Question

26

Compressing videos create even larger file

rated 0 times [ 26] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 11351 / 2 Years ago, mon, january 24, 2022, 9:45:55

I have been using the GUI (right click => compress) to try and compress a .tar containing 3 videos totalling 1.7gb (.H264 MP4s). gzip, lrzip, 7z etc. all do nothing to the file size and the compressed folder is also 1.7 gb.

I then tried running lrzip from the command line (in case it was a gui problem), and used the -z flag (extreme compression), and this was my output.

enter image description here

As the compression ratio shows, the actual size of the compressed folder is bigger than the original! I don't know why I am having no luck, lrzip in particular should be effective according to random reviews I have read and the official docs (files larger than 100mb, the larger the better) - see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Lrzip

Why can't I compress my files?

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

istmasted

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 287

Total Questions: 130

Total Answers: 153

Location: Burkina Faso

Member since Thu, Dec 23, 2021

2 Years ago

answered 2 Years ago oraoming · Accepted Answer

As @pram said above in the comment, mp4 videos are already compressed, and other video formats probably also use compression to some extent. Therefore, trying to compress them won't result in little (if any) reduction in size (this also applies, at least in part, to pictures and music). In this case, it looks like the metadata (for the compressed file itself) might be causing the increase. The only compression format that might (and that's a strong might) result in some reduction is xz.

On another note, if you want to reduce the size of those videos, look instead into re-encoding the videos using something like Handbrake.