Which compression utility is best for video files?

[Tejen]

Hey guys i want to back up some avi movies to disks but i only have a few disks and don't think i will be gettin more anytime soon so i was wondering if compressing the files would make a difference in terms of size and which compression utility is best for video files? I do not want to convert these files to a different format.
Ok its my fault i should have been specific.I meant compression as in winzip ,winrar ,7zip etc ,it would be silly to compress already compressed avi files Lol

[Nokkie]

Just google for 'AVI Video converter'. It's the apps name

You can also try 'DVDX' iI think... 'dvd Copy'

[Keeper]

re-compressing, compressed avi files?

what a waste of time mate - buy an extra disc or two dude, R3 isn't that much compared to the time you are going to spend compressing.

anyway - you'd probably end up with bigger files that look worse than the originals anyway hehe...

[Nokkie]

re-compressing, compressed avi files?

what a waste of time mate - buy an extra disc or two dude, R3 isn't that much compared to the time you are going to spend compressing.

anyway - you'd probably end up with bigger files that look worse than the originals anyway hehe...

NOway's I use DVDX it works best Compression takes about 3 hours At smaller res say 1200x800 DiVX quality Sample of video doesn't really drop that much. And sound quality is impressive..

Have you ever tried DVDX? Keeper

[Keeper]

Have you ever tried DVDX? Keeper

I haven't really compressed pretty much anything in my life - I leave it up to aXXo to do it for me.

[Nokkie]

lol - you got a biatch :D

[ponder]

You are wasting your time if you are trying to compress .avi files.

[Nokkie]

why?

[milomak]

AVIs are already compressed

[Nokkie]

sry i meant from DVD to AVI...

[undesign]

Hey guys i want to back up some avi movies to disks but i only have a few disks and don't think i will be gettin more anytime soon so i was wondering if compressing the files would make a difference in terms of size and which compression utility is best for video files? I do not want to convert these files to a different format.
Ok its my fault i should have been specific.I meant compression as in winzip ,winrar ,7zip etc ,it would be silly to compress already compressed avi files Lol

read the post a few times and I'm still not sure exactly what you are asking :confused:

[ld13]

You are wasting your time if you are trying to compress .avi files.

+1


Ok its my fault i should have been specific.I meant compression as in winzip ,winrar ,7zip etc ,it would be silly to compress already compressed avi files Lol

Last edited by Tejen; 18-06-2009 at 09:15 PM.. Reason: Clearing up the confusion

Trying to clear up the confusion? You just made it worse imo. You meant "compression as in winzip etc..." but a mere second later "it would be silly to compress already compressed avi files". :confused:

You just answered yourself there.

Compressing an AVI file might shave off a few MB, if it does not end up just making it bigger. It is just not worth it.

[Fudzy]

I think he meant convert a movie from a playable DVD to an .avi file. Google "Handbrake"

[Keeper]

you want to zip up AVI's ?

dude.... what the heck are you trying to do here exactly? just buy more DVD's ?

[milomak]

trying to compress an AVI with winzip is like trying to compress a zip file with winzip.

[ld13]

I think he meant convert a movie from a playable DVD to an .avi file. Google "Handbrake"


Hey guys i want to back up some avi movies to disks ...

;)

[Garyvdh]

if you really want to try, you can use KGB archiver...

BUT, it will take ages and massive amounts of computing power to see a few megabytes saving. Really not worth it.

Seriously, just leave the AVI's as they are and buy a bigger hard drive or more DVDs.

ALSO... writing heavily compressed Data to DVDs or CDs is not advisable. With some ROM drives they have a much harder time of reading the compressed files since Windows often wants to treat the archives as folders and attempts to read all the data in the archive while on the disc. This can cause the system to lock up.

[milomak]

what he could do is use winzip/winrar to store to DVD with disk spanning. That way he can have them on disk without actually compressing.

But it's probably better to look for a proper backup program in that case.

[Tejen]

I have 9.56gb of avi files that needed to be put on dvd for a friend and i only have 2 disks so i wanted to try and fit that 9gbs onto the 2 disks by ziping the files.I need it for tomorrow so i couldn't go buy another disk.

[Keeper]

no no no!
no spanning accross DVD's thats just silly, no re-compressing them to avi, no raring, no retarded KGB, nothing.

just buy more DVD ffs, lol

edit: ah - see your dillema. got a flash disk? camera with a sd card? phone? mp3 player? a CD? you basically just need an extra 560 mb

[ponder]

Put some of the files on normal CDs or a flash disk.

[Tejen]

Put some of the files on normal CDs or a flash disk.

i would if i had a cd but i only have 2 dvds and i would put it on a flash but his takin the disks to jhb tomorrow morning so thats not an option.I guess im just going to have to leave some of the files out and send it up when i buy more disks.

[milomak]

you can't buy one extra DVD? Or he can't reimburse you for it?

[ponder]

you can't buy one extra DVD? Or he can't reimburse you for it?

He needs it like *now* and there are no shops open right now.

[Tejen]

you can't buy one extra DVD? Or he can't reimburse you for it?

its not about the money ,where am i going to get a dvd at this part of the night? And i won't be able to get it tomorrow because he is leaving at half past 6 in the morning.

[milomak]

its not about the money ,where am i going to get a dvd at this part of the night? And i won't be able to get it tomorrow because he is leaving at half past 6 in the morning.

would 7-11 not have them?

[Tejen]

would 7-11 not have them?

we don't have 7-11's in my area.i really wish we did right now.

[ponder]

Engen or BP garages? Long shot, never tried it.

Don't you have a friend you can call that might have blanks?

[Smooth Criminal]

The only way you're going to decrease the size of an avi is to actually decrease the quality - the resolution and sound encoding for instance would have to suffer.

If you don't mind taking the hit, you can knock off a fair amount of size by encoding the sound in the vids using mp3 as opposed to ac3, for example. You may want to look at WinAVI Video Converter in this instance.

[Tejen]

Engen or BP garages? Long shot, never tried it.

Don't you have a friend you can call that might have blanks?

i did try them but they dont stock dvds or cds.Its ok mission over now.I copied all that could fit and wil send the rest by post tomorrow.Thanks for the replies and suggestions guys.