Android video vs iPhone video

chitwood

Golden Member
Aug 21, 2008
1,208
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So here's what I don't understand.

Wife has an iPhone 6S. I have an LG G2. Wife takes videos of kid, 30 seconds long. File size of video is about 3.5 MB. I take video, 30 seconds long. File size of my video is over 40 MB.

Why is this? We had no choice but to resort to using Telegram just to send each other videos, because there's a 20mb cap on file size that you can send in text, and a 25mb limit for Gmail.

I'm getting a new phone this spring, and I had all but made up my mind that I was getting an S7, until I tested this same video size test with a coworker's new S7E and it does the same thing.

This is just a Apple codec, or compression thing? The videos my wife takes with her iPhone are perfect, no loss of quality. If I scale back the bitrate and/or resolution on my G2 and take a video, sure its smaller but the video looks like total shit. Pixelated mess.

Surely I'm not the only one who's noticed this, I mean 4mb vs 40mb? With no loss of quality at all? Something's going on there.
 

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
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At no point is actual resolution mentioned. There is no way a HD video is 3.5 MB, even for 30 seconds. Maybe if it was a solid color.

But at the end of the day, probably just a compression thing.
 

dawheat

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2000
3,132
93
91
So here's what I don't understand.

Wife has an iPhone 6S. I have an LG G2. Wife takes videos of kid, 30 seconds long. File size of video is about 3.5 MB. I take video, 30 seconds long. File size of my video is over 40 MB.

Why is this? We had no choice but to resort to using Telegram just to send each other videos, because there's a 20mb cap on file size that you can send in text, and a 25mb limit for Gmail.

I'm getting a new phone this spring, and I had all but made up my mind that I was getting an S7, until I tested this same video size test with a coworker's new S7E and it does the same thing.

This is just a Apple codec, or compression thing? The videos my wife takes with her iPhone are perfect, no loss of quality. If I scale back the bitrate and/or resolution on my G2 and take a video, sure its smaller but the video looks like total shit. Pixelated mess.

Surely I'm not the only one who's noticed this, I mean 4mb vs 40mb? With no loss of quality at all? Something's going on there.

Are you sure you're not confusing the original video file size and what iPhones send for sharing? I've found all iPhones, including my wife's 6S, has normal file sizes for videos and photos, but significantly degrades them when sharing via any channel - whether it be email, text, etc. So the local file may be 30MB, but they share a 3-4MB file that may look OK on another phone, but is clearly not HD.

Really annoys me since my wife can never share original photos/videos directly with me from her iPhone outside of uploading the original file to a service.
 

chitwood

Golden Member
Aug 21, 2008
1,208
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You are comparing phone tech three years apart.

you didn't read all of my post, I said coworker's S7E does the same thing.

But, I agree that I think iphone is using some sort of passive compression with sharing that Android isn't. I guess the difference is that I don't really notice a major dip in quality in the videos she sends me. You can make videos a smaller file size on Android, but they'll look like crapola.
 

thesmokingman

Platinum Member
May 6, 2010
2,302
231
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The iphone is not made of magic, no pixie dust. Copy both vids to your desktop and run mediainfo and compare the specs?
 

dawheat

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2000
3,132
93
91
you didn't read all of my post, I said coworker's S7E does the same thing.

But, I agree that I think iphone is using some sort of passive compression with sharing that Android isn't. I guess the difference is that I don't really notice a major dip in quality in the videos she sends me. You can make videos a smaller file size on Android, but they'll look like crapola.
I actually hate that default handling on iPhones. I'd rather they let the user control it as at best it looks ok, never great.

99% of the time I'd want the original file.
 

chitwood

Golden Member
Aug 21, 2008
1,208
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I actually hate that default handling on iPhones. I'd rather they let the user control it as at best it looks ok, never great.

99% of the time I'd want the original file.

I'm with you. It's more to address the wife's bitching about it taking 2 minutes to download my videos, when hers only take about 5 seconds.

whatever
 

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
126
The iphone is not made of magic, no pixie dust. Copy both vids to your desktop and run mediainfo and compare the specs?

Agree. 0.1 MB/sec vs 1.0 MB/sec. Unless Apple came up with a magical compression ratio the video is either low resolution or skipping a lot of frames.
 

Strk

Lifer
Nov 23, 2003
10,197
4
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I've always wondered why videos sent by iphones looked like shit. I always assumed people just turned down the quality or something. I guess I've got my answer now!