
Frame rate refers to the number of still images captured or presented per second of video. Frame Rateįrame rate is probably a familiar concept to you, but it’s important to consider it in the context of compression. However, this also has a significant impact on quality, which you will read more about shortly. As you might expect, video bitrate significantly impacts file size as it determines the amount of information contained within the whole video. Bitrate refers to the amount of data within each second of video, normally measured in megabytes per second (Mbps). When talking about compression, it’s vital to understand the role of bitrate. Some popular codec examples include H.264, ProRes 422, ProRes 422 HQ, while popular containers include MP4, MOV and AVI. At the same time, the container is basically a wrapper (you can think of it like an envelope) that the final video is presented in. A codec (coming from merging the words coder and decoder) is a piece of software that enables the conversion of files.

The 2 components you are adjusting in the encoding process are codecs and containers. Some important terminologyīefore jumping into the technical explanations, we should first establish some important terminology that will help make sense of them: Encoding (codecs & containers)Įncoding is the name given to the process of changing a file from one format into another (compression involves encoding to reduce the video’s file size). We call this process “compression.” In this article, you’ll learn what it is, some tips to keep in mind when doing it, and the compression workflows to follow across most major NLEs and transcoders. So you’ll be pleased to learn that you can significantly reduce the size of your video file, and therefore upload time, without losing any noticeable quality in the video. Or maybe your NLE’s default export option left you with huge file size, and you’re unsure why.

Whether to an audience, client, director or crew member, you might be hoping to present the very “best” version of your video file. When your edit is finally complete and you’re ready to share your work online, the last thing you want is to wait hours just to upload.
