Uploading, downloading or streaming large video files can be extremely frustrating. During streaming, the constant buffering can make you want to quit. And it could get even worse with poor internet service.
If you fancy sharing videos via social media, you would want video files in smaller sizes. So how do you make your large videos smaller and still keep the quality intact? The solution is to use a video compressor. But how does a video compressor work?
Here, we will discuss how compressors reduce video sizes. Keep reading for more details.
What Is A Video Compressor?
Let’s explain what a video compressor is before explaining how it operates.
Video compressors are software that reduce the amount of data required to transfer or store a video file. These tools use a specialized algorithm that identifies and gets rid of irrelevant information from media files. The outcome is a smaller video file that has similar quality and appeal to the original one.
The goal of video compressors is to strike a healthy balance between the quality of a video file and its visual appeal. They don’t reduce the file quality or duration.
Why Is Video Compression Essential?
Video compression is essential as it helps reduce file sizes without compromising quality. The reduction helps to make video file transmission on social media a breeze.
So video compression is vital for the following reasons and use cases:
- Streaming: Video compression is essential for streaming platforms like Twitter (currently named X), YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and other streaming platforms. Buffering is an issue with large video files. It can make streamers lose interest in your content fast.
- Speedy download and upload: The larger a video file, the longer it takes to download. The larger your video files, the longer it will take to upload them online. Compressing your videos makes uploading them faster and easier. It would also make it easier for users to download.
- Storage efficiency: The larger a video file, the more space it would occupy on a server, computer, or phone. The larger the video files, the fewer videos you can store on your device. But by using a video compressor to reduce file size, you can store more video content on your device.
- Reduction in bandwidth use: You will use lower bandwidth during video calls when you compress your videos.
How Does A Video Compressor Work?
Video compressors help to reduce file sizes, but do so in a unique way. They don’t just shrink files, but follow specific steps to reduce file sizes without compromising quality.
What this means is video compressors lower the sizes of videos without compromising on quality. Here is how they work:
-
Video data:
What is a video made up of? A video comprises several still images. These images are also frames. The still images play quickly when you hit the play button. They play in quick succession, usually around 24-60 frames per second.
These still images play alongside the audio, making videos larger. Additionally, the still images contain pixel data, which, without compression, can occupy a large chunk of space on your device.
For example, a video with a 1920 x 1080 HD frame will have more than 2 million pixels.
Now, if you have a video playing at 30 frames per second, the pixels per second would be 60 million (30 frames per second x 2 million pixels). That is the size of the video data you will get.
Remember, still images (frames) aren’t the only data you’ll find in a video. Audio is also part of your video data. You can reduce the file size by compressing the video.
-
Removing unnecessary information:
The redundancy removal video compressors used are of two types: spatial and temporal. Let’s discuss both types to understand how video compressors work.
Spatial redundancy:
This form of video compression occurs within a frame. In one frame, you could find several pixels with the same frames. The video compressor identifies this and stores the patterns of the pixels, including the changes, rather than their separate colors. This helps to reduce file size.
Temporal redundancy:
This form of video compression happens between frames. The compressor identifies similar frames and stores one primary frame (key-frame). Then it progresses further by recording only the observed differences in the same frame (called the P and B frames).
-
Using a codec (video compressor-decompressor):
The video compressor reduces the file sizes of videos. Here are the popular options:
- 264
- 265
- VP9
- AV1
The three ways this codec works include:
- Transform coding: This process involves breaking up the video frames into blocks.
- Quantization: Lowers the precision of less noticeable details in a video
- Entropy coding: Stores the remaining data of a video with fewer bits.
-
Lossy/Lossless video compression:
Here is a brief explanation of what both processes entail.
Lossy compression: In this process, you’re only getting rid of some details completely.
Lossless compression: Though the compression rate reduces drastically, it lowers the file size without losing any data.
-
Audio compression:
Video data includes frames (still images) and audio. Compressors reduce audio size. They lower the audio bit rate (kbps).
Video compressors use a special audio codec to reduce the audio size of videos. Examples of these codecs include Opus and AAC.
Conclusion
So, how does a video compressor work? It operates by removing irrelevant data in a video and reducing the audio size. It involves a range of processes.
However, while video compressors reduce video sizes, making them a breeze to upload, download, store, and stream, keeping video quality intact can be an issue for some video compressors. Find a video compressor that can reduce video size without compromising quality.
Video compressors are a handy tool. They keep video sizes down, allowing users to store more files on their devices, and lowering video sizes makes streaming more interesting. It eliminates buffering that comes with streaming large videos.
