Despite the fact that the MP4 video format is one of the newest, but it also has a number of disadvantages that users often do not like. Most often, complaints arise about the size of the video (although it is believed that this standard implies saving the video already in a compressed form with a minimum size). That is why many people often have questions regarding how to compress an MP4 file without losing quality and generally how much it can be done. The moment that simultaneously has to decide on the choice of the appropriate software also looks completely natural. Consider several options for action, offering a brief description of some applications, additional tools and services, some of which will seem painfully familiar to many readers.
What is a video file?
To begin with, you should briefly determine what a video file saved in MP4 format is. Conventionally, it can be divided into two components that determine the structure of video storage in this format: file container and codec. Roughly speaking, the first component can be represented as the original video material, and the second as a special converter, which is responsible for the density of the video in the container and determines the final format.
It is believed that you can compress MP4 with the highest possible degree and without much loss of picture quality provided that you use the MP4 format and the H.264 codec in parallel. As additional measures, it is sometimes recommended to trim extra fragments (for example, captions), lower the resolution to HD, if the source material is recorded as 4k, reduce the bitrate, etc.
How to compress MP4 without losing quality: an example of actions in the Movavi application
Now letβs dwell on the actions that need to be performed in the notorious and very popular Movavi program, since in almost all similar applications that have the functions of converters, the operations between them will not differ much.
So how to compress an MP4 file without losing quality? In the running application, first add the file to the main processing window. If you wish, you can immediately reduce the playback time by setting limits with special markers on the right and left.
Now select the parameters of the final format and install MP4 and H.264. You can also use the built-in parameter templates, after applying which you can immediately track how the final file size changes. If no template suits you or reducing the final size is completely not what was expected, use the fader of the effective indicator, with which you can manually resize. After setting the necessary options, press the start button of the conversion and wait for the completion of the process. Please note that such an operation can take a decent amount of time (especially if you are converting a full-length film). You can speed up the execution of the required operations by installing a paid version of the program, in which the developers have included a special SuperSpeed ββfunction, which allows 30 times faster processing.
Note: sometimes it is advisable to use trial conversion, which in a sense is comparable to previewing the result.
Most popular MP4 compression software
Naturally, it is completely optional to use only the above-described utility, especially since there are a lot of similar and almost completely automated applications. The following programs are especially popular among users:
- Handbrake.
- Freemake Video Converter.
- Format Factory.
- MediaCoder
- Hamster and iWisoft converters.
In addition to the proposed software, you can use special video editors like Sony Vegas, Camtasia, Premiere, etc. But to work with them, you must have at least the simplest skills and knowledge.
Handbrake
This cross-platform converter is an open source software product, distributed completely free of charge, supports many source and destination formats, has a simple, albeit English-speaking, interface and a minimum of settings.
According to the creators of this application, you can compress MP4 in it almost 5 times!
Freemake video converter
This application is another popular converter, however, unlike its direct competitors, it uses the special NVIDIA CUDA engine for video processing.
In this case, the main burden is assigned to the graphics adapter. As it is already clear, it is better to perform conversion using this application only on computer configurations with discrete video chips.
Format factory
Before us is another rather interesting utility.
Compressing MP4 in it is as simple as in all previous programs, but it is worth noting the presence of a Russified interface, support for use on mobile platforms, the ability to set conversion priorities, the presence of a media library sorter, plus the ability to convert even the contents of ISO image files.
Mediacoder
This application may seem quite complicated for a beginner due to some interface congestion. But, if you understand the basic settings, you can perform very subtle optimization of the output format and compress MP4 in such a way that the loss of image quality is visually absolutely imperceptible. There are a lot of settings, so you can experiment with them.
Hamster and iWisoft Converters
Finally, these two converters are very similar to each other and can work in multi-threaded mode. Even the most unprepared user will deal with them. But the second utility, despite all its advantages, alas, has not been updated since 2010.
YouTube Tools
But few people know that you can compress MP4 even using the popular YouTube video hosting, however, as a preliminary step, you need to register and start your own channel using, say, an account for Google services (all actions will take you no more than five minutes).
When the channel is created, you just need to download the source video by clicking the add video button, wait for the processing to complete, and then from the drop-down list of the menu that appears just below the processed video, choose to download the file in MP4 format. If you compare it with the original in the same format, the difference will be visible immediately.
Online services
In the end, let's see how to compress the MP4 file, using for this purpose not programs installed on the computer, but services specially designed for this. Among the free services, Convert-video-online and Online-convert services can be highlighted. The second service allows you to use sending files for processing using the development environment (API), which can be useful for beginners or advanced programmers and web developers.
Services such as HD Convert and Convertio, which support API and additional OCR tools, are also interesting, but they are paid. But the processing speed of the source material is very high (judging by the reviews of experts, the conversion speed is about three times higher if we compare the same indicator with other services or even when working with programs installed on the computer). In addition, here you can upload video files with sizes of the order of 100 MB and get the result in 4k output.
Transformations in mobile systems
For Android devices, many applications have also been developed. The most interesting and most powerful of all the software offered for installation can be called Panda Video and VidCon converters. For example, user reviews indicate that processing the source file of about 120 MB in the Panda converter took about 30 minutes, but as a result, the final object without cropping and cropping was reduced to 50 MB.