0

So I have decided to unite in a whole video everything I have of my child. I wanna render it in a sole .mp4 file with 1080p, good audio, etc. I want all that (1:50:00) in 2GB or 3GB, no more. I've seen videos accomplishing this smoothly, but everything I've tried so far ends in 9-12GB.

What I need to do to achieve it?

Thanks.

|improve this question
  • Instead of targeting the final size you should target the bitrate. 1080p at bitrate lower than, say, 5 Mbit/s using AVC encoder would be too low. Not sure why do you care about the file size, the storage in cheap. Unless you plan to put it on a FAT32 memory card. – Rusty Core Sep 7 '18 at 3:32
0

I assume you're using the Mainconcept AVC encoder. 3GB for a 1h50m video implies a bitrate of 3.7 mbps. That's the average bitrate you need. Set max bitrate to 5 mbps.

Now, usually I render in two passes. First pass is a high bitrate from Vegas (20 mbps or more) and then encode with ffmpeg, which is a free command line tool.

Command would be

ffmpeg -i vegas.mp4 -crf 23 -movflags +faststart final.mp4

ffmpeg offers lot more variables to adjust but the above should be enough for most size adjustment. Usually a CRF value between 18-28 (lower is better but bigger) works.

|improve this answer
  • If Vegas can't produce a small enough H.264 file on its own, it would be better to encode with Vegas to a better mezzanine format than H.264, like DNxHD, ProRes, or even XDCAM/MPEG-2, and then use ffmpeg to convert to H.264. H.264 suffers from very severe concatenation issues that are visible to the average viewer. – Michael Liebman Dec 19 '16 at 22:01
  • 'concatenation' issues? I don't follow. My workflow is for output meant for web playout, not broadcast. – Gyan Dec 20 '16 at 5:10
  • Concatenation errors occur when you go through multiple encode/decode cycles, particularly of the same codec. I understand that your workflow wasn't for broadcast, but the problems with H.264 are so bad even with just 2 codec cycles, that the average person will notice significant drops in quality. It's no more difficult for the OP to output from Vegas to MPEG-2 and get a much better result. – Michael Liebman Dec 20 '16 at 13:57

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.