5 Best Ways to Reduce Video Size for Faster Loading

As technology evolves, so does our ability to share information.

Internet connections are faster and more reliable than ever, but video files are still large compared to audio files or images.

Large files can be the cause of slow upload/download speeds.

Because of this, compression is an important part of distributing your videos over the internet.

This post shows you five ways to reduce video size for faster loading times.

Video Compression Jargon Explained

This subject of compression can be complicated.

For most people, the terms related to compression are confusing.

But you don’t need a degree in physics to understand enough to edit video like a pro.

Below I will present some broad definitions of some important terms.

Compression

Compression makes a file smaller. Smaller files equal faster download/upload speeds.

There are two categories of compression:

Losseless – no loss in quality from the original file. Even if there is a loss of information, there is no noticeable difference in quality to the viewer.
Lossy – a loss in quality in order to achieve a smaller file size. A large amount of information is lost to reduce video file size.

Encoding

Video encoding is the process of formatting the file for output. All the compression happens during encoding.

You can also add filters, subtitles, chapters, and other meta information to the file through encoding.

Transcoding

This is the process of changing one form of digital encoding to another.

This typically involves lossy compression.

For example, you start with an H.264 file and convert it to MPEG4.

When you are preparing video for the web, you will most likely be transcoding the file.

Codec

Codec stands for compression/decompression.

A codec is a software tool used to compress or decompress a video.

Codecs use different compression algorithms to encode files.