Every time I encode video...

[Philippine Mango]

Every time I encode video, trying to emulate some video I already have, I always fail to get the video to the same quality as and the same file size as the original and I'm not sure why. I've got some XVID videos and I've been trying to reconvert them (audio stream is off by a slight bit) and every time I rencode them they're always larger. I've got pretty much at the same bitrate and all but it's always larger and I'm not sure why.. (Yes, the audio is compressed)

 

[Evander]

Why are you trying to reencode? That will always reduce the quality. The only reason to reencode is to reduce the filesize (by lowering resolution/bitrate), or to convert to a format that a hardware player can deal with.

that being said, autogordianknot will convert an avi to a size you specify, download here:
http://www.autogk.me.uk/
it's freeware

maybe another option is WinAVI Converter:
http://www.winavi.com/
it's nagware

 

[0roo0roo]

reconvert? compression artifacts on top of compression artifacts?

 

[oog]

when you choose the size for the video, do you account for the fact that the video itself needs to be smaller so that the final avi file (which includes audio and overhead) is the size you're targeting?

 

[Philippine Mango]

I don't choose the "file size target", I choose the bitrate setting, so therefore it should be exactly the same size... And also, does XVID support VBR? (Is currently using VDubmod for encoding video) and yes I know I'm getting degraded quality when transcoding to the same thing again but the idea is to see if I can get the same exact or smaller file sizes...

 

[Slick5150]

Yes, xvid does VBR, but what you're trying to do doesn't make any sense.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
Yes, xvid does VBR, but what you're trying to do doesn't make any sense.

Ok, what I'm trying to do is figure out how to get a similar compression ratio as another person with a similar video. So I download the compressed version of the video and see the quality and bitrate etc. I then take MY uncompressed version and try to make it the same size with same bitrate and all but each and every time, I fail...

 

[Shaved Ape]

When you say the videos you encode are always larger than the ones you are trying to match (comparatively speaking), how much larger are they? I generally have found that the size of the file depends a lot on the audio encoder used so try and match that exactly as well and post results.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Problem is, I find it difficult to get *all* of the information I need. File deviations can be fairly large or fairly small, sometimes it deviates as much as 30MB while as small as 1MB but that 1MB can be very large! if that means it's TWICE as big! (Initial file is 1MB and my file is 2MB)