How to Easily Compress Video Files for Web with Movie Maker
Without a doubt, the advancement in technology and faster Internet connection have enabled people to share their home made video with others more quickly and easily. Be it the video you took during your travel or a video of your baby’s birthday, with few simple clicks, you can get it online and attract thousands of viewers instantly.
One thing though, before you upload that video of yours, it is important to get it compressed to the smallest possible size so that your movie can be more easily watched by people over the Web. Luckily, you do not need to be a tech guru to be able to compress your video files. If you are using Windows XP and above (excluding Windows 7), you already have a great tool in your Start menu that allows you to compress video files for web easily – Windows Movie Maker.
For some reasons, if your computer does not come with the Window Movie Maker, you can download it from the Microsoft website for a price of FREE.
In this tutorial, I am going to illustrate how you can compress a video file for web to half its size with Windows Movie Maker.
As seen for the screenshot below, the video file that I used for this tutorial is of size 61.8MB. Let’s see how much we are able to compress by the end of this tutorial.
Open up your Windows Movie Maker. Click on the Import Video link on the left pane.
Select the video file that you want to compress and import it into Windows Movie Maker.
Drag the movie to the timeline.
If you want to edit and add effects to your movie, you are free to carry on. If not, proceed on by going to File->Save Movie File.
Select a location in your computer.
When it comes to the Movie Setting page, check the box “Other settings” and select “Video for broadband (340 Kbps)” in the dropdown option.
Alternatively, you can also choose the Video for broadband (512 Kbps) options, which mean the video will be streamed at a higher bitrate (and a bigger file size).
Click Next to start compressing the video file. It will take sometime while the Movie Maker compresses and saves the video file.
The Result
The following image is the screenshot of the video file after compression. You can see that there is a whopping 64% reduction in the video files.
Conclusion
To say the truth, Windows Movie Maker is nowhere comparable to a professional video editor software. However, taking into account that not everyone is a tech guru, Windows Movie Maker has done a great job in simplifying the process of compressing video file for web and make it easy for almost everyone to use.
As can be seen from the tutorial above, it is VERY easy to compress a video for the web and the result is impressive. Best of all, it comes preinstalled in your computer, so there is no need to search, download and install. Though it is not the best, i don’t have much complaint about it.
What about you?
(By) Damien Oh is an all-out technology geek who loves to tweak and hack various operating systems to make life easier. Check out his blog at MakeTechEasier.com where he shares all the tips, tricks and tutorials.
This is a good alternative method, there are also Video converters in which u can compress videos to smaller sizes without losing its quality to a small extent, I prefer Fox Video Converter
WMV=CRAP. Let the flame war begin.
Youtube and several video sites support WMV movie upload, so it is not really that bad after all. If you don’t like it, you can still convert it to other format easily. You don’t really expect Microsoft to support other video format than their proprietary WMV format.
Most Youtube optimization tutorials have you convert to the Windows Media Video (WMV) format because it does not loose AS MUCH quality when Youtube converts it again.
Thanks, but how to compress a file with 700 MB (for example) to 50 MB?
Is that too much to ask for?
Damien Oh, you would instead not click ‘Other Settings’ and go on the dropdown, but click on the selection button ‘Best to fit file size:’ and type 50 MB. It works very well, as I just did one from 750MB to 43MB with virtually no loss of quality within mintues.
Sorry,
(Comments wont nest below this level)Damien OhRahmat.Hey, thanks! I just compressed a filewith no hassle-loved your tutorial. I ve been searching for options since the last few days.
thanks very much, it realy helped
) although I have Vista’s Movie Maker and it’s a bit different. Just had to pick Publish video (Ctrl+P) instead of Save 
thanks olga!
Thank you!!!!!!!
Hello Damien Oh, I am currently working on a compression software application. This application would be able to compress any size of data into just 1KB. Yes!! Any size of data, For example 4GB, 10GB, 100GB and so on into 1KB. I am working very hard at my home on my pc. I am not a software developer. I am a student. But i have a very good knowledge of Programming. But i have something to ask. Actually i want to know that if i succeed in creating this application then, Will i be able to sell this application? How much will i be paid for this application? Can i sell this application to Microsoft or Sun Microsystem or IBM ? Please reply me. I will be waiting for your reply.
Thank You
This was a great help. Not hard to do and very clearly explained. It did the job for me.
Very many thanks Damien
WMM worked a dream in compressing some .avi files from a Nikon Coolpix from 30MB -> 1.6MB!!! Not to mention the simple (but if you’re on a tight budget of £0.00) effective editing options.
I’m well impressed
Andy the Metabrarian
@Aman
Dude, if you shrink 10GB into 1KB (unless it’s a pointer or a db connect file) you’re not a genius, you’re a f*****g magician!
Thanks a bunch. This helped a lot in my video editing!