How to Compress Video Files Freely and Easily?

Summary：Let me describe some situations for you. All right, you've just made a perfect video of your friend's proposal and you really want to share it with him; Or you need a video to gain a client's approval. You attach it to your email and immediately get a pop up that says "file size too large." OH no, that's a totally disaster. I believe that compressed videos can be your last solution with reduced bandwidth usage, upload time and less buffering. Wait a minute, but how to compress video files without losing quality?

This post aims to walk you through 5 best free video compressor tools in 2022. You'll master the features and how to use them to compress video files on Windows or on Mac.

The Truth of Video File Size

There is a general consensus that large video files can be hard to work with or view on certain devices. Learning how to compress a video file while maintaining its quality and dimensions becomes a requisite nowadays. Before we get started, it's necessary to understand what are the factors that affect video file size. Technically video file size depends on many variables.

We have to mention that resolution is the most important one. Almost every compressor compress files by changing the parameter of resolution. The resolution of a video determines the size in height and width that the video will be created in. Resolution is defined by the number of horizontal lines the video has from top to bottom. Larger resolution videos will dramatically increase file size.

The following factors are bitrate and duration. Multiply them together and you get the size. Now bitrate will affect video quality, so you must find the balance for your application.

Frame rate is the one we don't want to miss. It does not affect video quality directly. It decides the fluidity, which in turn affects visual effects. Guess that a footage stuttering badly is by no means a HQ video. Frame rate being too high or too low will cause "unnatural " problem. So proper frame rate is important to make your video look realistic, just as how we see motions in real life.

How to Compress Video Files Without Losing Quality

Learning how to compress a video is necessary cause videos files can be very large—and that can be a problem for uploading and transmitting. If your work is highly related to video files, you’ve definitely found the limitations of your computer. Large files can put a strain on system resources while editing or viewing large videos, slowing everything down. So, I really suggest you to pay attention to what I'm going to say next. These 5 best free video compressor tools in 2022 will benefit you a lot. I'll walk you through their pros and cons. Don’t miss!

VLC

System: Windows, Mac, and Linux

Pros:

• Free for users
• easily operate and can convert multiple files together
• recommendations for different types of videos
• adjust the scale you want

Cons:

• have no display of estimated file sizes
• may take some time while converting

As one of the most popular media-viewing and-editing tools, it's no surprise that VLC is a great choice to compress video files for you. Here are the methods to compress a video through VLC.

Step1: Click Media button and then Convert/Save

Step2: Click Add and select your video file (you can also select multiple files to convert them as a batch).

Step3: Click Convert/Save to bring up conversion options. In the Profile dropdown, you'll need to choose the type of conversion that you want. (Without displaying estimated file sizes, users may need to guess at which level of conversion to apply. However, VLC has recommendations for different types of videos.)

Step 4: In any case you find your video file size needs to be further reduced, you can change the resolution of the video. That's what we talk about before. In VLC, click the Settings button to the right of the Profile dropdown, then select the Resolution tab. Then you can adjust the scale to retain your current proportion, or manually adjust the size of the video.

Step5: After adjusting, click Save. You'll need to enter a destination location and filename-click Browse to specify them. Once you've done that, just hit Start

If you're compressing a large video, it might take some time. But when it's done, you'll have a new video file that should take up a lot less space.

DVDFab Video Converter

System: Windows, Mac

Pros:

• provide users a 30-day full trail
• has its own built-in video editor
• directly share your video onto Youtube
• has AI-powered video upscaling solution

Cons:

• extra charge for upscaling the video quality

So many people view DVDFab as an expert in the converting area. What can I say? It really has that much experience. With powerful functions and quickly operation, we cannot deny its popularity. Some people may find it expensive, till you have no need to worry. (Full trail, free and paid version available)

Next, let check out this functional video converter. DVDFab Video Converter is the most full-featured video converter software that can convert video (up to 1080p/4K/5K/8K) from one format to another, and convert video to mainstream audio formats, playable on mobile devices and home theater.

DVDFab Video Converter provides you a 30-day full trail, where you are free to experience the extensive capabilities of our software. That's a totally great news for us. Now let me show you how to compress a video through DVDFab.

STEP 1: Launch DVDFab Video Converter and load the source

Double click DVDFab 12 and opt for Converter module from the option bar when it runs. Drag and drop the source video into the main UI for loading, or navigate it through the Add buttons. You can use this best free video converter with limited features.

STEP 2: Choose one profile and customize output video

Click the Choose Other Profile from the drop-down menu, and you will see Format and Device options in the profile library. Select one format or device as you like. If you want smaller video size, set video parameters via the Advanced Settings, and deeply customize the output video with the built-in video editor.
After that, move to the Save to and click the folder icon to select the output directory. You can directly share the video onto YouTube via this free video file converter. Isn't it great?

STEP 3: Start to convert video

Click the Start button to convert video free and fast. DVDFab Video Converter software will immediately convert video to the target profile you have chosen, and provide you with the detailed progress details during the process. You can cancel the task anytime you don't want to continue during the process, and you can also set your PC to automatically shut down, exit program, hibernate or do nothing when the task is done.

See? Not difficult! I'm sure you've learned it well. Here is a little tip for you: If you've got high demands for video quality, you should try Enlarger AI. With the help of DVDFab Enlarger AI, the world's 1st complete AI-powered video upscaling solution, the low-res 480p video can be upscaled to 1080p, and 1080p video can be enhanced to true 4K level. Meanwhile, the final video quality will be dramatically improved, beyond expectation.

(DVDFab Enlarger AI is a feature applied in some of DVDFab products, such as Video Converter, DVD Ripper, Blu-ray Ripper and DVD to Blu-ray Converter, but it is sold separately.)

Last but not least, I recommend you to pay continuous attention to DVDFab, which can provide you updated powerful solution on compressing a video.

Shotcut

System: Windows, Mac, and Linux

Pros:

• Free for users
• has functionality for editing your videos
• has plenty of options for compression

Cons:

• can’t automatically adjust the corresponding option

While not as popular as DVDFab, Shotcut is another common choice for people looking to compress video files on both Windows and Mac without spending a dime. Intended more as an editor than a viewer, Shotcut gives you a lot of advanced functionality for editing your videos. The question is how to compress video files with Shotcut, follow me!

Step1: Download Shotcut, then open it and use the Open File button to open your video.

Step 2: To export it in a new file format, click Export in the top-right corner of the window. And then you can see a lot of options there.

Technically, if you want to compress a video size, I suggest you choose H.264 Baseline Profile. This format will compress your video files without losing too much quality.

As you'll see, there are plenty of other options for compression. Feel free to try some of them out to see how small they get your video file. Meanwhile, changing the Resolution and Aspect ratio is the way to adjust the size of the video.

However, you should know that Shotcut won't automatically adjust the corresponding option for you. What does that mean? If you change the vertical resolution, you'll need to calculate the corresponding horizontal resolution to make sure you don’t get a pinched video.

Choosing a lower-quality output will automatically adjust the resolution for you. Say, if you select HDV (hdv_720_25p), the resolution will decrease if your video was originally in 1080p. But if you want to go smaller than the preset resolution, you'll need to calculate the correct dimensions yourself.

You can also use the export window to customize exporting options to get exactly the type of file you want. This is best left to expert users, though you can certainly play around with it to see what happens.

QuickTime Player

System: Mac ONLY

Pros:

• very friendly for Mac users
• easy to operate
• no need for downloading

Cons:

• don’t have so many options
• doesn’t support resizing

This is clearly a perfect choice for Mac users.

Compressing a video file on Mac can be operated on its default media player. The only drawback to it is that you can’t use it on any other operating systems.

To compress video files on QuickTime, open the app from your Applications folder and click File then click Open File to load your video.

To begin compressing your video files, click File and then choose Export As. Unfortunately, QuickTime doesn’t give you that much options. You'll see 4k (if applicable), 1080p, 720p, and 480p options.

Select 480p (assuming you recorded in720p) and export your file. It should be smaller than when you started.

Unfortunately, QuickTime doesn’t support resizing, so if you need to reduce the dimensions of your video, you’ll need to use another program, or use a web-based video compression tool such as VEED below.

VEED

System: Windows and Mac

Pros:

• Nothing to download
• easy to use
• free for users
• give an estimate of the file size

Cons:

• has limited video file formats
• may need some time for waiting

If you don't want to download or use an app on your own computer, I recommend you this functional website VEED to compress video files for you. It doesn't require an account or leave annoying watermark on the video files. VEED is your best website choice.

VEED can compress your video files for free. It works with both Windows and Mac, and within your browser, so there's nothing to download. VEED's Video Compressor supports MP4, MOV, MKV, Avi, WMV, FLV video file formats.

It has a user-friendly slider that allows you to adjust the compression rate between higher quality and smaller file size.

What's more helpful about this Video Compressor, in particular, is that it gives you an estimate of the file size. If you want to add attachment on your email, this is particularly useful. For many email clients, this is 20-25MB. So, you can play with the settings, to get the size right, before you compress.

For more advanced users, you can just choose the "Advanced Settings" button in the Video Compression settings. There are tons of options for you. Last but not least, VEED provides you resizing function. This makes you can match with QuickTime Player.

It gives a great reduction in file size and an option to "Download" or "Edit Video". If you click on "Edit Video" you will be taken to VEED's main editor where you can add subtitles, text, progress bars, and more.

Conclusion

"How to compress a video", I now believe that you have the answer. Those 5 video compressor I introduce above can solve most of your problems freely and quickly. DVDFab Video Converter is the highest commendation which you should pay close attention to. It will give you powerful functions than you thought. Meanwhile, Veed is a better website to satisfy your basic requirements conveniently. Have fun in compressing videos! See you soon!