What is the optimal codec and encoding parameters to encode Video Podcast?

Question

I've got recorded PowerPoint presentation (video podcast) - static slides, mainly texts, some static infographics with voice of the presenter (speech only). It lasts about 1 hour and encoded to .avi format using default parameters in Xvid occupies about 500 MB.

I want to re-encode it so it occupies as less space as possible to publish it as online video. I presume that the size up to 100 MB should be achievable (static slides + 1 hour of mp3). Could you please advise which encoder should I use (preferably Windows command line) and what are the best settings to achieve that?

Answer 1

I would recommend the h264 codec as it produces reasonable quality at small size and it provides broad compatibility.

The open source encoder x264 is considered as the best one out there. I can't recommend any command line parameters but there are several good programs that make use of the x264 encoder. I like Vidcoder which is a fork of the popular Handbrake software. You will see that even with the default settings you achieve a much smaller video size at comparable quality.

Answer 2

The best bet is either a slide show player or a variable frame rate video format. Since your image doesn't actually change for large periods of time, formats that normally use a fixed frame rate are not going to produce nearly the quality of results of a VFR format.

Handbrake is one option which appears to support using a VFR format.