Are your MP4, MOV, or WMV video files too big to handle? Want an easy way to shrink them by up to 90% in size, without noticeable quality loss? Can’t find a solution or want the cost and steep learning curve of video editing software? Then this is for you!
In this age of HD, Full HD, and 4K video, file sizes get big, in the Gigabytes not just Megabytes. After all, every file is basically the equivalent of storing 24, 30, or 60 pictures per second of video. As such, sharing and storing video files can be daunting and costly.
Whether you’re trying to email a video, upload to cloud storage, or save it on your laptop, big file sizes are a costly inconvenience. This blog explores video compression, references the common solutions, and then explains a far more simple, cost-free hack using YouTube’s powerful compression tools.
I embed my associated video explainer below if you’d like to watch along. If this saves you time, money, or hassle, please consider contributing to my work so I can afford the £300 per year or so website fees (I currently do all this at my own expense). Thank you.
The Problem of Big Video Files
Video quality has improved dramatically over the years. With 4K resolution becoming more common, a short clip can easily exceed 1GB in size, with longer videos 10GB or more. However, these large files pose significant challenges.
First there’s the storage issue. Big video files quickly eat up disk space, with most PCs and laptops for sale having around 1TB-2TB of storage. Unless you have a decent external hard drive, this leaves little room for other data.
Second is the constraints on sharing. Many email services cap attachment sizes at 25 MB, making it impossible to share large videos directly. Slow upload speeds only exacerbate the issue, and you can never be sure of the other person’s download capabilities.
Then there’s the performance impact. Running or editing high-resolution files on older devices can cause lag and crashes, complicating and slowing down your workflow.
For these reasons, reducing video file size becomes essential for smoother handling and sharing.
Most “Solutions” are Expensive and Onerous
Various tools are available to compress video files. You’ve probably searched them online already. Even if you know which to use that does the compression well, each offering comes with complications.
Paid and dedicated video editing software like Adobe Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier Pro offer advanced compression features. While effective, these tools often come with hefty price tags and steep learning curves.
Free video editing software alternatives exist too. There’s the open-source HandBrake, which is a kind of video equivalent of what Audacity is for audio files. There are also programs like iMovie built in to MacBooks. These offer handy video compression options, but they still require some technical know-how and are time-consuming to learn.
Handy online video conversion and compression websites like Convertio offer browser-based compression. But these often come with size limits, concerns about data security and processing speeds. And you still need to know how video compression works, along with wrestling with the techie jargon like Codec, bitrate and CRF. Boring! Just give me my MP4 already!
Each of these options involves a trade-off between cost, time, and complexity. But what if there was a free, efficient, and straightforward method where you just upload a big video, then download a smaller one?
Why YouTube Excels at Video Compression
YouTube is not just a video-sharing platform; it’s also a data management powerhouse. It handles over 50,000 hours of video uploads every hour. YouTube is owned by Google, a $2 TRILLION multinational corporate behemoth. That’s the size of Italy’s entire GDP. To manage this enormous load, YouTube employs cutting-edge and advanced video compression technology, backed by massive research and development resources.
Maintaining massive data centres, cooling systems, and network infrastructure is expensive. YouTube’s infrastructure spans the globe, often housed in secure underground facilities or specially designed “data caves” to ensure reliability and security of content. Keeping everything cool, ventilated and securely guarded costs a lot.
Efficient compression reduces the storage footprint of the millions of videos, saving on operational costs. Being able to compress videos to 1/10th of the size means minimising their data storage costs by 1/10th too, saving literally $BILLIONS for Google’s profit margins.
Compressed files also enable smooth playback across varying internet speeds without sacrificing much quality. I’ve tested the results for Full HD and HD video myself and why I recommend it. Video quality is the usual sacrificial lamb of file compression. But it’s really hard to notice any difference in my “original HD video” versus my “processed with YouTube HD video”.
These reasons make YouTube’s compression tools the best in the world. The even better news is that they’re free and easy to use. Upload your video file in any format, run it through the YouTube sausage machine, then download it in MP4 format as a smaller file, ready to save.
How to Compress Video Using YouTube
Compressing video files with your YouTube account is surprisingly simple. If you haven’t got a YouTube account, of course you’ll need to sign up first. It’s free and only takes a few minutes. Here’s the 3 simple steps once you’re ready…
1. Upload Your Video
Go to your YouTube channel and upload your video. The platform accepts most common file formats, including MP4, MOV, and AVI. Just click the video icon with the plus sign in the top right and choose ‘Upload Video’. Then either drag the file into the space or upload from file.
2. Enter Details, Wait
Enter the basic essential details required in the form provided (you can do this while it’s uploading). YouTube automatically compresses the video during the upload process. If you’re just using YouTube for the file compression service, make sure the visibility is set to ‘Private’ so others can’t see it.
Once uploaded, YouTube does ‘processing’ of the video, after which it’ll be ready for you to download.
3. Download the Compressed File
Open the video, click the three dots (options menu), and select Download. The downloaded file will be significantly smaller than the original, maybe even a tenth of the size for bigger files. You can then delete it straight afterwards if you’re not comfortable with your video being stored on YouTube.
Final Thoughts
Compressing videos doesn’t have to involve complex software or additional expense. YouTube offers a convenient, user-friendly solution that leverages some of the most advanced compression tools available today. Using YouTube as a compression tool will save your storage space, improve shareability, and streamline your video management. And it’s all free.
Next time you’re wrestling with a huge video file, let YouTube do the heavy lifting. It’s already built to handle the world’s video needs – why not let it handle yours?
I hope you’ve found this helpful. If so, you can contribute to my work by buying me a coffee or grabbing yourself an original, funny t-shirt.
All the best, Adrian
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