is to select a broadcast key and let the system determine the settings for you.

The broadcast will be automatically re-encoded: thanks to different formats output, it can be viewed on any device and regardless of the network to which you are connected.

We advise you to conduct a test broadcast - this will allow you to make sure that the image and sound are broadcast without interruptions. When the broadcast is already running, keep an eye on the control panel: it will display all error messages and data on the quality of the stream. given full list possible problems.

Note. For video in 4K / 2160 pixels. You cannot configure a short delay. For such broadcasts, the standard delay will be automatically set.

4K/2160p (60fps)

• Resolution: 3840 x 2160
• Video stream bitrate range: 20,000–51,000 kbps

4K/2160p (30fps)

• Resolution: 3840 x 2160
• Video stream bitrate range: 13,000–34,000 kbps

• When planning your broadcast, be sure to check the "Enable 60 fps mode" checkbox on the "Broadcast Settings" tab. If you created a broadcast in the "Start Broadcast" section, the frame rate and resolution will be selected automatically.
• Resolution: 2560 x 1440
• Video stream bitrate range: 9000–18,000 kbps

• Resolution: 2560 x 1440
• Video stream bitrate range: 6000–13,000 kbps

• When planning your broadcast, be sure to check the "Enable 60 fps mode" checkbox on the "Broadcast Settings" tab. If you created a broadcast in the "Start Broadcast" section, the frame rate and resolution will be selected automatically.
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Video stream bitrate range: 4500–9000 kbps

• Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Video stream bitrate range: 3000–6000 kbps

• When planning your broadcast, be sure to check the "Enable 60 fps mode" checkbox on the "Broadcast Settings" tab. If you created a broadcast in the "Start Broadcast" section, the frame rate and resolution will be selected automatically.
• Resolution: 1280 x 720
• Video stream bitrate range: 2250–6000 kbps

• Resolution: 1280 x 720
• Video stream bitrate range: 1500–4000 kbps

• Resolution: 854 x 480
• Video stream bitrate range: 500–2000 kbps

• Resolution: 640 x 360
• Video stream bitrate range: 400–1000 kbps

• Resolution: 426 x 240
• Video stream bitrate range: 300–700 kbps

Video encoder settings