How to Compress a Video Without Losing Quality
Every lossy encode changes a video, but careful settings can make that change difficult to notice in normal viewing.
Start from the cleanest source
Repeated encoding compounds artifacts. Compress the camera original or highest-quality export you have, and keep that source as your master.
Spend bits where viewers notice them
Fast motion, fine texture and gradients need more bitrate than a static talking head. Resolution alone does not determine quality.
- Keep resolution when small text must remain readable.
- Lower resolution before starving a long clip of bitrate.
- Use 128kbps or more for music; speech can often use less.
Use a controlled comparison
Compress a representative short clip first. Compare motion, faces, text and dark gradients at the intended viewing size before processing a long video.