How to Easily Compress Video Files for Web with Movie Maker

compress-video-files-for-webWithout 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.

video-original-size

Open up your Windows Movie Maker. Click on the Import Video link on the left pane.

compressing video files windows movie maker

Select the video file that you want to compress and import it into Windows Movie Maker.

Drag the movie to the timeline.

compress video files for youtube

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.

wmm-save

Select a location in your computer.

wmm-save location

wmm- save name

When it comes to the Movie Setting page, check the box “Other settings” and select “Video for broadband (340 Kbps)” in the dropdown option.

wmm-videosetting

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.

video-compressed-size

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?

Tagged: • • • •

Damien Oh

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.

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  • http://pixobyte.com Nicholas Francis

    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

  • Doc

    WMV=CRAP. Let the flame war begin.

    • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien Oh

      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.

      • susan

        Comments from 12/13/09…….thank you damien oh for the video..great info. However, I a problem: the compressed video has a bright green bar to the mid of the screen, horizontally. I do not want to put my videos on youtube but rather, put them on a dvd disc so that I can get many videos on one disc,,,what am i doing wrong?

  • http://newbieworks.ath.cx illegal3alien

    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.

  • http://afg-home.com Rahmat

    Thanks, but how to compress a file with 700 MB (for example) to 50 MB?

    • http://maketecheasier.com/ Damien Oh

      Is that too much to ask for?

    • Tom H

      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.

      • Tom H

        Sorry, Damien Oh Rahmat.

  • pink

    Hey, thanks! I just compressed a filewith no hassle-loved your tutorial. I ve been searching for options since the last few days.

  • Olga

    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 :)

    • chelle

      thanks olga!

  • Joshua

    Thank you!!!!!!!

  • http://www.tspeakings.blogspot.com Aman

    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

  • Steve

    This was a great help. Not hard to do and very clearly explained. It did the job for me.

  • Metabrarian

    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

  • claudiu

    @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!

  • heroesfan

    Thanks a bunch. This helped a lot in my video editing!

  • http://www.onetouchgroup.org jason

    Thank you, this was very helpful to me!!!!!!!

  • nia

    this is great. thank you :)

  • susan

    thank you damien oh for the video..great info. However, I a problem: the compressed video has a bright green bar to the mid of the screen, horizontally. I do not want to put my videos on youtube but rather, put them on a dvd disc so that I can get many videos on one disc,,,what am i doing wrong?

  • jp

    hi damien, I’m having loads of problems uploading a video onto youtube. It,s a 3 min video but it’s taking 3 hours to upload. I’ve got vista with it’s own movie maker installed but i can’t seem to find the compression files you have illustrated.Please help.