Video Compression?

[edhass]

I created an 11-minute video of a parade, in Adobe Premiere Elements 15 (this is my first time using it), by dropping in short video clips from my Nikon digital; camera and editing, rearranging, etc. I then exported the finished video to MP4 format, and wound up with a 574 megabyte file for just 11 minutes of video! Online help tells me I can compress the output file to reduce the file size, but it doesn't say HOW to do that?

Where can I find a step by step guide on HOW to compress my video to a more sane file size? Not just that i CAN do this, but actually HOW ro do it!

I also found in the online help that once you start a project, it won't let you change any settings. I hope that doesn't apply here; it took me HOURS to cut my 35 minutes of raw video down to the 11 minute finished project.  I don't want to have to redo my whole project just to be able to export to a smaller file size; it ought to be possible to define how I want to compress the finished project before I export to MP4. Or maybe even compress the MP4 output that I already saved?

I can be reached by phone [personal info deleted, forum policy]

Thank you for your help.

[LariosoDog]

Full HD 1920x1080 says in manual to my Canon approx. 330 MB/min. MOV file type container and H264 compression. This video is already compressed, using keyframes in between i.e. full image described and x number of differenced frames in between representing changes in image.

I also read that project settings cannot be changed later, but export settings can. Project usually pick settings from first film clip you add, so look at various settings for conversions for project while working then - before editing.

From manual:

"If you specify lower-quality settings for output (such as streaming web video), do not change your project settings. Change your export settings instead."

What you can affect is bitrate megabit per second and determin quality, so remember that it is lossy compression and the less file size inflict on how it appear. Think all the way to the most pixelated youtube video you ever saw.

But some presets will help you a bit.

Remember my old DVD recorder had four levels of compression - all refer to MPEG2 then as I understand, and different bitrates. Highest quality could take one hour video on a 4.7GB DVD, normal quality 2 hours, long play(LP) 3 hours and then lowest four hours but this looked like VHS more or less. But up to LP it looked decent.

MPEG4 though, take less space with decent looks, close to half size as I recall from working with ip-camera systems. H264 something like 10-20% less space than MPEG4.

[Ann Bens]

Duration x bitrate determines the filesize.

How are you going to view the file?

Post a screenshot of the export settings.